We show you a list of the best SSDs for gaming in 2024. We show you a comprehensive list that includes a distinctive group of SSDs dedicated to gaming and showcase the features of each.
The idea of having the best SSD for gaming is to make your gaming rig feel like it's running at rocket speed. No, an SSD hard drive will not help you make your games appear faster than they were, that is the job of graphics cards and central processors. But high-speed solid-state storage solutions will greatly enhance the speed of your gaming platform’s performance during booting, loading, data transfer, and many other things.
The best SSD for gaming
If you want to know the best type of SSD hard drive at the present time, you should check out this list, which provides you with a comprehensive guide to the types of hard disks and which one meets your needs.
There are many NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD storage solutions that are capable of delivering speeds exceeding 7000 MB per second.
These skyrocketing speeds will breathe new life into your gaming console making it much faster when opening programs and loading heavy projects while using creative work programs and applications as well as faster boot speeds during computer boot up and games and their internal stages load much faster.
Also read: If you own a PlayStation 5, here you go Best SSD for PS5 Crazy speeds and varying prices for all budgets.
We're waiting for PCIe 5.0 storage solutions to arrive at any time, but they are expected to be significantly more expensive. So, buying an NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD today is a worthwhile investment.
These storage solutions are much faster than traditional SATA hard drives and are expected to speed up your computing platform's performance in many tasks.
With so many valuable options at varying prices from different manufacturers, you may find yourself at a loss to decide which SSD might best fit your device.
In fact, we are here to lend a hand and help you make the right decision. You just have to set a certain range for your maximum budget, and know what storage capacity is suitable for all your games. After that, the task of choosing an SSD suitable for your platform becomes very easy.
Fortunately, the prices of SSD storage solutions are now much cheaper than they were in the past. This is thanks to the terrible development witnessed by the industry and the fierce competition between manufacturing companies to provide the most beneficial and most effective solutions for users of the middle and economic category of players.
In this guide, we will show you the best ultra-fast storage solutions for gaming platforms and gamers. You must be certain that choosing any storage unit from this list will be a wise and smart decision.
Just make sure before buying any storage unit that it is compatible with your motherboard, whether in terms of type, storage capacity, or size.
1- WD Black SN850X
The WD Black SN850X hard drive is one of the best and fastest solid state storage solutions out there today, with speeds skyrocketing in excess of 7000MB/s.
This model is the successor to the previous model SN850, but the company was able to significantly improve read and write speeds on the new model. The only downside is that the random read and sequential write speeds are relatively slower.
But in general, the hard drive is still capable of delivering exceptional speeds in all usage scenarios, and it is also one of the best storage solutions that you can rely on if you want to expand the storage on your PlayStation 5.
Western Digital confirms that they have managed to improve the energy efficiency of the new model so that it begins to consume less energy, needless to say, they have succeeded in doing so and this is clearly shown by the reviews of third-party sites.
The other and most important thing is that the hard drive works at low temperatures and remains completely cool during workload and intense pressure, no matter how long you use the computer and intense downloads while playing games, working on heavy programs, or transferring files.
Fortunately, the new model comes with a heatsink attached, so you don't need to buy a heatsink separately, which is very cool. The price of the hard drive may be a little high, but it is a great deal for lovers of speed and high performance.
WD Black SN850X features:
- It operates at much cooler and lower temperatures compared to the previous SN850 model.
- One of the best storage solutions for PlayStation 5 devices.
- Skyrocketing speeds and solid, consistent performance in all use cases.
Disadvantages of WD Black SN850X:
- Sequential write speeds are not optimized.
- The heatsink does a great job but is not suitable for some gaming platforms.
2- Samsung 990 Pro
This is Samsung's new indomitable beast. For a long period of time since it was launched in the market, we had difficulty recommending this hard drive to PlayStation 5 players and PC gaming platforms, and the reason was clearly the result of its very high price compared to the previous version.
The previous version still offers gamers a better value for money. But thanks to the lower prices, the 990 Pro has become one of the best options worth the investment.
So if you do not prefer to move away from the Samsung brand or do not prefer to buy the mighty SN850X hard drive, you can still choose the Samsung 990 Pro hard drive.
This beast is capable of delivering exceptional read and write speeds better than any solid state drive we've seen in 2023, and it's one of the best SSDs for gaming in 2023.
Despite the limitations imposed by the PCIe 4.0 data transfer interface, Samsung is the only one who has managed to escape very cleverly from these limitations with the Hard 990 Pro, and it has succeeded in its endeavor until the Hard 990 Pro has become one of the fastest storage solutions for sequential and random reads and writes on the All computer platforms.
At the same time, this is a great example that should be followed in cooling systems, as the hard drive always operates at very low temperatures which very positively affects the performance of the hard drive during extreme workload and pressure situations.
So, no matter the quality of your business or the length of your gaming sessions, this hard drive is able to withstand and provide exceptional speeds all the time without worrying about degradation or performance drops during downloads and long-time workloads.
However, the hard drive temperature is 6 degrees Celsius higher than the previous model under pressure. This is normal due to the insane speeds offered by the hard drive.
However, its temperatures of up to 59°C under pressure are still very suitable to provide exceptional performance.
Samsung 990 Pro features:
- The best hard drive can take full advantage of the PCIe 4.0 interface.
- Incredible writing durability.
- Finally saw a significant drop in price.
- Exceptional cooling performance.
Disadvantages of Samsung 990 Pro:
- Random speed performance is still disappointing.
- The price is still high.
- Many alternative options at the same price are better value.
3- Seagate FireCuda 530
The FireCuda 530 is currently being recommended as one of the best storage solutions for PS5, and it's no exception for ultra-fast PC gaming platforms.
The FireCuda 530 hard drive is based on the leading Phison E18 data transfer controller that guarantees the user to get read speeds of more than 7300MB per second and write speeds of up to 6900MB per second, which makes it one of the choices in our list of the best SSD hard drives for games.
These standards make it one of the fastest solid state storage solutions on the market to conveniently fit across many gamers' platforms.
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The only disappointing aspect where the FireCuda 530 fails is the random speeds, although the sequential speeds are more than excellent.
It's good to know that the drive is competitively priced, however it is still more expensive than other storage units that rely on the same data transfer microcontroller.
Unfortunately, the hard drive is still much slower than the SN850X hard drive during the 4K format benchmark tests, but in the end this is one of the best storage solutions that can handle reading data at a rate of up to 2550 TB.
Seagate stated that it was able to improve the hard drive specifically for players' platforms and PlayStation 5 devices, and therefore the company provides a more than wonderful thermal cooler that performs its function perfectly and without any problems. Although I personally prefer a hard drive like the 990 Pro or the SN850X, the FireCuda 530 is a bargain by all accounts.
Seagate FireCuda 530 features:
- Exceptional performance in all tests.
- Awesome durability.
- Compatible with PlayStation 5 consoles.
Disadvantages of Seagate FireCuda 530:
- 4K speeds are relatively slow.
- Its price is still exorbitantly high.
4- Kingston Fury Renegade 2TB
The Fury Renegade 2TB hard drive is simply one of the best solid state storage solutions out there powered by Firmware capable of taking advantage of DirectStorage technology which in a nutshell means one of the fastest storage solutions for gamer platforms.
Kingston claims that the hard drive is capable of exceeding speeds of 7000MB per second while transferring files, and confirmed that the real-world speeds are similar to those advertised.
This hard drive was able to jump in read speeds to more than 7300MB, while writing speeds reached more than 6800MB. This simply means that Kingston has been honest with users when it confirmed that this hard drive is capable of reaching super speed rates.
Through the hard drive tests, it has already been able to provide very high speeds while loading games, as well as skyrocketing speeds while transferring files.
This is one of the few storage solutions that can make the most of the PCIe 4.0 interface.
The hard drive takes very few periods of time to download files and games or transfer huge data from one place to another. Thus, if you are looking for ultra-fast storage for your console, be sure that you will not regret buying a Renegade hard drive. The only downside is that the bulky storage options are pricey.
Kingston Fury Renegade 2TB features:
- It has a built-in heatsink that does the job perfectly.
- Incredible sequential read speeds.
Disadvantages of Kingston Fury Renegade 2TB:
- It gets pricey with the larger storage options.
5- Crucial MX500
The MX500 isn't one of those NVMe PCIe solid state drives, but it's still a SATA hard drive. However, it is one of the best and fastest still SATA based solid state drives and the cheapest PCIe storage solutions.
This means you can buy more SSDs to back up massive games, video files, and movies. It's also not bad at all for downloading games and transferring files at lightning speeds. Although it is much slower than other storage solutions, its price makes it one of the best value for money storage solutions. It would be a reasonable investment for backup operations.
At the same time, you can find it in various storage capacities of up to 2TB which are noticeably faster than the lower capacity models.
Crucial MX500 features:
- The best SATA SSD to date, in terms of value and speed.
- It is very cheap compared to PCIe SSD storage solutions.
Disadvantages of Crucial MX500:
- SATA interface is naturally slow.
6- Silicon Power US70
Some people think that it is necessary to buy an SSD hard drive from reputable companies in the field of storage solutions.
But make sure that this thinking is wrong, irrational, and impractical at the same time. There are many technology companies that offer exceptional storage solutions capable of providing skyrocketing speeds in data read and write operations.
Most of all, it comes at a competitive price. Perhaps this alone makes it the best value out there.
Right now, you can't find an NVMe PCIe 4.0 drive as fast as the US70 and for as cheap. It may not be suitable for PlayStation 5 devices, because hard disk speeds cannot exceed 5500MB per second.
In fact, the SP US70's read speeds are around 5000MB, while the write speeds are 4400MB per second.
It might not be the best or fastest speed ever, but it's still more than enough to give your computer the power to handle all your workloads perfectly.
From all the reviews it seems that the hard drive is really capable of delivering excellent results in reading and writing performance. So, if you want to invest in fast, affordable storage, you definitely won't get much better than the SP US70.
Even better, the hard drive never exceeded 45 degrees Celsius during stressful situations and workloads. This means that it can maintain its consistent performance no matter how hard you play or how long your gaming sessions are.
Silicon Power US70 Features:
- Excellent value for the speed and performance of the drive.
- Wonderfully affordable.
- It is easy to install and use.
Disadvantages of Silicon Power US70:
- Its temperatures are not the best considering the speeds it offers.
7- WD Black SN750
The WD Black SN750 is one of the best ultra-fast M.2 SSDs, especially for the lower-capacity models. You can find this hard drive with a storage capacity starting from 256 GB and enjoy optimal speed rates.
However, larger storage capacities like 1TB seem to perform better, and then drop again once you reach 2TB.
But in the end, the hard average read and write speeds average out in order to provide solid and consistent performance across all tasks. It is also very cheap compared to competing storage solutions. Thus, if you are looking to upgrade your gaming console at an affordable cost and do not wish that the new hard drive will make a big hole in your financial savings, then you should get the Black SN750 hard drive.
The hard drive has been improved a lot, but in fact this model still uses the same components we've seen on previous models. In fact, there is no room for further improvements because hard drives, by their very nature, can make good use of the fast data transfer interface.
By testing the hard drive on CrystalDiskMark, the hard drive can exceed the limits of 3100MB while reading, and up to more than 1500MB in writing operations.
It might not be the fastest speed at the moment, but it is still enough to handle your tasks and games perfectly.
In addition, the price of the hard drive is very cheap compared to its speeds and features that it provides to players' platforms.
Through the reviews, we found that the hard drive was very fast when loading games, regardless of the type of games, whether they were individual or group games, whether your games were open world or in closed environments. The results have always been impressive, and load time at its best.
In short, although it has slower speeds than the M.2 storage solutions on this list, it's the best value for money on this list.
WD Black SN750 features:
- Great price and very reasonable.
- One of the best value M.2 drives out there right now.
- Available in different storage capacities to suit all users and their different needs.
Disadvantages of WD Black SN750:
- It is more expensive than other M.2 SATA storage solutions.
8- WD Black SN770 1TB
The SN770 tries to address some of the problems the SN750 had by offering much faster random and sequential speeds compared to the original version.
The important thing is that it still comes at about the same price. The SN770 has been one of the best storage solutions for mid-range gamers in 2022, and fortunately it still manages to maintain its solid reputation among the gamer crowd.
The hard drive can provide read speeds of more than 5000MB per second, as well as write speeds of up to 5000MB per second as well.
But when the hard drive was tested in real life in CrystalDiskMark, it turned out that the read speed could reach 5200MB per second or a little faster.
As for the write speed, it reached at its best 4900MB or slightly higher.
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These are insane speeds in my opinion because this way you can get the most out of the NVMe PCIe 4.0 interface on your gaming platform.
But if you think speeds alone are the best thing about the SN770, you're wrong, as the biggest advantage here is still the price factor.
The drive is sold at much lower prices compared to other NVMe PCIe 4.0 storage solutions. However, he was still able to rival them in all test parameters.
With this hard drive, you'll get skyrocketing speeds when loading your games, extremely fast boot times, and insane speeds during massive data transfers.
WD Black SN770 1TB features:
- Works at rocket speeds similar to advertised speeds.
- Exceptional sequencing performance.
- Competitive price, especially for the 1TB model.
Disadvantages of WD Black SN770 1TB:
- Random read speeds aren't stellar.
Conclusion
As we noted in the introduction to the guide, M.2 PCIe SSD storage solutions won't make your games faster, but they will help boost load times permanently. It will also give you faster boot times during computer boot periods, while speeding up the time to open programs and deal with large projects. It may also help you transfer data at optimal speeds.
You just have to select the right storage speed for you. In the current reality, choosing a 1TB or 2TB hard drive is the only way to go for gaming consoles.
Fortunately, 1 and 2 TB hard drives are always the fastest in all aspects, so they may be the best option in some cases.
In fact, you don't need a gaming SSD faster than 3500MB/s. However, if you want the fastest of all, you can invest in one of the storage solutions which exceed 5500 or even 7000MB, but are always the most expensive by a significant margin.
