The Best SSD for Gaming [7 Fast & Reliable Picks]

This post was last updated on: October 1, 2026
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Are you looking for the best SSDs currently on the market for your gaming rig? Are you in the process of upgrading or overhauling your PC build, and want to know what SSD you should get?

If so, you’ve come to the right place.

Solid state drives allow for speedy boot times, and will allow your games to load faster and with less of a wait.

A SSD is a nice add-on, and to be honest, almost a must-have in today’s world of PC gaming.

In this article I’ll go over our top picks of the best SSDs on the market, and what the strong and weak points are of each.

Overview of the best SSDs for gaming

About	Brand/Model	HD (min/max)	Read (Max)	Write (Max	Price
Fastest SSD on the market today	Kingston HyperX Savage	120GB/960GB	560 MB/s	550 MB/s	Click Here for Lowest Price
Professional-grade SSD	Samsung 850 PRO	128GB/2TB	550 MB/s	520 MB/s	Click Here for Lowest Price
Great SSD at a budget-friendly price	Crucial MX300	275GB/2TB	530 MB/s	510 MB/s	Click Here for Lowest Price
Best durable and reliable SSD today	Intel 730 SERIES	240GB/480GB	550 MB/s	470 MB/s	Click Here for Lowest Price
Most energy efficient	PNY CS2211	240GB/960GB	565 MB/s	540 MB/s	Click Here for Lowest Price
Most popular SSD we’ve found today	Samsung 850 EVO	120GB/4TB	540 MB/s	520 MB/s	Click Here for Lowest Price
Best value SSD on the market today	SanDisk Ultra II	120GB/960GB	550 MB/s	500 MB/s	Click Here for Lowest Price

If you’re a PC gamer, you can already consider yourself lucky. You’ve got some great advantages over console gamers: better graphics, cheaper games, and more input choices, just to name a few, but over the last couple years, a technology has come onto the market that has completely revolutionized PC gaming, and made it easier, faster, and more fun than ever before.

This innovation is the Solid State Drive, or SSD. Though they’ve been sold since the late ‘00s (at exorbitant prices), these solid state drives have finally come down in price so that they’re affordable for just about everyone, and they’re especially popular with PC gamers. Why?

Speed.

Compared to old-style hard disks, which use physical, moving parts and platters, SSDs are purely digital, with no moving parts at all, and they are much faster than traditional hard drives.

And if you’re a gamer, you know that speed is the name of the game when it comes to game performance – whether you’re loading into an Overwatch match and need to grab a specific hero before anyone else on your team, or you’re relaxing in a single player game like The Witcher 3 and don’t want long load times, or choppy gameplay.

Having an SSD is becoming more and more beneficial to PC gamers, and for some games, it’s almost mandatory if you’re looking for peak performance, or trying to juice your graphics up to maximum on a 4k gaming rig.

So we’re here to teach you about SSDs. What are they? What should gamers look for when making a purchase? Is it worth going expensive, or are bargain offerings okay?

Read on to have these questions (and more) answered, educate yourself about what’s available, and get some sensible product recommendations. By the time you finish this article, you’ll be an expert, and know exactly what you need, where to get it, and how much it should cost.

The Best SSDs for Gaming on the Market

1. The Fastest SSD for Gaming: Kingston HyperX Savage 480GB SSD

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The Kingston HyperX barely edges out the below Samsung 850 Pro as the fastest SATA SSD on our list today. It reaches a massive 560MB/s read and 550MB/s write time, as well as an IOPS that peaks at 100K/89K read/write. Inside is a 8-channel, quad-core Phison S10 controller, which allows for incredible performance even when when the drive is near maximum capacity, and uses MLC NAND flash memory.

This is what you want to see when you’re looking for a high-end SSD for gaming. Far from being something that has been just ‘re-branded’ for gamers, the Kingston HyperX SSD was built from the ground up for speed. If price is no object and speed is your goal, then this is the SSD for you.

Furthermore, it’s also low-profile, coming in at only 7mm in height, which makes it great for those rigs that are built in smaller cases, or if space is at a premium due to large graphics cards that overhang your motherboard.

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2. The Serious, Professional-Grade Gaming SSD: Samsung 850 PRO – 512GB

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The Samsung 850 Pro comes very close to the Kingston HyperX when it comes to speeds, but its read/write speeds fall just a bit short of the Kingston at 550MB/s and 520MB/s making it slightly slower.

This is mostly due to the fact that the Kingston is a newer model – for years the Samsung 850 Pro was, simply, the fastest consumer SSD available.

It’s also quite a bit more expensive per GB than the HyperX – so you may be wondering why, exactly, we’d still recommend it.

Well, it’s simple – Samsung makes the best SSDs on the market. Their products are consistently rated among the highest possible overall quality on the market, and this specific product is built for power efficiency, reliability, and has a 10-year manufacturer’s warranty.

Because of this, we would recommend this product if you’re worried about overall reliability and plan on using a single SSD for a very long time. If you don’t plan on using the same PC or SSD for a long time, its price may be overkill, but the quality and reliability of Samsung drives is unparalleled, making this a great choice for gaming SSDs and non-gaming SSDs alike.

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3. The Best Budget SSD for Gaming: Crucial MX300 1TB SATA 2.5 Inch Internal Solid State Drive

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There are significant differences between top-tier SSDs and more mid-ranged SSDs, but as mentioned above, they’re quite insignificant when compared to HDDs. Each and every solid state drives is easily 10x faster than a comparable hard drive, so if you’re looking to upgrade yourself from an HDD but not interested in a top-tier (and top-dollar) product like the Kingston or the Samsung 850 Pro, this SSD by Crucial is an incredible value.

And while it’s value-priced, this product certainly can perform. This SSD has read/write speeds of 530/510MB/s respectively, and IOPS speeds of 92K/83K read/write, meaning it’s only about 10% slower than a top performer like the Kingston or the Samsung, while coming in at a much lower price.

Crucial also packs a useful feature in this bargain-budget SSD – power protection. Sudden power losses can be catastrophic for SSDs, which require a constant power current to operate correctly – and sudden power loss can lead to data loss.

The power protection in the Crucial SSD doesn’t provide protection for unwritten data – there is no tool that can do so – but it does help protect important files and system directories in the event of sudden power loss, making it a great choice if you live somewhere with an inconsistent power grid, or if you don’t have an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).

Given its great performance for your dollar, safety features, and overall quality and reliability, this is certainly the best dollar-for-dollar gaming SSD you can purchase if you’re on a budget.

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4. The Most Reliable Gaming SSD for Heavy Use: Intel 730 SERIES 2.5-Inch 480 GB Internal Solid State Drive

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Intel is well known as one of the top SSD manufacturers in the world and for good reason. Their products are not cheap, often costing much more than competitors, but they deliver absolutely top-tier performance.

This SSD, specifically, has read/write times that are on par with the fastest offerings on our list, as well as a proprietary Intel controller that is overclocked and factory optimized for incredible response times and snappy reactions. But that’s just the beginning.

The real claim to fame of this SSD is its extreme durability. It has been tested to deliver 70gb of writes every day for 5 years. If you’re doing the math, that means it can handle 1.2 Petabytes of writing without failing. In a recent experiment by TechReport, many different SSDs were tested for their durability, and none of them managed to crack 1.1Pb. This Intel does so easily, and its stupendous durability and top-tier performance earn it a spot on our list.

It’s not cheap, but it will never let you down, and its performance is easily on par with our highest quality choices, such as the Kingston HyperX and the Samsung.

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5. The Most Energy-Efficient Gaming SSD: PNY CS2211 960GB Pro Gaming 2.5” SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

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This gaming SSD by PNY offers top-tier performance, along with a design that sips power, featuring PNY’s proprietary low-wattage functionality that allows top performance with 30% less power than industry-leading SSDs. This also means that it generates less heat, and this allows for cooler PC temperatures, which allows your other components to perform more effectively.

It’s no slouch when you look at the numbers, either – the 2016 model boasts 565MB/s read speeds and 540MB/s write speeds, and an IOPS metric of 95K read/write. It’s still a bit slower than the Kingston HyperX, but given that it has less power impact, it’s certainly a good choice if you’re running an SLI or CrossFire graphics setup, or are worried about your PSU being able to handle a more power-hungry SSD.

These SSDs are also shock-tested for reliability and durability and come with a 4-year top-grade warranty, so you can be sure your investment is safe and secure.

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6. The Most Popular Gaming SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 1TB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-75E1T0B/AM)

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The Samsung 850 EVO is the little brother of the Samsung 850 PRO and features very similar features, but at a lower price. For years, this SSD has been considered one of the single best value solid state drives on the market, and its reputation is well-earned.

It was one of the first Samsung drives to be crafted with Samsung’s proprietary V-NAND Technology, and though it’s been eclipsed by the 850 PRO, it still offers an incredible 540MB/s read and 520MB/s write speed, as well as an IOPS performance of 98K/90K read/write.
This SSD is on our list because it’s perhaps the single most popular gaming SSD of all time – it has a perfect blend of price, performance, and reliability, as well as the history and quality of Samsung products, and an industry-leading 5-year warranty.

It’s not the cheapest SSD on this list, and it’s not the fastest, but it offers guaranteed quality and longevity that some other models from newer SSD manufacturers might lack.

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7. The Best Gaming SSD for Your Buck: SanDisk Ultra I