Which SSD to buy for use with ASUS Maximus IX Hero (PCI-E 3.0) mobo?

Krisztian wants to know which SSD he should upgrade to with his ASUS Maximus IX Hero motherboard with PCI-E 3.0.

Question by Krisztian from United Kingdom (Great Britain) | Answered by in Storage on
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I need some help, please. I have an old ASUS Maximus IX Hero motherboard with PCI-E 3.0. Looking for an NVMe SSD upgrade as my current Hynix 256GB just doesn't cut it anymore.

I wanted to buy the Samsung 970 Pro 1TB (MZ-V7P1T0), one of the fastest PCI-E 3.0 SSDs, but the price is £219. I then looked at the Samsung 980 Pro 1TB (MZ-V8P1T0BW) for £189, but that is PCI-E 4.0. Is it worth getting the 980 Pro, or is it not backward compatible? Will it run as fast as a 970 Pro would, or would it be slower? Many thanks for your help!

Hi Krisztian,

As you mentioned above, the 970 Pro is indeed regarded as one of the best Gen 3 NVMe drives available, but others on the market could save you even more money, and that does seem to be of interest to you.

Which SSD to buy for use with ASUS Maximus IX Hero (PCI-E 3.0) mobo? 1

For starters, the SK Hynix Gold P31 1TB tested faster than the 970 Pro in our review and is going for $134 on Amazon now, and there is always the trusty Rocket NVMe 1TB from Sabrent, currently going for $129.

As far as the 980 Pro goes, it's a great drive, and you should have no issues with compatibility; and it will be a drive that can move with you if you do ever upgrade your machine to a Gen4 platform, like X570 or Z590. Also, take a look at the SN750 and SN850 from WD. Both of those are solid options as well!

Last updated: Apr 26, 2021 at 07:59 pm CDT

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