HP EX900 1 TB Review — Budget PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD (2026)

Posted on May 23, 2026 by Raymond Chen

The HP EX900 1 TB is the top capacity of HP\xe2\x80\x99s budget NVMe family \xe2\x80\x94 a DRAM-less PCIe 3.0 drive that finally hits useful sustained throughput at the size where the SM2263XT can stretch.

HP EX900 1 TB Review — Budget PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD

Controller & Memory

The HP EX900 1 TB is the largest capacity of HP’s mainstream consumer NVMe family, built around the Silicon Motion SM2263XT — a DRAM-less four-channel controller that uses Host Memory Buffer (HMB) to borrow a slice of system RAM for the flash-translation-layer map instead of carrying its own DDR DRAM. NAND is Micron 3D TLC arranged across packages on a single-sided M.2 2280 PCB, which makes the EX900 a clean drop-in for both desktops and thin laptops. The HP brand is licensed; the drive is manufactured and supported by Biwin, which is why it shares a controller lineage with several other budget Biwin NVMe drives sold under other names.

At 1 TB the EX900 finally hits the family’s rated peak — 2,150 MB/s sequential reads, 1,815 MB/s sequential writes, 250,000 IOPS random reads, and 260,000 IOPS random writes. Those random IOPS figures are roughly double what HP rates at 250 GB and 500 GB, because more NAND packages give the SM2263XT more channels to interleave. The 1 TB capacity is also where the SLC write cache stops feeling cramped on continuous transfers. The closest direct rivals at 1 TB are the WD Blue SN570 1 TB (DRAM-less HMB, newer 112-layer TLC, faster sequential), the Crucial P3 1 TB (PCIe 3.0, DRAM-less QLC, lower TBW), and the Kingston NV2 1 TB (DRAM-less HMB, variable controller). The EX900’s case is its long 5-year warranty and a Micron-TLC bill of materials.

The target audience is a budget Windows boot-and-storage drive in a PCIe 3.0 desktop or older laptop, where 1 TB is enough for the OS plus a small active library of games or projects and the value of a dedicated DRAM cache does not justify the price step up. It is not the right pick for a Gen 4 platform where a SN580 1 TB or P3 Plus 1 TB delivers more for the same money, and it is not a PS5 candidate — PCIe 3.0 rules it out regardless of capacity.

Storage Comparisons:

Best Deal of 1 TB SSDs NVME Top PCIe 3.0 SSD Drives Top 2 TB SSDs

EX900 Performance & Benchmarks

HP rates the EX900 1 TB at up to 2,150 MB/s sequential reads and 1,815 MB/s sequential writes, with random performance of up to 250,000 IOPS read and 260,000 IOPS write. Those numbers put the 1 TB capacity above the 500 GB and 250 GB siblings on every meaningful axis, especially the random IOPS figures — which are roughly double the smaller capacities because the SM2263XT has more NAND channels to schedule across. In real-world testing reviewers consistently measure sequential reads and writes essentially at rated values, with the 4K random scores landing close to the published IOPS rating.

Performance comparison

HP EX900 1 TB vs M.2 3.0 x 4 peers

Switch between sequential throughput and random IOPS to see how this drive stacks up against other M.2 3.0 x 4 SSDs in our database. The highlighted bar is the drive on this page — click any other bar to open that drive.

ADATA SX 8800 Pro 512 GB: 3,500 MB/s read, 2,700 MB/s write
ADATA SX 8800 Pro 1 TB: 3,500 MB/s read, 2,700 MB/s write
ADATA XPG Spectrix S40G RGB 256 GB: 3,500 MB/s read, 3,000 MB/s write
ADATA XPG Spectrix S40G RGB 512 GB: 3,500 MB/s read, 3,000 MB/s write
HP EX900 1 TB (this drive): 2,150 MB/s read, 1,815 MB/s write

The practical experience is that the EX900 1 TB feels noticeably faster than any SATA SSD and roughly half as fast as a flagship Gen 3 drive like the Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 TB on heavy mixed workloads. Large game installs that push tens of gigabytes contiguously will exhaust the SLC cache and drop the drive into direct-to-TLC mode at a few hundred MB/s, which is noticeable on multi-AAA installs but rarely painful for normal use. As a one-drive build for a budget desktop — OS, productivity, a couple of active games — the 1 TB EX900 is a comfortable fit; for sustained creator workloads or DirectStorage benchmarks, a current Gen 4 drive at the same price pulls clear.

HP EX900 vs Competitors

See how the EX900 stacks up against other M.2 3.0 x 4 drives in our database:

Compare with rival drives:

ADATA XPG Gammix S5 1 TB Kingston A2000 1 TB Lexar NM610 1 TB

Endurance, TBW & Warranty

HP rates the EX900 1 TB at 500 TBW (terabytes written) over a 5-year limited warranty, whichever limit is reached first. That endurance figure is well in line with mainstream TLC NVMe drives at this capacity and corresponds to roughly 274 GB of host writes per day for the full five-year period \xe2\x80\x94 vastly above what a typical desktop boot-and-storage drive generates. At a more realistic 20\xe2\x80\x9330 GB/day workload the rated 500 TBW corresponds to roughly 45 to 68 years of nominal life before the counter is exhausted. HP publishes an MTBF figure of greater than 1 million hours, which is a statistical population metric rather than a guaranteed lifespan for any individual drive. Warranty service is handled via HP / Biwin RMA with proof of purchase. The TBW scales with capacity inside the EX900 family: 70 TBW at 120 GB, 100 TBW at 250 GB, and 200 TBW at 500 GB.

HP EX900 1 TB Specifications

Category	Value
Capacity [?]	1 TB
Interface [?]	M.2 3.0 x 4
Controller [?]	Silicon Motion SM2263XT
Memory type [?]	Micron TLC
DRAM [?]	HMB
Read speed (MB/s) [?]	2150
Write speed (MB/s) [?]	1815
Read IOPS [?]	250000
Write IOPS [?]	260000
Endurance (TBW) [?]	500
MTBF (million hours) [?]	2
Warranty (years) [?]	5

Verdict: Is the EX900 Worth It in 2026?

The HP EX900 1 TB is the right pick if you specifically need a budget 1 TB NVMe boot-and-storage drive on a PCIe 3.0 platform and the price is meaningfully lower than current Gen 4 entry rivals. Skip it if your motherboard or laptop is PCIe 4.0 and a WD Blue SN580 1 TB or Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB is within range \xe2\x80\x94 those drives clear the EX900 on every meaningful benchmark and cost roughly the same per gigabyte. The cleaner alternative on PCIe 3.0 at this capacity is the WD Blue SN570 1 TB, which uses newer 112-layer NAND and has steadier sustained writes; the Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 TB is the better step-up for users who want a DRAM-backed Gen 3 drive at the same size. Overall the EX900 1 TB is the most balanced capacity in the family and the only one most modern buyers should consider.

+ Pros

2,150 MB/s sequential reads on PCIe 3.0
500 TBW endurance with 5-year warranty
250K random IOPS read at this capacity
Single-sided M.2 2280 fits any slot
Cheap entry into 1 TB NVMe storage
Known Biwin firmware lineage

- Cons

1,815 MB/s writes lag flagship Gen 3 drives
DRAM-less HMB design hurts mixed workloads
Older Micron TLC versus newer 112-layer rivals
No PCIe 4.0 upgrade path on this controller
No PS5 compatibility on PCIe 3.0

3.6 / 5 · 107 votes

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Video Review

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Frequently Asked Questions

The HP EX900 1 TB is workable for casual to mid-tier gaming on a PCIe 3.0 platform but is not a top pick for a serious gaming build. Its 2,150 MB/s reads and 1,815 MB/s writes are well above any SATA SSD on game level loads, and the 250,000 random read IOPS figure keeps small-asset reads responsive once a game is running. The 1 TB capacity holds two or three modern AAA installs plus Windows. For new gaming builds on PCIe 4.0 hardware a Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB or WD Blue SN580 1 TB is the better value, with steadier sustained writes and Gen 4 sequential numbers.

No, the HP EX900 1 TB does not meet Sony\xe2\x80\x99s PS5 expansion-slot requirements. The PS5 specifies a PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive with at least 5,500 MB/s sequential reads, and the EX900 is a PCIe 3.0 drive rated at 2,150 MB/s reads \xe2\x80\x94 well below the threshold. The EX900 also has no listing on Sony\xe2\x80\x99s or any community-maintained PS5 compatibility spreadsheet, because the interface itself disqualifies it. If you need a 1 TB PS5 expansion drive, look at the WD Black SN850X 1 TB, Samsung 990 Pro 1 TB, or Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 1 TB instead.

No, the HP EX900 is a DRAM-less drive. The Silicon Motion SM2263XT controller it ships with uses Host Memory Buffer (HMB) to borrow a small slice of system RAM for the flash-translation-layer map instead of carrying its own DDR DRAM chip. HMB is fine for light workloads \xe2\x80\x94 boot, small office tasks, web browsing, single-game loads \xe2\x80\x94 but it cannot match a dedicated DRAM cache once random-write IOPS pressure climbs or the active address space exceeds the HMB allocation. That architectural choice is what keeps the EX900 cheap, and it is the main reason a Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 TB pulls ahead under heavy mixed loads.

The HP EX900 1 TB is rated for 500 TBW (terabytes written) over a 5-year limited warranty, whichever limit is reached first. At a typical desktop workload of 20 to 30 GB of host writes per day the rated endurance corresponds to roughly 45 to 68 years of nominal life before the counter is exhausted, comfortably beyond the warranty window. The endurance scales with capacity inside the EX900 family: 70 TBW at 120 GB, 100 TBW at 250 GB, and 200 TBW at 500 GB. The 1 TB\xe2\x80\x99s 500 TBW figure is in line with mainstream TLC NVMe drives of this generation.

No, the HP EX900 does not need an aftermarket heatsink for typical use. The Silicon Motion SM2263XT is a four-channel DRAM-less controller that runs cool under realistic consumer workloads, and the modest 2,150 MB/s read ceiling means it never pushes the same thermal envelope as a flagship Gen 4 controller. HP does not ship a heatsink in the retail box, and the single-sided M.2 2280 PCB drops into any motherboard or laptop M.2 slot without extra clearance. If your motherboard already provides a stamped M.2 cover that is plenty; otherwise the EX900 is happy running bare in a normally-ventilated case.

The WD Blue SN570 1 TB is the closest current PCIe 3.0 entry-NVMe rival. On paper the SN570 has the edge: 3,500 MB/s rated reads and 3,000 MB/s rated writes versus the EX900\xe2\x80\x99s 2,150 / 1,815 MB/s, newer Sandisk 112-layer BiCS5 TLC versus older Micron TLC, and the WD Dashboard utility for SMART monitoring on Windows. Both drives are DRAM-less HMB and both ship in single-sided M.2 2280. The EX900\xe2\x80\x99s case is typically a lower street price and a known 5-year warranty; at meaningful price parity the SN570 is the better default pick.