Best cheap SSD deals for gaming today

WD Black SN770 | 500GB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 5,150MB/s read | 4,900MB/s write | $69.99 $39.99 at Best Buy (save $30) (opens in new tab)
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.

Seagate FireCuda 530 | 500GB | NVMe | 7,000MB/s read | 3,000MB/s write | $159.99 $80.99 at Best Buy (save $79) (opens in new tab)
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.

WD Black SN770 | 1TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 5,150MB/s read | 4,900MB/s write | $129.99 $60.99 at Best Buy (save $69) (opens in new tab)
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.

WD Black SN850X | 1TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s read | 6,300MB/s write | $159.99 $99.99 at Newegg (save $60) (opens in new tab)
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.

WD Black SN770 | 2TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 5,150MB/s read | 4,900MB/s write | $149.99 $126.99 at Amazon (save $23) (opens in new tab)
If you are looking to double your storage, Amazon is offering the same WD Black SN770 at 2TB at the lowest price it's ever been. While it won't break any speed records, this is a welcome and affordable upgrade for any gaming PC. If you're searching for stock, Best Buy also has the drive for the same price (opens in new tab).

Nextorage Japan | 2TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s read | 6900MB/s write | $249.99 $154.99 at Newegg (save $95) (opens in new tab)
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.

WD Black SN850X | 2TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s read | 6,600MB/s write | $289.99 $159.99 at Newegg (save $130) (opens in new tab)
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.

WD Black SN850X | 4TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s read | 6,600MB/s write | $400.99 $347.49 at Walmart (save $53.50) (opens in new tab)
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.

Nextorage Japan | 4TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s read | 6,900MB/s write | $649.99 $349.99 at Newegg (save $300) (opens in new tab)
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 $79.99 at Amazon (save $80) (opens in new tab)
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.

Crucial X8 | 2TB | USB 3.2 | 1,050 MB/s read | 1,000 MB/s write | $219.99 $139.99 at Amazon (save $90) (opens in new tab)
If you need a little extra storage and 1TB isn't cutting it, then Crucial's X8 drives are a great shout. They offer the same high-performance connection and SSD speeds as the big bois, but with a great price point.

SanDisk Extreme | 2TB | USB 3.2 Gen2 | 1,050 MB/s read | 1,000 MB/s write | $459.99 $138.99 at Amazon (save $321) (opens in new tab)
Even if that original price looks somewhat inflated, this is still great for two terabytes of speedy portable SSD storage. Its performance is excellent for a mobile drive, and it's pleasingly robust, too.

Western Digital Blue SN570 | 1TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 3,500MB/s read | 3,000MB/s write | £118.08 £51.99 at CCL (save £66.09) (opens in new tab)
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.

WD Black SN850X | 1TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300MB/s read | 6,300MB/s write | £157.99 £87.98 at Amazon (save £70.01) (opens in new tab)
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.

Kingston NV2 | 2TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 3,500MB/s read | 2,800MB/s write | £154.46 £100.48 at CCL (save £53.98) (opens in new tab)
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 | £149.99 £109.99 at Overclockers (save £40) (opens in new tab)
Tthis 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 | 2TB | NVMe | 7,300MB/s read | 6,600MB/s write | £209.95 £149.99 at Overclockers (save £10) (opens in new tab)
Granted, it's not the biggest saving, but this one's definitely worth a look for our favorite 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.