fanxiang S690Q 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2

The fanxiang S690Q 1TB hits 4800 MB/s reads and 320 TBW endurance for under $190, which is a solid value on paper. But it's a QLC, DRAM-less drive with a 2900 MB/s write ceiling, and a handful of owners report failures within 1.5 to 2 years. It's a budget gamble that pays off for casual use, but the PS5 speed warning and reliability concerns are real.

4800 MB/s sequential read and 2900 MB/s sequential write. The read speed is respectable, well above average for budget drives, and it's enough to make game load times feel snappy. The write speed is where the QLC NAND and DRAM-less design show up. Once the SLC cache fills, writes drop hard. That's just how these drives work. The HMB implementation helps by borrowing system memory for the mapping table, but it can't fully compensate for the lack of onboard DRAM.

Endurance is 320 TBW, which puts it in the 74th percentile. That's genuinely good for a QLC drive at this price. The 2 million hour MTBF is marketing noise, but the TBW number is real and reassuring. Random performance lands in the 62nd percentile, which is about average. Nothing here is going to blow you away, but for a drive that costs this little, the numbers are honest.

Against the Samsung 990 PRO, this drive is not in the same league. The 990 PRO pushes reads past 7000 MB/s and has DRAM, better random performance, and a proven reliability track record. But it costs significantly more. The Crucial T500 is a closer fight. The T500 is faster across the board and has DRAM, but the fanxiang undercuts it on price and actually offers comparable endurance at 320 TBW. The WD Black SN850X is another step up in speed and consistency, but again, you're paying for it. The XPG GAMMIX S70 Blade is probably the most direct competitor in terms of price-to-performance, and it beats the fanxiang on write speed. The Lexar NM1090 PRO is a different animal entirely, aimed at enthusiasts who want top-tier speeds. For a PS5, the fanxiang works, but the console will warn you that it's below the recommended 5500 MB/s read speed. That's not a dealbreaker for most games, but it's worth knowing.

Value is where this drive earns its keep. The affordability score sits in the 62nd percentile, and the US listings run $170 to $186 for the 1TB model. That's not the absolute cheapest PCIe 4.0 drive out there, but it's well below what you'd pay for a Samsung 990 PRO or WD Black SN850X. The EUR listings at 155 to 160 are similarly positioned. You're getting above-average endurance and a solid read speed for a price that undercuts the big names by a meaningful margin. The 5-year warranty sweetens the deal, assuming the company is still around to honor it in year four.

The fanxiang S690Q 1TB is a budget PCIe 4.0 drive that posts 4800 MB/s reads and 2900 MB/s writes. That read speed lands in the 66th percentile of our database, which is solid for the price bracket, but the write speed tells the real story. This is a QLC, DRAM-less drive, and the 2900 MB/s write ceiling is a reminder that you're not getting flagship silicon here. Endurance sits at 320 TBW, which is actually above average for this class, and the 5-year warranty backs it up.

For the money, this thing is aimed squarely at PS5 owners and budget desktop builders who want PCIe 4.0 without paying Samsung or WD prices. The graphene heat spreader is a nice touch, and the included screwdriver is a small but genuinely useful extra. But the user sentiment score of 72/100 with a 4.4-star average across 1,305 reviews tells a more nuanced story. People love the value. A few people have watched these drives die within two years. That tension defines this product.

Skip this if you're storing anything irreplaceable or doing heavy sustained writes. The 2900 MB/s write speed and QLC NAND mean large file transfers will slow down dramatically once the cache fills, and the feature set ranks in the 34th percentile, so there's no hardware encryption or advanced management tools to lean on. If you're a content creator who moves hundreds of gigabytes daily, or if you're building a system where the drive is the only storage, the reliability reports of failures within 18 to 24 months should give you pause. Spend the extra money on a DRAM-equipped TLC drive. Your data will thank you.

The fanxiang S690Q is a budget drive that knows what it is. The 4800 MB/s read speed and 320 TBW endurance are legitimately good for the price, and the 5-year warranty shows some confidence. But the QLC NAND, DRAM-less design, and 2900 MB/s write ceiling mean this is not a drive for heavy sustained workloads. The user reviews back this up. Most people are happy with the value and speed. A small but noticeable number have watched these drives fail within two years. If you need a cheap PS5 storage upgrade or a secondary game drive, this is a reasonable gamble. If you're storing anything you can't afford to lose, spend more on something with a better track record.