Question Need help buying a new SSD

[Guitto]

I am in need of a new SSD as I have ran out of space and will never be using HDD again after I noticed how long it takes to load games !!

I am thinking of buying 2TB SSD but would like your help deciding which one is the fastest and best. My budget is unlimited here.

Currently have Samsung 970 EVO 500GB which i am pretty happy with BUT, is there anything else on the market that is better and worth buying or should I just buy the same one?

Ive seen the 980 and 990 but heard they have a lot of issues?

thanks

pc specs in case:


CPU: Intel Quad Core i7-10700k
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MA410M
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ GPU: RTX 3070 8GB
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Motherboard: Asus Prime Z490-A
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ RAM: Kingston Ballstix RGB 2x16gb 3600mhz
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ SSD: Samsung 970 EVO 500GB +1 TB HDD
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Hard Drive: Stagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ PSU: Antec 750w + 7 LianLi case fans

 

[scout_03]

what you have on this ssd could you transfer files for games and photo even music on the hdd .

 

[Guitto]

what you have on this ssd could you transfer files for games and photo even music on the hdd .

windows and like 4 games but need space for more. Have Red Dead, Baldurs Gate 3 and those 2 alone are already like 230GB

 

[scout_03]

so try ot keep ssd for os and transfert games files to hdd .

 

[Guitto]

so try ot keep ssd for os and transfert games files to hdd .

bro, did you even read what I said in the post?

 

[SomeGuy3]

Get a 2TB 990 Pro. The 990 had issues early this year but it was fixed in February with updates. Even if you get one that's been on the shelf since then Samsung Magician will update it.

 

[Zerk2012]

bro, did you even read what I said in the post?

80 bucks for a 2TB in the US hard to beat.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Fv8j4D/samsung-970-evo-plus-2-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-mz-v7s2t0bam

 

[SomeGuy3]

970 Evo Plus is a great drive and a little faster than his 970 Evo. I have one. But it's got a cache and the 990 Pro doesn't. I assume by the no budget part of his post he just wants the best, fastest drive he can get to replace his 970 Evo. The 990 pro is faster in every way.

$159 at best Buy. I paid $179 back in April.

Samsung - 990 PRO 2TB Internal SSD PCle Gen 4x4 NVMe $159.99 + Free Shipping

Storage Capacity: 2000 gigabytes Storage Drive Type: SSD Maximum Read Speed: 7450 megabytes per second Maximum Write Speed: 6900 megabytes per second Form Factor: M.2 2280 Interface(s): PCIe Gen ...

slickdeals.net

 

[SomeGuy3]

If the past problems of the Samsung drives worries you then the WD SN850X is probably the best alternative. It's not quite as fast as the 990 Pro but it's very fast.

 

[dwd999]

You could consider a Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus-G which is specifically designed for gaming, or a Solidigm P44 or SK Hynix Platinum P41 which are all well reviewed for speed and cost/value.

 

[Bob.B]

I am in need of a new SSD as I have ran out of space and will never be using HDD again after I noticed how long it takes to load games !!

I am thinking of buying 2TB SSD but would like your help deciding which one is the fastest and best. My budget is unlimited here.

Currently have Samsung 970 EVO 500GB which i am pretty happy with BUT, is there anything else on the market that is better and worth buying or should I just buy the same one?

Ive seen the 980 and 990 but heard they have a lot of issues?

thanks

pc specs in case:


CPU: Intel Quad Core i7-10700k
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ CPU Cooler: Cooler Master MA410M
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ GPU: RTX 3070 8GB
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Motherboard: Asus Prime Z490-A
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ RAM: Kingston Ballstix RGB 2x16gb 3600mhz
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ SSD: Samsung 970 EVO 500GB +1 TB HDD
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Hard Drive: Stagate Barracuda 1TB 7200rpm
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ PSU: Antec 750w + 7 LianLi case fans

Only you know what your goal is some folks like to put the OS and apps on one disk and then use another disk for storage.

Other folks just put everything on one disk.
Your call.

My pick would be a 970 evo plus as of today subject to change tomorrow.

 

[Guitto]

970 Evo Plus is a great drive and a little faster than his 970 Evo. I have one. But it's got a cache and the 990 Pro doesn't. I assume by the no budget part of his post he just wants the best, fastest drive he can get to replace his 970 Evo. The 990 pro is faster in every way.

$159 at best Buy. I paid $179 back in April.

Samsung - 990 PRO 2TB Internal SSD PCle Gen 4x4 NVMe $159.99 + Free Shipping

Storage Capacity: 2000 gigabytes Storage Drive Type: SSD Maximum Read Speed: 7450 megabytes per second Maximum Write Speed: 6900 megabytes per second Form Factor: M.2 2280 Interface(s): PCIe Gen ...

slickdeals.net

not to replace but to add, the mobo has space for 2 ssds

 

[Guitto]

not to replace but to add, the mobo has space for 2 ssds

also sorry, its the samsung 970 evo plus i have

 

[Zerk2012]

also sorry, its the samsung 970 evo plus i have

You already know the 970 one listed is good quality, you will never be able to tell the difference in it and another M.2 drive for gaming! You also can't beat the price for 2TB of space.

Your board don't support a 4.0 drive it will but run it at 3.0 speed.
1 x M.2_1 socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)*3
1 x M.2_2 socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)*4

 

[Zerk2012]

970 Evo Plus is a great drive and a little faster than his 970 Evo. I have one. But it's got a cache and the 990 Pro doesn't. I assume by the no budget part of his post he just wants the best, fastest drive he can get to replace his 970 Evo. The 990 pro is faster in every way.

$159 at best Buy. I paid $179 back in April.

Samsung - 990 PRO 2TB Internal SSD PCle Gen 4x4 NVMe $159.99 + Free Shipping

Storage Capacity: 2000 gigabytes Storage Drive Type: SSD Maximum Read Speed: 7450 megabytes per second Maximum Write Speed: 6900 megabytes per second Form Factor: M.2 2280 Interface(s): PCIe Gen ...

slickdeals.net

You think the 2nd M.2 slot on that board can run 4.0 X 4?

1 x M.2_1 socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)*3
1 x M.2_2 socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)*4

 

[SomeGuy3]

You think the 2nd M.2 slot on that board can run 4.0 X 4?

1 x M.2_1 socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)*3
1 x M.2_2 socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)*4

Yep. They're both full PCI-E 3 x4 slots. One slot just also supports SATA M2 drives. Go to the Overview page.

Dual M.2 (up to 32 Gbps)​

Dual M.2 slots support data-transfer speeds of up to 32 Gbps via x4 PCI Express® 3.0 bandwidth, enabling quicker boot-up and app load times with OS or application drives.

not to replace but to add, the mobo has space for 2 ssds

The sequential speeds won't make much difference but the super fast deep queue speeds and latency advantage of the 990 Pro make it a better OS drive than the 970 Evo Plus. The 990 Pro also has onboard DRAM and not the cache of the Evo drive. The cache can fill up and slow the drive massively although you're unlikely to have that happen much.

 

[Guitto]

Yep. They're both full PCI-E 3 x4 slots. One slot just also supports SATA M2 drives. Go to the Overview page.

Dual M.2 (up to 32 Gbps)​

Dual M.2 slots support data-transfer speeds of up to 32 Gbps via x4 PCI Express® 3.0 bandwidth, enabling quicker boot-up and app load times with OS or application drives.


The sequential speeds won't make much difference but the super fast deep queue speeds and latency advantage of the 990 Pro make it a better OS drive than the 970 Evo Plus. The 990 Pro also has onboard DRAM and not the cache of the Evo drive. The cache can fill up and slow the drive massively although you're unlikely to have that happen much.

so the answer is to go with the 990? I did read about that my mobo wont support the 990 and run it at 3.0 speed instead which would mean its best to just get the 970 instead of the 990 but i might be wrong?..

 

[SkyNetRising]

so the answer is to go with the 990? I did read about that my mobo wont support the 990 and run it at 3.0 speed instead which would mean its best to just get the 970 instead of the 990 but i might be wrong?..

Get 970 Pro, if price is acceptable for you.
If not, then get 970 evo /evo plus.

 

[SomeGuy3]

so the answer is to go with the 990? I did read about that my mobo wont support the 990 and run it at 3.0 speed instead which would mean its best to just get the 970 instead of the 990 but i might be wrong?..

You're right. I totally missed that you only have a PCI-E 3 board. The 990 Pro would be limited to 3500mb/s read/writes. However the faster latency and deep queue access times as well as not having an SLC cache to fill up would still give it an advantage over something like a 970 Evo +. That being said I used a 1TB 970 Evo + as my C drive for several years before this latest upgrade ( 2TB 990 Pro now ) and the difference is very small in daily use.