Lexar NM620 M.2 2280 NVMe SSD, PCIe 3.0, 1TB–2TB

Close to the practical ceiling of PCIe 3.0 and carrying a five-year warranty, which is unusual at this price. That combination suits a Gen3 board the owner intends to keep rather than replace.

There is no DRAM: the SLC cache absorbs a large but finite burst before writes settle to native TLC rates. On a Gen4 socket, Lexar SSD M.2 NM790 Heatsink PCIe Gen 4×4 NVMe (LEX-LNM790X) is the faster purchase.