This ranking splits into two blocks with a 9-point gap and nothing in between: six PCIe 5.0 drives from 78.3 to 85.4, then four PCIe 4.0 drives from 68.7 to 69.2. Every drive here is 2 TB, M.2 2280, with a 5-year warranty. One specification is doing essentially all the sorting.
That makes this an unusually easy category to shop and an unusually easy one to overspend in. Every figure below is the live computed Mars Score.
Joint highest: Samsung 9100 PRO 2TB and SK hynix Platinum P51 2TB
Both Mars Score 85.4. 14,800 / 13,400 MB/s for the Samsung at $249; 14,700 / 13,400 for the SK hynix at $229. Identical write speed, 100 MB/s apart on reads — a 0.7% difference — and the SK hynix is $20 cheaper.
There is no meaningful performance argument between these two. Buy whichever is cheaper on the day.
Practically the same drive: Crucial T705 2TB
Mars Score 85.1 at $249. 14,500 / 12,700 MB/s. It is 0.3 points behind the leaders on a sheet and indistinguishable from them in use.
Cheapest PCIe 5.0: Sabrent Rocket 5 2TB
Mars Score 84.4 at $219 — the lowest price in the Gen 5 block and 1 point off the top. 14,000 / 12,000 MB/s.
Who should buy it: anyone who has decided on Gen 5 and does not want to pay for the last 5%.
The expensive one: Corsair MP700 PRO 2TB
Mars Score 82.6 at $269, the most expensive drive here, and the slowest of the five fastest (12,400 / 11,800). It is the only case in this list where paying more gets you less.
Most durable: Seagate FireCuda 540 2TB
Mars Score 78.3 at $219. 10,000 / 10,000 MB/s — well behind the Gen 5 leaders — but 2,000 TBW against their 1,200, meaning it is rated to absorb 67% more total writes over its life.
If you run databases, video scratch disks, or anything that writes continuously, this is a better buy than its score position implies. TBW is the specification that matters for a drive you intend to wear out, and almost nobody shops on it.
The Gen 4 block: where most people should actually stop
Four drives, 68.7 to 69.2, all around 7,300–7,500 MB/s read, all $149 to $179 — roughly $70 less than the Gen 5 block.
- Samsung 990 PRO 2TB (69.2, $179) is the fastest and best-supported of them.
- Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB (69.1, $159) matches the FireCuda on 2,000 TBW — the endurance pick of the Gen 4 group, for $60 less than the Seagate.
- Lexar NM800 Pro 2TB (68.8, $149) is the cheapest drive in this top ten, with 1,500 TBW.
- WD Black SN850X 2TB (68.7, $169) is the most widely stocked and the most console-friendly.
The honest framing: the score gap between these and the Gen 5 block is real and the felt difference for gaming, boot times and general desktop work is close to nothing. Sequential read speed is the number this category ranks on and the number least connected to how a desktop feels. Gen 5 drives also run hotter and several require a heatsink your motherboard may not have room for.
How to choose, in four questions
- Does your motherboard even have a Gen 5 M.2 slot? If not, the top six drives will run at Gen 4 speeds and the decision is made for you.
- What are you actually doing? Large sequential file work (video, datasets, backups) rewards Gen 5. Gaming and desktop use essentially do not.
- Will you wear it out? Then read TBW first: the FireCuda 540 and FURY Renegade are rated for 2,000 against everything else's 1,200–1,500.
- Heatsink and clearance. Gen 5 drives throttle without one, and a large GPU or CPU cooler may not leave space.
All SSDs in the catalog are ranked on the SSDs page, and the full dataset behind these scores is open data.
Turn this reading into a better product decision
This buying guide is a decision framework, not a substitute for checking the exact variant, regional price, availability, and warranty that apply to you. Use the linked catalog data to separate published facts from personal priorities, then compare the final shortlist directly rather than relying on a generic ranking.
Verify the fit
Open the SSDs category page to filter the relevant field, then inspect full product profiles and the score methodology.
Keep the recommendation current
This article references 10 catalog products; use the live product pages for current specifications and comparison links.
vsMars keeps editorial judgment, normalized Mars Score inputs, and affiliate links separate. If a detail is missing or out of date, report it so the catalog and this article can be corrected.