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For the full breakdown, see our best 4TB NVMe guide.
One question settles the 4TB NVMe SSD vs SATA SSD argument before you spend a dollar: what does your motherboard support?
NVMe Vs SATA At 4TB: What The Specs Actually Mean
The two drive types differ in interface and form factor, and both facts decide which systems can use them. NVMe drives connect through the PCIe bus via an M.2 slot. The Samsung 990 PRO 4TB is an M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 drive, and the Lexar NM790 4TB is the same shape and generation. SATA SSDs like the Samsung 870 EVO use the SATA III interface and mostly ship as 2.5-inch drives for a standard drive bay.
The most common mistake is treating M.2 as a speed rating. M.2 is only a physical shape; a drive in that shape can be SATA or NVMe, and the interface sets the speed ceiling. A SATA-only M.2 slot won’t run an NVMe drive at NVMe speeds, and on some boards it won’t recognize the drive at all.
Is NVMe Worth It Over SATA?
Yes, if your system has a free M.2 PCIe slot and you regularly move large files. For booting Windows and launching apps, the two feel far closer than the benchmark gap suggests; the NVMe gains concentrate in big transfers, heavy multitasking, and storage-heavy work like video editing.
The table below lines up the two Samsung models on the specs that matter.
| Spec | Samsung 990 PRO 4TB (NVMe) | Samsung 870 EVO 4TB (SATA) |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe | SATA III |
| Form factor | M.2 2280 | 2.5-inch |
| Sequential read | 7,450 MB/s | 560 MB/s |
| Sequential write |