Prime Early Access is a great time to grab a speedy and capacious SSD

By Alan Dexter
published

Slash your loading times and save cash.

four SSDs on a green background
(Image credit: Future)

Amazon Prime Day two, or Prime Early Access if you prefer, has been responsible for some decent PC gaming deals. Far better than I was expecting when the big box shifter first announced this extra deal bonanza. Everything from laptops to graphics cards has seen some decent savings, with plenty of other retailers jumping in on the money-saving event. 

One category that has really stood out, though, is storage. Plenty of drives were maintaining their savings from the first Amazon Prime Day in July, but over the last 24 hours have seen even deeper cuts. To the point that plenty of our favorite drives are reduced to their lowest-ever ticket prices, and that makes them rife for a bit of last-minute deal bagging as we head into the second day of the sale.

Not only can you get your hands on our fave WD_Black SN850 in 1TB trim with its funky heatsink for a bargainous $129, but budget permitting, you can also go big and grab the updated 2TB version of the new SN850X drive for just $199. That's a fair bundle of cash still, but it'll see you good for a long while and won't have you worrying about making room for your next game.

If your budget won't stretch to $200, but you're still after a good chunk of storage, then the 2TB Intel 670p makes for a great deal at just $126. Sure it isn't as fast as the best PCIe 3.0 SSDs, and nowhere near the throughput you'll get from the Western Digital drives, but if you need a load of storage, this is pretty much as cheap as you can get right now. The SK Hynix Gold P31 isn't far behind though at $160 and is a bit quicker when it comes to the write performance.

You also have the option of going down the DRAM-less route, which drops the DRAM cache from the actual SSDs in favor of sectioning off a small amount of system memory, but equates to more affordable drives in the process. The 1TB Samsung 980 is a solid PCIe 3.0 offering for sure, although it's another Western Digital drive, the 1TB WD_Black SN770 that gets the nod from me at just $80.

There are plenty of great SSD deals out there, but you've only got til the end of the day to grab one. 

WD_BLACK SN850 | 1TB | PCIe 4.0 |7,000MB/s reads | 5,300MB/s writes | $279.99 $128.49 at Amazon (save $151.50)

WD_BLACK SN850 | 1TB | PCIe 4.0 | 7,000MB/s reads | 5,300MB/s writes | $279.99 $128.49 at Amazon (save $151.50)
This impressive SSD consistently gives the Samsung 980 Pro's performance a run for its money and is arguably the PCIe 4.0 drive to beat. It's our favorite high-speed SSD, and at this price makes a great upgrade for your gaming rig's boot drive. This version with the heatspreader is cheaper than the bare drive right now too.

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WD_Black SN850X | 2TB | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s reads | 6,600MB/s writes | $289.99 $199.99 at Newegg (save $90)

WD_Black SN850X | 2TB | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s reads | 6,600MB/s writes | $289.99 $199.99 at Newegg (save $90)
This is the very latest version of our favorite drive, with that trailing X representing a slight bump in performance. It does cost slightly more because of it, but with a healthy saving like this, it's easier to recommend. $200 for 2TBs of one of the fastest drives around makes for an easy recommendation. You can get the heatsink model for an extra $10 too. 

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Intel 670p SSD | 2TB | PCIe 3.0 | 3,500MB/s reads | 2,700MB/s writes | $169.99 $125.99 at Newegg (save $44)

Intel 670p SSD | 2TB | PCIe 3.0 | 3,500MB/s reads | 2,700MB/s writes | $169.99 $125.99 at Newegg (save $44)
An oldie but goldie! There was a time when the Intel 670p was the definitive budget SSD. It's fair to say that SSDs have gotten a lot quicker since then, but this is still one of the cheapest ways of getting a big chunk of storage into your machine. 

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SK hynix Gold P31 SSD | 2TB | PCIe 3.0 | 3,500MB/s reads | 3,200MB/s writes |$198.99$159.19 at Amazon (save $39.80)

SK hynix Gold P31 SSD | 2TB | PCIe 3.0 | 3,500MB/s reads | 3,200MB/s writes | $198.99 $159.19 at Amazon (save $39.80)
This affordable SSD is great for anyone looking for a modest storage upgrade. It's a PCIe 3.0 drive, so not the fastest option around, but this is still a good deal for the cash. SK Hynix SSDs are almost never on sale so we were surprised to see these marked down a couple of bucks.

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Samsung 980 SSD | 1TB | PCIe 3.0 | 3,500MB/s reads | 3,000MB/s writes | $139.99 $85.49 at Amazon (save $54.50)

Samsung 980 SSD | 1TB | PCIe 3.0 | 3,500MB/s reads | 3,000MB/s writes | $139.99 $85.49 at Amazon (save $54.50)
For just $86 you can bag a full 1TB of fast PCIe 3.0 SSD storage. That's plenty of space for a boot drive and a host of your most oft-played games. You would have to be a Samsung fan to pick this over the WD Black SN770, but if that goes out of stock, the Samsung 980 is a great backup. Back up. See, SSD deals humor, we've got it all.

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WD Black SN770 | 1TB | PCIe 4.0 | 5,150MB/s reads | 4,900MB/s writes | $129.99 $79.99 at Amazon (save $50)

WD Black SN770 | 1TB | PCIe 4.0 | 5,150MB/s reads | 4,900MB/s writes | $129.99 $79.99 at Amazon (save $50)
It may not match the peak performance of the pricier SN850, but this is a great budget option. And a good shout for anyone still stuck on a PCIe 3.0 motherboard but with a yearning for an upgrade soonish. This SSD will be as fast as any PCIe 3.0 drive but then will reach its own top speeds as soon as you upgrade to a PCIe 4.0 board.

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Alan Dexter
Alan Dexter

Alan has been writing about PC tech since before 3D graphics cards existed, and still vividly recalls having to fight with MS-DOS just to get games to load. He fondly remembers the killer combo of a Matrox Millenium and 3dfx Voodoo, and seeing Lara Croft in 3D for the first time. He's very glad hardware has advanced as much as it has though, and is particularly happy when putting the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD processors, and laptops through their paces. He has a long-lasting Magic: The Gathering obsession but limits this to MTG Arena these days.

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