The Best M.2 Solid-State Drive Deals This Week*
*Deals are selected by our commerce team
Under the hoods of the skinniest laptops, and in the hollows of the latest desktop-PC motherboards, solid state storage has undergone a transformation. The whole idea? To make the storage hardware itself close to invisible. In recent years, solid state drives (SSDs) have migrated from the slab-like shapes of familiar hard drives into little sticks of memory that offer much the same capacities as their predecessors. And they have picked up speed along the way.Below you’ll find our top-rated M.2 SSDs, followed by a detailed guide to everything you need to know about selecting the best one for your PC. We’ll conclude with a side-by-side spec breakout table of our top picks.
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Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
Crucial P3
Best PCI Express 3.0 M.2 SSD for Most Users
Why We Picked ItThe Crucial P3 is a good choice as a PCI Express 3.0 SSD to upgrade your system, providing good performance at such at a modest price. As the successor to the Crucial P2, the P3 offers higher capacities and much higher throughput speeds at a lower cost per gigabyte, thanks to Micron’s switch from TLC to QLC flash memory for this drive. The drawback is that the change lowers the P3’s write-durability rating, making it best for tasks that don’t consistently write large amounts of data to the drive. The controller lacks a DRAM cache, which causes a performance hit in some SSDs but seemingly not the P3, which generally scored well in the PCMark 10 benchmarks.Who It’s ForThe Crucial P3 provides good performance in a PCI Express 3.0 NVMe SSD. Its QLC NAND flash memory keeps the P3’s price down while allowing capacities up to 4TB. It’s a spot-on pick for upgrading older PCs that don’t support PCIe 4.0.
PROS
Available in capacities up to 4TB
Low cost per gigabyte for all models
Includes link for Acronis True Image cloning software
Good benchmark results for a PCI Express 3.0 drive
CONS
Relatively low write-durability (TBW) ratings
Lacks 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption
SPECS
Name
Value
Internal or External
Internal
Internal Form Factor
M.2 Type-2280
Interface (Computer Side)
M.2 Type-2280
Capacity (Tested)
2 TB
NAND Type
QLC
Controller Maker
Phison
Bus Type
PCI Express 3.0 x4
NVMe Support
Rated Maximum Sequential Read
3500 MBps
Rated Maximum Sequential Write
3000 MBps
Terabytes Written (TBW) Rating
440 TBW
Warranty Length
5 years
Learn More
Crucial P3 Review
WD Black SN850X
Best PCI Express 4.0 M.2 SSD for Most Users
Why We Picked ItThe WD Black SN850X is an upgrade to Western Digital’s high-performance PCI Express 4.0 NVMe internal gaming SSD, the SN850. The SN850X improves on an already excellent drive by giving buyers the option for a 4TB version and an upgrade in flash memory technology that boosts sequential read and write speeds. It turned in improved benchmark results in both gaming and general storage tests (including a new PC Labs record in the 3DMark Storage benchmark). You’ll definitely want to use a heatsink with this speedster (it’s available with or without). About all it lacks is hardware-based security.Who It’s ForThe WD Black SN850X is a great choice as an elite PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD for gaming and/or creative use. It turned in sizzling throughput speeds, and did well in both our gaming and general storage benchmarks.
PROS
Capacities up to 4TB
Available with or without heatsink
Exceeded both its sequential read and write speed ratings
Aced PCMark and 3DMark storage tests
CONS
Lacks 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption
SPECS
Name
Value
Internal or External
Internal
Internal Form Factor
M.2 Type-2280
Interface (Computer Side)
M.2 Type-2280
Capacity (Tested)
2 TB
NAND Type
TLC
Controller Maker
SanDisk
Bus Type
PCI Express 4.0
NVMe Support
Rated Maximum Sequential Read
7300 MBps
Rated Maximum Sequential Write
6600 MBps
Terabytes Written (TBW) Rating
1200 TBW
Warranty Length
5 years
Learn More
WD Black SN850X Review
Corsair MP700 Pro
Best PCI Express 5.0 M.2 SSD for Most Users
Why We Picked ItThe Corsair MP700 Pro is capable of phenomenal throughput speeds, but only if you can find or build a desktop rig that supports the PCI Express 5.0 bus. It is effectively tied for the fastest SSD we have tested, and its benchmark scores consistently edged other Gen 5 SSDs. Corsair offers the MP700 with either an air- or liquid-cooling solution, or you can buy the drive alone and cool it with your motherboard’s heatsink. The PCIe 5.0 world is a tightly contested field of high achievers, but the Corsair MP700 Pro brings enough to the board to become our new Editors’ Choice winner for PCI Express 5.0 SSDs.Who It’s ForThe MP700 Pro is for users who seek the ultimate in SSD performance and are willing to buy (or build) a PC with a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot and the cutting-edge components needed to get the most out of this drive. The MP700 Pro needs an effective cooling system to disperse the heat it generates; along with an air-cooled option or the barebones drive, Corsair offers this SSD with a water block for use with PCs that incorporate a custom liquid-cooling loop, which might appeal to DIY-ers looking to build the fastest, most tricked-out rig they can.
PROS
Blistering throughput speeds
New single-drive high scores in multiple storage benchmarks
Choice of fan or water cooling solutions
256-bit AES hardware-based encryption
CONS
PCI Express 5.0-compatible PC required to tap full performance
No 4TB version (yet)
SPECS
Name
Value
Internal or External
Internal
Internal Form Factor
M.2 Type-2280
Interface (Computer Side)
M.2 Type-2280
Capacity (Tested)
2 TB
NAND Type
TLC
Controller Maker
Phison
Bus Type
PCI Express 5.0
NVMe Support
Rated Maximum Sequential Read
12400 MBps
Rated Maximum Sequential Write
11800 MBps
Terabytes Written (TBW) Rating
1400 TBW
Warranty Length
5 years
Learn More
Corsair MP700 Pro Review
WD Blue SN570
Best Budget PCI Express 3.0 M.2 SSD
Why We Picked ItDespite its name, the WD Blue SN570 is an SSD to drive your budget blues away. The SN570 is a solid performer among affordable PCI Express 3.0 M.2 SSDs. It is faster than its predecessor, the WD Blue SN550, and delivered above-average results in most of our benchmark tests, in a few cases even beating the Editors’ Choice award-winning Samsung SSD 980. Consider it a solid pick for a terabyte M.2 stick on a budget.Who It’s ForThe WD Blue SN570 does well as a budget general-purpose internal SSD for those of us with computers that don’t support the PCI Express 4.0 standard. The SN570, the third iteration of Western Digital’s popular budget SSD, is faster than ever and proved a solid performer in our benchmark tests. You can have this PCI Express 3.0 NVMe stick for a song—and it won’t have you singing the blues.
PROS
Affordable
Decent speed for a PCIe 3.0 SSD
CONS
Low write durability rating for a TLC-based drive
Low AS-SSD program load benchmark score
SPECS
Name
Value
Internal or External
Internal
Internal Form Factor
M.2 Type-2280
Interface (Computer Side)
M.2 Type-2280
Capacity (Tested)
1 TB
NAND Type
TLC
Controller Maker
Western Digital
Bus Type
PCI Express 3.0 x4
NVMe Support
Rated Maximum Sequential Read
3500 MBps
Rated Maximum Sequential Write
3000 MBps
Terabytes Written (TBW) Rating
600 TBW
Warranty Length
5 years
Learn More
WD Blue SN570 Review
Addlink AddGame A93
Best Budget PCI Express 4.0 M.2 SSD
Why We Picked ItThe budget-friendly Addlink AddGame A93 PCI Express 4.0 internal SSD matched its rated throughput speeds and performed well against other PCIe 4.0 SSDs in our benchmark tests. The A93 meets Sony’s requirements for use with the PlayStation 5, thanks in part to a compact heatsink that fits the M.2 expansion slot of the console. It has good durability ratings, and comes in capacities of up to 4TB. Its lack of DRAM could affect its performance in sustained large-file transfers, but that won’t be a problem for many users.Who It’s ForThe Addlink AddGame A93 is a good choice for budget-conscious users looking for a high-performing general-purpose PCI Express 4.0 SSD, either as an upgrade for a desktop computer or to add extra storage space to a PS5.
PROS
Moderately priced for an elite PCI Express 4.0 SSD
Comes in capacities up to 4TB
Compatible with PlayStation 5
Includes compact heatsink
Strong benchmark results and good durability ratings
CONS
Lacks AES 256-bit hardware-based encryption
DRAM-less architecture could affect sustained large-file transfers
SPECS
Name
Value
Internal or External
Internal
Internal Form Factor
M.2 Type-2280
Interface (Computer Side)
M.2 Type-2280
Capacity (Tested)
4 TB
NAND Type
TLC
Controller Maker
Maxio Technology
Bus Type
PCI Express 4.0
NVMe Support
Rated Maximum Sequential Read
7400 MBps
Rated Maximum Sequential Write
6500 MBps
Terabytes Written (TBW) Rating
3000 TBW
Warranty Length
5 years
Learn More
Addlink AddGame A93 Review
Lexar NM790
Best High-Capacity PCI Express 4.0 SSD
Why We Picked ItThe Lexar NM790 internal SSD provides good value in a PCI Express 4.0 M.2 SSD, keeping costs down by using a DRAM-less architecture. The NM790 has the throughput speeds we expect of a high-performance PCIe 4.0 stick. It aced our Adobe program and Windows launching tests and put up fairly good numbers on our gaming benchmarks. The NM790’s durability (TBW) ratings are high, particularly at its smaller 512GB and 1TB capacities. You can get the NM790 in capacities up to 4TB without breaking the bank, making it worth considering for a cost-effective storage upgrade.Who It’s ForThe Lexar NM790 is a great pick for frugal shoppers looking for a high-performance PCI Express 4.0 solid-state drive. It comes in capacities up to 4TB, and unlike many competing SSDs, its cost per gig actually drops when you get to the highest capacity.
PROS
Competitive pricing for a PCI Express 4.0 SSD
Available in capacities up to 4TB
High durability (TBW) rating, especially at smaller capacities
Strong PCMark 10 Overall and trace performance
CONS
Lacks heat sink
Does not support hardware-based encryption
SPECS
Name
Value
Internal or External
Internal
Internal Form Factor
M.2 Type-2280
Interface (Computer Side)
M.2 Type-2280
Capacity (Tested)
4 TB
NAND Type
TLC
Controller Maker
Maxio Technology
Bus Type
PCI Express 4.0
NVMe Support
Rated Maximum Sequential Read
7400 MBps
Rated Maximum Sequential Write
6500 MBps
Terabytes Written (TBW) Rating
3000 TBW
Warranty Length
5 years
Learn More
Lexar NM790 Review
Crucial T500
Best Heatsink-Equipped PCI Express 4.0 M.2 SSD
Why We Picked ItThe Crucial T500 is a step up from the company’s P5 Plus, with a memory and processor upgrade and a boost in throughput speed. The T500 performed superbly against other elite PCI Express 4.0 SSDs in our benchmark testing, posting excellent results in both general storage and gaming tests. Micron offers versions of the 1TB and 2TB stick with an integrated heatsink, which adds just $10 to the bare drive’s price at either capacity. The heatsink-equipped T500 plays well with the Sony PlayStation 5; meets the TCG Opal security standard; and comes with useful software.Who It’s ForThe Crucial T500 is for users willing to pay a little extra to get the best PCI Express 4.0 SSD performance. At a time when many low-priced DRAM-less SSDs are hitting the market, the T500 has a full DRAM cache (as well as a top-shelf Phison controller and 232-layer TLC NAND flash), which could give it an advantage in sustained large-file transfers, as well as in use with the PS5.
PROS
Available in both heatsink and non-heatsink versions
Strong benchmark scores
High-quality software included
Compatible with PlayStation 5
CONS
Fairly high cost per GB
No 4TB version (yet)
SPECS
Name
Value
Internal or External
Internal
Internal Form Factor
M.2 Type-2280
Interface (Computer Side)
M.2 Type-2280
Capacity (Tested)
2 TB
NAND Type
TLC
Controller Maker
Phison
Bus Type
PCI Express 4.0
NVMe Support
Rated Maximum Sequential Read
7400 MBps
Rated Maximum Sequential Write
7000 MBps
Terabytes Written (TBW) Rating
1200 TBW
Warranty Length
5 years
Learn More
Crucial T500 Review
Samsung SSD 990 Pro With Heatsink
Best PCI Express 4.0 M.2 SSD for Creative Users
Why We Picked ItThe Samsung SSD 990 Pro, the company’s flagship PCI Express 4.0 NVMe internal solid-state drive, has a hard act to follow in the Editors’ Choice-winning SSD 980 Pro, but for the most part it makes a great product even better. This power-efficient drive gets high marks for raw speed, everyday application performance, a strong software suite, and hardware-based encryption. The heatsink-equipped version of this drive performed slightly better than the non-heatsink version (which we tested using our testbed’s motherboard’s heatsink) in most of our benchmarks. It doesn’t quite merit the 980 Pro’s Editors’ Choice award, because other recent internal SSDs have outpaced it in our gaming benchmarks, but its overall capability makes this Samsung a versatile drive well-suited for creative tasks.Who It’s ForThough it can’t quite match the gaming prowess of some of the latest generation of PCIe 4.0 speedsters, the 990 Pro with Heatsink still offers respectable gaming performance while being a thoroughbred workhorse for creative tasks. It’s an appealing choice and a worthy upgrade from the 980 Pro.
PROS
Competitively priced
New high PCMark 10 score for a PCI Express 4.0 SSD
Works with Sony PlayStation 5
256-bit AES hardware-based encryption
CONS
Middling gaming scores compared with other elite PCIe 4.0 SSDs
SPECS
Name
Value
Internal or External
Internal
Internal Form Factor
M.2 Type-2280
Interface (Computer Side)
M.2 Type-2280
Capacity (Tested)
2 TB
NAND Type
MLC
Controller Maker
Samsung
Bus Type
PCI Express 4.0
NVMe Support
Rated Maximum Sequential Read
7450 MBps
Rated Maximum Sequential Write
6900 MBps
Terabytes Written (TBW) Rating
600 TBW
Warranty Length
5 years
Learn More
Samsung SSD 990 Pro With Heatsink Review
SK Hynix Platinum P41
Best PCI Express 4.0 M.2 SSD for Serious Gamers
Why We Picked ItSouth Korean memory-chip maker SK Hynix is a relative newcomer to the consumer solid-state drive market, but you would never know that based on its first offerings. The SK Hynix Platinum P41, a PCI Express 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD, is its best yet. It dominated our PCMark 10 and 3DMark Storage benchmark testing, setting several new records in the process. The P41 supports 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption. SK Hynix provides a clone utility tool, the SK Hynix System Migration Utility, for its SSDs, in addition to Easy Drive Manager software, which lets you see detailed information on drive health, run diagnostics, and erase the drive. And the P41 can be had for a very reasonable price in its 1TB and 2TB capacities.Who It’s ForThe SK Hynix Platinum P41 is a worthy choice for anyone looking to buy a high-performance PCI Express 4.0 NVMe SSD without breaking the bank. It blew away several of our benchmark records. The P41 provides AES hardware-based encryption and a clone utility tool as well as SSD management software. Just be forewarned that with its blistering speed, you will want to add a heatsink, the one item of note that it is missing.
PROS
In our testing, exceeded its sequential speed ratings
Excellent scores in PCMark 10 and 3DMark benchmarks
Competitively priced
Includes drive cloning/migration software
Supports 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption
SPECS
Name
Value
Internal or External
Internal
Internal Form Factor
M.2 Type-2280
Interface (Computer Side)
M.2 Type-2280
Capacity (Tested)
2 TB
NAND Type
TLC
Controller Maker
SK Hynix
Bus Type
PCI Express 4.0
NVMe Support
Rated Maximum Sequential Read
7000 MBps
Rated Maximum Sequential Write
6500 MBps
Terabytes Written (TBW) Rating
1200 TBW
Warranty Length
5 years
Learn More
SK Hynix Platinum P41 Review
ADATA XPG Spectrix S40G
Best M.2 SSD for PC Modders
Why We Picked ItIf you’re a custom PC builder with RGB-lighting fever, and have RGB-ified just about every inch and corner of your system, perk up: ADATA has brought pretty lights to the internal SSD final frontier. The XPG Spectrix S40G is the most flamboyant NVMe drive we’ve seen to date. With its exceptional 4K write speeds, top-notch sequential-read speeds, and respectable durability rating, ADATA makes having a top-of-the line, over-the-top SSD affordable and fun, in one fell swoop. Who It’s ForThe ADATA XPG Spectrix S40 is an unapologetically bright RGB-lit PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 SSD that blings up your PC. Its 4K read and write speeds should keep most gamers happy, too. The ADATA XPG Spectrix S40G carries some respectable wins out of its duel with other competing drives we’ve tested, and it looked great doing it. Of course, to show off the lighting, you will need to have an open-frame rig, or one with a see-through case. If you’ve already RGB’d your keyboard, mouse, video card, motherboard, case, and headphones, and are at a loss for what’s left, the Spectrix S40G makes enough sense both in performance and looks to belong in any lighting-obsessed custom PC builder’s arsenal.
PROS
Exceptional 4K write and sequential-read results.
Strong value proposition.
RGB lighting is a fun addition for PC builders.
CONS
Some quirks around saving RGB settings with multiple profiles.
SPECS
Name
Value
Internal or External
Internal
Internal Form Factor
M.2 Type-2280
Interface (Computer Side)
M.2 Type-2280
Capacity (Tested)
1 TB
NAND Type
TLC
Controller Maker
Realtek
Bus Type
PCI Express 3.0 x4
NVMe Support
Rated Maximum Sequential Read
3500 MBps
Rated Maximum Sequential Write
3000 MBps
Terabytes Written (TBW) Rating
640 TBW
Warranty Length
5 years
Learn More
ADATA XPG Spectrix S40G Review
Buying Guide: The Best M.2 SSDs (Solid State Drives) for 2024
The traditional SSD that you can buy and install in a desktop PC, or in place of a spinning hard drive in an older laptop, uses what’s known as the “2.5-inch drive” form factor. (In actuality, the drives are about 2.75 inches wide.) These SSDs have the same dimensions that laptop-style hard drives did. SSD makers adopted this standard size to make SSDs compatible with existing laptop designs. (They could configure laptops with the choice of a hard drive or an SSD without any retooling.) Desktop PCs, meanwhile, could accommodate SSDs of this size with little fuss. You could mount them in a 3.5-inch drive bay using a simple bracket, or even just using alternate mounting holes in those same spots. Over time, too, desktop PC chassis have evolved to gain their own bays and mounting points for 2.5-inch drives.However, from an engineering point of view, SSDs didn’t need to be that big. The enclosure an SSD comes in has a lot of dead space inside. It’s designed in that 2.5-inch size and shape to make the drive fit into those existing bays. So when mobile-device designers, challenged with slimming down laptops and tablets, reassessed this issue, the consensus was clear: The bulky 2.5-inch form factor, eventually, would have to go.At the core, an SSD is just a thin circuit board studded with flash-memory and controller chips. Why not design around that? Thus the M.2 form factor was born. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.In the Beginning, There Was mSATA…The first attempt was a new form factor called mini-SATA, or mSATA. The boiled-down essence of an SSD with the shell removed, an mSATA drive is a bare, rectangular circuit board. (Most mSATA drives relevant to upgraders measure about 1 by 2 inches.) mSATA drives fit into a special slot in a laptop’s logic board or on a PC motherboard. As the name suggests, the slot is a conduit to the Serial ATA bus in the system. The interface on the drive end is an edge connector on the PCB, as opposed to the usual SATA cabling. The mSATA drive also draws all the power it needs through the slot.
(Credit: HP)
By being reliant on SATA, mSATA drives gained all of the advantages and limitations of that interface, including the upper speed limit of SATA 3.0, the latest revision of Serial ATA. That’s not a bad thing, mind you. mSATA was also unusual in that it piggybacked on an existing connector, known as Mini-PCI, often used for installing small onboard components such as compact Wi-Fi cards.Now, mSATA drives still linger on the market, primarily because some laptop models adopted the form factor years back, and residual demand exists as capacity upgrades. But it’s definitely a fading form factor, and mSATA saw only slight adoption on desktop systems.Even in mSATA’s heyday, though, a replacement was in the works. During development, it was known as NGFF, for “Next-Generation Form Factor.” As it took shape, though, it took on its current, final name: M.2. The drives would be smaller, potentially more capacious, and, most important, not necessarily reliant on SATA.So, What Is an M.2 SSD?M.2 drives are as utilitarian as upgrades come: They look like sticks of gum studded with NAND modules and a controller chip. (“NAND” is the generic term for the flash-memory chips that make up the actual storage on the SSD; the term refers, technically, to the type of logic gates used in the underlying memory structure. See our primer Buying an SSD: 20 Terms You Need to Know for more SSD lingo explained.)The key thing to remember about M.2 is that it is a form factor, a shape. The bus—the data pathway over which the data travels to and from an M.2 drive—is distinct from M.2 itself and can vary. And it can make all the difference.
(Credit: Molly Flores)
But first, the shape issue. Any M.2 drive you are looking at will be labeled with a four- or five-digit number as part of its specifications or model name. It’s a measurement, in millimeters: The first two numbers define the drive’s width, the second two the length.The market has settled on 22mm wide as the standard for desktop and laptop implementations; the aftermarket drives available and the accessible slots we’ve seen have all been that width. The most common lengths we’ve seen are 80mm (“Type-2280”) and 60mm (“Type-2260”). The lengthier the drive, the more NAND chips you can tend to stuff on it (plus, M.2 drives can be single- or double-sided), though know that length isn’t an absolute measure of capacity.
42mm, 60mm, and 80mm M.2 SSDs (Credit: Intel)
Now, why does length matter? Fit, especially in the case of laptops. Most desktop motherboards with M.2 slots have screw-mounting points for several lengths of M.2 drive (usually, 80mm, 60mm, and 42mm), so length hasn’t been an issue there. But it’s a different matter in a laptop with a user-accessible M.2 slot. The bay may be space-limited to M.2 drives of a certain size, or to only single-sided modules, if the thickness tolerances are really tight. You’ll want to check the space available before you shop.Early examples of the latest generation of M.2 drives, using the PCI Express 5.0 bus, also come in the Type-2280 format, but it’s expected that some PCIe 5.0 slots on new motherboards will be built to support the larger Type-25110 format (25mm by 110mm), so we may well see PCIe 5.0 SSDs with these dimensions as well. PCIe 5 drives are capable of tremendous throughput speeds (in excess of 10,000MBps) that should generate abundant heat, and the SSDs we have seen so far come with substantial built-in heatsinks.M.2 drive length isn’t always an indicator of drive capacity, but there are limits to NAND-chip density and how many memory modules engineers can stuff onto a PCB of a given size. As a result, most of the M.2 drives we’ve seen to date have topped out at 2TB, though you can find a few 4TB and 8TB models at lofty prices. The typical capacity waypoints are as follows:120GB or 128GB240GB, 250GB, or 256GB480GB, 500GB, or 512GB960GB or 1TB2TB, 4TB, and 8TBSmaller-capacity 32GB and 64GB M.2 SSDs are also available for use in embedded applications or for SSD caching, but these are of marginal interest to upgraders or PC builders. Pricing on these drives ranges anywhere from 10 to 75 cents per gigabyte, and the biggest factor affecting price is the bus type of the drive.Now, to reiterate an important point: A drive may come in the M.2 form factor, but that says nothing about the bus that it makes use of. Determining that is just as important as making sure it fits.PCI Express vs. SATA: The SSD Bus-Interface IssueThis is the trickiest part of an M.2 SSD upgrade. Most of the early M.2 drives were really just ordinary SATA drives stripped down to their fundamentals: a bare circuit board with a different physical connector, but at heart the same drives as their 2.5-inch bigger brothers. Some of them still are. You won’t see substantially better performance with these M.2 SATA drives versus their 2.5-inch SATA equivalents, because ultimately your data is traveling along the exact same inner pathways inside the computer once it leaves the drive.That’s not a bad thing. Especially in the case of laptops, an older machine might support only M.2 SATA-bus SSDs, and that will be the boundary of your upgrade path…end of story. As a result, the only reasons you’d upgrade the drive, in that situation, would be to get more capacity, or if the old one failed.Nowadays, though, many lean, premium laptops can make use of PCI Express-bus M.2 SSDs. (Just about all new desktop motherboards with M.2 slots also support PCI Express M.2 SSDs, too.) With these, you may see a substantive increase in performance in benchmark testing, but in most real-world usage, they’ll just feel like a fast, premium SATA SSD.
(Credit: Molly Flores)
The earliest versions of M.2 PCI Express SSDs made use of the PCI Express Gen 2.0 x2 interface, which defines a throughput ceiling that’s higher than SATA 3.0’s, but not enormously so. That evolved into PCI Express Gen 3.0 x2 and x4, paired with a technology called Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) to propel performance even further, especially with heavy, deeply queued workloads.Beyond that is PCI Express 4.0, a newer version of the PCI Express bus. It has rapidly gained traction, though it still signifies, in most cases, a higher-end drive. The read and write speeds for a few are rated as high as 7,000MBps. These drives are supported on recent desktop systems using the latest chipsets from AMD and Intel, and the very latest mobile platforms. For AMD, that is the X570 and B550 (and later) chipsets (for mainstream Ryzen CPUs) and the AMD TRX40 and later (for Ryzen Threadripper). With Intel, PCI Express 4.0 is supported on Intel 500-series chipsets that work with 11th Generation “Rocket Lake” desktop CPUs (and later chipsets), or on laptops built on the “Tiger Lake” 11th Generation and later mobile platforms. You can use these PCIe 4.0-based SSDs in older AMD- and Intel-chipset systems that support PCI Express 3.0, but they’ll just bounce down to slower PCIe 3.0 speeds. Fast on PCIe 4.0’s heels, though, is the PCIe 5.0 standard. Some of the very latest desktop motherboards already support it, although PCIe 5.0 M.2 SSDs themselves are top-end picks. Note, however, that just because a motherboard may support the PCIe 5.0 bus, that doesn’t mean the board maker necessarily included a PCIe 5.0-capable M.2 SSD slot. (The 5.0 support may only be extended to ordinary PCIe x16 expansion slots.) Again, check those specs!Meet NVMe: The Speed BoosterWe mentioned NVMe above. NVMe is another technical hurdle to consider, because systems and motherboards need board-level support for these drives to be bootable. All late-model motherboards now support NVMe M.2 drives, but older boards are not guaranteed to support booting from an NVMe-based drive. Outside of new motherboards, these high-bandwidth, NVMe-capable slots are also found in some recent laptops. Also note that in some cases, a laptop may support a PCI Express NVMe drive, but it may be soldered to the motherboard and thus not upgradable. So, if you’re thinking of upgrading a recent laptop or convertible, be sure to consult your manual or online technical documentation very closely before buying one of these drives.
(Credit: Zlata Ivleva)
Among M.2 drives, PCI Express 3.0 and 4.0 x4 M.2 drives that support NVMe are now the norm among aftermarket purchases. These are indeed impressively fast drives, leaving the fastest SATA-based SSDs and hard drives well behind. But know that they are more relevant for PC builders or folks upgrading relatively recent systems rather than older PCs, which may not have an M.2 slot, or may have an M.2 slot but not one that supports PCI Express and/or NVMe—only SATA-based M.2. So, as we said in the previous paragraph, make sure that your system supports this kind of drive before picking one up. You don’t want to bring home one of the fastest consumer drives available, only to find your system can’t use it.Basic Compatibility, Card-Based M.2, and MoreOkay, back from Planet NVMe. Today, the real choice if you’re M.2-shopping will be between basic SATA and PCI Express M.2 drives, and for most users, those options will be dictated simply by what your motherboard or laptop can accept. A careful browse of support forums or a call to the vendor’s support line should unravel the M.2 bus-compatibility details. On the desktop side of the aisle, some M.2-equipped motherboards support both kinds, although not necessarily on all slots.If you’re looking to upgrade a desktop but your PC’s motherboard doesn’t have an M.2 slot at all, one incidental option is what we call an “M.2 drive on a card” or an AIB SSD (for “add-in-board SSD”). We’ve seen solutions like this from storage stalwarts such as OWC and Kingston. Also, with some of their high-end motherboards, Asus and MSI offer an M.2 PCI Express 4.0 “carrier card” like these makers use, to supplement their onboard M.2 slots. In essence, these products put an M.2 drive or drives on a PCI Express expansion card and let you tap their speed through the PCI Express slots in a desktop PC that lacks any (or enough) M.2 slots. Some such cards support as many as four M.2 drives.
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We actually like these because often, you often get a robust heat sink on the M.2 drive. Some PCI Express-bus M.2 SSDs can run hot under sustained read/write tasks and throttle their speed. That said, unless you’re running a server or something similar, where a drive is constantly getting hammered with reads and writes, that’s usually not something you have to worry about. That’s because many of these drives are so fast, they get their transfer duties done before they have a chance to get all that hot.One last caveat to drop in before we get to our product recommendations surrounds Intel’s former SSD line. Intel for a while sold a family of M.2-based storage products under the brand name Optane, in two very distinct types of drive. Intel’s “Optane SSDs” were SSDs like any other, bootable drives that can serve as a stand-alone boot drive or as secondary storage. They were discontinued for consumers in 2021, but you may still see them around. (Intel sold its SSD business at the end of 2021 to SK Hynix, which spun it off into a new subsidiary, Solidigm.)Intel’s “Optane Memory” is a different animal. This is an M.2-format module that looks like an SSD, but serves as an accelerating cache for another drive, often a hard drive. You can read a lot more about Optane Memory in our deep-dive review of the first generation. It’s a dead duck, now; we only mention it because you may run across it if you’re upgrading a laptop or desktop from a few years back. If you can, simply replace it and the hard drive with a vanilla M.2 SSD, if the PC supports it.M.2 Upgrades and Boot Drives: What to Look ForWelcome to the cutting edge! You’re shopping for a kind of drive that many folks don’t even realize exists. As a result, you need to pay attention to several factors that may not be documented very well while you shop. Let’s recap.Check the physical size. Make sure the width and especially the length (expressed in millimeters) will work in the space available for the drive. (This is mainly an issue with laptops.) Most will be 22mm wide, but the length varies: 42mm, 60mm, 80mm, and 110mm are the usual sizes, with 80mm by far the most common for standard desktop and laptop upgrades.
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Know which bus you’re on. In a laptop-upgrade scenario, you’re almost certainly swapping out one M.2 drive for another, with the intent of gaining capacity. Make sure you know the specifications of the drive coming out of your system—and whether it’s reliant on the SATA or PCI Express bus—so you can install the same, presumably roomier kind going in.For a desktop, it’s a bit trickier. Some motherboard M.2 slots support either SATA-bus or PCI Express-bus M.2 drives on the same slot. Others support only SATA M.2 drives (those will be older boards), still others support only PCI Express M.2 drives. (And, in the case of PCI Express M.2, not all older motherboards support PCIe x4 or NVMe!) You need to know what your board is able to use and buy accordingly. All else being equal, PCI Express should give you a speed boost over a SATA model, but for everyday tasks, a SATA SSD will serve you almost as well, and be indistinguishable in most cases from a PCI Express one.Also, with recent drives, look for PCI Express 4.0 or even PCIe 5.0 support. To leverage their speed to the full, you’ll need a compliant late-model AMD or Intel motherboard if you buy one of those. Again, check the specs so you don’t overbuy for your system. Check for bootability. If you’re installing an M.2 SSD in a desktop board for the first time, verify with the board maker that an M.2 SSD of the bus type you are considering will be bootable. Though unlikely, a BIOS upgrade may be necessary with an older motherboard.Compare the cost per gig. Cost per gigabyte is the main yardstick whereby you can price-compare similar M.2 drives from different makers. Expect to pay more for PCI Express bus models, all else being equal, and more for PCIe 4.0 drives than PCIe 3.0 ones (and more for PCIe 5.0, in turn, over 4.0). But the cost differences are narrowing in both cases. Divide the price (in dollars) by the capacity of the drive (in gigabytes) to get the cost per gig. For example, a 1TB (1,000GB) drive that’s selling for $99 works out to about 10 cents per gigabyte. Use this as a value yardstick when looking at different drives.So, What Is the Best M.2 SSD to Buy?Below is a spec breakout of the top M.2 solid-state drives that we’ve reviewed. These are, of course, all internal drives; you can also check out our roundups of the best external SSDs, as well as the best external hard drives for Mac, and the overall best external hard drives.If you’re also interested in factoring larger 2.5-inch drives into the equation, check out our roundup of the best internal SSDs overall, which includes some 2.5-inch models. And if you want to see strictly PCI Express-based SSDs, see our roundup of the best PCI Express NVMe drives.
