They specifically,  Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, Apple can have the most cutting edge node, the older nodes can use to fab nand and DRAM.

TSCM has fab all over Taiwan, Japan (JASM Kumamoto), and now at USA (TSMC Arizona) too.

Welp, for SSD with DRAM, it mostly helps if you're professional content creator,
eg, you write massive data, since DRAM helps act as read/write cache and it prolong the SSD life span

Normal user should not be bother about it and if you use the cheapo SSD (but at least branded, not random SSD from taobao ok),
eg you only install games and it update once a month
or use it as second drive for other programs that are too big to fit into the main SSD.

I have 870 EVO 2TB and I use it for the scenario same as above,
2 external HDD for massive data eg videos and hi-res photo, i back up to thumb drive as well.

Main drive : 970Evo 1TB
for OS, VScode, frequently used programs

Secondary: 870 Evo 2TB, still very fast and
for frequently played games, other not frequently used programs.
The reason I only use Samsung because of with the software, you can fully utilize your SSD

The rest are big capacity thumb drives and 2x 4TB external HDD for media files.

speed wise even gen3 is ok tbh. gen4 is the max to consider.
gen5 ssd? most people don't really need that. especially when u are paying for it 
also gen3 has less than gen4 and gen5. Regardless still use heatspreads on the ssds. Some motherboards already have ssd heatspreaders, so you can use that or those got separately.

then you got tlc vs qlc.

dram vs dramless.
youtuber recommended wd blue sn5000 but there is some fine print to be aware of
also the 4tb for the SN5000 that is QLC.. but the 1tb and 2tb is TLC.
according to the specs the endurance TBW for both new and old wd blue ssd is the same 
I would just suggest going for the wd blue SN5000 1tb or 2tb depending on the pricing. And even then, for a non OS usage. So you would have a TLC with dram ssd for OS, and then use these WD blue dramless TLC for extra storage for like games, apps or something.
prices

1tb SN5000  = rm 368 (dotatech)

2tb SN5000 = rm 643 (sandisk shopeemall. dotatech was more expensive for this haha)

4tb SN5000 = rm 1544

*all after voucher
capacity wise, i dont recommend 256gb and 500gb. too little for 2025. even 1tb might be already pushing it. 2tb is recommended.

4tb certainly can be used but considering the price and the fact it's a QLC, i would not even bother.
you can still use hard drives for none essential stuff like downloading location (but expect read/write not to be fast compared to just using ssds especially if you are doing 5-10gbe networking setups.)

WD blue 4tb desktop hard drive is about 175MB/s to 185MB/s read/write.
for most people 175MB - 260 MB/s read/write is good enough. the main thing for hdd is the per gig per dollar factor which still beats ssds for now.

SSD you are mostly using for OS, games, apps, or more niche scenario setups requiring multi gig e.g. 10gbe networking.
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/are-we...itchat.2590424/
saw viewnet list a 8tb wd blue desktop hdd for rm 1.2  whereas the seagate ironwolf for 12tb is rm 1.7 (it's rm 1.6 is u haggle in store offline)

  seems the newer qlc can outperform even some dram ssds. but still i rather prefer a tlc.

agreed. but which one do u recommend? now that crucial is gone.... samsung?    for this thread this is what i'm concerned about. now that crucial gone which is the next brand to get? actually the only part i partially disagree, even gen3 would be fine. but that is assuming u get it heavily discounted vs gen4, if not just stick to gen4. The only reason to go gen3 is if u can get it for a good price per gig over the gen4. gen3 also has the added benefit it runs cooler. that said i use gen4 m2 nvme ssds and with heatsink it's fine. but some ssds r notoriously bad with heat especially under heavy use which then may trigger throttling, so check the reviews.
that sounds ok, BUT, i heard if you are OBS streamer, actually you should not use that with dramless ssd.

as for gamer usage
yeah hdd good enuff for this. but desktop drive is rated for like 8 hours continuous use. thats fine, but i use ironwolf for my desktop since better mbtf.

depends. not everyone has this these days.

4tb? dram ssd? oof. So far i've been getting by with a 2tb ssd dram for my obs usage using tinybot cam    4tb bit expensive. there is a cheaper (though not reallyt) but it's a qlc dramless which defeats the point
if capacity size is limited to gen4/5, then gen4 seems the go to option. I don't see the point of gen5 ssd unless it's pricing matches or is lower than gen4 

*update

there are some gen3 with 4tb capacity for ssd

Crucial P3
- dramless (but has HMB)
- m2 nvme

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crucial-p3-ssd-review
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/...4tb-ssd.327683/

sounds like this guy was using this for an OS drive    maybe he didn't understand it's for the games for the reads mostly. not for OS ssd usage.
anyway saw on shopee the P3 4tb is about rm 1.5k and the newer P3 Plus is Rm 2k+    by comparison u can get a decent samsung gen4 2tb for rm800 to 1k, or a more budget model from other brand 2tb for rm 500-700   
Western Digital SN750
- has dram
- m2 nvme

https://www.techpowerup.com/ssd-specs/weste...sn750-4-tb.d458
Western Digital Red SN700
for older systems that only do sata 2.5'' (i no longer use these older devices  already phased them out)

Samsung 870 QVO

Western Digital Blue SA510

rm1k on shopee mall

alternative to that is Crucial T500 2tb. Is TLC and has DRAM. but have to buy before no more stock 

RM1,566 on shopee.
the samsung 990 pro is cheaper also is tlc and has dram.
the evo series tend to be cheaper than the pro for samsung but, 990 evo is dramless, though it does use tlc.
*update

found better price offline on viewnet
samsung 990 pro 2tb - RM 800
the 990 evo 4tb is rm 1349 and for the pro 4tb is a rm200 difference.
Kingston KC3000 if you want alternative with tlc and dram for 2tb. RM 639 (cheaper than the samsung)
but realistic you will be using the motherboard heatsink or some sort of heatsink. so not too worried about this 

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/kingst...m2-ssd-review/2
so since crucial is out guess i'll be getting more kingston if it's cheaper than samsung    just want a tlc with dram ssd...

Just my luck, when I need it, prices rise.
Got satafirm S11 on my old ssd drive(galax gamer L ssd 120gb phison controller) and I have tried to reflash it, failed then I opened it up to "jump" it into ROM mode, force flashing fw again and I was able to use it again. After using a few days, its back to S11 state again...
Any reco for ssd(sata?)with dram that doesn't use phison as controller? 120-250gb is fine for os drive, not using kc3000 because phison.