Consumer SSD Reviews

SSD reviews span both consumer and enterprise SSD reviews forming an umbrella over SATA, SAS, mSATA and M.2 SSDs. Consumer SSD reviews focus on SSDs engineered for use in client computers. We also offer a section for client PCIe storage reviews which covers high throughput flash and caching solutions. For help deciding on an SSD for your system or to get support, please post to our SSD Forums.

April 22nd, 2019 by Adam Armstrong

Intel Optane Memory H10 Review

Announced at CES this year, Intel Optane Memory H10 is the marriage of two technologies that brings Optane performance in a higher capacity SSD, without the higher associated costs. Intel Optane flash and Intel QLC 3D NAND are combined on a single M.2 2280 form factor in a hybrid storage configuration. Optane brings the performance for end user workloads, while QLC brings affordable capacity.

April 11th, 2019 by Marshall Gunnell

WD Blue SN500 NVMe SSD Review

The WD Blue SN500 NVMe SSD, announced mid-March, is the first SSD in the WD Blue family that utilizes NVMe technology, whereas the previous WD Blue models used SATA technology. The WD Blue SN500 is an M.2 form factor, consumer-focused, entry point NVMe SSD, ideal for those looking to gain a performance boost by upgrading from their HDD or older SATA SSD.

February 15th, 2019 by Adam Armstrong

WD Black SN750 NVMe SSD Review

Earlier this year, Western Digital announced the second generation in its WD Black line of enthusiasts SSD, the WD SN750 NVMe. The SN750 is an M.2 2280 SSD with the option of a heatsink for longer peak performance, though it will take up more space. The drive is quoted of hitting speeds in the upward of 3.47GB/s read, 3GB/s write with throughput of 515K IOPS read and 560K IOPS write.

January 22nd, 2019 by Marshall Gunnell

Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB Review

Announced today, the 970 EVO Plus is Samsung’s latest enhancement to its NVMe SSD portfolio. Succeeding the 970 EVO, the 970 EVO Plus comes in an M.2 2280 form factor and, as with its predecessor, is ideal for IT professionals, pro gamers, creative professionals, and general tech enthusiasts, providing reliability and handling intensive workloads on PCs and workstations.

November 27th, 2018 by Adam Armstrong

Samsung 860 QVO SSD Review

Today Samsung released its own take of quad-level cell (QLC) NAND with the 860 QVO SSD. Samsung continues to do its own thing, even with naming conventions, and refers to the technology as 4-bit. The 860 QVO is aimed at maintaining Samsung’s 3-bit performance while lower the costs and thus creating a more efficient and cost-effective product.

October 16th, 2018 by Marshall Gunnell

Crucial P1 1TB SSD Review

Launched today, the Crucial P1 SSD is the company’s latest drive targeted towards end users who want the benefits of NVMe technology in a more affordable package. The Crucial P1 features QLC NAND, which promises to further drive down prices, at the expense of write performance when compared to TLC or MLC products. The P1 comes in 500GB and 1TB capacities (with a 2TB to be announced in the future) and, perhaps most importantly, comes with a 5-year warranty.

September 5th, 2018 by Lyle Smith

Toshiba XG6 SSD Review

The Toshiba XG6 is the market’s first SSD built on 96-layer 3D TLC BiCS FLASH memory, joining the company`s impressive mid-range client portfolio as their newest mainstream NVMe drive. Announced back in July, the XG6 replaces the highly-impressive XG5, a drive we really liked that would work well inside client PCs, high-performance mobile devices, gaming segments and embedded applications. Though the XG6 is certainly built for these use cases as well, it is also ideal for data center environments as boot drives in servers, caching and logging, in-situ processing and commodity storage.

August 7th, 2018 by Lyle Smith

Intel SSD 660p Series Review

Released today, the Intel SSD 660p Series is the company's first client SSD to ship with 64-layer QLC (quad-level cell) 3D NAND. What this means to the end user is a less expensive SSD that has a reasonable performance profile. As will be true for most QLC SSD launches, the conversation is going to be about finally having an SSD that can replace HDDs both in terms of price and capacity. The 660p for its part is positioned as an NVMe SSD in a single-sided m.2 form factor that will accelerate the demise of HDDs and value-based SATA SSDs in client computing. The 660p is part of the larger Intel portfolio play that include faster drives based on TLC and Optane that hit mainstream and performance use cases.

August 1st, 2018 by Adam Armstrong

ADATA XPG SX8200 SSD Review (480GB)

ADATA is calling the XPG SX8200 its fastest consumer SSD to date. The new drive is an M.2 form factor that leverages the PCIe Gen3 x4 interface (NVMe 1.3 supported) as well as second generation 64-Layer 3D NAND. ADATA gives quoted speeds of 3.2GB/s sequential read, 1.7GB/s sequential write, and for random performance the drive is able to hit up to 310K IOPS read and 280K IOPS write.

July 31st, 2018 by Lyle Smith

Samsung 970 Pro 1TB Review

The Samsung 970 Pro 1TB is the largest capacity model of the company's newest high-performing consumer M.2 NVMe SSD line. We previously reviewed the 512GB version, and though it had a strong showing, we were expecting it to be a bit faster. To show best-case performance we've wrapped up testing of the larger 1TB model, which as you will soon find out impressed us even more.