Greatest SSD for gaming 2024

The WD Black SN850X is the quickest SSD you should purchase, absolutely making use of its PCIe 4.0 interface with lightning-fast sequential learn and write speeds of seven,300MB/s and 6,600MB/s, respectively.

This stage of efficiency not solely improves sport loading occasions, however you must discover your gaming PC boots sooner and extra shortly handles common duties. You’ll all the time get probably the most out of the drive whereas taking part in video games, because of its Sport Mode 2.0 toggle within the included software program.

For those who’re fearful about potential thermal throttling impacting the WD Black SN850X, you’ll be able to choose it up with an elective heatsink for peace of thoughts. Higher nonetheless, the heatsink comes with a splash of RGB, so it may well look cool whereas staying cool.

Learn our WD Black SN850X assessment.

Now a long-standing veteran of the SSD market, the Samsung 980 Professional can usually be discovered at a discount value, and it’s nonetheless quick sufficient for most individuals’s wants. Making full use of the PCIe 4.0 interface, Samsung says this drive can learn at as much as 7,000MB/s, and it hit a stable 6,866MB/s in our checks.

The WD Black SN850X above is faster for write speeds and sport loading occasions, however the 980 Professional is usually out there for a less expensive value, and also you’ll barely discover the distinction between the 2 drives in most real-world use. Moreover, the highest write velocity of 5,000MB/s nonetheless places the Samsung 980 Professional properly forward of any PCIe 3.0 SSDs. Samsung affords a helpful software program bundle, together with migration software program for straightforward transfers out of your present Home windows set up to your new drive.

This drive throttled and not using a heatsink in our checks, so be sure you both purchase a mannequin with a heatsink pre-fitted or use one among your motherboard’s M2 heatsinks if it has them. Keep watch over costs, although, as they usually fluctuate. If the WD Black SN850X is on provide and cheaper than the Samsung 980 Professional, it’s the higher SSD to purchase.

Learn our Samsung 980 Professional assessment.

For those who don’t have a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot in your motherboard, and also you wish to push your PCIe 4.0 M.2 connector so far as it can go, then the Samsung 990 Professional is the drive for you. Whereas this drive couldn’t meet Samsung’s 7,450MB/s claims in our checks, its prime velocity of seven,198MB/s nonetheless makes it sooner than some other PCIe 4.0 drive we’ve reviewed. If efficiency is your prime precedence, this can be a nice SSD.

Once we first reviewed the 990 Professional, we gave it a little bit of a kicking for its excessive value, however the associated fee has since come crashing down, to the purpose the place it’s usually going for below $100 for a 1TB capability. That’s an important value for the efficiency on provide.

Nonetheless, this drive does get scorching when it’s operating at full velocity, so we advocate both shopping for the heatsink model or utilizing a minimum of a fundamental M.2 heatsink in your motherboard. When it comes to sport load occasions, there’s additionally no profit to purchasing this drive over the WD Black SN850X, however if you happen to repeatedly shift round massive quantities of information, that is now a quick drive for an inexpensive value.

Learn our full Samsung 990 Professional assessment.

Pace above all else is the precedence of the T705, because the Essential SSD barrels forward of its competitors with energy to ship the quickest speeds we’ve seen but from PCIe 5.0 storage. Whereas it’s fast, although, it does include some caveats.

The T705 is staggeringly speedy, with learn and write efficiency of as much as 14,500MB/s (14.5GB/s) and 12,700MB/s (12.7GB/s), respectively. Whereas it may well hit these speeds in brief bursts, extended stress can see the passive heatsink falter, bringing the Essential SSD’s sky-high ambitions crashing down in an Icarus-like vogue.

These issues don’t have an effect on gaming efficiency, which is of course of a excessive commonplace. That stated, the T705 suffers from the identical downside as all different PCIe 5.0 SSDs, in that increased speeds don’t have any tangible profit in video games relative to PCIe 4.0 drives (a minimum of for now).

Class-leading efficiency naturally comes with the next value too, and the T705 is not any exception, with its value coming in a lot increased than slower PCIe 5.0 SSDs. You possibly can knock off a couple of dollars by choosing a mannequin and not using a heatsink, however this drive wants some type of cooling to be thought-about value utilizing.

Learn our Essential T705 assessment.

NVMe SSDs will undoubtedly exchange their SATA brethren, however there’s nonetheless loads of worth available in drives that use the ageing interface just like the Samsung 870 EVO. Whereas its sequential learn and write speeds could appear paltry within the face of PCIe storage, it’s nonetheless lots quick for many video games and is undeniably sooner than any exhausting drive.

For those who prioritize capability over velocity, choosing the Samsung 870 EVO might be a wise transfer. You possibly can choose it up in sizes that go all the way in which as much as 4TB, which means you received’t have to fret about rehoming your Steam library and it prices a lot lower than any M.2 SSD with the identical quantity of area.

PCIe 5.0 SSDs just like the MP700 Professional push storage speeds properly above PCIe 4.0 however, for the second, their efficiency usually comes with added value and thermal issues. Corsair’s MP700 Professional makes coping with these difficulties the simplest of any drive we’ve examined, with energetic cooling rather than an infinite passive heatsink and a value that doesn’t break the financial institution.

That includes respective learn and write speeds of as much as 12,400MB/s (12.4GB/s) and 11,800MB/s (11.8GB/s), the MP700 Professional is among the quickest SSDs you’ll be able to slot into your system. These specs naturally make the drive a superb selection for gaming, however enhancements in comparison with cheaper, competing PCIe 4.0 drives are minimal, even in video games that help DirectStorage.

For those who require a dual-purpose drive, although, significantly for eventualities the place extended learn and write speeds are a precedence, the MP700 Professional emerges a reduce above all different PCIe 5.0 SSDs because of its energetic heatsink. Whereas its fan curve sadly can’t be configured, the out-of-the-box efficiency ensured the temperature of Corsair’s drive peaked at simply 65°C in our testing.

Corsair additionally affords the MP700 Professional with a Hydro X Collection water block, for fanatic builders rocking a customized water-cooling loop. Whereas there’s sadly no passive heatsink out there for the SSD, you’ll be able to seize it with none heatsink by any means and place your speeds on the mercy of your motherboard heatsinks if you want. Nonetheless, given how scorching PCIe 5.0 storage will get, we strongly advocate choosing the mannequin with the energetic cooler, particularly because it solely prices $10-20 further.

Learn our Corsair MP700 Professional assessment.

Constructing on the inexpensive SN570, Western Digital’s Blue SN580 NVMe SSD is a succesful gaming SSD with as much as 2TB of storage and a stable 900TBW endurance. It affords you respectable learn and write speeds for one of many lowest costs available on the market.

Throughout testing, our reviewer discovered that the random 4K efficiency of the SN580 was a good bit slower than the quickest PCIe 4.0 SSDs we examined. However it’s the most effective you will get below $100 with out sacrificing capability, velocity, or each. It’s the highest choice for constructing a gaming PC on a funds.

Learn our WD Blue SN580 assessment.

Once you’re seeking to improve to the most effective gaming laptop computer SSD, you wish to hit a stability between thermals and efficiency. You don’t need a drive that may find yourself throttling as a result of it’s getting too scorching contained in the tight confines of your laptop computer, however you additionally don’t wish to be caught with gradual speeds. That is the place the Samsung 990 Evo hits simply the suitable stability.

Don’t be fooled by the PCIe 5.0 claims Samsung makes about this drive, because it solely makes use of two PCIe 5.0 lanes, which defeats the item of it. Nonetheless, it does work properly as a power-efficient 4x PCIe 4.0 SSD that doesn’t want a heatsink, making it supreme for putting in in a laptop computer. It might learn at as much as 5,000MB/s, which is quicker than any PCIe 3.0 SSD, and its 4,200MB/s write velocity is stable too.

What’s extra, this drive is usually closely discounted, which means you’ll be able to usually choose up a 2TB drive for below $120, which is a discount for that stage of capability. Add the truth that doesn’t want a heatsink to forestall it from throttling, and you’ve got an excellent laptop computer SSD improve.

As you in all probability already know, there’s not sufficient room to squeeze an ordinary 2280 M.2 SSD inside your Steam Deck, or one other gaming handheld for that matter. You possibly can nonetheless reap the advantages of quick storage in your deck, although, because of its M.2 2230 connector, and the TeamGroup MP44S is simply the suitable measurement for it.

What’s extra, this drive’s use of the 4x PCIe 4.0 interface means its efficiency is faster than you’d anticipate for such a small drive. In our checks, it fortunately reads at 5,089MB/s and writes at 3,702MB/s, which is even faster than TeamGroup’s claims, and that’s and not using a heatsink too. What’s extra, you should purchase this drive in an enormous 2TB capability, providing you with a great deal of area to put in the most effective Steam Deck video games.

The draw back to this, in fact, is that the Steam Deck’s PCIe 3.0 interface means you’ll be able to’t run this drive at its full velocity within the deck, but it surely nonetheless runs as quick as some other top-end PCIe 3.0 drive, and its PCIe 4.0 help offers it some future proofing for the Steam Deck 2, whereas additionally making it an excellent improve for the Asus ROG Ally X. This drive offers you a great deal of high-speed handheld storage, and it’s additionally moderately priced.