NVMe SSDs: Real-World Speed Test

Sequential speeds on the box are measured at queue depth 32, which almost nothing you do actually uses. We tested seven NVMe drives through the workloads that matter: booting, loading a large project and copying a 60GB folder of mixed files.

How We Tested

Our test bench

Sequential read and write at queue depth 32.
Random 4K reads at queue depth 1 — the speed you feel daily.
Sustained write after the drive's cache fills.
A ten-minute thermal watch under load.

Where The Difference Lives

Headline read speeds differed by less than 8% across the top four drives. The real gains came from sustained write behaviour: the best drive kept writing at 1.9GB/s after its cache filled, while a cheaper one collapsed to 480MB/s within forty seconds.

Drive	Read	Sustained write	Temp	Score
Gen4 flagship	7,400MB/s	1.9GB/s	68°C	9.3
Gen4 value	6,800MB/s	1.2GB/s	74°C	8.5
Gen3 budget	3,400MB/s	480MB/s	79°C	7.1

Buying tip

For gaming and everyday use, a good Gen3 drive is plenty. Choose Gen4 for large sustained transfers such as video editing.

Our verdict

9.3/10

The Gen4 flagship held a 1.9GB/s sustained write through a 60GB transfer and stayed cool enough to avoid throttling. It is the drive to buy for heavy work.

What we liked

Excellent sustained write speed
Runs cooler than rivals
Fast 4K random reads

Worth knowing

Premium price
Needs a heatsink in tight cases

Where to buy

We only link to authorised official stores. Authentic, and at no extra cost to you.

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