Best cheap SSD deals for gaming today

WD Black SN770 | 500GB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 5,150MB/s read | 4,900MB/s write | $60.99 $29.99 at Newegg (save $31)
This PCIe Gen 4 drive is a great buy for $40, which is the cheapest I can recall this drive ever being. It may not be as speedy as some of the top SSDs today, but you could do much worse for a simple boot drive upgrade. It can get a little warm, but with the cash you're saving, you can always grab a heatsink to help. Otherwise, any good motherboard or case cooling suits the job well.

Price check: Best Buy $69.99 | Amazon $45.51

Sabrent Rocket 2230 | 512GB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 5,000MB/s read | 3,700MB/s writes | $89.99 $74.99 at Amazon (save $15)
The 512GB drive is a great middle ground for Steam Deck upgrades. Add the price of this and the $399 64GB Deck together, and you still save $160.01 over buying the top tier Deck. That's with well improved read/write speeds, too.

Price check: Newegg $74.99

Seagate FireCuda 530 | 500GB | NVMe | 7,000MB/s read | 3,000MB/s write | $159.99 $56.99 at Best Buy (save $103)
Here we have one of the highest rated SSDs we've tested. The Seagate FireCuda 530 is on the higher end of PCIe 4.0 drives and currently sits in 4th place on our best SSDs for gaming guide thanks to all-round great performance and  endurance ratings that are frankly fire. It comes with a heatsink in the Best Buy clearance sale, so well worth a look.

Price check: Newegg $77.99 | Amazon $67.86

WD Black SN770 | 1TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 5,150MB/s read | 4,900MB/s write | $129.99 $43.29 at Newegg (save $86.70)
WD is ruling the mainstream SSD market right now. The SN770 is a great buy if you're after speedy PCIe 4.0 performance without breaking the bank on a more cutting-edge storage device. It may not be the fastest Gen4 drive, but it easily outpaces any SATA drive or older PCIe 3.0 SSDs—a great price for 1TB of speedy storage.

Price check: Best Buy $45.99 | Amazon $45.99

WD Black SN850X | 1TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s read | 6,300MB/s write | $79.99 $59.99 at Newegg (save $20)
This is our favourite SSD for gaming right now. Unlike the cheaper SN770, the SN850X encapsulates the best that PCIe 4.0 has to offer in terms of performance. That makes it a great fit for a boot drive with space to spare for your game library, and at this price we're happy to pay the premium for its higher speed.

Price check: Best Buy $129.99

SK Hynix Platinum P41 | 1TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,000MB/s read | 6,500MB/s write | $149.99 $89.99 at Amazon (save $60)
This Gen4 SK Hynix drive is just as quick as the 2TB version, and is a great buy even without a discount. You get the highest performance write SSD at 1TB, and although the WD SN850X will generally be cheaper, this one nails raw SSD performance.

Price check: Newegg $118.98

Crucial P3 Plus| 2TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 5,000MB/s read | 4,200MB/s write | $124.99 $94.99 at Best Buy (save $30)
This Crucial P3 plus isn't quite the heavy discount deal the WD Black SN770 is right now, but it's overall cheaper and very close in terms of raw performance. So close that you won't even notice the difference in fact.

Price check: Newegg $94.99

Sabrent Rocket 2230 | 1TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 4,750MB/s read | 4,300MB/s write | $239.99 $109.95 at Amazon (save $130.05)
This is a very high capacity version of our favourite 2230 form factor NVMe SSD for the Steam Deck. While you are paying a premium for handheld compatibility, pairing this with the cheap Steam Deck would save you $80.01 over the top capacity Deck, and double the storage space.

Price check: Newegg $109.99

WD Black SN770 | 2TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 5,150MB/s read | 4,900MB/s write | $239.99 $99.99 at Best Buy (save $140)
If you are looking to double your storage, Amazon is offering the WD Black SN770 at 2TB at a decent price for such a big SSD. It's not quite the lowest price it's ever been, but it's still a good deal for a 2TB drive. While it won't break any speed records, this is a welcome and affordable upgrade for any gaming PC.

Price check: Amazon $104.99

Nextorage Japan | 2TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s read | 6900MB/s write | $249.99 $129.99 at Newegg (save $120)
This is a high-end PCIe 4.0 drive for a little over the price of much more mainstream drives. The read/write speeds here are rather phenomenal: the Nextorage can reach the upper echelons of PCIe 4.0 bandwidth at 7,300MB/s read and 6,900MB/s write. If you can spare the cash, I'd make the leap to the Nextorage.

Price check: Amazon $154.99

WD Black SN850X | 2TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s read | 6,600MB/s write | $199.99 $109.99 at Newegg (save $90)
Our favourite SSD for gaming but in a 2TB package. Again, there's a premium to pay for the speed the SN850X offers, but it's worth it if you are chasing performance.

SK Hynix Platinum P41 | 2TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,000MB/s read | 6,500MB/s write | $257.74 $154.99 at Amazon (save $102.75)
Double the capacity for 70% more money? Over a 1TB that's itself is a great deal? Count us in. This is one of the very best PCIe Gen 4 drives around and at this price point, you almost don't need to consider anything slower.

Crucial P3 Plus | 4TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 4,800 MB/s read | 4,100 MB/s write | $224.99 $176.99 at Amazon (save $48)
This is a phenomenal amount of SSD storage space for the money. Granted, the P3 Plus isn't the fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD around, but it's quicker than any PCIe 3.0 drive and absolutely hoses anything on a SATA interface. If you're upgrading your PC or laptop, the Crucial drive will give you a huge amount of space at proper PCIe SSD speeds.

WD Black SN850X | 4TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s read | 6,600MB/s write | $699.99 $269.99 at Newegg (save $430)
This is the highest-capacity version of our most beloved SSD for gaming right now. Sadly it doesn't come with a heatsink for the price, but it's not required for use in a PC and this SSD runs pretty cool. It's still a great deal for zippy read/writes and uber-high-capacity storage. P.S. the discount of $400 is a little bloated, its still a discount but it's down from more like a $360 RRP.

Nextorage Japan | 4TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s read | 6,900MB/s write | $649.99 $258.62 at Newegg (save $391.37)
You might not have heard of Nextorage but they're an outfit born out of Sony to create PlayStation SSDs. Thing is, they make a mean PC SSD, too, and they are often extremely good value for money. This one with a heatsink comes cheaper than some places are selling it without the added cooling solution.

Samsung T7 Shield | 1TB | USB 3.2 Gen2 | 1,050 MB/s read | 1,000 MB/s write | $159.99 $89.99 at Amazon (save $70)
Samsung's external drives have a better recent history than its internal SSDs, so we've no hesitation in recommending the T7 for any professional looking for a large amount of storage that can be safely taken from place to place. They're designed to be rugged and fast, a potent combo. Oh, and they are available in three colors.

Western Digital Blue SN570 | 1TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 3,500MB/s read | 3,000MB/s write | £118.08 £39.98 at CCL (save £78.10)
It's easy to get wrapped up in what's the absolute fastest SSD, but when you consider this 'slow' PCIe 4.0 drive is as quick as any PCIe 3.0 SSD that £50 price point looks pretty stellar for a full 1TB of storage space.

Crucial P3 Plus| 1TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 5,000MB/s read | 4,200MB/s write | £106.99 £43.98 at Amazon (save £63.01)
The Crucial P3 Plus is a proper PCIe 4.0 SSD, with speeds well in advance of what any PCIe 3.0 drive can offer. And at this price it's giving you a whole lot of fast SSD storage for not a lot of pennies.

Kingston NV2 | 2TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 3,500MB/s read | 2,800MB/s write | £154.46 £75.95 at CCL (save £78.51)
It's slow for a PCIe 4.0 SSD, but pretty much as quick as any PCIe 3.0 drive. And you're getting 2TB of still relatively speedy game storage for that price. If you need the speed for 4K movie editing, etc. then maybe a more expensive drive would do you well, but for games this 2TB SSD will still be a great option.

Seagate FireCuda 530 | 1TB | NVMe | 7,300MB/s read | 6,000MB/s write | £144.99 £68.09 at Amazon (save £76.90)
This 1TB option is still plenty speedy though not quite as good a deal as the SN850X drives. There are cheaper 1TB drives out there, but the Seagate FireCuda 530 is on the higher end of PCIe 4.0 drives and the available bandwidth they can offer.

WD Black SN850X | 1TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s read | 6,300MB/s write | £157.99 £69.97 at Amazon (save £88.02)
Hallelujah, our favourite SSD can now be had very reasonable money in decent 1TB capacity. There's no heatsink, but then this updated SN850X runs nice and cool. Performance wise, it's about as good as premium PCIe Gen 4 drives get.

WD Black SN850X | 2TB | NVMe | 7,300MB/s read | 6,600MB/s write | £303.99 £114.97 at Amazon (save £189.02)
Granted, it's not the biggest saving, but this one's definitely worth a look for our favourite SSD in its most perfect config. No heatsink is included here, although this Gen4 PCIe SSD doesn't run as hot as its predecessor. And man, is it something to behold speed-wise? This is definitely on the high end for PCIe 4.0 drives.

Samsung T7 Shield | 1TB | USB 3.2 Gen2 | 1,050 MB/s read | 1,000 MB/s write | £197.29 £89.99 at Amazon (save £107.30)
Samsung's external drives have a better recent history than its internal SSDs, so we've no hesitation in recommending the T7 for any professional looking for a large amount of storage that can be safely taken from place to place. They're designed to be rugged and fast, a potent combo. Oh, and they are available in three colors.