ExpertAmateur

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I bought some NVME SSDs, but looking to return the ones I don't need. They'll mainly be used for Steam games and storing pictures/videos. What capacity should I keep and which one specifically? Do any of these need an additional heatsink?:

- Crucial P3 Plus 2TB PCIe Gen4 3D NAND NVMe M.2 SSD, up to 5000MB/s - CT2000P3PSSD8 - $75.99

- Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD 2TB NVMe M.2 Internal Solid State Hard Drive, V-NAND Technology, Storage and Memory Expansion for Gaming, Graphics w/ Heat Control, Max Speed, MZ-V7S2T0B/AM - $79.99

- Crucial P3 2TB PCIe Gen3 3D NAND NVMe M.2 SSD, up to 3500MB/s - CT2000P3SSD8 - $80.09

- Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe Gen4 3D NAND NVMe M.2 Gaming SSD, up to 6600MB/s - CT2000P5PSSD8, Solid State Drive - $89.99

- Crucial P3 4TB PCIe Gen3 3D NAND NVMe M.2 SSD, up to 3500MB/s - CT4000P3SSD8 - $159.99

My build:

10700k, ASRock Z590 Pro 4 mobo, 3060ti, 16gb ddr4 2400 ram and some HDDs, except for the 250gb 850 Evo SSD as the boot drive.
 
Two Gen 4, both 2 TB

Three Gen 3; one 4 TB; two 2 TB

Do you want to keep ONLY one?

How significant is the extra capacity of the 4 TB? How quickly do your capacity requirements change over the long term? Maybe you'll never need 4 TB. Maybe you'll need it within a year.

Heat sinks would be a lower priority and wouldn't play a part in my decision......but if you are a high anxiety user????
 

ExpertAmateur

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Two Gen 4, both 2 TB

Three Gen 3; one 4 TB; two 2 TB

Do you want to keep ONLY one?

How significant is the extra capacity of the 4 TB? How quickly do your capacity requirements change over the long term? Maybe you'll never need 4 TB. Maybe you'll need it within a year.

Heat sinks would be a lower priority and wouldn't play a part in my decision......but if you are a high anxiety user????
I know my CPU only takes gen 3 and below, but is it smart to get gen 4 for "the future" and put it in the gen 3 slot? I suppose I could get away with 2tb, but the extra cushion of 4tb can be appealing if that's a great price ($160 USD) and not worth having FOMO over.

Which would you suggest I keep? Open to keeping 2 if it makes sense. Someone also mentioned the MP44L - is that any good compared to the ones I already bought? Someone else mentioned the negativity of QLC on the P3 and P3 Plus - what exactly is that and DRAM?
 
I'd think capacity would trump speed..........it would for me. Maybe not you.

You are the world's foremost authority on your capacity requirements. All we know is what you type into this thread.

But some people have benchmark fetishes that trump any real-world practical differences.

You need to decide up or down on 4 TB.

If you say "yes" to 4 TB, the case is closed.

If you say "no" to 4 TB, then you can reform the question and dig deeper into the differences between the remaining 2 TB choices.

The differences between the 2 TB choices may be insignificant in actual use for most users.

You may have some weirdo requirement. We don't know the details of your use case.

And your FOMO may be extremely strong for all we know. That alone would govern the decision for a lot of people.
 

ExpertAmateur

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I'd think capacity would trump speed..........it would for me. Maybe not you.

You are the world's foremost authority on your capacity requirements. All we know is what you type into this thread.

But some people have benchmark fetishes that trump any real-world practical differences.

You need to decide up or down on 4 TB.

If you say "yes" to 4 TB, the case is closed.

If you say "no" to 4 TB, then you can reform the question and dig deeper into the differences between the remaining 2 TB choices.

The differences between the 2 TB choices may be insignificant in actual use for most users.

You may have some weirdo requirement. We don't know the details of your use case.

And your FOMO may be extremely strong for all we know. That alone would govern the decision for a lot of people.
If I go with 2tb, which SSD (from this list or outside of the list) would you recommend? My usage would be putting my steam games, photos and videos on there. Someone also mentioned the MP44L (for a slightly cheaper cost) - is that any good compared to the ones I already bought? Someone else mentioned the negativity of QLC on the P3 and P3 Plus - what exactly is that and DRAM?

Do any 4tb drives typically go below the $160 mark or not really? They were all prime day deals.
 
160 for 4 TB is an all time low for SSDs.

18 months ago, you would have paid at least 350.

The price for 4 TB has dropped below 200 only briefly and in the very recent past. I looked a day ago and they are back near 200 or 220 for most brands.

It's anybody's guess what they will be next month or year.

If you want 2 TB, I don't see why you'd buy something other than the ones you already have.

I don't see any reason to go with the MP44L from Teamgroup.

I wouldn't get in a lather over QLC or DRAM.

However....the price differential between those four 2 TB drives is only 14 dollars......76 to 90.

For 90, you get gen 4 and DRAM and avoid QLC. Is that worth 14 dollars to you, purely for the relief from FOMO? Your call; you seem to be anxious and worried, so I'd guess it would be worth it........rather than second-guessing yourself for a pathetic 14 dollars.

Will you be able to tell the difference.......probably not. So what....you've got FOMO to worry about. For 14 stinking dollars.

Which one should you buy? The one that won't cause you any problems.......but you don't have much chance of guessing which one that is. They could all fail at any minute.

Maybe 14 dollars is quite important to you. Then choose a cheaper drive. That's all unknown to us.