Buying the best SSD for gaming depends much on your budget and specific use case. There’s no single product that can satisfy every gamer. You need to balance performance, price, endurance, and other secondary factors to choose what works best for you. This list includes the best SSDs for gaming, covering a wide variety of use cases and budgets.
FYI: building a new PC? Learn what to look for when buying an SSD.
- 1. Best Overall: WD Black SN850X 1TB
- 2. Best Budget: Crucial P5 Plus 1TB
- 3. Fastest Gen4: Samsung 990 Pro 1TB
- 4. Best Gen5: Crucial T700 1TB
- 5. Best for PS5: Nextorage NEM-PA 1TB
- 6. Best for Steam Deck: Sabrent Rocket 2230 1TB
- 7. Best High Capacity: Silicon Power XS70 4TB
- 8. Best SATA: Samsung 870 EVO 2TB
1. Best Overall: WD Black SN850X 1TB
Price: $85
PCIe 5.0 (Gen5) SSDs still don’t make a whole lot of difference in gaming performance. Plus, they cost almost twice as much as the best Gen4 SSDs. This easily makes the WD Black SN850X the best SSD for gaming, topping even our best SSDs list overall, due to its blazing-fast performance, impressive thermal management, and rich feature set.
It runs much cooler than its predecessor, the SN850 (even without a heatsink), and has a great minimal design. Having DRAM, it doesn’t sacrifice performance, even in non-gaming workloads, such as when copying large files. The SN850X offers best-in-class loading times in games and is an extremely responsive OS drive as well.
Whether you’re waiting for DirectStorage on Windows 11 or debating DRAM vs. DRAM-less SSDs, you can confidently pick the SN850X. WD’s software suite and five-year warranty are definite pros, and during sale events, the SN850X regularly drops as low as $60.
Note: if you’re upgrading your PC, see which gaming parts we recommend.
2. Best Budget: Crucial P5 Plus 1TB
Price: $70
Budget Gen3 NVMe SSDs can even be found below $40 but with read speeds of around 2350MB/s. With the Crucial P5 Plus, you get speeds almost three times that (6600/5000 MB/s). This Gen4 drive is backed by Crucial’s stellar reputation, further making it the best SSD for gaming on a budget.
For most gamers targeting a value-for-money gaming PC, a speedy 1TB drive, such as the P5 Plus, will be more than enough. But, even if you want additional storage, its 2TB variant costs almost the same as many pricier 1TB drives. The fact that this is still a DRAM SSD is, frankly, astounding.
If you’re concerned about longevity, Crucial rates the 1TB variant for 600TBW (terabytes written). This is more than enough to last you for over eight years. What’s more – during sale events, the heatsink model tends to cost the same as the non-heatsink one.
Tip: confused about SSD capacity? Learn how to find out how much hard drive space you need.
3. Fastest Gen4: Samsung 990 Pro 1TB
Price: $80
The Samsung 990 Pro used to be prohibitively pricey and, frankly, overkill for gaming workloads. But, with time, it has come down in price to the point where it’s more relevant for the everyday gamer. It delivers one of the fastest Gen4 speeds, beating even our top recommendation. And Samsung’s Magician software is one of the best.
Although the delta in performance is slim, the 990 Pro is technically the faster drive compared to the SN850X. If you’re concerned with more than just gaming, the 990 Pro is also the better choice for workloads such as editing, designing, and other use cases that require sustained write performance.
It is a bit pricey, but if you’re targeting the absolute fastest transfer speeds without breaking into Gen5 territory, the difference is well worth it. As for some of the drive health concerns about the 990 Pro, you can check your drive health in Windows and contact Samsung for a replacement if you spot any major issues.
4. Best Gen5: Crucial T700 1TB
Price: $180
If you are planning to build a new PCIe 5.0 compatible gaming rig or already have one, the Crucial T700 is currently the fastest Gen5 SSD on the market. While it’s certainly not affordable, you can rest assured that the performance will leave every other Gen4 and Gen5 drive in the dust.
Breaking the 10,000MB/s barrier was already done by other Gen5 drives, but the Crucial T700 exceeds even 12,000MB/s read speeds. These blistering speeds mean that this NVMe drive needs a heatsink to perform at its full potential. Your motherboard will likely have one or more, so buying the non-heatsink variant shouldn’t be a big issue.
It may not be worth it for gamers, especially when compared to the best Gen4 drives, but if you want to make full use of your PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots, there’s nothing faster than the Crucial T700 to truly experience next-gen speeds on your gaming PC.
Good to know: check out the things you must do when running an SSD in Windows to maximize performance.
5. Best for PS5: Nextorage NEM-PA 1TB
Price: $70
If you’re currently looking to increase your PS5 storage space, the extremely fast and very affordable Nextorage NEM-PA SSD is essentially made for the job. Competing against the best budget Gen4 SSDs, it has a lot of greatness to unpack.
The NEM-PA SSD features a read speed up to 7,300MB/s, an aluminum heatsink that fits just right in the PS5, and a maximum operating temperature of just around 40℃, fulfilling each one of the PS5’s strict compatibility requirements.
These excellent figures are no surprise. Due to Sony’s involvement in the creation of the SSD and the presence of Phison’s top-tier Gen4 E18 controller, it was always destined to perform great. And with the excellent pricing, it’s easily one of the best PS5 SSDs to buy, even if you opt for the 2TB variant.
Tip: just get a new PS5? Transfer your game data from your PS4 to PS5.
6. Best for Steam Deck: Sabrent Rocket 2230 1TB
Price: $90
The Steam Deck and the Asus ROG Ally brought the allure of high-end PC games to portable handhelds. While being an excellent device, the Steam Deck’s built-in drive tops out at a mere 500MB/s. For supercharging your Steam Deck storage, the Sabrent Rocket 2230 is one of the fastest and most trusted SSDs on the market.
It may not be the cheapest option available, but the overall package makes it highly enticing. It provides nearly 5,000MB/s of read speed for your Steam Deck and other handhelds. It also features a high-quality 3D TLC NAND flash and a high-performance Gen4 controller. Despite being a DRAM-less SSD, it has excellent HMB support and thermals for uninterrupted gaming.
Even the design of the Sabrent Rocket 2230 exudes quality and a premium feel. You also get Sabrent’s excellent support and warranty coverage to keep your mind at ease while you game away on your Steam Deck. Just remember to register your drive to be eligible for the full warranty period.
FYI: Bored with your game library? Check out the best games for Steam Deck you just don’t want to miss.
7. Best High Capacity: Silicon Power XS70 4TB
Price: $215
While 1TB and, more recently, 2TB SSDs have been popular among gamers, many users look for 4TB drives that have started to offer better bang for the buck, compared to only a year ago. The Silicon Power XS70 is one of the fastest and most affordable 4TB Gen4 SSDs on the market.
Even if you look at the 1TB variant, the XS70 is extremely affordable, competing with popular drives like the XPG Gammix S70 Blade. But the 2TB and 4TB models are where it shines: high-speed performance, DRAM, a bundled heatsink, and an excellent warranty, all at a great cost per GB.
There are other 4TB drives that are similarly priced and might leave it behind in terms of performance, but overall, the Silicon Power XS70 is hard to beat due to its all-around performance, design, and price.
8. Best SATA: Samsung 870 EVO 2TB
Price: $119
High-speed NVMe drives have all but replaced SATA drives in the wild. But the SATA vs. NVMe debate isn’t quite done and dusted yet. You may run out of M.2 slots on your machine or simply need an economical storage drive at some point. The Samsung 870 EVO exemplifies the lasting relevance of SATA drives, even in 2024.
The 870 EVO, unlike cheaper SATA drives, uses TLC NAND flash and a dedicated DRAM chip to maximize performance as well as longevity. The 560MB/s and 530MB/s read/write speeds may look really slow, but for a cheap, secondary storage drive, speed is also secondary. During sales, the 870 EVO 2TB often retails for as low as $80, becoming much more attractive.
The 870 EVO may not be the best SSD for gaming, but Samsung’s excellent reputation, warranty, and the Magician software suite adds another layer to the value proposition here.
For most gamers, a 1TB Gen4 NVMe is the sweet spot in terms of performance and price. You can pick a 2TB or 4TB variant if you need additional storage. For those with Gen5 systems, buying a PCIe 5.0 SSD can give you next-gen speeds, especially in non-gaming workloads. And if you need a speedy SSD for your PS5 or Steam Deck, those options are listed as well.
FYI: need to back up or migrate Windows to an SSD? Check out the best tools to clone Windows to an SSD.
Image credit: Unsplash
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