The Intel SSD 760p uses 3D TLC NAND paired with a Silicon Motion SM2262 controller to deliver great performance at reasonable pricing. Our reviewed 512 GB version currently costs $153, which is cheaper than many competitors.
With just 16 cents per GB, or $81 for the tested 500 GB version, the Mushkin Source is among the most affordable SSDs on the market. It is a DRAM-less design, which means some compromises have to be expected in terms of performance. Our review of the Mushkin Source 500 GB looks exactly into that.
The Toshiba OCZ RC100 is one of the most affordable M.2 NVMe drives on the market. It comes in a super compact form factor barely half as long as normal M.2 drives. The RC100 is also highly integrated, using a single IC that combines SSD controller and NAND flash, but lacks DRAM.
Team Group's Delta RGB SSD is a unique solid-state drive due to its amazing RGB support. It connects to your motherboard's RGB header, which then gives you full control over the LEDs for mixed colors, patterns, and custom lighting effects. Performance is good too, so is pricing, with just $80 for the 250 GB version.
The ADATA SX8200 SSD ushers in new performance records for our SSD reviews. Despite the use of TLC, speeds are incredible. The SX8200 has a generous 128 GB SLC write cache, which ensures even large write batches get completed at the drive's full speed. Pricing is awesome too, with only $170 for the tested 480 GB version.
The Kingston A1000 is a cost-effective NVMe x2 drive priced at just $150 for the 480 GB variant. Using two PCI-Express lanes keeps cost down due to a cheaper controller and simpler PCB design. This makes the A1000 barely more expensive than a SATA SSD and has it offer higher performance.
Crucial's MX500 is one of the most successful SSDs on the market due to its great performance at an amazing price point. At launch, only 2.5" SATA models were available, but now, the M.2 form factor drives are shipping, too - with no price increase.
In our initial review of the Crucial MX500, we were impressed by how well the new TLC chips work on these drives. There's barely any write-hole and warranty has been increased to a reassuring five years. Now, we test the 500 GB version, which sits right at the sweet spot of capacities currently in demand by consumers today.
Kingston's KC1000 is the company's premier NVMe M.2 SSD solution. It it built using a Phison controller, paired with Toshiba MLC flash, which is great for all those TLC haters out there. We take the 240 GB version for a spin through synthetic and real-life benchmarks.
With just $140 for the 525 GB version, the Crucial MX300 is one of the most affordable M.2 drives out there. Instead of NVMe, it uses the slower SATA interface, though. Our review will take a closer look at how much of a difference that really makes and whether the MX300 M.2 is a good alternative to 2.5" SATA drives.
The Intel 600p SSD is one of the more affordable M.2 PCIe x4 based NVMe drives on the market. It uses an SMI controller paired with Intel's own 3D TLC flash. Despite the relatively low synthetic results, our real-life testing shows that the drive is a decent choice for typical consumer workloads.
ADATA's Gammix S10 SSD is built using a Silicon Motion controller paired with 3D TLC flash. The SSD is cooled by a sexy red heatsink that not only looks pretty but also keeps the drive cooler than other NVMe SSDs we tested before. Priced at $210, it's one of the most affordable PCIe x4 drives on the market.
The Team Group Cardea Zero is a high-performance M.2 2280 SSD using the PCI-Express x4 3.0 interface. Sequential reads reach almost 3000 MB/s, which is amazing. Writes are good, too, with nearly 1200 MB/s consistently thanks to the use of MLC flash chips, which don't suffer from TLC's write hole.
ADATA's SX8000 SSD uses a high-performance PCIe x4 3.0 interface in the M.2 2280 form factor. During testing, the drive delivered excellent performance results, which, combined with the excellent price of $220, make this an excellent choice if you want to join the NVMe crowd.
Today, Crucial released their new MX500 Series of SSDs. The new lineup is built using 64-layer 3D TLC NAND made by Micron, Crucial's parent company. Unlike previous models, an SMI controller is used, which delivers good performance that actually feels very much like that of an MLC drive.
The Crucial MX300 2 TB is the biggest SSD in the company's lineup. It provides a staggering 2050 GB of capacity, which should be plenty for everyone. Thanks to its good performance and outstanding price of 27 cents per GB, this is the drive you want if you need tons of fast storage.
The ADATA SU900 sticks to proven MLC flash chips in a market where most of the budget drives are TLC, with low sustained write performance and low endurance. In our review, we see good performance results that are on par with competing drives from Samsung and Crucial.
Crucial's new BX300 SSD is not only affordable, but also impresses with excellent performance that's right up there with the best SATA drives in our test group. The secret sauce is clearly the use of MLC flash, which offers better write performance than TLC, lasts longer, and is trusted by users.
Crucial's MX300 introduces TLC flash to the MX Series. We tested the 750 GB version, which delivers decent performance at incredible pricing of only 23 cents per gigabyte. Performance per dollar is also fantastic, claiming a top spot in our charts.
OCZ's new VX500 SSD is built around a Toshiba controller paired with Toshiba 15 nanometer MLC flash chips. The drive offers excellent performance at even better pricing, making it a great candidate if you want to stay away from TLC drives, but don't want to break the bank.
Angelbird's Wings PX1 adapter lets you install M.2 SSDs in the motherboard's PCI-Express slots. This approach unlocks full bandwidth for older chipsets. The adapter also comes with a nice metal heatsink that prevents thermal throttling on high-performance M.2 SSDs like the Samsung 950 Pro.
OCZ's Trion 150 is one of the most affordable SSDs on the market today, with only 27 cents per gigabyte. Performance has also been improved significantly over the Trion 100, which makes the Trion 150 an excellent candidate for a low-cost system upgrade to boost performance.
Crucial's BX200 SSD comes at an incredible price point Micron's new triple-layer-cell (TLC) flash chips make possible. In our testing, the drive delivers decent performance, which, combined with pricing, results in a leading price/performance position for the BX200.
The Toshiba HK3R2 is an entry-level enterprise SSD that has been built around Toshiba's own controller and NAND chips. With its 960 GB capacity, it offers plenty of storage for all business applications, and our MySQL database testing reveals excellent performance in read-heavy scenarios.
OCZ's new Trion 100 SSD is built around brand-new TLC NAND chips from Toshiba, using a Toshiba TC58 controller. Thanks to TLC technology, the drive competes with Crucial BX100 in pricing, which is less than 40 cents per gigabyte.
