Top PCIe 3.0 SSD Drives

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Raymond Chen

The most popular storage technology on the market for now is PCIe 3rd Gen solid state drives. Next, let’s figure out how to choose the right one.

Top PCIe 3.0 SSD Drives

The PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) SSD has become the industry standard for storage solutions now. Third generation NVMe Solid State Drives are a breakthrough in comparison with SATA SSD, that are usually 2-4 times faster as opposed to fastest SATA solutions.

If you want to upgrade your PC or laptop storage to PCIe 3.0 NVMe, check compatibility first. New bus standard began appearing from 2011 with the Z68 motherboard. Older systems do not support this type of SSD, and even don't have an M.2 slot. Also we strongly recommend checking PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0 standards SSD. If your system has a newer generation of bus, you can take advantage of faster storage instead. But the 3rd generation is substantially less expensive and you can use the PCIe 3.0 SSD in the 4.0 slot without worries.

To find the best PCIe 3.0 SSD, you need to ask yourself: what do you want from it? The best budget storage now is WD Blue, Adata XPG, Kingston and Crucial P3. If you want maximum performance - Corsair MP series and Sabrent Rocket are the leaders. Most reliable solid state drives are Intel with TLC memory and Samsung Pro. You can find that most manufacturers use exactly the same memory and controller, so the difference with these brands is label, box and firmware.

List of PCIe 3.0 SSD to buy in 2024

There is 335 SSD in our database. Links to reviewed models of storage with detailed characteristics listed in table below.

Name Write Speed, Mb/s Read Speed, Mb/s Memory type
ADATA XPG Spectrix S20G RGB 1800 2500 Spectek 3D QLC
ADATA Swordfish 1200 1800 ADATA 3D TLC
ADATA Falcon 1500 3100 3D TLC
ADATA SX 8800 Pro 2700 3500 3D TLC
ADATA XPG Spectrix S40G RGB 3000 3500 IMFT 3D TLC
ADATA XPG Gammix S11 Pro 3000 3500 Micron TLC
ADATA XPG Gammix S5 1500 2100 Micron TLC
ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 3000 3500 n/a
ADATA XPG SX8000 1100 2500 ADATA MLC
ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro 1500 2100 Micron TLC
ADATA XPG SX6000 Lite 1200 1800 Micron TLC
Addlink X70 3000 3500 Toshiba 3D TLC
Addlink S70 2700 3500 Toshiba 3D TLC
Addlink S68 2100 2500 3D TLC
Apacer AS2280P2 Pro 950 1580 3D TLC
Apacer AS2280P4 2000 3200 3D TLC
Asura Genesis Xtreme 3000 3400 Toshiba TLC
Biostar M700 n/a n/a Intel 3D TLC
Corsair Force MP400 3000 3480 Micron 3D QLC
Corsair MP510 3000 3480 Toshiba TLC
Corsair Neutron NX500 1600 2800 Toshiba TLC
Crucial P5 3000 3400 Micron TLC
Crucial P2 1150 2300 Micron TLC
Crucial P1 1750 2000 Micron 3D QLC
Drevo D1 Xtreme 1600 3100 TLC
Edge NextGen M.2 1600 2705 TLC
Gigabyte M30 3000 3500 3D TLC
Gigabyte AORUS RGB 2000 3480 Toshiba TLC
Goodram PX500 1650 2500 3D TLC
Goodram IRDM Ultimate 2200 2900 Toshiba MLC
HP EX950 2900 3500 Micron TLC
HP EX920 1800 3200 Micron TLC
HP EX900 1500 2100 Micron TLC
Integral Memory Ultima Pro X 3000 3300 3D TLC
Intel Optane H20 2100 3000 Intel 144L QLC
Intel 760P 1625 3230 Intel TLC
Intel 670P 2700 3500 Intel 144L 3D QLC
Intel 665P 2000 2000 Intel 96L 3D QLC
Intel 660P 1800 1800 Intel QLC
Kingmax PX3480 3000 3400 Toshiba TLC
Kingston KC2500 2900 3500 3D TLC
Kingston A2000 2000 2200 Toshiba 3D TLC
Kingston KC2000 2200 3200 Toshiba 3D TLC
Kingston KC1000 1600 2700 Toshiba MLC
Kioxia XG5-P 2200 3000 Toshiba 3D TLC
Kioxia Exceria Plus 3200 3400 Toshiba 3D TLC
Kioxia Exceria 1600 1700 Toshiba 3D TLC
Leven JPR600 n/a n/a 3D TLC
Lexar NM700 2000 3500 3D TLC
Lexar NM620 3000 3300 3D TLC
Lexar NM610 1600 2100 Intel TLC
Lite-On MU X1 3000 3400 Toshiba 3D TLC
Mushkin Helix-L 1500 1700 TLC
Mushkin Pilot-E 2300 3500 Micron 3D TLC
Mushkin Pilot 1000 1500 Micron TLC
MyDigitalSSD SBXe 2100 2500 Toshiba TLC
MyDigitalSSD BPX Pro 3100 3400 Toshiba TLC
MyDigitalSSD BPX 1300 2600 SanDisk MLC
Netac 930E 1500 2000 TLC
Netac N535N 1500 2000 TLC
OWC Aura Pro X2 2400 3200 IMFT TLC
OWC Mercury M.2 1087 1872 MLC
Patriot P300 1650 2100 Toshiba 3D TLC
Patriot Viper VPR100 2900 3300 Toshiba 3D TLC
Patriot Viper VPN100 3000 3400 Toshiba TLC
Pioneer APS-SE20Q 3000 3400 Micron 3D QLC
Plextor M9Pe Series 2100 3200 Toshiba TLC
Plextor M8Se Series 1000 2400 Toshiba MLC
Plextor M8Pe 1400 2500 Toshiba MLC
PNY XLR8 CS3030 3000 3500 Toshiba TLC
PNY CS2030 1550 2800 Toshiba MLC
Sabrent Rocket Nano 2100 2500 Toshiba TLC
Sabrent Rocket Q 3000 3400 QLC
Samsung 980 3000 3500 Samsung TLC
Samsung 970 EVO Plus 3300 3500 Samsung MLC
Samsung 970 Pro 2700 3500 Samsung MLC
Samsung 970 EVO 2500 3500 Samsung TLC
SanDisk Extreme Pro 2500 3400 n/a
Seagate FireCuda 510 3280 3450 Toshiba TLC
Seagate BarraCuda 510 2180 3400 Toshiba TLC
Silicon Power UD70 3000 3400 Micron 3D QLC
Silicon Power P34A80 3000 3200 Toshiba TLC
Silicon Power P34A60 1600 2200 Intel TLC
SK Hynix Gold P31 3200 3500 SK Hynix 128L 3D TLC
Team Group Cardea Zero Z340 3000 3400 3D TLC
Team Group T-Force Cardea Liquid 3000 3400 Toshiba 3D TLC
Team Group MP34 2600 3000 Toshiba TLC
Team Group MP33 1500 1800 Toshiba 3D TLC
Team Group T-Force Cardea II 3000 3400 Toshiba 3D TLC
Team Group P30 1350 2500 n/a
Team Group T-Force Cardea Zero n/a n/a Toshiba MLC
Team Group T-Force Cardea 1450 2650 Toshiba MLC
Kioxia BG4 1800 2300 Toshiba 3D TLC
Kioxia RD500 3200 3400 Toshiba TLC
Kioxia RC500 1600 1700 Toshiba TLC
Kioxia XG6-P 2920 3180 Toshiba TLC
Kioxia XG6 2960 3180 Toshiba TLC
Kioxia XG5 2100 3000 Toshiba TLC
Transcend PCIe SSD 220S 1500 1700 MLC
Transcend PCIe SSD 110S 1500 1700 MLC
VisionTek Pro 2 1750 2680 n/a
VisionTek Pro 1000 1800 n/a
Western Digital Blue SN550 1950 2400 SanDisk 3D TLC
Western Digital Black ZN750 3000 3400 SanDisk TLC
Zadak Spark 3000 3400 Micron 3D TLC

Best PCIe 3.0 SSD FAQ

The PCIe 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 slots are interchangeable. That means full support of 3rd Gen SSD on 4th Gen slots and vice versa. The only problem is that 4th gen will be limited to 3rd generation max speed. But when you install third generation storage to the PCIe 4.0 slot, there will be no restrictions.

Theoretically, 3500 MB/s max for PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD. But that doesn't mean your storage reaches a limit. Most 3rd Gen SSD have average speed 2000-3200 Mb/s. The exact write and read speeds tested by our site SSD are available in the table on this page.

The speed of sequential write or read for NVMe SSD running on PCIe 3.0 bus is 4-6 times faster. So the productivity gains are the highest. The only benefits to using SATA now is the lack of finance.

There are no comments yet.
Your message is required.

Random Drives:

Lexar NM610 Review

Lexar NM610

250 Gb / M.2 3.0 x 4

ADATA Swordfish Review

ADATA Swordfish

500 Gb / M.2 3.0 x 4

Lexar NM800 PRO Review

Lexar NM800 PRO

512 Gb / M.2 4.0 x 4

ADATA Gammix S50 Lite Review

ADATA Gammix S50 Lite

1 Tb / M.2 4.0 x 4