Samsung 990 PRO 1TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
Kingston KC3000 2TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
What Buyers Say
Samsung 990 PRO 1TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
The Samsung 990 Pro SSD is widely praised for its exceptional speed, cool operation, and reliability, making it a top choice for gaming and heavy workloads. However, several reviewers warn that the drive may ship with outdated firmware that can cause rapid health degradation, urging immediate updates via Samsung Magician. Despite this caveat, most users recommend it for home use and high-performance builds, noting its value on sale and compatibility with various motherboards.
Pros
- Exceptional speed
- Cool operation
- Reliable performance
- Easy installation
- Good value on sale
Cons
- Outdated firmware on arrival
- Potential rapid health degradation
- Not ideal for mission-critical use
Kingston KC3000 2TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
Users are overwhelmingly positive about this Kingston KC3000 SSD, praising its blazing-fast speeds, especially for gaming and as a boot drive. Many note it outperforms or matches competitors like the Samsung 990 Pro and WD SN850X, often at a better price. A few mention minor setup quirks, like needing to download drivers on new Windows builds or dealing with sector size differences, but these are easily resolved and don't detract from overall satisfaction.
Pros
- Blazing fast speeds
- Great value for money
- Outperforms competitors
- Excellent for gaming
- Reliable performance
Cons
- Driver download needed on new Windows
- Sector size mismatch for cloning
- 4TB version pricey
Scores
Specifications
| Samsung 990 PRO | Kingston KC3000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Drive | ||
| Capacity | ||
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4 | PCIe 4.0 x4 |
| Protocol | NVMe | NVMe |
| PCIe Generation | 4 | 4 |
| External | ✗ | ✗ |
| Performance | ||
| Sequential Read (MB/s) | ||
| Sequential Write (MB/s) | ||
| Random Read (IOPS) | ||
| Random Write (IOPS) | ||
| Hardware | ||
| NAND | TLC | TLC |
| DRAM Cache | ✓ | ✓ |
| Controller | Samsung | Phison E18 |
| Reliability | ||
| Endurance (TBW) | ||
| MTBF (hours) | ||
| Warranty (years) | 5 | 5 |
| Features | ||
| Heatsink | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hardware Encryption | ✓★ | — |
Pros & Cons
Samsung 990 PRO 1TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
- Strong feature (99th percentile)99th %ile
- Strong random (97th percentile)97th %ile
- Strong social proof (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong speed (94th percentile)94th %ile
Kingston KC3000 2TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280
- Strong user sentiment (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong random (95th percentile)95th %ile
- Strong feature (94th percentile)94th %ile
- Strong endurance (93rd percentile)93rd %ile
- Below average affordability (24th percentile)
Verdict
Scores 97 overall, wins 4 of 6 usage categories and 4 of 18 specs.