Western Digital 256GB SSD PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280

The WD PC SN730 is a reliable 256GB Gen3 NVMe drive with strong random performance and great endurance. It's not the fastest or biggest, but it's a solid budget boot drive. Just watch the price, European listings vary by EUR 31.

Sequential reads hit 3150 MB/s and writes come in at 2100 MB/s, which is solid for PCIe 3.0 but nothing special. Random performance is actually the highlight here, with 270K read IOPS and 280K write IOPS landing in the 83rd percentile. That's well above average and means snappy app launches and quick file operations. The 200 TBW endurance rating is also a standout for a 256GB drive, sitting in the 78th percentile. But the capacity itself is a weak spot, only 18th percentile, and that's going to be the real bottleneck for most people.

Against the Crucial T500, Samsung 990 EVO, and SK Hynix Platinum P41, this drive is outclassed in raw speed and capacity. Those are Gen4 drives with much higher sequential numbers and larger capacities. The SN730's advantage is price and endurance. The Kingston NV3 and Lexar NM790 also offer more storage for the money. If you need speed and space, skip this and grab a 1TB Gen4 drive. If you just need a reliable boot drive for an older system, the SN730 holds its own.

Value is tricky here because the price swings a lot. In the US you can find it for around $100, while European listings range from EUR 177 to EUR 208. That's a EUR 31 spread for the same drive, which is annoying. If you're in Europe, shop around because some sellers are clearly marking this up. At the lower end of that range, it's a reasonable buy for a boot drive or secondary storage. At the high end, you're paying too much for 256GB when bigger drives are available for not much more.

The WD PC SN730 is a 256GB NVMe drive that feels like a solid OEM workhorse more than a gaming showpiece. It's got decent speed for a Gen3 drive, and the endurance rating is surprisingly good for the size. But 256GB is tight in 2024, and the pricing is all over the map depending on where you shop.

We pulled the numbers, and this drive lands in a weird middle ground. It's not the fastest, not the biggest, but it's reliable and gets the job done. If you're upgrading an older laptop or need a cheap boot drive, it's worth a look. Just don't expect it to hang with newer Gen4 drives.

Skip this if you need more than 256GB of storage or want the fastest possible speeds. Gamers with large libraries, video editors, or anyone working with big files should look at 1TB Gen4 drives instead. Also skip it if you're in Europe and can't find it near the lower end of the price range, because paying EUR 200 for 256GB is a bad deal.

This drive is for people upgrading an older laptop or building a budget system where 256GB is enough. It's reliable, has good endurance, and the random performance keeps things feeling responsive. Gamers with large libraries should look elsewhere. If you can find it at a fair price, it's a decent buy. Just don't overpay.