SSDs are the main brain of the CPU that handles them. They often carry the Operative System itself and will basically make faster boot times and loading of video games. However, a lot of people don’t often know which brands make the best PCIe SSDs in the market and would like to know which brands stand out the most as well.
One of the biggest brands in terms of quality is definitely Intel. Their Optane series of cards has actually made for some of the best Add-in memory sticks of this current generation of Gaming PCs. They also have stood out thanks to their varying capacities and ease of use.
Very little companies have actually managed to stand out against Intel’s Dominance. This is because the Optane series of products has actually managed to destroy the charts time and time again which delivers on the speed and quality of the products with little to no lies that are buried behind marketing ploys.
The second best brand to make the best PCIe Add-in Cards are the Memory Pioneers themselves, Samsung. Samsung has constantly shown that they are capable of withholding the title of the pioneer of memory options.
The third best company to produce this sort of memory is Corsair. They have been known for making the market itself interesting by competing with Intel and Samsung products while making the competition quite interesting themselves. M.2 and Add-in memory chips have actually become Corsair’s specialty and have actually managed to stand out as a worthy competitor.
Finally, other brands that stand out by themselves are HGST, ADATA, Plextor, ZOTAC, and Micron. Besides them there aren’t that many other brands that actually compete in terms of Add-in cards that offer premium performance that can at least compete with the titan that is also known as Intel.
Best NVMe PCIe Add-in Cards Comparison
Last update on 2018-09-19 at 22:44 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Before deciding on which NVMe PCIe Add-in Card you need please ensure that you check the NVMe PCIe Add-In Card Compatibility with your board. We’ve also picked the Best PCIe NVMe M.2 SSDs should you wish to buy one instead of a Add-In.
Best Add-in Card (AIC) PCIe SSDs
It’s time for Appuals to present what we think are the 5 Best PCIe Add-in Cards for your computer. These picks are the best that the market itself has to offer and will actually continue on improving the performance you need in order to have the best SSD you could ever want.
It’s incredible to see ZOTAC actually making the best performing and most popular among AIC users SSDs out there. It’s impressive to see how this company has actually managed to create an SSD card that can actually outpace these systems and actually come head to head with the M.2 NVMe Cards themeselves.
ZOTAC turns the tides and celebrates with a bang with this 10 year Anniversary Special Edition SONIX SSD. The Special Edition shines in ultra-fast speeds and a LED lit back plate. With the PCIe x4 NVMe interface, the setup is a simple plug and play, users won’t need to install additional drivers in order to have the SSD to work. It only needs a sleek dose of metal, silicon, and blazing speed in order to have the best experience.
ZOTAC is catering this 10 Year Anniversary Edition Sonix SSD AIC as a card for gamers and users who need to draw on large files with lightning speed. The PCIe interface allows the Sonix to achieve incredible transfer rates, far outclassing its competition which use SATA interfaces. The best part about this is that this card also comes with a Low-Profile adapter in order to help Small Form Factor (SFF) Desktops.
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2800MB/s & 1500MB/s Read/Write Speeds |  |
Some technical problems with 4K Writing/Reading |
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Windows 8.1/10 (32 and 64-bit) Compatibility | ||
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End To End Data Protection | ||
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Plug&Play Functionality |
ZOTAC 10 Anniversary Edition SONIX PCIe AIC SSD
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2800MB/s & 1500MB/s Read/Write Speeds |
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Windows 8.1/10 (32 and 64-bit) Compatibility |
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End To End Data Protection |
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Plug&Play Functionality |
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Some technical problems with 4K Writing/Reading |
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Another one of ZOTAC’s most surprising features is the fact that this meory can perform pretty well against most mainstream SSDs. Another great feature is the reliability it offers thanks to its plethora of compatbility options. This is actually wor4king in benefit of Windows 8.1 and 10 Operating Systems and can actually lead to incredible performances on both rather than favoring one over the other.
This drive features a 480GB capacity which results in 447GB of useable space. Zotac has opted for an MLC flash array to keep costs down. A lot of people might think that this works against the SSD itself but, given the speed and reliability these arrays are have demonstrated in recent years, it’s a rather smart decision from the company itself and can actually work wonders thanks to the optimization on other important areas.
Power consumption keeps itself at a minimum with consumption rates of 5.57W read and 7.27W write, with a 0.5W draw at idle. ZOTAC has actually quoted on several occassions an estimated lifespan of around 2,000,000 hours so a lot of users can also expect to keep this for a long time.
This SSD writes and reads serious amounts of tiny files in a very fast fashion, incredibly enough. The amount of performance this SSD will take is definitely one of the biggest points in favor of the ZOTAC 10 Anniversary Edition SONIX SSD. The compatibility options it allows for are nothing to scoff at and the fact that this is a Plug&Play chip only makes things much better. Overall, this SSD is one of the best for a very good reason.
Kingston makes its rounds once again with the KC1000. Kingston is one of the best-known names in storage, but until now it has had a hole in its SSD range. The KC1000 fills that void with an SSD that has managed to stand out to its competitors with flying colors in terms of performance affordability and handling.
Thanks to the MLC NAND Technology this chip possesses the KC1000 also sees a boost in performance and also has a wide variety of Form Factors that range from Half-Heightm Half-Width for some SFF desktops, Full Width and Full Height for the normal Desktops and M.2 for the computers that can run this SSD card with the appropiate M.2 Slot.
Going back to the AIC itself, while Kingston themselves say that this drive is capable of 2700 MB/s Sequential Reading Speeds and 1600 MB/s Sequential Writing Speeds. Multiple Benchmarks and Reviews have actually found that this disk can actually clock to speeds of up to 3,064 MB/s Sequential Read Speeds and 2,300MB/s Sequential Writing Speeds.
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2700MB/s & 1600MB/s Read/Write Speeds | |
Lack of Data Encryption Functionality |
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Capable of Running in Linux Operating Systems | |
Some Compatibility Issues with other Operating Systems |
Kingston KC1000 PCIe AIC SSD
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2700MB/s & 1600MB/s Read/Write Speeds |
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Capable of Running in Linux Operating Systems |
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Lack of Data Encryption Functionality |
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Some Compatibility Issues with other Operating Systems |
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Kingston is one of the best companies in terms of memory. They have proven to do this time and time again despite not being the pioneers of memory technology themselves. This is made abundantly clear thanks to the OS friendliness of this SSD card with Linux, being one of the very few SSD AICs that actually frees the user from Windows 10 64-Bit Dependency if you are knowledgeable about the OS enough.
The KC1000’s 2700MB/s is such an improvement in terms of Read Speeds which is actually contrasted by the 1600MB/s Write Speeds. This really also says a lot considering the price point that can actually help the system itself. As the resources can be also spent on better Graphics cards and Processors.
Unlike other drives, the KC1000 doesn’t come with a heatsink or heatspreader, which results in some throttling during thermal tests.However, this isn’t as much of a negative as the only reason why anyone would be getting it at this sort of temperatures is by constantly forcing the SSD to work when it’s capacity is full.
Overall, Kingston once again proves that the SSD market belongs to them with this SSD AIC. This is a great choice for the folks who don’t possess an M.2 chip or require a PCie AIC SSD that can respect any form Factor. It’s only made better by the capability of helping Linux users to share in the experience.
This is also available in the following capacities
| Kingston Digital KC1000 NVMe PCIe SSD | 240 GB | 480 GB | 960 GB |
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| Kingston Digital KC1000 NVMe PCIe SSD 240 GB | Kingston Digital KC1000 NVMe PCIe SSD 480 GB | Kingston Digital KC1000 NVMe PCIe SSD 960 GB |
The Corsair Neutron NX500 NVMe PCIe AIC SSD is up to 5x faster than SATA SSDs and NVMe powered to deliver ultra-fast gaming performance. This is only complimented by the specially designed heat sink which is engineered to maintain optimal performance at all times without sacrificing integrity or quality.
The Heat Sink itself is something that makes the Corsair Neutron NX500 actually stand out on its own. With the typical Corsair elegant style that accompanies this sort of design across multiple products developed by them. It’s a rather elegant and sleek heat sink that can also be quite useful.
This SSD also provides Multi Level Cell Endurance like the previous entries on this list. Providing an advantage over Triple Level Cell NAND chips which makes the estimated lifetime of the chip to be of over 2,000,000 Hours. This basically allows users to keep this elegant and useful memory with them at all times.
Corsair Neutron Series NX500 PCIe AIC SSD
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2800MB/s & 1600MB/s Read/Write Speeds |
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Lack of Data Encryption Functionality |
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Corsair also offers a great alternative for their users of SSD AIC cards. This comes in the form of the SSD Toolbox. This system allows the user to monitor S.M.A.R.T attributes and SSD health status with support for over-provisioning, secure wipe, disk cloning, Firmware updates and more. It’s a perfect method of keeping up with the health of your SSD without seeing any sort of inconvenience.
Corsair’s performance numbers are higher than some of the other E7-based products on the market. For the most part, the varying specifications stem from how each respective vendor tests. Some companies still publish performance data based on ATTO Performance Benchmark, and others use CrystalDisk Mark, while this says a lot about the reputation of Corsair, it also marks the difference as their stylistic choices match up with the performance the product has to offer.
In fact, a lot of the data gathered for Corsair drives is actually coming directly from the manufacturer’s product page itself. With the company happily answering any and all questions regarding compatibility, speed and a whole array of concerns that may pop up among users who want to make their computers better.
The Corsair Neutron Series NX500 is definitely one of the best Runner Up products for a very good reason. It has performances that can match and sometimes outpace most other AIC cards. The Technical Support is magnificent and the heatsink that this product comes with also helps with the aesthetic. It definitely is one of Corsair’s best products.
The Corsair Neutron Series NX500 comes in the following Variations:
| Corsair Neutron Series NX500 | 400GB | 800GB | 1.6TB |
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| Corsair Neutron Series NX500 400GB | Corsair Neutron Series NX500 800GB | Corsair Neutron Series NX500 1.6TB |
Intel has become quite the manufacturer of NVMe memory cards. They don’t exactly go for the top positions but they basically focus on the strongest reliability available in the market. They are the best providers for people who want to make sure their memory sticks stand by them for the longest time possible.
The Optane SSD 900p uses a controller with seven channels for communicating with the 3D XPoint memory Thanks to this, it comes with a guarantee of having some of the fastest speeds AIC SSDs can offer with 2500 MB/s and 2000 MB/s Read and Write Speeds.
This technology however makes it one of the most expensive chips in the market right now. Some of the prices of this device can reach higher than anticipated prices and for some people this might not be a good trade off. However, this is also what makes the Intel Optane 900p so special, thanks to the user being assured that when they get this chip they get the best quality money can offer.
Intel Optane 900P PCIe AIC SSD
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2500MB/s & 2000MB/s Read/Write Speeds |
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3D XPoint memory |
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Extremely Finnicky Price Point |
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The major selling point of the Optane 900P series is the fact that it can be reliable when it comes to any storage-bound workload. This is basically made even more clear by its incredible performance regarding Low Queue Depths, Simultaneous Read/Write Capabilities and other tasks of the sort.
Another thing that also increases the reliability of the Optane 900p is how it can actually stay as reliable as new even as the drive itself continues to be filled with data. This also comes coupled with a Low-Profile adapter for those people with computers that have a Short Form Factor (SFF) computer on their hands and cannot afford to make a build off a bigger Computer Case.
In recent updates, the 900p has also been made compatible with Intel’s very own SSD Toolbox. Like other toolboxes before it, Intel’s Toolbox can actually monitor various other functions of the SSD itself and can actually optimize the Optane 900p even further. This is a program that also can come with its own variety of drivers to provide the best experience.
Overall, the Intel Optane 900p offers reliability for any and all users who want an advanced expeirence. It’s unconventional architecture makes it stand out from other SSDs of its kind and the availability of a heatsink actually allows this product to shine even more. It’s a unique product that delivers in both aesthetics and quality.
The Intel Optane 900p Series also comes in the following Variations:
| Intel Optane 900p Series AIC PCIe SSD | 280 GB | 480 GB |
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| Intel Optane 900p 280GB | Intel Optane 900p 480GB |
Plextor went crazy with the new M8Pe NVMe series; it offers three different models of the same SSD to give anyone the option to choose between different form factors that accomplish different functions and can perform at varying degrees. while the Plextor M8Pe AIC form is not exactly good compared to its other Form Factor Brethren, it’s one of the best AIC cards out there.
Plextor is the first enthusiast-focused company to use the Marvell Eldora controller in a consumer application.This basically makes the M8Pe extremely perfect for overclocking environments and reach peak speeds of above 3000 MB/s without compromising its integrity whatsoever thanks to the heatsink which is used to keep the memory from reaching any sort of Thermal Throttling.
This is by far one of the best performance AIC SSDs out there. However, it doesn’t mean that it comes without its fair share of sacrifices with the first one being a completely mixed list of compatibility issues. Sometimes it can even be compared to a coin flip of whether or not users get a magnificent product or a troublesome piece of equipment that burns out extremely fast.
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2300MB/s & 1300MB/s Read/Write Speeds | |
Compatibility Issues |
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Excellent for Overclocking | |
Lack of Toolbox Interface |
Plextor M8Pe AIC PCIe NVMe SSD
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2300MB/s & 1300MB/s Read/Write Speeds |
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Excellent for Overclocking |
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Compatibility Issues |
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Lack of Toolbox Interface |
Check Price
Plextor usually designs this sort of memories with heatsinks with Gamers in Mind. However, the fact that this is a memory more suited for overclocking than anything actually makes the product seem like the perfect hardware for performance addicts who want to see computers burning while reaching peak performance at all times. Gamers really don’t see a benefit from using this sort of memory despite Plextor’s focus on it.
However, even with the performance focus, it can be obvious that Plextor actually sacrificed a lot of aspects that make other SSDs stand out. The most minor of them all is the lack of a dedicated Toolbox program that allows users to monitor the performance of the SSD in question. This leaves users without knowing how well the SSD is performing without the need of a 3rd party program and can lead to early failures of the SSD card.
The M8Pe is Plextor’s first NVMe SSD, and it uses one of the first retail-destined Marvell NVMe controllers. As such, the fact that this is the first NVMe SSD shows really hard and sometimes works against the product itself. This is where the majority of compatibility issues in several user’s computers stems from. Sadly, it doesn’t get any better because while the peak performance is certainly a great perk, it can also come with a huge detriment to the computer if the compatibility issues present themselves.
There are a lot of things that can be said in favor of the Plextor SSD. But at the same time, it has a lot going against it and as such. This is a product for those performance addicts that know how this SSD works through and through and will exploit it to its absolute limits. Could this mean that this is a niche product? Maybe so, but the Plextor M8Pe doesn’t really shy away from pandering towards niche markets. So it’s a nice fit.
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