Top recommended Gen4 SSD for an Intel Z790 motherboard build?

Question

Hey everyone, I'm finally putting together my new build with an i9-13900K and an ASUS Z790 motherboard. It's been a few years since my last upgrade, and I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the Gen4 storage options out there right now.

I'm specifically looking for a 2TB drive that handles gaming and some light video editing without breaking a sweat. I've been looking at a few models:

Samsung 990 Pro

WD Black SN850X

SK Hynix Platinum P41

Since my board has its own M.2 heatsinks, should I buy a bare drive or one with a pre-installed cooler? I'm mostly worried about long-term reliability and sustained speeds. What would you guys recommend as the absolute best Gen4 SSD for this specific setup?

DuchessOfDoomscroll · Accepted Answer

Honestly, if you are looking for reliability above everything else, I would probably go with the Western Digital WD_BLACK SN850X 2TB NVMe Gen4 SSD. I have used a few of these in builds recently and they are just super stable, which is what you want when you are doing video work. Samsung is great, but they had that firmware health scare a while back which makes me a bit nervous even tho its supposedly fixed now. Since your ASUS board has those beefy M.2 heatsinks, definitely just get the bare drive. Those built-in shields usually do a better job anyway and they look way cleaner than trying to fit a bulky pre-installed cooler under the board cover. The SN850X handles sustained loads really well without throttling... its basically the safest bet for a high-end Z790 build right now imo.

SundownSafflower · Answer

Totally agree with the stability of the WD, but I'd also check out the SK hynix Platinum P41 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen4. It is super efficient and runs cooler than most, which is great for longevity. Definitely grab the bare drive version tho... those ASUS Z790 heatsinks are chunky and work way better than the tiny ones that come pre-installed on the drives.

NeonNighthawk · Answer

ngl im dealing with the exact same headache right now. Just started my Z790 project and i have been looking at these two specifically because the ones mentioned already dont quite hit the specs i want for my workflow...

Seagate FireCuda 530 2TB NVMe SSD: honestly the write endurance is what makes me happy here. 2550 TBW is absolute top tier for heavy editing work.

Kingston KC3000 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD: no complaints about the speeds on this one. It uses that Phison E18 controller and works well for high IOPS while being cheaper than the big names. basically just trying to decide if the extra endurance is worth the premium. its a total toss up and i am stuck looking at benchmarks for hours lol.