Where to Buy New PCI Gen3 M.2 NVMe SSDs?

DeepwaterNewt on 19/07/2025 - 14:13

Hey All,

I bought one of those little Beelink ME Mini NASes, it comes with 6x PCI Gen3x1 m.2 slots. (Max 5gbit ethernet with the 2x2.5gbit slots, so gen3x1 is not going to be a bottleneck when using it as a NAS).
I'm wanting to get some older (but sealed) gen3 nvme m.2 drives, as I'm hoping they're a bit cheaper than the current gen4x4 drives.
I just can't seem to find anybody that sells any.
I found a few gen3x4 on Amazon, but they're the asme price as the gen4x4 ones, so why bother with gen3?

Anybody have some ideas on where one can find the older tech m.2 drives?
Alternatively, any ideas on cheaper, slower m.2 drives I could use in this NAS?

Thanks
Newt

Computing Computer Component SSD

Comments

  • bohn on 19/07/2025 - 14:59

    check https://www.staticice.com.au/
    or ebay

  • GordonD on 19/07/2025 - 17:08

    Thought I'd found some, but they turned out to be out of stock.

    So, same result as you. Where they are available they cost at least as much as a gen4, or more.

  • apple2016 on 20/07/2025 - 09:42

    What size are you looking for. The best value ones currently would be lower speed gen 4.

  • garetz on 20/07/2025 - 10:16

    Your best bet is amazon. If you want cheaper check ebay/gumtree for 2nd hand.

    • DeepwaterNewt on 20/07/2025 - 11:51

      Don't think I'd want to trust second hand m.2 drives though… I'd honestly not want to go through the song and dance of testing and checking health etc. before buying.

  • Kparky on 20/07/2025 - 10:47
    +1

    PCIe Gen 4 is backward compatible, so a PCIe Gen 4 device connected to a PCIe Gen 3 system will function normally at PCIe Gen 3 speeds. If your looking for new items try Centrecom (free postage over $79) or Umart.

    • DeepwaterNewt on 20/07/2025 - 11:51

      I'm aware they're backwards compatible. I'm after gen3 ones purely in hopes of getting cheaper TB/$ prices.
      From the looks of things though, nobody's got reasonably priced gen3 (ie. cheaper than gen4) drives.

  • jizmo on 20/07/2025 - 13:22

    Don't think you're going to get much change out of $90 per TB. I was looking down this track at silicone power https://www.silicon-power.com/support/lang/big5/TBW.pdf from what I've read on cheaper brand reviews they all overheat. I ended up going iron wolf drives, my backup Exos still transfers movies around 260-280MB/s on a 2.5Gb LAN.
    Do you already have a L2 switch to run lag?

    • DeepwaterNewt on 20/07/2025 - 13:28

      Yeah I'm finding 2TB gen4 drives for that price/TB, was really hoping for cheaper "old-stock" gen3 ones.
      No L2 switch, max I'll get for now is 1GBit anyway due to other limitations, even a bigger reason to not need gen4.

  • notaccel on 20/07/2025 - 13:48

    You're better off buying entry level Gen4 drives, older tech doesn't really have the stock availability to be available for much longer after the newer models release.

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