I'm shopping for a new SSD in the US, mainly for gaming with some light audio production. There isn't a strict budget, but I want good price-to-performance rather than paying for speeds I won't notice. I'm considering these options: 1TB Inland QN450 PCIe 4.0 x4 for $189, 1TB Samsung 990 for $199, 2TB Lexar NM1090 PCIe 5.0 x4 for $349, or 2TB Crucial T500 PCIe 4.0 x4 for $299. Which one makes the most sense, and should it be my boot drive or mainly storage?
2 Answers
The 2TB Crucial T500 looks like the better overall value from this list if you need the extra space. If 1TB is enough, the Samsung drive is the safer pick over the Inland option, provided it’s the 990 Pro or another clearly identified TLC model. Try to avoid QLC drives unless they’re heavily discounted and will mostly be used for read-heavy game storage, since sustained writes and endurance can be weaker.
For gaming, I’d skip paying a premium for PCIe 5.0. Game load times usually aren’t noticeably different between a decent SATA SSD, PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive, and PCIe 5.0 model. For light audio work, Gen 5 speeds probably won’t matter either. I’d choose the cheapest reputable NVMe SSD with the capacity you want, assuming it has a good warranty and reasonable endurance.
That makes sense. I’m not interested in buying used, so I’ll stick with a new drive and focus on value.
I may move the new Samsung drive into the boot-drive role and keep my current NVMe as secondary storage. That seems more practical than spending extra on Gen 5 speeds.