The Best SSDs for Gaming
When you're eager to lead the charge into dungeons, crypts, or battlegrounds galore, you'll want your gaming rig to be muscular enough to handle the load. When it comes to gear, there are various additions you can make to your setup that'll directly affect performance, and a solid state drive is one of them. Though an SSD won't improve your framerate very much (if at all), it will definitely make your load times faster. So here, you'll find four of the best SSDs on the market today, rated for cost, performance, and storage space.
What to Look For
When looking for the best SSDs for gaming, there are many factors to consider. The speed and capacity of the drive will play a major role in how seamlessly you can run your games. Additionally, price should also factor into consideration. While more expensive drives may offer increased speed, they don’t always equate to better, smoother gameplay experiences. Choose one that fits within your budget while maximizing reliability and performance. For example, Crucial’s MX500 is a favorite among gamers for its lightning speed and quiet operation. Couple that with its affordable price, and you got yourself a worthy contender. However, if you need an external drive, then we’d direct to Samsung’s SSD 860 EVO. Read on to discover more about our favorite picks.
Crucial MX500
Smooth operator
You don’t need to look too hard to discover the community’s favorite: the Crucial MX500. Mentioned on forums, in gear mags, and on ‘Best Of’ lists worldwide, this beauty utilizes Micron 3D NAND technology to eke out a cool, quiet performance with a sequential read speed of 560MB/s and a write speed of 510MB/s. Whether you’re using it mostly as a backup storage drive or as your daily driver, it makes for a great option at an excellent price. It also utilizes AES 256-bit hardware-based encryption to protect your data from potential bad actors, and that extra bit of security is certainly appreciated. Finally, its proprietary Integrated Power Loss Immunity technology will save your work if you unexpectedly lose power. By keeping continuous backups of your RAM cache, this data is protected, so you can feel secure in that, too.
Pros:
- Easy to install
- Available up to 4TB
- Will rejuvenate older computers
- Ideal if you don’t have NVME support
- Software and games should load out much faster
Cons:
- Has some issues with cloning
Intel OPTANE SSD P1600X Series
Superior performance
Intel’s P1600X Series is an M.2 NVMe SSD that utilizes Intel’s proprietary 3D XPoint memory instead of using flash memory. The first iteration of this model, known as the Optane Memory M.2, was marketed for a specific purpose — to cache in front of a more spacious hard drive. But this upgraded version has seen a large increase in memory, so it can now serve as a standalone storage device. Chances are that you won’t be using this alone but rather adding it as a supplementary drive and utilizing its caching abilities.
Pros:
- Offers up to four lanes
- Works well with Linux
- Has a low-power sleep state
- Impressive 1400MB/s sustained sequential read
Cons:
- Costly considering the storage capacity
Sabrent Rocket
More than meets the eye
If your priority is in finding the largest amount of storage you can buy for the least amount of money, all without sacrificing too much quality, look to the Sabrent Rocket. Offering one of the best values-per-GB on the market, it’s a monster of a drive. True, its read/write speeds are a bit lacking, but as long as you vie for the 512GB configuration or larger, you can mitigate the speed issue with sheer storage capacity. After all, it’s available in a slew of storage sizes all the way up to 4TB. It’s also very easy to install, which is a relief. One thing to mention is that its lack of 512-byte emulation can lead to cloning and encryption issues. Because it’s utilizing 4k sectors, you’ll need to use external software if you plan on cloning another drive onto this one. This isn’t a big deal, but it can be a hassle if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Pros:
- Lightning fast
- Fantastic value
- Customer support team is reliable & efficient
- Supports SMART and TRIM commands
Cons:
- Runs on the hot side
Samsung 860 EVO
Lean on Me
An improvement upon the legendary 850, Samsung’s 860 EVO is one of the most formidable SATA drives in town. It’s dependable, cost-effective, and, best of all, it’ll last you ages. It’s often compared to the MX500, but its write capacity is much larger. When it comes to highly-textured games that are memory-intensive, this one will help immensely. No more choppy loading or stuttering. And aside from the noticeable increase in load times, it’ll also be a friend to you if you’ll be transferring 4k UHD files or 3D data.
Pros:
- Great for storing large-capacity games
- Simple data migration software
- Gives NVMe drives a run for their money
- Backward-compatible to 1st-gen SATA
Cons:
- Need to purchase USB-to-SATA cable separately
Frequently Asked Questions
How will buying a solid state drive affect my gaming experience?
The truth is, the difference won’t be drastic. SSDs don’t have much of an effect on in-game framerate. What they will do is cut down on load times. Rather than spending half a minute waiting for the game’s data to load, an SSD can perform the read/write functions necessary in much less time. Another less important benefit is that you can store your games on the SSD rather than leaving them on your HDD.
What should I look for in an SSD for gaming?
When it comes to buying an SSD, the most important qualities are quality and value. Performance isn’t too relevant here because the differences in the gaming experience are minute when you compare one drive to the other. So what you’ll want to look at is read and write speeds and the value provided for the cost. Though you’re interested in an SSD for gaming, the drive’s benefits will spill over into your everyday computing experience, so it won’t hurt to choose a drive that’ll also enhance your rig as a whole.
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