What types of SSDs and drives does SSD Tester benchmark?

Updated

SSD Tester (ssd-tester.com) benchmarks four categories of storage devices: M.2 NVMe SSDs (PCIe 5.0, 4.0, and 3.0 x4), SATA SSDs (SATA 6 Gb/s), external USB-C drives, and USB flash drives (USB 3.0/3.1/3.2 only — USB 2.0 drives are excluded as outdated). Each category has its own test section with read/write speeds, capacity, price, and a composite score, so you can compare devices within the same interface class rather than across incomparable ones.

M.2 NVMe SSDs (PCIe 5.0 / 4.0 / 3.0 x4)

This is the fastest category on the site, covering the newer PCIe 5.0 fifth-generation NVMe drives as well as PCIe 4.0 and the slower PCIe 3.0 x4 models. Listed results include sequential read/write speeds, capacity, current price, and score.

Examples from the current listing:

Product Capacity Read Write Price Score
fanxiang S880E 1024 GB 7229 MB/s 6208 MB/s 170 $ 12755
KingBank KP260 Plus 1024 GB 7423 MB/s 6715 MB/s n/a 13510
Taimi Vulcan 1024 GB 3642 MB/s 2967 MB/s 146 $ 7364
Taimi Phoenix 2048 GB 7466 MB/s 6761 MB/s 270 $ 15048
Western Digital WD_BLACK SN850P 1024 GB 7299 MB/s 6364 MB/s 240 $ 15035
Samsung 990 1024 GB 7221 MB/s 5651 MB/s 230 $ 12560
Apacer AS2280Q4U 1024 GB 7243 MB/s 6072 MB/s 263 $ 12487

The site's current overall winner is the Western Digital WD_BLACK SN8100 1TB, listed with a score of 1409. New models are tested regularly, and the site states that Gen5 SSDs are now included in testing.

SATA SSDs (SATA 6 Gb/s)

SATA drives are tested in a separate section. The interface's theoretical maximum is 600 MB/s, with a practical ceiling of roughly 560 MB/s — so any SATA SSD you see here will cluster near that limit regardless of brand.

Product Capacity Read Write Price Score
DIGIERA CAS100 512 GB 550 MB/s 447 MB/s 62 $ 1232
Taimi Aurora 1024 GB 535 MB/s 450 MB/s 120 $ 1231
TeamGroup QX 1024 GB 527 MB/s 445 MB/s 134 $ 1224
Acer SA100 1920 GB 549 MB/s 475 MB/s n/a 1368
Western Digital WD Red SA500 2048 GB 547 MB/s 460 MB/s n/a 1237

Because the interface caps performance, differences between SATA models show up more in capacity, price, and score than in raw throughput.

External drives (USB-C)

Portable drives connected over USB-C are tested here. With USB 4.0, the theoretical maximum is 40 Gbit/s, practically around 3,700 MB/s — though most listed drives fall well below that.

Product Capacity Read Write Price Score
fanxiang PS2200 2048 GB 2045 MB/s 1886 MB/s n/a 1523
DIGIERA LPS2000M 1024 GB 2073 MB/s 1881 MB/s 160 $ 1747
Verbatim Store 'n' Go Mini Diamond 512 GB 1081 MB/s 1018 MB/s 82 $ 1426
OWC Envoy Ultra 2048 GB 6231 MB/s 5196 MB/s 800 $ 6170
LinkMore NR P100 512 GB 914 MB/s 855 MB/s 120 $ 1653

The spread here is wide — from roughly 900 MB/s to over 6,000 MB/s — so the USB generation and enclosure matter as much as the drive itself.

USB flash drives (USB 3.0 / 3.1 / 3.2)

USB flash drives get their own section covering USB 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2 drives. USB 2.0 drives are deliberately not tested because the site considers them no longer up to date. If you're shopping for a thumb drive, this is the section to check — but note that flash drives generally sit far below both NVMe and external SSD performance.

How to use these categories

  • Match the category to your interface. A SATA SSD will never approach an M.2 NVMe drive, so compare within a section, not across sections.
  • Check the interface generation. For M.2, PCIe 5.0 vs 4.0 vs 3.0 x4 changes the ceiling; for external drives, USB 4.0 vs earlier USB matters.
  • Use the score for quick ranking, then verify with read/write and price. The score is a composite; the raw speeds and price tell you whether the trade-off fits your use case.
  • Prices are listed as daily-updated shop prices, and some entries show "n/a" where no price is available — treat those as unconfirmed rather than free.