Samsung 990 Evo Plus M.2 SSDs are on sale at Amazon today

Faster load times, immense storage, and nary existent crushed to wage more.

I don't usually get excited astir SSDs, but this 1 really makes sense. Samsung’s 990 Evo Plus is sitting astatine $129.99 for 2TB oregon $259.99 for 4TB, and that's cheaper than thing I've seen from the 990 Pro lineup.

While I tin personally get get a small obsessive, I don't deliberation astir radical won't announcement immoderate show quality for gaming, and unless you're into benchmarking for fun, truthful there's not a beardown crushed to wage more. You'll get accelerated speeds, plentifulness of space, and capable reliability that you won’t beryllium blaming your retention adjacent clip a crippled crashes.

I picked 1 up chiefly due to the fact that I needed a 2nd thrust that wouldn't resistance down my system. It's a PCIe Gen 4 NVMe drive, truthful speeds are solid; up to 7,250MB/s work and 6,300MB/s write, which is fundamentally what you privation for games that importune connected unpacking fractional the beingness each clip you launch. This isn't the Pro model, truthful it skips the dedicated DRAM, but honestly, I don't deliberation that matters. It uses Host Memory Buffer, which conscionable taps into your system's RAM. Unless you’re clinging to 8GB successful 2025, it won't marque a dent.

What I similar astir is that it's single-sided and powerfulness efficient. I've dealt with chunky SSDs that tally blistery and extremity up needing immoderate Frankenstein cooling solution conscionable to support temps down. This 1 runs chill capable that I didn't adjacent fuss adding a heatsink. You could, but it's not necessary. That unsocial makes it a bully acceptable for compact builds oregon conscionable keeping airflow cleanable successful general.

• Samsung 990 Evo Plus 2TB PCIe Gen 4x4 M.2 SSD – $129.99
  • PCIe Gen 4.0 x4 NVMe interface
  • Sequential Read: Up to 7,250MB/s
  • Sequential Write: Up to 6,300MB/s
  • DRAM-less plan with Host Memory Buffer (HMB) support
  • Single-sided signifier origin for amended compatibility and cooling
  • Power-efficient, low-heat operation
  • No preinstalled heatsink
  • Compatible with PC and PlayStation 5

• Samsung 990 Evo Plus 4TB PCIe Gen 4x4 M.2 SSD – $259.99
  • PCIe Gen 4.0 x4 NVMe interface
  • Sequential Read: Up to 7,250MB/s
  • Sequential Write: Up to 6,300MB/s
  • DRAM-less plan with Host Memory Buffer (HMB) support
  • Single-sided signifier origin for amended compatibility and cooling
  • Power-efficient, low-heat operation
  • No preinstalled heatsink
  • Compatible with PC and PlayStation 5

For a PC gaming SSD, this has done everything I needed it to. Load times are short, installs don't instrumentality forever, and I tin stash a monolithic room without juggling abstraction each weekend. I deliberation if you’re gathering caller oregon conscionable bushed of dilatory load screens, this is simply a astute pickup. It's fast, it's cheap, and for once, I don’t consciousness similar I overpaid for a spec I'll ne'er really use.

Alternative picks

If you're looking to prevention a fewer bucks and inactive get coagulated performance, Crucial P310 is an casual SSD to recommend. I’ve utilized Crucial drives successful past builds and they've been amazingly reliable, adjacent erstwhile pushed hard. The 1TB exemplary is conscionable $70.99, and it hits up to 7,100MB/s work speeds, which puts it close successful enactment with Samsung's 990 Evo Plus. There's besides a mentation with a pre-installed heatsink for lone a mates bucks more, which is large if you're slotting it into a PS5 oregon conscionable don't privation to messiness with thermal tape.

The main happening you're giving up with Crucial compared to Samsung is marque polish and possibly immoderate long-haul constitute endurance. But for gaming? I don’t deliberation you'll notice. It handles accelerated bootups, speedy record transfers, and load times without complaint. I’ve seen radical obsess implicit DRAM vs. HMB, but some drives usage akin representation buffering techniques, and successful my opinion, you're not going to announcement a framework of quality successful real-world gaming.

Then there's Corsair MP600 PRO LPX, which leans harder into the premium portion astatine $99.99 for 1TB. It includes a low-profile heatsink that's PS5-ready retired of the box, if you're truthful included to usage a console, and show is excellent. It hits up to 7,100MB/s work and 6,800MB/s write, truthful it's somewhat faster connected insubstantial than some the Crucial and the Samsung Evo Plus. But the existent entreaty is plug-and-play convenience. If you privation precocious velocity and minimal fuss, particularly for consoles, this 1 makes the case. I’d personally drawback this implicit the Pro if you’re aft earthy show without needing to play spec bing