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PCWorld's top pick for a PCIe 4.0 SSD is the WD Black SN7100 in up to 4TB of capacity. The 2TB version that we tested was the second-fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD overall in our benchmarks, but is still available, while the ever-so-slightly faster Lexar Play 2280 doesn't seem to be.

Those looking for top sequential performance for a bit less money should be all over the WD Black SN7100, which is still available under that name but will be sold as the SanDisk Optimux GX 7100 going forward. (SanDisk was acquired, then recently divested by WD.) We were wowed by the 2TB SN7100’s host memory buffer (HMB) performance, though it was supplanted as number one by an extremely narrow margin by the Lexar Play 2280. However, unlike the latter, we were still able to find the Black SN7100 for sale online at the time of this writing, hence it’s our best of pick.