Joe Chang looks at the Samsung 960 PRO SSD:
All the previous PCI-E x4 gen3 NVMe SSDs were rated between 2,000-2,500MB/s in large block read. The 960 Pro is rated for 3,500MB/s read. This is pretty much the maximum possible bandwidth for PCI-E x4 gen3. Each PCI-E gen3 lane is 8Gbit/s, but the realizable bandwidth is less. In earlier generation products, an upper bound of 800MB/s realizable per 8Gbit/s nominal signaling rate was typical.
Presumably there was a reason why every PCI-E x4 was in the 2000-2500MB/s bandwidth. It could be that these were 8-channel controllers and the NAND interface was 333-400MB/s. Even though 8 x 400MB/s = 3,200MB/s, it is expected that excess bandwidth is necessary on the downstream side. The could be other reasons as well, perhaps the DRAM for caching NAND meta-data. Intel had an 18-channel controller, which produced 2,400MB/s in the P750 line, and 2,800MB/s in the P3x00 line.
If you’re looking at a test lab server, this might be a good disk for you.