Samsung 990 EVO is the best choice.

Ok so, iirc the 9950X3D is going to be a beast for productivity too, not just gaming. Before committing to a specific interface speed, what kind of thermal management are you looking at in your case??? These newer Gen5 controllers get incredibly hot and if you dont have active cooling or a massive heat sink, you might see some nasty thermal throttling during heavy IOPS-intensive tasks. Basically, are you going for a workstation-grade setup or just a standard gaming rig? From a market research perspective, Gen5 is still a bit of a wild west. Tbh, the firmware stability on some of these newer controllers is still being ironed out across the industry. If you want my expert take, you should probably focus on manufacturers that have their own in-house NAND and controller production for better vertical integration.

• Look at anything from SK Hynix
• Stick with Crucial for reliable firmware
• Check out Western Digital for consistency Honestly, just get any of the high-end options from those brands and youll be fine. They tend to have better MTBF ratings and much more consistent sustained write speeds than the rebranded stuff. Imo, the reliability and warranty support from a tier-1 manufacturer is way more important than hitting 12,000 MB/s sequential speeds that youll never actually utilize in daily desktop use!!!

i really regret jumping on the pcie 5.0 bandwagon so early. thought it would be a massive upgrade for my setup but honestly it was just a total letdown.

• the heat issues are no joke. my Crucial T700 1TB was basically a space heater in my case and the performance tanked as soon as it got warm.
• i also messed around with a Corsair MP700 2TB and the price premium for the tiny speed boost in daily tasks is just plain silly.
• most of these brands are using the exact same hardware under the hood right now so youre basically just paying for a different sticker and maybe a slightly different heatsink. it was definitely not as good as expected and i ended up going back to my older drives. save your cash for a better gpu or more ram because gen 5 just isnt ready for prime time yet imo. especially with how loud those tiny fans get on the new coolers...

I've been down this road, unfortunately. I paired a Samsung 990 Pro (PCIe 4.0) with my previous-gen Ryzen, expecting miracles for gaming. Paid around $170 for the 2TB. Honestly? Not as good as expected. Load times were only marginally faster than my older Sabrent Rocket Q (also PCIe 4.0).

While I don't have the 9950X3D *yet*, my takeaway is this: for gaming and general use, save your cash. The PCIe 5.0 premium isn't worth it, *especially* if you're cost-conscious. I'd stick with a reliable, high-capacity PCIe 4.0 like the Sabrent, or even consider a WD Black SN850X. You'll likely get better real-world value. I had issues with early firmware on the 990 Pro too. I think you'll find the 4.0 is plenty fast. What resolution are you gaming at?

For optimal value, a Phison E18-based PCIe 4.0 drive like the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus (7000 MB/s) offers diminishing returns vs. Gen5 at ~$150/TB. Does your workload *really* need >7GB/s sequential?