monere

Distinguished
Oct 13, 2012
200
10
18,685
Hi,

I'm searching for a 500GB SSD (NVMe of course) to plug into the 2nd M.2 slot of the Asrock B550M Steel Legend motherboard that I'll be buying soon, and that slot is PCIe Gen 3 x4 if I remember correctly, so I don't necessarily need a Gen 4 SSD.

HOWEVER, if the one Gen 4 SSD that I will be mentioning in the following list proves to be the best overall I will still get it even if I can't yet make use of its full potential. That's not the problem. And the price is not the problem either because all of these SSDs are around the same price here in Romania, so I don't mind adding / deducting a few units from the total price if justified.

Where the problem is, is that all of those terms (MTBG, QLC, MLC, TLC, SLC, PLC) are freaking insane and confusing. So many terms in so many combinations, I don't know whether SLC is more important, or write speeds are more important (just an example). I also don't know which SSD is safe and stable (and why), and which one goes bonkers as soon as it heats by even 1 degree Celsius (I did hear that some SSDs overheat unnecessarily)... And probably many other things that I don't know / understand yet. That's why I'm asking for your opinions since you most definitely know better than me which one of these SSDs is the best overall. And when I say "the best" I don't mean the best for price to quality ratio, or the fastest. I mean the most stable, most consistent and most reliable. I don't want it to malfunction all of a sudden, I'd rather watch it copy a measly 1 MB file over a 2 hours period of time but do it perfectly instead of copying it in a split second but this operation reducing the lifespan and quality of the SSD by 1% lol

And I want it to still function perfectly even if reaches 150 degrees Celsius, I don't want any surprises or failures at the 1st sign of stress, heat, workload or whatever. I just want the damn thing to bloody work for all eternity without breaking down for whatever reason. I don't care about RGB, I don't care about copying 5 TB a second, I don't care about any of these meaningless things, I just want a stable, reliable and decently performing SSD that lets me put Windows on it and install and play games and browse the internet. That's all!

So, here are the candidates that I need to choose 1 winner from:

Patriot P300... 512 GB, PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3, 160 TBW
Seagate Barracuda... 500 GB, PCIe 4.0 x4, 300 TBW (this one has no code, so here's a number that I feel it's important: ZP500CV3A002)
Lexar NM620... 512 GB, PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.4, 250 TBW
WD Blue SN570... 500 GB, PCIe 3.0 x4, 300 TBW
Goodram PX500... 512 GB, PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3, 330 TBW

What do you guys think? Which one is the best one in this bunch and why? If I were to give my uneducated opinion I'd probably choose the Seagate one because of the PCIe 4.0 thingy (although - like I said earlier - I won't be able to make use of this perk because I'm mounting this in the PCIe Gen 3 slot, but I am thinking that if I ever move it to the PCIe Gen 4 slot I might feel like I've upgraded my stuff for free :D

And since we're at it, can someone please tell me what the difference between NVMe 1.3 and NVMe 1.4 is? Do these even matter??

Thanks in advance for reading and I look forward to hearing your opinions :)
 
Solution
I found one, but it's over my budget (as I suspected). I have about $40 to spend on a 500GB SSD (because I need to also buy a 1TB one, and also a 4TB mechanical HDD) and these costs will add up fast, and the 970 Plus is $53. I really can't afford it at the moment..

Thanks for the WD suggestion! May I know why you think it's better than Seagate Barracuda? If I were to pick the 2nd best one after Seagate I would have chosen the Lexar SSD (because NVMe 1.4 is higher than 1.3 :D ), but I see nothing special about WD.
Either Seagate or WD.

At this level, performance difference is non-existent. You want company reliability, and who might be more receptive to an actual replacement in the case of a dead drive.

WD or Seagate.

monere

Distinguished
Oct 13, 2012
200
10
18,685
Look again.
Sammy 970 EVO Plus is the Goto device.

From your list...look into which might be more responsive to a warranty replacement.
I'd go with the WD.
I found one, but it's over my budget (as I suspected). I have about $40 to spend on a 500GB SSD (because I need to also buy a 1TB one, and also a 4TB mechanical HDD) and these costs will add up fast, and the 970 Plus is $53. I really can't afford it at the moment..

Thanks for the WD suggestion! May I know why you think it's better than Seagate Barracuda? If I were to pick the 2nd best one after Seagate I would have chosen the Lexar SSD (because NVMe 1.4 is higher than 1.3 :D ), but I see nothing special about WD.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I found one, but it's over my budget (as I suspected). I have about $40 to spend on a 500GB SSD (because I need to also buy a 1TB one, and also a 4TB mechanical HDD) and these costs will add up fast, and the 970 Plus is $53. I really can't afford it at the moment..

Thanks for the WD suggestion! May I know why you think it's better than Seagate Barracuda? If I were to pick the 2nd best one after Seagate I would have chosen the Lexar SSD (because NVMe 1.4 is higher than 1.3 :D ), but I see nothing special about WD.
Either Seagate or WD.

At this level, performance difference is non-existent. You want company reliability, and who might be more receptive to an actual replacement in the case of a dead drive.

WD or Seagate.
 
  • Like
Reactions: monere
Solution