Samsung 970 EVO 500GB PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280

The Samsung 970 EVO is a 500GB PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD that still holds up for everyday use thanks to strong random performance and Samsung's proven reliability. It's not the fastest drive anymore, and the price is often too high for what you get. If you're on an older system and find it under USD 250, it's a decent buy. Otherwise, newer Gen 4 drives offer more speed for less money.

In our testing, the 970 EVO delivers exactly what Samsung promises. Sequential reads hit around 3,400 MB/s and writes land near 2,300 MB/s. For random workloads, you're looking at 370K read IOPS and 450K write IOPS. Those random numbers are actually a standout, landing in the 85th percentile of all drives in our database. That's impressive for a PCIe 3.0 drive and it's one reason this thing still feels fast in everyday use, even compared to newer drives with higher sequential numbers.

The speed percentile overall is 59th, which makes sense. It's a Gen 3 drive competing against Gen 4 and Gen 5 hardware. But here's the thing: most people can't tell the difference between 3,400 MB/s and 7,000 MB/s in daily use. Boot times, app launches, and game loads are all dominated by random read performance and latency, not raw sequential throughput. The 970 EVO's random performance is well above average, and that's why it still feels quick. If you're coming from a hard drive or SATA SSD, the jump is massive. If you're coming from another Gen 3 NVMe drive, it's more of a lateral move.

The most obvious comparison is the Western Digital Black SN850X. That's a Gen 4 drive with sequential reads around 7,300 MB/s, more than double the 970 EVO. If your motherboard supports PCIe 4.0, the SN850X is the better buy in almost every way, assuming you can find it at a similar price. The Crucial T500 is another strong Gen 4 option that often undercuts Samsung on price while delivering better performance. The Kingston Fury Renegade is also worth a look if you want high endurance and don't mind spending a bit more.

Where the 970 EVO still makes sense is if you're on an older system with only PCIe 3.0 support. In that case, a Gen 4 drive won't give you any extra speed, and the 970 EVO's proven track record and strong random performance make it a safe pick. But even then, there are cheaper Gen 3 drives that perform similarly. The 970 EVO's main advantage is the Samsung name and the massive install base. That counts for something, but it's not worth paying double for.

Pricing on the 970 EVO is all over the place right now. We're seeing USD 229 to USD 299 across four US listings, which is a pretty wide spread for a 500GB Gen 3 drive. At the low end, it's a reasonable buy if you specifically want Samsung reliability and don't need Gen 4 speeds. At the high end, it's hard to justify. For USD 299, you're in territory where you can get a 1TB or even 2TB Gen 4 drive from a competitor. If you're shopping this drive, check Newegg and Best Buy first, since the Amazon listings tend to sit at the higher end of that range. The affordability percentile is 22nd, which tells you this drive is not a budget pick. You're paying a Samsung premium for a drive that's technically outdated.

The Samsung 970 EVO is a 500GB M.2 NVMe SSD that sits in the PCIe 3.0 generation, which means it's a few years old at this point but still a very relevant drive for anyone upgrading from a hard disk or SATA SSD. It's the kind of drive people search for when they want to know if an older NVMe drive is still worth buying in a world full of PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 options. The short answer is yes, for most people, especially if you find it at a good price. Samsung's Phoenix controller and TLC V-NAND are a proven combo, and the 970 EVO has been a go-to recommendation for years.

We're looking at sequential reads up to 3,400 MB/s and writes up to 2,300 MB/s. Those numbers won't touch a modern Gen 4 drive, but they're still roughly six times faster than a SATA SSD and more than enough to make Windows feel snappy. The drive also includes a DRAM cache, which helps keep performance consistent during sustained writes, and hardware encryption for anyone who cares about that. The 500GB capacity is on the smaller side by today's standards, but it's a solid choice for a boot drive or a secondary game library.

One thing that stands out in our database is the social proof. This drive has a massive number of reviews and a 4.9 out of 5 rating across nearly 38,000 ratings. That's the kind of track record most drives can only dream of. But the user sentiment score is a different story, landing in the 29th percentile. That gap between the rating and the sentiment is worth digging into, and we'll get to that below.

Skip the 970 EVO if you have a PCIe 4.0 or 5.0 motherboard and want maximum performance. The WD Black SN850X or Crucial T500 will give you double the sequential speeds for a similar or lower price. Also skip it if you need more than 500GB of storage, since the capacity is on the small side and the price per gigabyte is not competitive. If you're on a tight budget, there are cheaper Gen 3 drives that perform nearly as well without the Samsung premium. And if you're planning to use it as a boot drive in an older system, the recurring compatibility complaints are worth taking seriously.

Should you buy the Samsung 970 EVO in 2025? If you can find it at the low end of that USD 229 to USD 299 range and you're on a PCIe 3.0 system, it's a solid choice. The drive is reliable, fast enough for everyday use, and backed by a 5-year warranty. But the user sentiment data gives us pause. A 29th percentile sentiment score is rough for a drive with a 4.9-star rating, and the recurring complaints about boot drive issues and warranty support are not what we'd expect from Samsung.

The reality is that this drive is a legacy product at this point. It was great when it launched, and it's still fine for a lot of use cases. But there are better options available for less money, especially if your system supports PCIe 4.0. If you're building a new system or upgrading a modern laptop, look at the SN850X or T500 first. If you're reviving an older machine and find a good deal on the 970 EVO, it'll serve you well.