HP EX950 NMVe M.2 2TB SSD Review

How Much Does it Cost?

As you might expect, the 2TB model is the largest capacity and therefore, the most expensive in the range right now. They’re available on Amazon, albeit their prices seem to be a bit on the high side. You can start off with the HP EX950 M.2 512GB for just £82, while the HP EX950 M.2 1TB is £189.75 and the 2TB is £360. That’s about £30 more than rival offerings of the same spec. However, a little Google-Fu will find you the 2TB model for around £270, which is cheaper than their rival products. This is why you need to shop around, that’s almost £100 cheaper than Amazon at the time of writing!

Overview

HP is one of the biggest names in the business. They’ve been going for as long as I can remember, and they’ve been around for more years than most of our readers have even been alive. While they may not have the cool factor, they’re certainly working on that. For pre-built systems, their OMEN and Pavilion series are pretty impressive these days. Furthermore, they’ve now got all these gaming SSDs that honestly seem to be hitting the mark perfectly. They’re delivering on the performance they promised, and they’re doing it at a price that beats their rivals.

Performance

There’s nothing new about this drive, actually, the drive and technology are a couple of years old now. However, that is a good thing for eSports players. It’s a very well established drive, having been on the market for a while now, so we know it’s reliable. The older hardware is well known and trusted, and while not the fastest in the market, it’s certainly no slouch. The drive can easily max out what Gen 3.0 x4 is capable of, and obviously far exceeds what is possible on something like a SATA3 drive.

At 2TB, you’ll certainly not be left short on space any time soon, but I suspect the bulk of gamers will invest in either the 512GB or at a push, the 1TB model as they’re a lot more affordable.

Build Quality

It’s a pretty solid drive, with well-known tried and tested components. There really aren’t any surprises or anything new here. The only minor difference being that the chips are not 100% stock, they are HP branded/modified. However, with around two years of these being in circulation, there’s no indication of any reliability issues with those components. The black PCB looks great, the drive never got overly hot throughout tested, and its size makes it broadly compatible with a wide range of motherboards, laptops, and their respective M.2 heatsinks if you wanted to add one.

Should I Buy One?

The performance is right on track, matching that of all the best products in this class. That being said, Gen 3.0 x4 isn’t exactly the latest technology, so it’s no surprise that this drive can push pretty much the maximum the interface has to offer. What is impressive, however, is that you can snap this drive up noticeably cheaper than many of its rivals. If that doesn’t make it an appealing upgrade for you, then I don’t know what will!