SSDs, i.e. solid state drives, have completely changed the computing experience over the last decade.
These wondrous storage devices have sped up previously ponderous boot times to a point bordering instantaneous, vastly improved the responsiveness of programs and games, and generally made the copious long wait times we all used to suffer a thing of a past. If you’re not using an SSD, you should be, and if you have an older model, consider upgrading to the faster speeds offered by newer models powered by cutting-edge PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 interfaces.
That said, a premium drive may not deliver any more real world performance than a bargain drive. Mainstream software, including Windows has yet to implement the many performance tricks, such as multiple queues that NVMe SSDs offer.
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Our recommendations cover both internal SSDs (NVMe picks listed first, SATA picks second) and external SSDs (listed last), with the latter largely being NVMe types in an enclosure on the end of a USB or Thunderbolt cable. Some older models are SATA internally, but those are increasingly rare. See also PCWorld’s guide to the best external drives if you’re looking strictly for a portable storage solution.
Why you should trust us: It’s in our name, PCWorld. Our reviewers have been testing PC hardware for decades. Our storage evaluations are thorough and rigorous, testing the limits of every product — from performance benchmarks to the practicalities of regular use. As PC users ourselves, we know what makes a product stand out. Only the best SSDs make this list. For more about our criteria and testing process, scroll to the bottom of this article.
Crucial P3 – Best PCIe 3.0 SSD
Pros
- Excellent everyday PCIe 3 performance
- Fantastically low price per GB
Cons
- Very low TBW rating
- Non-cached QLC writes are extremely slow
Sure, PCIe 4.0 SSDs scream during big file transfers, but if you’re still using an older system with PCIe 3.0, upgrading to an NVMe SSD still provides substantial benefits to your PC’s speed and overall responsiveness. Better yet, you don’t need to break the bank to take advantage. The Crucial P3 is a very good daily performer, but it’s available for a bargain rate of just $45 for a 500GB model or $65 for a 1TB model. Though it doesn’t have top-tier PCIe 4 performance and the TBW rating is pretty low, the P3 does have excellent real-world write times and unless you really stress the drive you shouldn’t notice much of a difference anyhow.
All told, this drive is an outstanding choice for anyone looking to snag a solid everyday SSD at a great price.
WD Black SN7100 SSD – Best PCIe 4.0 SSD
Pros
- Top-notch HMB performance
- Affordable
- Sexy name
Cons
- Slower random performance than DRAM designs
We were wowed by the SN7100’s performance. The 2TB version that we tested was the fastest host memory buffer (HMB) design SSD that we’ve run through our gauntlet of benchmarks.
The fact that it’s an HMB design, meaning it uses your system’s memory for primary caching duties, as opposed to featuring DRAM onboard, means the SN7100 is very competitively priced. We’re talking close to $50 less than our previous pick, the Solidigm P44 Pro, for both the 1TB and 2TB capacities.
Combine that with an industry standard five-year warranty / 600TBW rating (terabytes that can be written) per TB, and you’re looking at probably the best PCIe 4.0 SSD for average users as well as gamers.
WD Blue SN5000 – Best budget PCIe 4.0 SSD
Pros
- Good everyday performance
- Very affordable
- Fastest NVMe SSD of any ilk we’ve tested writing 450GB
Cons
- Top performance requires HMB support
With PCIe 5.0 drives coming to market, we’re finally starting to see companies offering budget PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives at compelling prices. Our previous pick, the WD Blue SN580 NVMe SSD, has just been supplanted by WD’s Blue SN5000. At just $75 for a 1TB model at the time of writing, and with speedy transfers, you won’t likely find a better value PCIe 4.0 drive.
In our testing, this drive proved to be among the fastest Host Memory Buffer (HMB) SSDs we’ve tested. And unlike the SN580 before it, the SN5000 didn’t falter at the 450GB transfer test, but instead tied the record among all SSDs.
You can save a few more dollars by opting for the Kingston NV3. It’s competitive with the SN5000 Blue in many tests, and even faster at 450GB writes, but has a less generous warranty: three years as opposed to the SN5000’s five years.
Teamgroup Z540 – Best PCIe 5.0 SSD
Pros
- PCIe 5.0
- Up to 4TB in capacity (soon)
- Second-fastest SSD we’ve tested overall
Cons
- Not particularly cheap
As with any PCIe 5.0 SSD, there are important caveats to bear in mind. For starters, you’ll pay a premium over extremely fast, and in some cases even faster NVMe PCIe 4.0 drives that employ a host memory buffer (HMB) design, as you can see in our review of the Solidigm P44 Pro — our pick for best PCIe 4.0 SSD.
But if you use multi-threaded software and your system sports a 13th/14th-gen Intel CPU (which the Phison PS5026-E26-52 controller inside this drive is optimized for), you can be assured of benchmarking-busting performance.
Now, in all fairness the Z540 isn’t the fastest PCIe 5.0 drive we’ve tested. It traded benchmark wins with our previous top pick the Crucial T705. But the Teamgroup Z540 has that competitor beat, decisively, when it comes to price, making it the clear pick for this category.
How can you argue with the Z540’s $143, $247, and $470 asking prices for 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB, respectively, compared with the T705’s $155, $280, and $515 prices, when performance is so close? That’s the kind of savings that pushes a close-second winner into the lead, in our book.
That being said, keep an eye on those prices, because they are always changing, and today’s alternative pick could easily become tomorrow’s best buy. Similarly, Corsair’s MP700 Pro SE offers very competitive performance that could make it a tasty option if its prices are to come down.
Bottom line: PCIe 5.0 shoppers have lots to choose from!
PNY CS2150 PCIe 5.0 SSD – Best budget PCIe 5.0 SSD
Pros
- Fast PCIe 5.0 HMB performer
- Affordable for the speed
- Maintains a decent write rate after secondary cache is exhausted
Cons
- Not as fast as PCIe 5.0 DRAM designs
You can save some serious coin on a PCIe 5.0 SSD by opting for a host memory buffer design, such as PNY’s CS2150. This is because by using the host system’s memory as the SSD’s primary cache, as opposed to having dedicated DRAM on the drive, an HMB design costs less to manufacture.
That doesn’t stop the CS2150 from performing very well. Indeed, the 2TB version that we tested, placed 9th overall among all the other NVMe drives that have passed through our lab. It ran neck-in-neck with the Corsair MP700 — another HMB SSD that left us impressed.
But PNY’s CS2150 trumps its Corsair peer by being lower priced — costing from $10 to $40 less than the latter for the 1TB and 2TB versions, respectively. You’ll get the standard five-year warranty and 600TBW (terabytes that can be written) guarantee.
If you have the PCIe 5.0 slot to support it, this SSD is an affordable way to future-proof your storage.
Crucial P310 (2230) – Best SSD for Steam Deck
Pros
- Fastest 2230 SSD we’ve tested
- Available with up to 2TB of capacity
Cons
- Low TBW endurance rating
If you’re looking to upgrade the storage in your Steam Deck, you can’t just go with any of the best SSDs available to PCs — you need a 2230 module, meaning one that measures 22mm wide, by 30mm long.
Luckily there are at least a few nice options to choose from, such as the the WD Black SN770M and Corsair MP600 Core Mini, and our favorite, the Crucial P310.
Why are we partial to the P310? Because it’s the fastest 2230 SSD we’ve tested, and by a rather large margin.
It bested our previous pick — the aforementioned WD Black SN770M — in every benchmark save for the 450GB transfer, where it lost steam at the 85 percent mark after running out of secondary cache. But large transfers are rare for most users.
The P310 is a little more pricey than the SN770M, too, but not by much more than $10 for both the 1TB and 2TB offerings.
If optimum speed is what you’re after, and you don’t foresee regularly moving large amounts of data, the P310 is the ticket.
Seagate Game Drive SSD – Best SSD for PS5
Pros
- Very good overall performance
- Excellent 4K performance
- Low-profile heatsink
- Twice the TBW rating of the competition
Cons
- A bit pricey
- No 4TB model
The Seagate Game Drive PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD was made specifically for next-gen consoles—the PS5 in particular. And it doesn’t disappoint. Instead of HMB, it features DRAM for primary caching duties, which is practically essential for Sony’s console system. This is important because the PS5 doesn’t support HMB, so a drive such as this with DRAM cache is a must. The drive comes in 1TB and 2TB models, which means you’ll have plenty of space to store all of your games should you need it.
While the Seagate Game Drive is optimized for a PS5, it’s no slouch as a regular SSD either. In our speed tests it did remarkably well, earning the spot as the second-fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD with random ops that we’ve ever tested. Seagate also provides a generous five-year warranty with the drive and it has an astounding 1,275TBW rating—more than double the industry norm. The drive is a bit pricey, but the special optimizations for PS5 means that console owners can rest easy knowing that their money is going to good use with the Seagate Game Drive.
Samsung 870 EVO – Best SATA SSD
Pros
- Excellent performance, especially with small file operations
- Unlike the QVO, long writes don’t slow down
Cons
- A little expensive
If you’re looking to add some storage via a traditional 2.5-inch SATA drive rather than a tiny M.2 “gumstick,” Samsung’s spectacular 870 EVO is your best bet. It’s the fastest SATA SSD we’ve tested, it’s available in up to 4TB of capacity, and it’s exceedingly affordable given its speed. Enough said, really — though Samsung’s killer Magician SSD management software and long warranty period also deserve a shout-out. The EVO series is a legend among SSDs for a reason.
Crucial BX500 – Best budget SATA SSD
Pros
- Good everyday performance
- Low price per gigabyte
Cons
- Slows drastically when secondary cache runs out
The Samsung 870 EVO offers an intoxicating blend of performance and affordable pricing, but if you want as much capacity as possible for as cheaply as possible, consider the Crucial BX500. You can get its 1TB model for $70.50, almost $40 less than the equivalent EVO, while a 2TB version costs just $125.
The drive also comes in exceedingly affordable 240GB and 480GB capacities, but as we said in our review: “We recommend this QLC drive in the larger capacities for those who want good everyday performance for a budget price,” adding that “the smaller capacities will likely run into more slowdowns during heavy writes.”
Crucial X9 Pro – Best external SSD
Pros
- Super small form factor
- Great 10Gbps performance
- Handsome design
Cons
- Not the least expensive 10Gbps SSD available
With great everyday performance and an affordable price, the Crucial X9 Pro is our favorite external SSD. This svelte beauty will give you transfer rates of 10Gbps and comes in 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB capacities with reasonable prices for each. In our testing we found that the X9 Pro performed admirably against the other 10Gbps competition. It especially excelled in the real-world 48GB transfer test and the 450GB write time test where it smoked other similar 10Gbps drives we’ve tested.
Crucial also has an X10 Pro model on offer that gives you 20Gbps transfer speeds, but you’ll pay quite a bit more for that extra speed. Regardless, we think that the X9 Pro will serve the average user perfectly fine with excellent all-around performance and a cheaper price point. You can’t ask much more from a 10Gbps USD external SSD than what the Crucial X9 Pro gives you.
For many more external SSD recommendations, see our roundup of the best external drives.
Other SSD reviews
- Samsung 9100 Pro: Samsung’s back with the fastest consumer NVMe SSD you can buy — but it ain’t cheap.
- Addlink A93/S93: This DRAM-less design comes with our without a heatsink — if you opt to go without, it’s a decent value buy.
- Lexar Go SSD with Hub: Though it’s not cheap, this rugged, external SSD is certainly an uber-convenient way to add a ton of 10Gbps storage and extra USB ports to your phone.
- Corsair EX400U: While Corsair’s EX400U is on the slow side for a USB4 external SSD, it’s also less expensive than the competition.
- Teamgroup GE Pro: The “Pro” in this PCIe 5.0 SSD’s moniker is interesting given that performance is a small step backward from our top pick, the Teamgroup Z540.
- WD SN850X 8TB SSD: This 8GB version of the SN850X is the fastest PCIe 4.0 HMB SSD we’ve tested, but the high price per gigabyte is hard to swallow.
- Teamgroup T-Force A440 Lite: This PCIe 4.0 drive is a decent performer but it was only 14th overall out of a cohort of 21, and at times slower than it’s less expensive sibling, the T-Force G50 below.
- T-Force G50: If you’re looking to stretch your SSD dollar, this drive should be on your short list. It’s an inexpensive, solid performing PCIe 4.0 drive for everyday tasks.
- Kingston NV3: This PCIe 4.0 SSD is proof that DRAM-less drives, meaning those that use a Host Memory Buffer (HMB) as cache, can offer competitive performance, while also saving the consumer some money. We just wish it had a more generous warranty.
- Adata 970 Pro: Gamers will love the heatsink and overall design of this PCIe 5.0 SSD. But it did turn in some middling single-queue performance benchmarks, making it a tough sell against the best of this ilk.
- Sabrent Rocket Nano 2242: Featuring a smaller form factor (22mm x 42mm), this good-performing drive was tailor-made for Lenovo’s Legion Go and Thinkpads — but it can also be used in a standard slot as well.
What to look for in an internal SSD
NVMe or SATA
Only look for SATA if your computer or device doesn’t support the far, far faster NVMe. Note that an M.2 slot in an older computer might be mSATA rather than NVMe. Read your user guide or manual to see if it’s NVMe-capable/NVMe-bootable. It should be both to take full advantage of NVMe.
DRAM or HMB
Some SSDs use DRAM for primary caching and faster random ops, while others forego the cost of DRAM and use a technique called host memory buffer (HMB). HMB does just what it sounds like, employs your computer’s (the host) memory for primary caching.
After a rough start, HMB has developed marvelous sequential transfer performance, though as hinted at — random ops still lag behind the DRAM designs. If you want the best overall, and especially random performance, then you want a DRAM design. You’ll pay for it though: HMB designs are often half the price, and the latest HMB models are every bit as fast with sequential transfers as their pricier brethren. Note that there are devices, such as the PS5 that don’t support HMB.
TLC or QLC
NAND is available in TLC (Triple Level Cell/3-bit) and QLC (Quad Level Cell/4-bit) flavors including a variety of sub-types. Thanks to a secondary caching technique of writing either of these types of NAND as older SLC (Single-Layer Cell/1-bit/far less error-checking required), there’s little difference in top speed — as long as there’s enough NAND allotted for the caching chore. There generally is unless you write a truly huge amount of data at once, such as in our 450GB write test. When writing natively (no secondary caching) speeds can drop to 200MBps for TLC and 100MBps for QLC.
The other difference is promised longevity. Most TLC SSDs we test feature at least a 600TBW rating, while QLC SSDs hover down around 250TBW. See our section on “TBW rating” to learn more.
PCIe generation
An NVMe SSD won’t perform any faster than the PCIe generation of the CPU/motherboard it’s on. I.e., installing a PCIe 5.0 SSD on a PCIe 3.0/4.0 system is pointless. In truth, as Windows and most Windows software doesn’t support multiple queues — a major factor in NVMe performance — you can save a lot of money without sacrificing a lot of speed by sticking with PCIe 4.0, even in 5.0 motherboards. Keep in mind that NVMe performance even on PCIe 3.0 is insanely fast and nearly impossible to gauge subjectively. Basically, don’t overbuy.
Capacity
As much as you can afford. This ranges from 250GB to 8TB. Note that SSDs less than 1TB quite often write slower than more capacious ones due to fewer chips to shotgun data across. More capacity also means more NAND for secondary caching, and less chance you’ll see any slowdowns on long writes.
Price
As low as possible, though there are certain performance advantages to pricier DRAM models as mentioned above. We also recommend sticking with a decently well-known vendor.
Warranty
Most internal SSDs are warrantied for five years, while externals are more likely to be covered for only three years. These numbers don’t vary much, but make sure it’s not less than those we mentioned. The warranty can be overridden by the next point: TBW.
TBW rating
The TBW, or terabytes that may be written, is the manufacturer’s estimate/rating of how much data may be written to an SSD before it morphs into a read-only device. This is due to cells wearing out. The higher the TBW rating, the better, though most users won’t write nearly as much data as they think. TBW is like the miles in an auto warranty, abrogating the warranty if exceeded.
BIOS support
To get the most out of an NVMe drive, you want to run your operating system off of it, which requires a system that can boot from NVMe. This will be any new machine, and likely anything produced in the last 10 years, but check. In fact, most new PCs already feature NVMe SSDs, so you’re likely purchasing an upgrade or something to fill the additional M.2 slots.
What to look for in an external SSD
Beyond IP rating (ruggedness), style, and portability, all you need to consider for an external SSD is the bus it runs on. USB 5Gbps (3.x) SSDs are limited to 550MBps, 10Gbps USB SSDs (3.1) top out at 1GBps, 20GBps USB (USB 3.2×2 or USB4) at 2GBps, and 40Gbps USB (USB4) at somewhere over 3GBps. Thunderbolt 3/4 are 30Gbps and 3GBps as well.
Note that 3.2×2 USB SSD requires a 3.2×2 port or USB 4 for the full 20Gbps. Attached to a Thunderbolt 3/4 port it will be limited to 10Gbps. Why the limitation, we’re not sure, but it crosses platforms — Windows PCs and Macs — so we’re assuming a chip or wiring limitation.
SSD, yes. Hard drive, maybe?
Life is simply better if you’re running your computer off an SSD. Chances are these days, you already are. If you aren’t — upgrade. Read that now and thank us later. That said….
SSDs still cost a lot more per gigabyte than mechanical hard drives, and currently top out at 8TB, while 3.5-inch HDDs top out at a whopping 30TB. We should mention that the latest hard drives can transfer data at nearly 300MBps, which is much faster than a decade ago and easily fast enough for most media streaming. On the other hand, HDDs, being less reliable and more delicate are best run in mirrored pairs unless used for backup. This negates much of their price advantage.
If you want speed and huge amounts of affordable storage, buy an SSD for use as your boot/operating system/main drive, then set up a hard drive as secondary storage.
How we test SSDs
Drive tests currently utilize Windows 11 (22H2) 64-bit running on an X790 (PCIe 5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 modules (64GB of memory total). Intel integrated graphics are used. The 48GB transfer tests utilize an ImDisk RAM disk taking up 58GB of the 64GB total memory. The 450GB file is transferred from a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB, which also contains the operating system.
Each test is performed on a newly formatted and TRIM’d drive so the results are optimal. Note that as any drive fills up, performance will decrease due to less NAND for secondary caching, and other factors.
The performance numbers shown apply only to the drive we were shipped as well as the capacity tested. SSD performance can vary by capacity due to more or fewer chips to read/write across and the amount of NAND available for secondary caching (writing TLC/QLC as SLC). Vendors also occasionally swap components. If you ever notice a large discrepancy between the performance you experience and that which we report (systems being roughly equal), by all means—let us know.
You can learn more in our article “How we test internal SSDs at PCWorld.”