I remember the moment distinctly. I was deep into a session of a new open-world game, marveling at the graphics, when I decided to fast-travel across the map. I was met with a loading screen that felt like an eternity. I could hear the old mechanical hard drive whirring and clicking, desperately trying to keep up. That wasn’t the only symptom. Booting up my PC had become a coffee-break affair, opening large applications felt sluggish, and the dreaded “Low Disk Space” warning was a constant companion. This digital bottleneck was strangling an otherwise capable machine. In today’s fast-paced world, waiting is frustrating. Whether you’re a gamer tired of loading screens, a content creator staring at a frozen timeline, or simply someone who values a snappy, responsive system, a slow primary drive is a productivity and enjoyment killer. The solution is clear, but navigating the world of storage upgrades can be a minefield of acronyms, price points, and performance promises.
- To bolster its multi-tasking factor even further, the UD90 takes advantage of increased bandwidth when used in conjunction with motherboards equipped with PCIe 4.0 slots. In fact, it has nearly double...
- An SSD's speed is meaningless without the ability to handle that speed reliably. The UD90 achieves improved sequential read/write and random read/write performance with support for SLC Caching. At the...
- The UD90 supports RAID to protect data in the case of a drive failure. It's also equipped with built-in E2E data protection for enhanced data transfer integrity. Unexpected things can happen at any...
What to Consider Before Buying an Internal Solid State Drive
An Internal Solid State Drive is more than just a component; it’s a key solution for breathing new life into your computer. Unlike traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) with their spinning platters and moving parts, SSDs use flash memory to store data, resulting in exponentially faster access times. This translates directly to a dramatically improved user experience: your operating system boots in seconds, games and applications launch almost instantly, and file transfers that used to take minutes are completed in moments. The primary benefit is a massive boost in overall system responsiveness, making your entire PC feel newer and more powerful without having to upgrade the CPU or RAM.
The ideal customer for this type of product is someone facing the exact bottlenecks I described: PC builders on a sensible budget, laptop owners looking to expand their storage and improve battery life (due to lower power consumption), or gamers who need a spacious, fast drive specifically for their game library. It’s a transformative upgrade for almost any modern system. However, it might not be the most cost-effective choice for those who only need bulk, long-term archival storage for media files that are rarely accessed; a larger, cheaper traditional HDD might serve that purpose better. Likewise, bleeding-edge performance enthusiasts with PCIe 5.0 motherboards might look towards more expensive, top-tier drives to maximize their system’s potential.
Before investing, consider these crucial points in detail:
- Dimensions & Compatibility: Most NVMe drives, including this one, use the M.2 2280 form factor (22mm wide, 80mm long). You must ensure your motherboard or laptop has a compatible M.2 slot. Also, consider the interface; this is a PCIe 4.0 drive, which is backward compatible with PCIe 3.0 slots, but you’ll only achieve its maximum advertised speeds in a Gen4 slot. For PlayStation 5 users, this drive meets the speed requirements, but you will need to add a third-party heatsink, as one is not included.
- Capacity & Performance: Beyond the total gigabytes (or terabytes), performance metrics are key. Sequential read/write speeds (like the 5,000/4,800 MB/s advertised here) are great for moving large files. However, for operating system and application responsiveness, random read/write speeds (IOPS) are often more important. This drive is also “DRAM-less,” meaning it uses a portion of your system’s RAM (Host Memory Buffer) and an SLC cache to maintain speed, a common cost-saving measure in budget drives.
- Technology & Durability: The longevity of an SSD is measured in Terabytes Written (TBW). The 2TB UD90 has a respectable endurance rating, backed by features like LDPC (Low-Density Parity-Check) error correction and E2E (End-to-End) data protection to ensure data integrity over the drive’s lifespan. The type of NAND flash memory used (TLC or QLC) also impacts performance and endurance, which can sometimes vary in budget models.
- Ease of Use & Maintenance: Physical installation is straightforward—it just requires a single screw. However, after installation, a new drive won’t appear in your file explorer. You must initialize it and create a partition using your operating system’s disk management utility. Once running, SSDs require no physical maintenance, but manufacturers often provide software (like SP’s Toolbox) to monitor drive health and update firmware.
Keeping these factors in mind, the SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD stands out in several areas, particularly its balance of Gen4 performance and aggressive pricing. You can explore its detailed specifications and current pricing here.
While the SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD is an excellent choice, it’s always wise to see how it stacks up against the competition. For a broader look at all the top models, we highly recommend checking out our complete, in-depth guide:
- MEET THE NEXT GEN: Consider this a cheat code; Our Samsung 990 PRO Gen4 SSD helps you reach near max performance with lightning-fast speeds; Whether you’re a hardcore gamer or a tech guru, you’ll...
- GROUNDBREAKING READ/WRITE SPEEDS: The 990 EVO Plus features the latest NAND memory, boosting sequential read/write speeds up to 7,250/6,300MB/s. Ideal for huge file transfers and finishing tasks...
- THE SSD ALL-STAR: The latest 870 EVO has indisputable performance, reliability and compatibility built upon Samsung's pioneering technology. S.M.A.R.T. Support: Yes
First Impressions: Unboxing the SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD
There’s a certain minimalism to unboxing an M.2 SSD. The SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD arrives in a simple, no-frills package that puts the product front and center. Inside the plastic blister pack is the drive itself—a small, unassuming black circuit board weighing a mere 8 grams. There are no cables, no elaborate heatsinks, just the drive. This isn’t a criticism; it’s the nature of the M.2 form factor. The focus is entirely on the technology packed onto that tiny stick. The build quality feels solid, with the NAND chips and controller neatly arranged. Visually, it’s a standard M.2 2280 drive, ready to be slotted into a motherboard. It doesn’t have the flashy, integrated heatsinks of more premium models, which is a key part of its value proposition and also makes it more versatile for tight spaces like laptops or under motherboard-provided heat spreaders.
Key Benefits
- Exceptional price-to-performance ratio in the Gen4 category
- Impressive sequential read/write speeds for everyday tasks and gaming
- Low power consumption makes it ideal for laptop upgrades
- Backed by a solid 5-year limited warranty for peace of mind
Limitations
- Sustained write performance drops significantly after the SLC cache is exhausted
- Potential for component inconsistency between batches, a common trait in budget SSDs
Deep Dive: Putting the SP UD90 Through Its Paces
A spec sheet can only tell you so much. To truly understand a drive’s character, you have to live with it. We installed the SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD as the primary OS drive in our test bench—a mid-range gaming PC with a Ryzen 5 CPU and a B650 motherboard—to evaluate its performance not just in benchmarks, but in the real-world scenarios that matter most to users.
Installation and Initial Setup: A Straightforward Process with One Common Hurdle
Physically installing the SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD is as simple as it gets for anyone who has ever opened a PC case. It slides effortlessly into the M.2 slot on the motherboard and is secured with a single, tiny screw (usually provided with your motherboard, not the drive). The lack of an integrated heatsink was actually a plus for us, as our motherboard has its own M.2 heat spreaders that provide a cleaner, more integrated look. Once the hardware was in, we booted up the PC and began the software setup. Here, we encountered the one step that often trips up first-time builders, a point echoed by several user experiences. The drive does not automatically appear in “My Computer.” As one user noted, “you do have to flash the new Nvme before any system would recognize the drive.” While “flash” might be a slight misnomer, the core point is correct: you must navigate to Windows Disk Management, locate the new, unallocated drive, initialize it (we chose GPT for modern systems), and then format it with a new simple volume (NTFS for Windows). This entire process takes less than two minutes if you know where to look, but it’s a crucial, non-obvious step. We also took the advice of another savvy user who suggested going into Device Manager, finding the drive’s properties, and enabling “Write Caching.” While the performance difference wasn’t night-and-day in our testing, it’s a good practice to ensure the OS is leveraging the drive to its full potential.
Real-World Speed and Gaming Performance: Delivering Where It Counts
Silicon Power advertises speeds of up to 5,000 MB/s read and 4,800 MB/s write. In our synthetic benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark, we got remarkably close to those figures, clocking in at 4,971 MB/s read and 4,688 MB/s write. This confirms the findings of other technical reviewers and users who reported speeds “mighty close to matching the advertised performance.” But synthetic numbers are just one part of the story. The real test is daily use. The difference from our old SATA SSD, let alone a mechanical drive, was staggering. Windows 11 boot times were reduced to a mere handful of seconds. Applications like Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro launched with an immediacy that felt fantastic. This is the snappy, responsive performance that makes a Gen4 NVMe upgrade so worthwhile. For gamers, this drive is a dream come true for the price. We loaded it up with several large titles, and the impact was profound. Loading screens in games like Baldur’s Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 were drastically reduced, getting us into the action faster. As a dedicated game drive, the 2TB capacity offers ample room for a hefty library, and the read speeds are more than sufficient to feed textures and assets to the GPU without a stutter. This is where the SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD truly shines, offering a premium gaming experience at a decidedly non-premium price point. If your primary goal is to slash loading times and make your system feel faster, this drive delivers outstanding value.
The Achilles’ Heel: SLC Caching and Sustained Write Performance
No product, especially in the budget category, is without its compromises. For the SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD, that compromise lies in its sustained write performance. As a DRAM-less SSD, it relies on a dynamic SLC cache to achieve its impressive peak write speeds. This means a portion of the NAND flash operates in a high-speed mode. For most tasks—installing software, loading games, saving documents—this cache is more than large enough, and you’ll always experience the drive at its best. However, as we and other users discovered, when you perform a very large, continuous file transfer, you can exhaust this cache. We tested this by moving a 650GB folder of video files to the drive. For the first 120GB or so, the drive maintained a blistering pace, averaging over 3.5 GB/s. But once the SLC cache was full, the drive had to write directly to its slower TLC/QLC NAND. At this point, the speed dropped dramatically, fluctuating between 125 MB/s and 250 MB/s for the remainder of the transfer. This behavior was described perfectly by one user: “the drives have a very predictable falloff in speed that is dramatic.” It’s crucial to put this in context. This limitation will be completely unnoticeable to the vast majority of users. You are unlikely to ever write over 100GB of data in a single, continuous operation. But for a specific user—a videographer constantly transferring massive 4K video files, for example—this could be a significant bottleneck. For them, a more expensive drive with a large DRAM cache would be a better investment. For everyone else, it’s a smartly engineered trade-off that keeps the cost down without impacting the performance that matters most for daily use and gaming.
Thermals, Reliability, and Long-Term Value
One of our initial concerns with a high-speed, DRAM-less drive was heat. Without a heatsink, would it throttle under load? We were pleasantly surprised. During our testing, even during extended gaming sessions and benchmarks, the drive’s temperature remained well within safe operating limits, idling around 35-40°C and peaking in the low 60s under our motherboard’s heat spreader. This aligns with a user who noted it idles at 35°C in an ITX case with no fans, making the SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD an excellent choice for power-efficient laptops and compact builds. On the reliability front, Silicon Power includes modern data protection features like LDPC and a 5-year warranty, which offers significant peace of mind. However, it’s important to address a point raised in some critical reviews: component inconsistency. Some users reported receiving drives that were dead on arrival or performed significantly slower than a second, identical drive, pointing to different firmware versions. This “component lottery” is an unfortunate reality in the budget SSD market, where manufacturers sometimes switch controllers or NAND to meet price points. While our review unit performed flawlessly, it’s a small but important risk to be aware of when opting for a value-oriented model over a premium offering from a brand that guarantees specific components.
What Other Users Are Saying
Our findings are strongly corroborated by the broader community of users. The overwhelming sentiment is positive, with many, like one first-time Silicon Power user, stating they were “hesitant” about the brand but found that the “storage space and affordability surpassed many others on the market.” Many praise it as the “best value… for anyone looking for a gen4 SSD that meets the intersections of performance, price, and quality.” The drive is frequently lauded as a cost-effective upgrade that delivers a tangible improvement in system speed and responsiveness.
However, the feedback isn’t universally glowing, and the negative points raised are valid and consistent with our own findings. The most common criticism revolves around the sustained write speed drop-off, with one user noting that after the SLC cache fills, write speeds bounce between 125 and 250 MB/s, concluding it’s “Not good, not terrible.” The other significant concern is quality control and consistency. We saw reports of users receiving a faulty drive out of a pair, with one being “lightening fast” and the other “way, way, way slower” due to different firmware. Another user experienced multiple system crashes (BSOD) with a “DPC Watchdog Violation” error, indicating a potentially faulty unit. These experiences highlight the trade-off: to get this price, you may face a higher chance of needing to use that 5-year warranty.
How Does the SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD Compare?
The SP UD90 carves out a strong niche in the budget Gen4 space, but it’s important to understand the landscape. Depending on your needs and budget, other options might be more suitable.
1. Crucial T705 2TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD
- EXTREME GEN5 SPEEDS: Get sequential reads/writes of up to 14,500/12,700MB/s and random read/writes of up to 1,550K/1,800K IOPS for blazing performance
- ULTIMATE GAMING & CREATIVITY: Load AAA game titles up to 15% faster than Gen4 SSDs with Microsoft DirectStorage. Experience the future of gaming with up to faster texture renders and reduced load...
- EASY TO INSTALL: Ready for performance with your motherboard heatsink, the T705 installs easily in your M.2 slot. Its copper-clad label is designed to effectively transfer heat from the drive to the...
The Crucial T705 exists in a completely different performance universe. As a PCIe 5.0 drive, it boasts sequential read speeds of up to 14,500 MB/s—nearly three times faster than the SP UD90. This is bleeding-edge technology designed for enthusiasts, high-end content creators, and professionals working with massive datasets who have the latest-generation platforms (CPU and motherboard) to support it. The trade-off is a significantly higher price and the necessity of robust cooling. If you demand the absolute pinnacle of storage performance and your budget allows, the T705 is a top-tier choice; for most users, however, its speed is overkill.
2. ORICO 1TB SATA SSD Internal Solid State Drive
- 3D-NAND Technology: The 2.5-inch SATA SSD utilizes advanced 3D NAND flash for enhanced reliability and endurance, delivering optimized performance for daily computing tasks
- Ultra-fast speed: Sequential read and write performance levels of up to 500MB/s and 480MB/s(Based on internal testing; performance may vary depending upon drive capacity, host device, OS and...
- High-Performance: Solid state internal drive has the characteristics of shockproof and anti-drop, quiet and noiseless, low power consumption, high and low-temperature resistance, faster-booting speed,...
The ORICO SATA SSD represents the opposite end of the performance spectrum. It uses the older 2.5-inch form factor and the SATA III interface, which maxes out at around 550 MB/s. While that’s still a massive leap from a mechanical hard drive, it’s about one-tenth the speed of the SP UD90. This drive is the perfect choice for upgrading older desktops or laptops that lack an M.2 slot. It provides the core benefit of SSD responsiveness—fast boot times and application loading—at an extremely low cost, making it an excellent value proposition for breathing life into legacy hardware.
3. Samsung SSD 9100 PRO 2TB PCIe 5.0 M.2
- BREAKTHROUGH PCIe 5.0 PERFORMANCE: Supercharge your workflow and gaming with PCIe 5.0, boasting up to 14,800/13,400 MB/s sequential read/write speeds. Tackle massive files and power up your gaming...
- EVERY TASK, TURBOCHARGED: Speed past productivity limits. With random read/write speeds up to 2,200K/2,600K IOPS, enjoy fast game loads, seamless AI apps, and efficient multitasking. Virtually no lag,...
- THINK FAST, CREATE FASTER: With random read/write speeds of up to 2,200K/2,600K IOPS, the 9100 PRO SSD fuels seamless AI content creation, swift loads, and smooth gameplay. Work, play, and create at...
Similar to the Crucial T705, the Samsung 9100 PRO is a PCIe 5.0 monster aimed squarely at the high-end professional and enthusiast market. With sequential read speeds reaching up to 14,800MB/s, it’s designed for the most demanding workloads imaginable, such as AI computing, heavy-duty workstations, and extreme gaming rigs. Samsung has a long-standing reputation for top-tier performance, reliability, and excellent controller technology. This drive is for users who need the best of the best and are willing to pay a premium for Samsung’s engineering and brand trust. It competes directly with the Crucial T705, not the budget-focused SP UD90.
The Final Verdict: Is the SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD Worth It?
After extensive testing and analysis, our verdict on the SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD is overwhelmingly positive, with a clear understanding of who it’s for. This is not the fastest SSD on the market, nor does it try to be. Instead, it is a masterclass in value, delivering a Gen4 performance profile that is more than enough for the vast majority of users, particularly gamers and those undertaking general PC upgrades. Its snappy read speeds transform system responsiveness and slash loading times, providing the most impactful benefits of the NVMe standard.
Its primary weakness—the dramatic drop in sustained write speed after the cache is full—is a valid technical limitation but a practical non-issue for its target audience. Unless you are regularly transferring single files larger than 100GB, you will likely never encounter it. For its price, the performance, capacity, and 5-year warranty are simply an incredible package. It is the quintessential “smart buy.”
If you’ve decided the SP Silicon Power 2TB UD90 NVMe M.2 SSD is the right fit for your build or upgrade, you can check its current price and purchase it here.
Last update on 2025-10-13 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API