The 21 Best SSDs for Gaming: 16 of the Top Solid State Drives Right Now

Samsung 970 PRO

The Samsung 970 PRO is the SSD you get when you have to have the fastest and most powerful option available. It is a high-end product with a matching price tag, to be sure. However, it boasts some excellent specs even if you’re just looking. It is another example that shows Samsung is on top of its game.

The SSD comes in two capacities, 512GB, and 1TB. It has the PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 2280 form factor using the NVMe protocol for lightning fast speed. It has a read speed up to 3,500 MB/s and a write speed up to 2,700 MB/s. It can read and write a 30GB folder in an amazing two minutes. The storage type is Samsung’s own V-NAND.

It’s a solid performer that moves into the next generation if just for speed alone in its sleek 0.87 x 3.15 x 0.09” size. It manages temperatures well despite its high performance. For the user looking for the absolute fastest solid state drive around, the Samsung 970 PRO is hard to beat.

This internal drive is easy to install with speeds that make it highly responsive. You can easily manage the SSD with Samsung’s Magician software for optimal performance. For good measure, Samsung includes its Dynamic Thermal Guard to keep it from overheating. The unit comes with a limited five-year warranty.
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Samsung 970 EVO

The Samsung 970 EVO is a more affordable internal solid state drive that its faster brother, the 970 PRO. However, the SSD delivers solid performance that will make it a popular choice for serious gamers and professional users. This less expensive model uses some of the same technology that makes the 970 PRO a standout.

Under the hood, the SSD has a PCIe 3.0 x4 M.2 2280 form factor with an NVMe 1.2 interface. The Samsung 970 EVO is fast with a sequential read speed of up to 3,500 MB/s and a sequential write speed of up to 2,500 MB/s. It comes in four capacities, 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB. When you talk about fast performance, you also have to consider temperature control which Samsung covers well.

Its Polaris controller helps it run smooth and cool, while the Dynamic Thermal Guard (DTG) keeps things in check during heavy workloads. Copper layers within the design protect the core elements. Also, Samsung’s improved TurboWrite technology kicks up its performance a notch. It has an endurance rating of up to 200 TBW (terabytes written).

For optimal performance, the SSD uses Samsung’s TurboWrite technology for creating a write buffer area to ramp up speeds. Users can also tailor its performance to their preferences with Samsung’s Magician Software. The Samsung 970 EVO comes with a five-year limited warranty.
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WD Black 500GB

The WD Black isn’t as well-regarded as the two options above, but that’s more to do with Samsung’s dominance in the SSD market. In terms of the SSD market, WD is late to the party but with a decent offering using their SanDisk planar TLC NAND. If you’re upgrading a notebook or you want to save ~$10 over the 970 EVO, it’s a decent choice all things considered.

The WD Black comes in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB capacities. It has a PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe interface and a Marvell 88SS1093 controller. The 1TB version has a read speed of 3,400 MB/s and a write speed of 2,800 MB/s. The company boasts that it has an industry-leading 1.75M hours Mean Time To Failure (MTTF) as well.

The WD SSD Dashboard software allows users to manage and optimize the performance of the SSD for their needs. It also includes the Acronis software to back up and clone the existing drive.

However, the WD Black has several outstanding points. One of its clear advantages is the price that its lower capacity options come in at. It comes with a generous five-year warranty, too.
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Samsung 860 EVO 2TB

In the past, Samsung has typically led the way in terms of read and write speeds on their SATA SSDs. However, as other manufacturers have caught up, that is no longer the case. And, although sequential read and sequential write speeds don’t tell the whole story, they at least tell us that Samsung isn’t the only player in the SSD market anymore.

Still, with that being said, the Samsung 860 EVO is a great option for anyone looking for a solid SSD. This one, in particular, comes with 2TB of storage capacity and sequential read speeds of up to 550MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 520MB/s.

It also comes with a 5-year warranty as well.

The downside, of course, is the fact that the competition offers similar drives for lower prices. The ADATA Su800 2TB drive listed below, for instance, comes in at just under $340—which is nearly $60 less than this Samsung drive comes in at.

So, while Samsung drives have the better reputation, if you’re looking to save some money, you might want to check one of the options below instead..
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SanDisk Ultra 2TB

SanDisk’s Ultra 2TB SSD is a decent option in this price range mostly because of the price it comes in at.

For starters, the Ultra 2TB has the performance to compete with the other drives on this list with a 560 MB/s sequential read and 530 MB/s sequential write. It also has solid random read speeds and random write speeds as well.

And, it’s priced better than Samsung’s 860 EVO and Crucial’s MX500. Although, it is a bit more expensive than ADATA’s Su800 2TB. So, if you want to save even more money without much performance difference I would go with the ADATA drive.Get This SSD

Crucial MX500 2TB

Crucial has been no stranger to this list and their MX500 series of SSDs have appeared on all but the sub-$50 price range. So, it’s no surprise to see them have a competitively-priced 2TB SSD as well.

In my opinion, the Crucial MX500 2TB doesn’t offer the price-to-performance that the lower capacity drives in the MX500 lineup offer and that hurts its value—especially when you have the ADATA Su800 2TB at ~$50 cheaper.

While all of the options in this price range provide similar sequential read/write speeds, the Crucial MX500 does come in a little bit behind the options from Samsung, SanDisk, and ADATA. And, while the difference is small, because the MX500 2TB drive costs more than both SanDisk’s 2TB drive and ADATA’s 2TB drive, we think those are better options.Get This SSD

ADATA Su800 2TB

ADATA’s Su800 2TB SSD is the most affordable 2TB SSD on this list. And, as it does match the sequential read and write speeds of the other options on this list, you can expect fairly similar performance as well.

It sports a 560 MB/s sequential read speed and 520 MB/s sequential write speed. It also comes with a 5-year warranty and you can get the drive in capacities of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB.

Overall, at just under $340, we feel like the ADATA Su800 2TB offers the best performance out of the 2TB drives listed here.

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Samsung 860 PRO 1TB

The Samsung 860 Pro line of SSDs have long been regarded as the top dogs. However, in my opinion, and through experience with multiple SSD brands, the real-world uses between the top SSDs are often so similar that it doesn’t really make sense to pay more for the “premium” options.

Still, I figured I’d add the 860 Pro to the list for anyone who feels differently and wants the most performance absolutely possible.

Ultimately, the 860 Pro is probably the best SSD for gaming and it is one of the first to be powered by Samsung’s V-NAND technology. However, for the same price you can get a drive with double the capacity without very much loss in performance. There are a couple of other capacity options on this drive as well if you want to save some money (and, there is a 2TB option, too, but it comes in at over $800).
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Samsung 860 EVO 1TB

If I’m picking the best value SSD in this price range I’d probably pick the Crucial MX500 1TB SSD. If I’m picking the best performing SSD in this price range, it’s probably the Samsung 860 Pro 500GB SSD.

The Samsung 860 EVO has a 550 MB/s sequential read speed and a 520 MB/s sequential write speed, putting it right on par with the Crucial MX500 1TB. However, sequential reads and writes don’t tell the whole story and most benchmarks show the 860 EVO slightly out-performing the MX500.

But, again, the real-world difference between similarly-specced SSDs isn’t always that significant—even if one delivers better benchmarks. Ultimately, though, for just a few bucks more than the Crucial MX500, I would go with this Samsun 860 EVO for the slightly better performance.
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Crucial MX500 1TB

For about $160, you can get Crucial’s MX500 1TB SSD. It has sequential read and write speeds on par with the Samsung 860 EVO listed above, but again, most benchmarks show the 860 EVO slightly out-performing it.

It comes with 560 MB/s reads and 510 MB/s writes and a 5-year warranty. While it is priced lower than the Samsung 860 EVO, it is only by a few bucks cheaper. So, unless you can find it on sale (check on Black Friday and Cyber Monday), we’d recommend going with the 860 EVO instead. Either option will serve as a nice storage option for gamers looking to build a mid-to-high-end gaming PC, though.
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Samsung 860 Pro 500GB

The Samsung 860 Pro has a 500GB of capacity and uses the SATA III 6Gb/s interface. As the first drive developed based on 3D VNAND flash technology, though it’s no longer the only drive that uses the architecture, its memory is fabricated by stacking 32 cell layers on top of each other to produce high-density performance in a smaller SSD footprint. This means you’ll see around twice the speed, density, and endurance that you would see in a conventional flash.

This model has up to 560 MB/s read, and 530 MB/s write capacity. Its random read/write IOPS performance clocks in at up to 100k and 90k respectively.

The new VNAND technology also helps to preserve the life of the drive. This SSD can handle a minimum of 150 Terabytes Written over its lifetime, which means it will process up to 40 BG daily over a 10-year period before you’ll experience any issues. Coupled with one of the best warranties we’ve seen on SSD’s, a 10-year limited warranty from the manufacturer, this model is built to last.

The 860 Pro has a few nice additional features to help you get the most out of the life of the SSD. Dynamic Thermal Guard Protection keeps your system performing at max capacity while ensure it isn’t overheating through an integrated throttle feature. Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) technology utilizes its built-in AES-256-bit disk encryption engine that protects your data automatically without compromising the performance of your system.
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Crucial MX500 500GB

While the Crucial MX500 500GB SSD is right with the Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SSD in terms of performance, the Samsung SSD costs a little bit more, thus making the Crucial drive the better price-to-performance option.

Where the Samsung 860 EVO offers 550 MB/s sequential read speeds and 520 MB/s sequential write speeds, the MX500 offers a little bit faster read speeds (560 MB/s) and a little bit slower write speeds (510 MB/s).

In real-world scenarios, the differences probably aren’t noticeable and so it’s safe to say that these two will perform pretty similarly. However, unless the 860 EVO goes on sale and drops in price below this MX500 drive, this Crucial unit is probably the better buy.
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Samsung 860 Evo 500GB

A nice alternative to the Crucial MX500 listed above is the Samsung 860 EVO.

While the Crucial MX500 comes in at a bit lower of a price tag, the Samsung 860 EVO 500GB will offer comparable performance (and, in most cases, the 860 EVO out-performs the MX500 in benchmarks).

With sequential read speeds up 550 MB/s and sequential write speeds of 520 MB/s, the EVO is one of the better-performing SSDs in this price range.

Ultimately, though, unless the EVO goes on sale, you can get the Crucial MX500—which will offer pretty similar performance—for a little bit less.
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PNY CS1311 120GB

For about ~$15 more than the SanDisk SSD listed below you can get the PNY CS1311 120GB SSD, which is a little bit faster overall.

Where the SanDisk SSD sports a 530/310 MB/s sequential read/write speed, the PNY CS1311 120GB SSD features a 550/510 MB/s sequential read/write speed.

So, this PNY drive overs a little bit faster read speeds and quite a bit faster write speeds.

And, for just ~$15 more and with the same capacity, why not go with the faster drive?

Ultimately, though, the PNY CS1311 is probably the best budget SSD in this price range.
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SanDisk Plus 120GB

The SanDisk Plus 120GB SSD is currently one of the most affordable options on the market. However, while it is one of the cheapest 120GB SSD available, it’s performance is a little bit lacking in comparison with the competition.

With a 530 MB/s sequential read speed and a 3100 MB/s sequential write speed it doesn’t quite stack up to the PNY CS1311 or Kingston V400, both of which have faster read speeds and better write speeds.

So, while the SanDisk is the cheapest option on this list, if you can spend a little more, the PNY drive will outperform it.
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Kingston V400 120GB

Kingston’s V400 SSDNow 120GB SSD is also a viable $50 option if you are in the market for an affordable SSD.

It sports both a 550 MB/s sequential read speed and a 350 MB/s sequential write speed. While these numbers aren’t as good as some of the other drives listed in this price range, they aren’t horrible.

So, while I would definitely recommend the PNY CS1311 over it, if the Kingston V400 went on sale or saw a significant price drop in comparison with the PNY drive, it would definitely make it more viable of an option.

But as the prices stand right now, there are definitely better options for the money.
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