Best SSD 2025: the fastest solid-state drive for your gaming devices
Feel the need for speed
Getting the best SSD can mean all the difference between loading into an online match first or saving your game right before you have to go out. Fast and affordable SSDs have finally become ubiquitous. You can easily buy a quick 4TB SSD for under $300, and the competition between big brands like Samsung, Crucial, WD_Black, Seagate, and more has never been fiercer.
We’re here to make the job of picking the best SSD even easier by laying out the top six contenders. From the fastest to the cheapest, and every speed and budget in between, here are the best SSDs.
1. Crucial T700
Best SSD
The Crucial T700 is easily the best overall SSD you can buy today. It’s cheaper than all the rest of its PCIe 5.0 competition, with 1TB starting at $135 and 2TB for $240. It features a plenty fast 12,400 MB/s read, and 11,800 MB/s write speeds. While there are faster drives – see our third pick – the Crucial T705 is more than fast enough for everyone’s gaming needs a much lower price.
2. PNY CS2150
Best budget SSD
The PNY CS2150 strikes a nice balance between speed and price with 1TB drives starting at a cool $100. It’s still a PCIe 5.0 SSD, which nets you with 10,200 MB/s read and 8,300 MB/s write speeds. That’s nowhere near as fast as most NVMe 2.0 drives, but PNY is selling this particular model at a much lower price. It also outpaces all PCIe 4.0 SSDs, and it doesn’t cost terribly more than a PNY XLR8 CS3140 1TB ($73) or Samsung 990 Evo 1TB ($75).
3. Samsung 9100 Pro
Best fastest SSD
If your budget allows you to simply buy the world’s fastest SSD, get the Samsung 9100 Pro. From our Samsung 9100 Pro review we can tell you it is literally the world's fastest SSD, featuring 14,800 MB/s read and 13,400 MB/s write speeds. The random 2,200K IOPS reads, and 2,600 IOPS writes you can squeeze out of this drive are incredible as well. Just be ready to hand over a big wad of cash for the Samsung 9100 Pro, as to get the maximum speeds, you’ll need to buy at least a 4TB drive for $549.
4. PNY XLR8 CS3140
Best PCIe 4.0 SSD
PCIe 5.0 might be the new hotness, but if you’re looking for a fast SSD for an older PC or the PS5 Pro, the PNY XLR8 CS3140 is a solid bet. It’s competitively priced at 1TB for $74 and $129 for 2TB. The PNY XLR8 CS3140 is also as fast as PCIe 4.0 SSDs can get, with 7,500MB/s read and 6,850MB/s write speeds.
5. Samsung 990 Pro
Best PS5 SSD
The Samsung 990 Pro is the Best PS5 SSD expansion drive. In our Samsung 990 Pro review we found it more than meets the PS5 Pro’s minimum requirements with read/write speeds up to 7,450/6,900 MB/s. You’ll also often find it at a fair price or discount – currently, a 4TB drive costs only $279, or $299 with a heatsink.
6. Samsung 870 Evo
Best SATA III SSD
SATA III drives still have their place in our M.2 and NVMe storage world. You can’t beat getting a massive 4TB drive for $265 like you can with the Samsung 870 Evo. These aren’t the fastest drives, and they only hit about 560/530 MB/s for reads/writes. However, that should be more than high enough data transfer rates to make these SSDs well-suited for backing up and even playing retro games.
Kevin Lee is The Shortcut’s Creative Director. Follow him on Twitter @baggingspam.
