Honestly, the tech world moves way too fast. One day you're buying the "fastest drive ever made," and six months later, it's basically a paperweight compared to the new Gen5 stuff hitting the shelves. But here’s the thing about the Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 SSD. It shouldn't still be this popular. By all logic, this PCIe 3.0 drive should have been buried by the 980 Pro or the 990 Pro years ago. Yet, if you open up any enthusiast forum or look at what people are actually putting into their work rigs today, this specific stick of silicon keeps popping up. It’s like the Toyota Camry of storage. It isn't flashy anymore, but it refuses to die because it just works.
Most people don't actually need 7,000 MB/s read speeds. They think they do. They see the marketing and think their PC will feel twice as fast, but for the average person editing 4K video or just loading up Cyberpunk 2077, the Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 SSD hits a weird sweet spot of reliability and "fast enough" that newer drives struggle to justify. It’s a 2019 release that still holds its own in 2026. That’s wild.
The Phoenix of Storage: Why This Drive Didn't Die
Samsung did something interesting with the 970 EVO Plus. When it first launched, it was an incremental update to the standard 970 EVO. They swapped in 9x-layer V-NAND (Samsung’s fancy way of saying they stacked memory cells higher) and tweaked the Phoenix controller. The result? A massive jump in write speeds. We’re talking a nearly 57% increase in sequential writes for the 250GB model compared to its predecessor.
But then something weird happened in 2021. Because of global supply chain madness, Samsung actually updated the hardware again without changing the name much. They started using the Elpis controller found in the newer 980 Pro but capped it at Gen3 speeds. This created a bit of a stir in the hardware community because while the "new" version had a larger SLC cache—meaning it could stay fast during massive file transfers for longer—the sustained speeds after that cache filled up were actually a bit slower than the original 2019 version.
Does this matter to you? Probably not.
Unless you are moving 200GB files every single day, you’ll never notice the difference between the "old" 970 EVO Plus and the "refreshed" one. What you will notice is that this drive is incredibly stable. Samsung makes their own NAND, their own controllers, and their own firmware. Most other brands are just "assemblers" who buy parts from different places and slap a sticker on them. That vertical integration is why you rarely see a Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 SSD just brick itself out of nowhere.
Heat, Throttling, and the Laptop Dilemma
Laptops are where SSDs go to die—or at least, to sweat. Because the Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 SSD uses the PCIe 3.0 interface, it runs significantly cooler than the newer Gen4 or Gen5 drives. If you try to shove a Samsung 990 Pro into a thin-and-light laptop without a massive heatsink, it’s going to hit its thermal limit and slow down to a crawl anyway.
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The 970 EVO Plus is different. It features a nickel-coated controller and a "Dynamic Thermal Guard." Basically, it’s a tiny heat spreader built into the label. It’s clever. It’s also why this is the go-to recommendation for MacBook Pro upgrades (the older ones with removable slots) and ThinkPads. It gives you that 3,500 MB/s read speed without turning your lap into a literal frying pan.
I’ve seen people complain that it gets "toasty" during long benchmarks. Sure. If you run CrystalDiskMark for an hour, it’ll get hot. But in real-world usage—installing a game, rendering a 10-minute video—it stays well within the safe zone. It’s a balanced piece of hardware.
Performance Numbers That Actually Mean Something
Forget the "theoretical maximums" for a second. Let's look at what the 2TB model actually does when you’re pushing it.
- Sequential Reads: Up to 3,500 MB/s.
- Sequential Writes: Up to 3,300 MB/s.
- Random 4K Reads: This is what makes your PC feel "snappy." The 970 EVO Plus hits up to 600,000 IOPS.
If you're coming from a traditional SATA SSD (those 2.5-inch bricks), this is a 6x speed increase. If you're coming from a mechanical hard drive? It’s like upgrading from a bicycle to a jet engine. Your Windows boot time will go from minutes to literally seconds.
The TBW Secret: Why Professionals Love This
TBW stands for Terabytes Written. It’s the "odometer" for your SSD. Every time you save a file, you use up a tiny bit of the drive's life.
The Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 SSD has an endurance rating that puts many "budget" Gen4 drives to shame. The 2TB model is rated for 1,200 TBW. To put that in perspective: you could write 600GB of data every single day for five years before you’d theoretically wear out the drive. For most people, this drive will outlive the computer it’s installed in.
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This is why photographers and video editors still buy them. They aren't chasing the highest possible benchmark score; they're chasing the "I don't want my drive to die in the middle of a project" score. Samsung’s Magician Software is also a huge factor here. It’s probably the only SSD utility tool that isn't complete garbage. It lets you monitor health, update firmware, and even "over-provision" the drive to make it last longer. It's simple.
What Most People Get Wrong About Gen4 vs. Gen3
There is a huge misconception that you need a Gen4 drive because you have a Gen4 motherboard. That’s just not true. PCIe is backward and forward compatible.
If you put a Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 SSD into a brand-new Z790 or X670 motherboard, it will work perfectly. You’re leaving some theoretical speed on the table, but here’s a secret: for gaming, the difference in load times between a Gen3 970 EVO Plus and a Gen4 980 Pro is usually less than a second. One second. Is that one second worth the extra $30 or $50 and the extra heat? Usually, no.
The only group who should really skip this drive are people doing heavy-duty 8K raw video editing or those who need the "DirectStorage" features in a handful of modern games like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. For everyone else? The 970 EVO Plus is the "smart" money move.
Real-World Comparison: The Competition
It’s worth mentioning that the 970 EVO Plus isn't in a vacuum. You have the WD Black SN750 and the SK Hynix Gold P31.
The SK Hynix Gold P31 is actually more power-efficient, making it technically "better" for battery life in laptops. However, it's often harder to find or priced weirdly depending on where you live. The WD Black is a great performer, but its software isn't quite as polished as Samsung’s.
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Samsung also has the "standard" 980 (non-Pro). A lot of people see the higher number and assume it's better. Wrong. The standard 980 is a DRAM-less drive. It uses your system’s RAM to keep track of where data is stored. It’s fine for basic office work, but the 970 EVO Plus has dedicated onboard DRAM. That makes it much faster and more reliable under heavy workloads. Never trade the 970 EVO Plus for a standard 980 just because the number is higher.
How to Check if Your System is Compatible
Before you go out and buy one, just double-check a few things.
- M.2 Slot: You need an M.2 2280 slot. The "2280" just means it’s 22mm wide and 80mm long. It’s the standard size.
- Keying: This is an "M-Key" drive. Almost any modern motherboard from the last 7 years has this.
- NVMe Support: Some older laptops have M.2 slots that only support SATA. This drive is NVMe. If you plug it into a SATA-only M.2 slot, it won’t even show up in the BIOS.
Actionable Steps for Your Upgrade
If you've decided that the Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe M.2 SSD is the right move for your build, don't just plug it in and forget it.
First, update the firmware immediately. Use the Samsung Magician tool. There was a specific firmware issue a couple of years ago that affected some 980 Pro and 970 EVO Plus drives, causing them to go into read-only mode prematurely. Samsung fixed it, but if you buy a drive that’s been sitting on a shelf for a while, it might have the old version.
Second, don't fill it to 100%. All SSDs slow down when they get full. Try to leave at least 10% to 15% of the drive empty. This gives the controller enough "room" to move data around and perform background maintenance.
Third, check your cooling. If your motherboard came with a metal M.2 shield, use it. If not, don't worry too much, but make sure you have at least some airflow moving across the bottom half of your motherboard.
The 970 EVO Plus is a rare piece of technology that has aged gracefully. It’s fast, it’s durable, and it’s finally affordable. It proves that you don't always need the latest "bleeding edge" specs to have a high-end experience. Sometimes, the "old" reliable choice is actually the better one.