Best 500GB PCIe 3.0 QLC DRAM SSDs
There are 4 500GB PCIe 3.0 QLC DRAM SSDs compared here. The fastest is the Intel INTEL® SSD 670P SERIES at 3500 MB/s read. Sequential reads across the group span 1800–3500 MB/s at 500GB.
Why this configuration
A 500GB PCIe 3.0 QLC DRAM SSD is an affordable NVMe step up from SATA. Gen3 is roughly six times SATA's throughput yet often costs little more, making it the easy default for a first NVMe drive or a laptop that only supports Gen3. Note the QLC NAND: treat this as capacity-first — excellent for storing and reading big libraries, less ideal as a constantly-rewritten scratch disk.
500GB is a sensible OS-plus-a-few-games size.
Usually chosen for: budget builders, laptop upgraders and anyone leaving SATA behind.
Good fit: read-heavy storage — media libraries and game installs you rarely rewrite; workstation and creative loads that hammer random I/O.
Look elsewhere for: heavy sustained writes or a video-editing scratch disk.
Ranked list
| # | Model | Tier | Controller | Read MB/s (at 500GB) | TBW | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Intel OPTANE MEMORY H10 250GB, 500GB, 1TB | High-end | Silicon Motion SM2263 + Intel SLL3 | 2400* | 300 | Find on Amazon |
| 2 |  Intel ® SSD 670P SERIES 500GB, 1TB, 2TB | Mid-range | Silicon Motion SM2265 (Dual Core 3 | 3500* | 740 | Find on Amazon |
| 3 |  Intel ® SSD 660P SERIES 500GB, 1TB, 2TB | Value | Silicon Motion SM2263EN (2-Core, 4 | 1800* | 400 | Find on Amazon |
| 4 |  Intel OPTANE MEMORY H20 500GB, 1TB | — | Silicon Motion SM2265 (Dual Core 3 | 3300* | 370 | Find on Amazon |
* family rating — the manufacturer does not publish a 500GB figure for this drive.
The parts, explained
500GB is a comfortable OS-and-games starting point.
PCIe 3.0 x4 reaches about 3,500 MB/s — plenty for everyday use and gaming, and cheaper than Gen4.
QLC NAND stores more per cell for a lower price per terabyte, but sustained writes and rated endurance are lower, so it suits read-heavy storage.
An onboard DRAM cache keeps the flash mapping table on the drive, holding random performance steady under sustained load.
Common questions
Is QLC reliable at 500GB?
QLC is fine for typical and read-heavy use; just expect a lower rated endurance (TBW) than a comparable TLC drive, and slower writes once the SLC cache fills.