Best Ssds For Gaming - Reviews & Comparisons

If you're looking for portable storage, we've rounded up the best ssds for gaming. If you prefer playing video games on a console, we've also got the best PS5 SSDs, best external ssds or best nvme ssds for you.

1. Kingston Fury Renegade

Important Specifications 

• Digital Storage Capacity: 2000 GB

• Hard Disk Interface: NVMe

• Connectivity Technology: SATA

• Brand: Kingston

• Hard Disk Form Factor: 2280 Inches

• Hard Disk Description: Solid State Drive

Product's highlights

It would be simple to dismiss the Kingston Fury Renegade SSD as simply another Phison E18-based drive with a silly moniker, but doing so would prevent you from taking advantage of one of the flat-out fastest PCIe 4.0 SSDs on the market. The Renegade produces impressive stats. Additionally, it offers a lengthy guarantee, great write endurance ratings, and runs cool. But the cost of all that goodness is high.

Pros

• High-speed PCIe 4.0 from Killer

• Outstanding write endurance

• Low-temperature operation

Cons

• Expensive

• 4K performance is only comparable.

2. WD Black SN850

Important Specifications 

• Digital Storage Capacity: 1 TB

• Hard Disk Interface: NVMe

• Connectivity Technology: USB

• Brand: WD_BLACK

• Hard Disk Description: Solid State Drive

• Color: Black

Product's highlights

The Western Digital Black SN850 arrives at the PCIe 4.0 party in style. Sequential transfers can reach 7,000MB/s reads and 5,300MB/s writes, which is much faster than most drives can manage. This is so because it makes advantage of the newest PCIe 4.0 interface, which theoretically has twice the bandwidth of older PCIe 3.0 drives.

Performance is the defining factor for every SSD, and the WD SN850 stands out from the competition. Peak sequential read rates of 6,750MB/s and 5,920MB/s, respectively, indicate that this is very much a second-generation PCIe 4.0 drive, according to simulated benchmarks led by ATTO and AS SSD. 

Pros

• Blazingly fast PCIe 4.0 throughput

• Excellent performance in the actual world

• Dependable 5-year warranty

Cons

• Feels hot

• No 256-bit AES encryption

3. Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus

Important Specifications 

• Digital Storage Capacity: 1 TB

• Hard Disk Interface: PCIE x 4

• Connectivity Technology: PCIe NVMe

• Brand: SABRENT

• Special Feature: PCIe 4.0 PLUS

• Hard Disk Description: Solid State Drive

Product's highlights

The new Phison E18 controller, which replaces the incredibly popular Phison E16 controller present in virtually every first-generation PCIe 4.0 drive, was first used by the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus in our lab. It was not just a significant improvement over the Samsung 980 Pro, notably in terms of write performance, but also a significant step forward over the earlier generation of PCIe 4.0 drives, with peak read and write speeds of 7,100MB/s and 6,600MB/s, respectively.

This performance was also demonstrated in testing, where Samsung's drive fared poorly in the write tests due to the faster write performance. Although there can be tiny variances between these top drives, real-world performance did not always support those claims. Even so, AS SSD is capable of 5,868MB/s of read speed and 5,630MB/s of write speed. Very impressive.

Pros

• Updated firmware and flash

• Dependable synthetic throughput

• Flows well

Cons

• Not the quickest in every situation

• Not the least expensive choice either

4. WD Black P50 Game Drive SSD

Important Specifications 

• Digital Storage Capacity: 1 TB

• Hard Disk Interface: USB 3.2

• Connectivity Technology: USB

• Brand: WD_BLACK

• Hard Disk Form Factor: 2.5 Inches

• Hard Disk Description: External Solid State Drive (SSD)

Product's highlights

The WD Black P50 Game Drive SSD is an eye-catching, no-compromises repository for enormous game files, but in order to take full use of its speeds, you'll need a PC with the uncommon USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 capability.

These days, flash-based memory technology is so affordable that it is possible to find cheap external solid-state drives (SSDs) all over the internet. Manufacturers are therefore considering innovative strategies to distinguish their drives from competitors' drives beyond price, such as incorporating new interface technologies and distinctive style that appeals to particular demographics—especially gamers. The WD Black P50 Game Drive SSD from Western Digital follows this path ($191.99 for 1TB). The P50 features a shock-resistant enclosure and lightning-fast transfer speeds thanks to cutting-edge USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 connectivity, aside from looking like a loot container your avatar may snarf up and add to an inventory box.

Pros

• High-speed USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 capability is available.

• Sturdy, shock-proof enclosure

• Warranty for five years

• USB Type-C and Type-A cables are provided separately.

Cons

• A little heavy

• Gen 2x2 ports are not frequent (though drive is backward-compatible)

5. Corsair MP600 Pro XT (1TB)

Important Specifications 

• Digital Storage Capacity: 1 TB

• Hard Disk Interface: NVMe

• Brand: Corsair

• Hard Disk Description: Solid State Drive

• Color: Black

• Specific Uses For Product: storage

Product's highlights

The Corsair MP600 Pro XT internal SSD provides the raw speed for high-impact gaming and the cooling to maintain peak performance under stress, but if you need a drive for a laptop or PS5, you should search elsewhere.

Anyone should be able to tell that the Corsair MP600 Pro XT internal solid-state drive is a beast designed for high-impact gaming in a spacious desktop rig after taking one look at it and its enormous, finned matte-black heatsink (starts at $149.99 for the 1TB variant tested). This perception is supported by the MP600 Pro XT's scorching sequential read and write speeds, which in our tests surpassed their ratings, and its record-breaking 4K write speed. However, there are plenty of gaming-focused speedsters available if you don't require such a large heatsink, starting with the Editors' Choice Award-winning Acer Predator GM7000.

Pros

• Record-breaking 4K write and elite sequential read speeds

• Metal heatsink

• Capacities as high as 4TB

• Hardware-based encryption using 256-bit AES

• Comes in a water-cooled version as well.

Cons

• The spaces this drive can fit are limited by the size of the heatsink.

• In PCMark game-launching tests, only average speeds were achieved.

1. What SSD size is ideal for gaming?

We often advise a 1TB or 2TB device over anything less in the NVMe form factor as games are getting bigger. In order to avoid having to constantly make place for new releases, this will offer you enough headroom to load games from your virtual game libraries (such as Steam, Epic, or Origin). Additionally, 1TB and 2TB drives often operate a little bit faster than their smaller counterparts in the same product series.

2. What SSD speed is ideal for gaming?

Even though there isn't a set standard for SSD speed, we strongly advise using at least a Gen 3.0 drive in your gaming PC because it boasts read and write speeds of up to 3,500 MB/s. We are currently witnessing sequential performance from premium Gen 4.0 drives reaching 7,000 MB/s, though, if you want the best of the best. Our recommendation is to choose the fastest drive that your budget will allow, but preferably, you should choose an online NVMe device over a slower SATA or HDD type.

3. Do SSDs work well for gaming?

SSDs are the best option to reduce loading times and offer quicker boot-up rates as PC games continue to demand more bandwidth and larger file sizes. Particularly a Gen 4.0 SSD is quick enough to load up things like HD graphics and the bigger game environments that contemporary games need. You'll undoubtedly be able to tell the difference between this and booting your games from a conventional hard disk.

Remember, it's crucial to be aware of the slots and technologies that your system supports before rushing to add the best SSD for gaming on this list to your shopping cart. Before spending a lot of money on an expensive PCIe 4.0 drive that your setup might not be able to get the most out of, make sure to check what your motherboard is capable of.