Question Is the Intel 660p still the best value for storage size (2TB) / performance of NVMe SSDs?

[fuzzybabybunny]

My internal SSD on my laptop has pretty bad performance:

512GB Lenovo LENSE20512GMSP34MEAT2TA

Seq: 712 MB/s
Ran: 62 MB/s
Deep: 453 MB/s

I want to upgrade to a 2TB SSD

The 2TB Intel 660p seems to get on average:

Seq: 1215 MB/s
Ran: 87 MB/s
Deep: 661 MB/s

Yes, it's still on the slow side, but the price is cheap for such a large drive.

Are there any better 2TB drives that I should consider with a good price / performance ratio?

 

[fralexandr]

There's always the adata xpg 8100/8200 if you want something faster for $240

XPG 2TB SX8200 Pro NVMe M.2 Internal SSD

Buy XPG 2TB SX8200 Pro NVMe M.2 Internal SSD featuring 2TB Storage Capacity, M.2 2280 Form Factor, PCIe 3.0 x4 Interface, Up to 3500 MB/s Read Speed, Up to 3000 MB/s Write Speed, 3D NAND Flash Technology, LDPC Error Correction Technology, Heatsink Included. Review XPG SX8200 Pro

www.bhphotovideo.com

Just be aware that in sustained write loads most high performance nvme drives will throttle to some extent due to heat output especially in laptops with limited space and cooling.

ADATA SX8200 Pro 1 TB Review

The ADATA SX8200 Pro comes with a faster controller, which improves the performance of TLC significantly. Especially heavy writes see big improvements with results that almost make this drive look like MLC. Pricing is extremely reasonable, too: only 21 cents per GB. The SX8200 Pro is both faster...

www.techpowerup.com

It's too bad wd doesn't make a 2tb sn550 (nvme) blue. The black 2tb are ~$300

 

[razel]

Back when you can get the Intel 660p for ~$87 per 1TB or 2TB for $180, for pretty much the entire 4th Quarter for 2019, it was the only NVME drive I was buying and replacing all my SATA drives even in laptops that didn't support m2 or even boot NVME. There are ways to get it working (CloverEFI + mPCIe-to-m2 adapters).

Unfortunately prices went up, but it's still pretty affordable in the $105 per TB range. The other choices in that range are the Intel 665p, Crucial P1, WD SN550. The latter two were a few days about about $100-$105.

However I'm still drawn to the Intel's since their real world performance is beyond what most people need and even do extremely well in Anandtech's average person focused benchmarks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Back when you can get the Intel 660p for ~$87 per 1TB or 2TB for $180, for pretty much the entire 4th Quarter for 2019, it was the only NVME drive I was buying and replacing all my SATA drives even in laptops that didn't support m2 or even boot NVME. There are ways to get it working (CloverEFI + mPCIe-to-m2 adapters)

Yes, that introductory pricing for the 660p 1TB drives (I got two open-box that happened to be new, for $84 ea.) was SWEET.

Still, current drives not a bad price.

I saw an HP EX950 (fairly speedy) 1TB for $119.99, compared to the $109.99 660p, that's almost double the performance, for $10 more, and TLC rather than QLC memory. Probably worth the extra. (@ Newegg)

 

[KentState]

I'd avoid a QLC drive if possible. Maybe in 2TB form it will maintain speeds for longer, but the performance on the 1TB ones tank once the TLC cache is used.