Samsung 980 1TB NVMe PCIe 3.0
The Samsung 980 1TB NVMe PCIe 3.0 is a DRAM-less M.2 SSD offering solid performance for everyday computing and gaming, positioned as a cost-effective upgrade over SATA drives.
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Best for
- • Mainstream gaming
- • General productivity and office tasks
- • Boot drive for Windows/Linux
- • Budget-conscious PC builds
- • Laptop storage upgrades
Strengths
- + Reliable Samsung brand and controller
- + Good sequential read/write speeds for PCIe 3.0 (up to 3500 MB/s read)
- + Excellent endurance rating (600 TBW for 1TB model)
- + Competitive pricing for its performance tier
- + 5-year warranty
Trade-offs
- − Lacks DRAM cache, which can impact sustained random write performance
- − Slower than PCIe 4.0 drives for large file transfers
- − Performance can drop significantly when the SLC cache is exhausted
- − Not ideal for heavy workstation loads with constant large file writes
Should you buy it?
Buy this if you need a reliable, fast boot drive or game storage and are on a budget, or if your motherboard only supports PCIe 3.0. For heavy video editing or large file transfers where sustained performance is critical, consider PCIe 4.0 drives like the Samsung 970 EVO Plus or 980 Pro for their DRAM cache and higher speeds.
Specifications
- Capacity
- 1000 GB
- Form factor
- M.2 2280
- Interface
- PCIe 3.0 x4
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