Home › SSDs › 500GB PCIe 3.0 MLC DRAM

Best 500GB PCIe 3.0 MLC DRAM SSDs

500GBPCIe 3.0MLCDRAM

There are 15 500GB PCIe 3.0 MLC DRAM SSDs in our database — each linked via an Amazon search on its part number. The fastest is the Samsung 960 PRO M.2 at 3500 MB/s read. Sequential reads across the group span 1900–3500 MB/s.

FastestSamsung 960 PRO M.23500 MB/s read NewestSamsung PRO 970 M.22018

Why this configuration

A 500GB PCIe 3.0 MLC DRAM SSD is an affordable NVMe step up from SATA. Gen3 is roughly six times SATA's throughput yet often costs little more, making it the easy default for a first NVMe drive or a laptop that only supports Gen3.

500GB is a sensible OS-plus-a-few-games size.

Usually chosen for: budget builders, laptop upgraders and anyone leaving SATA behind.

Good fit: workstation and creative loads that hammer random I/O.

Ranked list

Ranked by tier, then link type, then sequential read. Drives we hold a product link for show a price button; the rest open an Amazon search on the manufacturer part number. Stock and prices are not shown here — they change too often.

The parts, explained

500GB is a comfortable OS-and-games starting point.

PCIe 3.0 x4 reaches about 3,500 MB/s — plenty for everyday use and gaming, and cheaper than Gen4.

MLC NAND is older and costs more per gigabyte, but is very durable.

An onboard DRAM cache keeps the flash mapping table on the drive, holding random performance steady under sustained load.

Common questions

How do the links to Amazon work here?

2 of the 15 drives listed have a direct product link; for the rest we link an Amazon search on the manufacturer part number, which lands on the right listing. We deliberately don't display stock or prices on this page — check both on Amazon, they change constantly.

Related configurations

Best 250GB PCIe 3.0 MLC DRAM SSDs 11Best 1TB PCIe 3.0 MLC DRAM SSDs 9Best 500GB SATA MLC DRAM SSDs 39Best 500GB PCIe 3.0 TLC DRAM SSDs 61Best 500GB PCIe 3.0 MLC SSDs 15