{"id":1499355,"date":"2021-11-24T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-24T16:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/394512\/the-best-pcie-40-ssd.html"},"modified":"2021-11-24T11:30:00","modified_gmt":"2021-11-24T16:30:00","slug":"the-best-pcie-4-0-ssd","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/plato-data\/the-best-pcie-4-0-ssd\/","title":{"rendered":"The best PCIe 4.0 SSD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"link_wrapped_content\">\n<section class=\"wp-block-bigbite-multi-title\">\n<\/section>\n<p>Most computers and storage drives still use the common SATA or PCIe 3.0 interfaces to sling your bits of data around, but if you\u2019re lucky enough to own a relatively modern PC, you might be able to upgrade to a solid-state drive (SSD) built on the <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/3400176\/pcie-40-everything-you-need-to-know-specs-compatibility.html\">insanely fast PCIe 4.0 protocol<\/a>. We\u2019ve tested several PCIe 4.0 SSDs and the best one to cross our labs thus far is the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/544102\/corsair-mp600-pro-xt-nvme-ssd-review-top-dog-performance-wet-or-dry.html\">Corsair MP600 Pro XT<\/a>&nbsp;in a field of tough contenders, though it\u2019s neck and neck with rivals from Kingston and Seagate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConsidering the Corsair MP600 Pro XT\u2019s tantalizing combination of price, performance, and features, an Editor\u2019s Choice award was no-brainer,\u201d we said in our review. \u201cHighly recommended.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"best-pcie-4-0-ssd-corsair-mp600-pro-xt\">Best PCIe 4.0 SSD: Corsair MP600 Pro XT<\/h2>\n<p>Enough said, really\u2014though it\u2019s worth noting that Intel\u2019s <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/3612190\/core-i9-11900k-review.html\">11th-gen \u201cRocket Lake\u201d Core processors<\/a> and <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/548999\/12th-gen-core-i9-12900k-review-intel-is-back.html\">12th-gen \u201cAlder Lake\u201d processors<\/a> also support PCIe 4.0 now, joining <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/3405567\/ryzen-3000-review-amds-12-core-ryzen-9-3900x.html\">AMD\u2019s Ryzen 3000<\/a> and <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/3587109\/ryzen-5000-review.html\">Ryzen 5000 desktop chips<\/a>. PCIe 4.0 support is becoming commonplace on the latest PC platforms. You\u2019ll also need a compatible motherboard with PCIe 4.0 support. If you install a PCIe 4.0 SSD in a computer that lacks PCIe 4.0 support, the drive will operate over the slower PCIe 3.0 interface instead.<\/p>\n<div class=\"extendedBlock-wrapper block-coreImage undefined\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a class=\"zoom\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/images.idgesg.net\/images\/article\/2020\/09\/980-pro1tb2-100858328-orig.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/the-best-pcie-4-0-ssd.jpg\" alt=\"980 pro1tb2\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><figcaption>\n<p>Normally we don\u2019t show CrystalDiskMark results as screen grabs, but this is so impressive we had to. Amazing results from the 980 Pro\u2014and the Corsair drive is even faster.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>PCIe 4.0 SSDs are more expensive than their PCIe 3.0-based rivals\u2014the Corsair MP600 Pro XT costs <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09F5Z6BJ6?tag=pcworld02-20&amp;asc_refurl=https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/394512\/the-best-pcie-40-ssd.html\">$185 for 1TB<\/a>, <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09F5X8ZMY?th=1?tag=pcworld02-20&amp;asc_refurl=https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/394512\/the-best-pcie-40-ssd.html\">$360 for&nbsp;2TB<\/a>, or <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B09F5XC93H?th=1?tag=pcworld02-20&amp;asc_refurl=https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/394512\/the-best-pcie-40-ssd.html\">$1,025 for 4TB<\/a>&nbsp;of capacity on Amazon\u2014but the difference in performance can melt your face. Traditional SATA SSDs top out at around 600 megabytes transferred per second, while&nbsp;<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/3234838\/best-ssds.html\">our favorite PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD<\/a>, the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/3571463\/sk-hynix-gold-p31-ssd-review-the-first-128-layer-nand-drive.html\">SK Hynix Gold P31<\/a>, ups that to 3.5GBps read and write speeds. The Corsair MP600 Pro XT blows both of those out of the water, exceeding 7GBps read and nearing 7GBps write speeds in our synthetic tests. Truly remarkable.<\/p>\n<p>Those fantastically fast speeds make the biggest difference during file transfers. If you move a lot of data around, you\u2019ll love the Corsair MP600 Pro XT, which can blaze through those tasks before you know it.<\/p>\n<p>If you mostly stick to gaming and normal day-to-day tasks, however, you may be better off with a standard SATA or PCIe 3.0 drive. Upgrading from a pokey mechanical hard drive to <em>any<\/em> SSD can give you a big quality-of-life increase with faster boot speeds, game loading times, and application performance. Most of those crucial benefits don\u2019t get tangibly faster if you opt for a PCIe 4.0 model over a slower (but still fast) SATA or PCIe 3.0 drive\u2014though that <em>could<\/em> change when Microsoft\u2019s <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/3573909\/how-microsoft-and-nvidia-plan-to-kill-game-loading-times-on-pcs.html\">radical, Xbox-inspired DirectStorage API<\/a> rolls out for Windows games later next year.<\/p>\n<p>Fear not: Modern PCIe 4.0 SSDs won\u2019t die on you more quickly despite their blistering speeds. \u201cThe MP600 Pro XT is warrantied for five years,\u201d we said in our review. \u201cThat 1TB and 2TB capacities are rated for 700TBW (TeraBytes Written over the life of the drive) per 1TB of capacity, while the 4TB capacity is rated for 3000TBW. A nice little bonus on your thousand dollar drive!\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"runners-up\">Runners-up<\/h2>\n<p>While the Corsair MP600 Pro XT is the best PCIe 4.0 you can buy, we\u2019ve reviewed other exceptional options as well. The <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/548247\/kingston-kc3000-nvme-ssd-fast-and-then-some.html\">Kingston KC3000<\/a> and <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/394957\/seagate-firecuda-530-review.html\">Seagate FireCuda 530<\/a> both deliver face-melting performance on par with Corsair\u2019s drive. That said, Seagate\u2019s drive costs quite a bit more, while the KC3000 is only regularly available through Kingston\u2019s website. The MP600 Pro XT\u2019s wider availability helps it earn our top recommendation.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"best-for-smaller-capacities\">Best for smaller capacities<\/h2>\n<p>You may also want to consider <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/393496\/samsung-980-pro-nvme-ssd-review.html\">Samsung\u2019s 980 Pro<\/a>, which dominated the earliest PCIe 4.0 SSDs. It\u2019s since been surpassed by the performance of second-gen PCIe 4.0 drives like the MP600 Pro XT, but the 980 Pro remains a compelling option, especially if you\u2019re looking for a lower-capacity SSD. Most PCIe 4.0 drives start at 1TB, but you\u2019ll find <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B08GL52C3V?th=1?tag=pcworld02-20&amp;asc_refurl=https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/394512\/the-best-pcie-40-ssd.html\">256GB<\/a> and <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B08GL575DB?th=1?tag=pcworld02-20&amp;asc_refurl=https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/394512\/the-best-pcie-40-ssd.html\">500GB<\/a> versions of the 980 Pro available for $80 and $110, respectively, in addition to beefier capacities. Samsung\u2019s superb \u201cMagician\u201d SSD management software and long 5-year warranty remain second to none, as well.<\/p>\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: Last updated to crown the Corsair MP600 Pro XT as the best PCIe 4.0 SSD, and update recommendations throughout.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"affiliate-disclaimer\">\n<p><em>Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our<\/em> <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/about\/affiliate-link-policy\"><em>affiliate link policy<\/em><\/a> <em>for more details.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-bio\">Brad Chacos spends his days digging through desktop PCs and <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BradChacos\">tweeting too much<\/a>.<\/div>\n<p> <a rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/394512\/the-best-pcie-40-ssd.html\">Source: https:\/\/www.pcworld.com\/article\/394512\/the-best-pcie-40-ssd.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1499356,"template":"","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","type":"","auto_type":false,"post":"","stream":"","stream_url":"","waveform_data":[],"duration":0,"bpm":0,"downloadable":false,"download_url":"","purchase_title":"","purchase_url":"","post-count-all":0,"like_count":0,"download_count":0,"editor_note":"","copyright":"","captions":[]},"genre":[95],"artist":[99],"mood":[],"activity":[],"station_tag":[6107,8428,3705,3622,8905,6148,3625,5558,5586,10351,3628,7323,3766,3631,6167,7999,3633,8092,3796,3634,5599,6301,10343,3804,3745,3637,3859,5218,177,5465,10495,5566,3643,3717,7571,3646,7265,5223,3649,3719,5241,5837,3654,5420,6154,3657,6478,3834,3757,3662,3663,3665,3864,3670,6409,3672,6992,5439,5575,5630,8021,6158,3680,7661,3681,3729,3760,7796,3684,8947,3690,3783,3844,6442,3871,8760,5785,3873,3698,5786,9153,5279,3703,3735],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station\/1499355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/station"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1499356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1499355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"genre","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/genre?post=1499355"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=1499355"},{"taxonomy":"mood","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/mood?post=1499355"},{"taxonomy":"activity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/activity?post=1499355"},{"taxonomy":"station_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/station_tag?post=1499355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}