Corsair is more active than other manufacturers in the high-capacity space, with several drives on the market with confusingly similar designations. The MP600 Pro NH has a lot in common with the MP600 Pro XT, however, as they both use the Phison E18 controller and TLC NAND. There are also a few differences, most notably that the NH comes with no heat spreader and a more modest price tag. Sequential performance is also slightly behind at 7,000 MB/s (read) and 6,800 MB/s, but you get the same massive 6,000 TBW endurance rating with the 8TB model. AMD X570, B550, or TRX40 motherboards paired with a 3000/5000-series Ryzen/Threadripper CPU (or later) Finance is only available to permanent UK residents aged >18, subject to status, terms and conditions apply. At the affordable end of the spectrum – but still using the fast PCIe 4.0 interface – we find SSDs like the Crucial P3 Plus. This drive uses cheaper QLC NAND of the modern 176-layer variety but still offers an attractive mix of performance and value. Although its endurance rating is lower compared to the high-end alternatives, the P3 Plus ships with an industry-standard 5-year warranty, which is not always the case in the entry-level space. Intel Z590 and other 11th-gen motherboards paired with an Intel Core CPU from the same generation (or later).

PCI Express-based solid state drives in the M.2 form factor are the first choice as system drives, as they offer much higher performance than their 2.5″ SATA counterparts. However, some of the most popular high-end drives such as the Samsung 980 PRO and 990 PRO are currently not available in 4 TB capacities. Of course, the newer memory types are not without advantages. The main one is that the higher densities allow for lower production costs. And as for performance, the difference is quite small as long as you are on the bandwidth-limited SATA bus. Compared to other technologies, modern QLC SATA drives offer an attractive price/performance calculation, unless you plan on putting the drive through extremely heavy use. Summary Nevertheless, the cost of Flash memory has been dropping for some time. And thanks to the arrival of cheaper chips in the form of high-density TLC (triple-level cell) and QLC (quad-level cell) NAND, it is now easier than before to justify investing in large solid state drives. There are of course additional high-capacity alternatives on the external SSD market. Some of the most popular include:Additional bits in every cell increase the number of charge states in each transistor. This makes them more prone to voltage drift and other issues that need to be corrected, which is a reason why high-density NAND doesn’t perform as well. One of the very few high-end M.2 drives that come in an 8TB version is the Corsair MP600 Pro XT. This flagship SSD from Corsair uses premium 176-layer NAND memory chips and the Phison E18 controller, resulting in sequential read/write performance of 7,100 MB/s and 6,800 MB/s, respectively. Random performance in the 4TB and 8TB capacities is also very impressive at 1M/1.2M read/write IOPS. The endurance rating is 6,000 TBW. Additionally, it comes bundled with a large aluminum heat spreader that is not optional but can be removed if it doesn’t fit in your build. As mentioned, the list of 8TB consumer SSDs is not particularly long at this point in time, and availability is often limited. One SATA Alternative: Teamgroup QX The 8TB Mushkin Gamma is yet another high-end Gen4 M.2 SSD powered by the Phison E18 controller but is specified as being slightly slower than the Corsair models (likely due to previous-gen NAND). It still gets quite close to the bandwidth limits of the PCIe 4.0 interface with a sequential performance of 7,000 MB/s (read) and 5,900 MB/s (write). Random performance is 700K/1M IOPS (read/write).

This SSD is designed for use in desktop and notebook computer workloads and is not intended for Server environments. MLC memory is the oldest NAND generation, but still the superior technology in terms of performance and endurance. MLC has been mostly replaced by the newer and denser TLC type, which is somewhat slower and less durable. The most modern and least durable type today is QLC. Like the 870 QVO, the QX is based on QLC NAND and should offer about the same performance. They are also priced about the same, though the Teamgroup QX comes with an inferior endurance rating at 2,000 TBW versus the QVO’s 2,880 TBW. Other 8TB M.2 NVMe/PCIe Models 1. Corsair MP600 Pro XT Seagate’s FireCuda 530 uses the same controller as the KC3000 and offers stellar sequential read/write performance at 7,300 MB/s and 6,900 MB/s, respectively. The 4TB model also comes with an exceptional endurance rating of 5,100 TBW, making it a top choice for video editing and other storage-heavy workloads.Some highlights from the list (other than those mentioned above): 1. High-End 4TB M.2/NVMe SSD: Kingston KC3000 When shopping for external storage, it’s also worth comparing the cost of a DIY alternative. Buying an affordable 4TB M.2 SSD and installing it in an M.2 PCIe/NVMe enclosure will often result in decent savings compared to branded external SSDs. With better heat management comes better stability during peak performance. The slim M.2 combined with a low profile, graphene aluminium heat spreader is optimised for intense usage in gaming laptops and desktops. The optional heatsink model delivers an additional layer of thermal dispersion so when the game heats up, your PS5™ console stays cool. Kingston FURY Renegade SSD matches the top-tier performance of the Kingston FURY Renegade memory line to produce the ultimate team that will keep you at the top of your game. At the time of writing, there is only one non-enterprise competitor to the 8TB Samsung 870 QVO and the Teamgroup QX is it. In fact, this drive is also available in an even more capacious (and expensive) 15.3TB variety. Many of the 4TB or larger alternatives are technically entry-level M.2 SSDs and frequently use more inexpensive parts, such as budget controllers and QLC NAND. Here is an extended list of current 4TB M.2 PCIe SSDs at the time of writing. It is roughly sorted by random IOPS throughput, which tends to be the more accurate indicator of real-world performance.

If you just want lots of really fast storage to go, you actually have quite a few options. Unlike hard drives, solid state drives are not limited by the size of spinning platters, only by how the manufacturers decide to arrange the memory chips and layout of the PCB. Therefore they may vary greatly in size and shape. Launched in 2022, the Kingston KC3000 is among the fastest 4TB M.2 SSD at the time of writing. It is based on the Phison E18 controller and ultra-fast 176-layer Micron TLC NAND. These are the same parts as found in the Seagate FireCuda 530 (see below), but Kingston’s model seems to offer slightly better performance than the average E18 drive. Note that this drive is also available in a slightly faster version sold under the name Fury Renegade.If you are looking for lots of fast internal storage space at a more reasonable cost, SATA drives should (and usually do) offer lower prices per GB compared to their M.2 PCIe counterparts. For quite some time Samsung was the only manufacturer with 4TB or larger consumer SSDs in the market. More recently, Western Digital/SanDisk and Seagate have also started to offer high-capacity alternatives. Some of the listed capacity on a Flash storage device is used for formatting and other functions and thus is not available for data storage. As such, the actual available capacity for data storage is less than what is listed on the products. For more information, go to Kingston's Flash Memory Guide. the 860 PRO, which is one of the increasingly rare SSDs that still use multi-level cell (MLC) NAND.

Kingston FURY™ Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD provides cutting-edge performance in high capacities for gaming and hardware enthusiasts seeking extreme performance for PC builds and upgrades. By leveraging the latest Gen 4x4 NVMe controller and 3D TLC NAND, Kingston FURY Renegade SSD offers blazing speeds of up to 7,300/7,000MB/s 1 read/write and up to 1,000,000 IOPS 1 for amazing consistency and exceptional gaming experience. From game and application loading times to streaming and capturing, give your system a boost in overall responsiveness. Adata’s XPG Gammix S70 Blade stands out in the crowd by using the somewhat unusual IG5236 “Rainier” controller from Innogrit. Although its random IOPS performance cannot compete with the class-leading Gen4 SSDs, sequential performance is very impressive at 7,400 MB/s (read) and 6,600 MB/s.

Awards and Reviews

What mainly affects the endurance rating is the type of NAND memory chips use. These are exemplified in Samsung’s 2.5″ lineup by: