Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB
WHY WE CHOSE IT
"A Gen 4 drive in this board would run at Gen 3 speed. The 970 EVO Plus is built for the lanes the board actually has, so the rated number on the box is the number the slot delivers."
A native PCIe Gen 3.0 x4 drive in a PCIe Gen 3.0 board. Rated at 3,500 MB/s read and 3,200 MB/s write, and Z390 gives it the full four lanes it asks for. Nothing about this drive is waiting on the chipset.
Technical Specifications
| Interface | PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, NVMe, M.2 2280 |
| Capacity | 500GB |
| Sequential Read | Up to 3,500 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | Up to 3,200 MB/s |
| Controller | Samsung Phoenix (S4LR020) |
| NAND | 96-layer 3D V-NAND TLC (V-NAND v5) |
Optimization Notes
When installing the Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB, ensure you follow our specific configuration guide. Standard installation methods often result in suboptimal performance or higher latency.
Component Procurement & Testing FAQs
Crucial advice on buying used enthusiast PC hardware, silicon binning, and thermal maintenance.
Silicon degradation manifests as instability at stock or mild voltages. Test the CPU by running OCCT CPU / Linpack at stock voltage; if errors occur within 10 minutes, the silicon has experienced degradation.
For used graphics cards (especially OEM or previously mined units), check VRAM junction temperatures and inspect HWInfo64 for "PCIe Bus Errors" (WHEA 17/19).
Replacing dried thermal pads and applying PTM7950 to the GPU core restores used hardware to factory thermal performance.
Always check WHEA errors in HWInfo64 and verify voltage stability on second-hand hardware.