It sounds like you are squared away on SATA SSD vs NVMe PCIe SSD when it applies to M.2, and our team has little to add that wasn't covered earlier.

As for Gen4x4 NVMe SSDs

Our clients' have experienced a number of "failures" when it came to the Crucial P3. Primarily, they don't die, but the controller burns out dropping the read times below write speeds. And for most people, if they don't check they may not catch it until it's too late.

The Crucial P3 Plus hasn't been in service long enough for the one our clients purchased to show any issues, other than 3 DOA OOTB. It is technically a clean start, using Phison’s new Gen4x4 E21T controller. It also has the recently released Micron 176-layer QLC NAND.

Now, for understanding, Micron owns Crucial, it's their retail line. Crucial doesn't manufacture anything, and most items outside of sticks of RAM, Micron subcontracts.

Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe 4.0 Gen4 PCIe M.2 SSD R/W up to 5,000/4,800MB/s (SP02KGBP44UD9005)

Meet the real Crucial P3 Plus!

Micron don't touch these at all. The chips are fab'd TSMC, and both are assembled and packaged by SP. Our clients (for some unknown reason) purchase a great deal of SP products. And other than the NAND, we believe this is their complete design.

When the budget permits, Samsung is our team's first choice. Although lately that has come back to haunt us

Samsung Issues Fix for Dying 980 Pro SSDs

It was actually a combination of ill-advised controller design and firmware that "aged out" because of it. Our Samsung rep feels that they may have a "diesel gate" on their hands, as they knew about the problem, just not where it was headed. And they changed the firmware twice.

He believes the next controller series will be RISC-V based.

MaxProAndU Team

Can somebody help me decide which is the better drive (sole drive on gaming machine)
Silicon Power UD90 2TB - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B996CJ64?ref\_=cm\_sw\_r\_apan\_dp\_MDN2YGGVB7FSN0M45NY9&th=1
Crucial P3 Plus 2TB - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B25ML2FH/ref=asc\_df\_B0B25ML2FH1683486000000?tag=georiot-us-default-20&ascsubtag=tomshardware-us-9001972195646350000-20&geniuslink=true&th=1
These both seem to be pretty good drives at a price point I like, which is better, or is there an obvious other choice in the price range?