Best SSDs to Buy in 2023

Lexar’s NM620 is a Gen3 NVMe SSD ideal for those building a budget system. Admittedly, Gen3 and Gen4 drives are pretty cheap at the moment, but the NM620 takes this to a whole other level, and is one of the best priced Gen3 SSDs on the market. Coming in with 3500MB/s and 3000MB/s on the reads and writes, this SSD will be perfect for modern gaming, and should optimise those loads speeds and boot times at critical moments.

We wouldn’t urge consumers to necessarily pick up this SSD for workstation systems. However, the solid performance from this drive will be suitable for those that aren’t moving around massive files, or need quick transfer speeds. Overall, the NM620 is a solid option for gamers looking to secure an SSD on a budget.

Samsung’s 980 has been a mainstay in the GeekaWhat office in many a budget PC build. The 980 is an excellent Gen3 NVMe SSD sporting a similar set of specs to the aforementioned Lexar NM620. While this drive is slightly more expensive than some other Gen3 options, the extra cost comes in the form consistency in relation to the read and write speeds. Consumers can expect the performance of this drive to easily sit at 3500MB/s and 3000MB/s on the reads and writes without issues.

Much like the Lexar NM620, this drive is primarily geared towards those building more of a budget-oriented system based on the speed and pricing. Gaming with the Samsung 980 will be an absolute breeze, and some light workstation tasks shouldn’t prove too difficult either.

Stepping things up a notch with the MP600 GS from Corsair, this Gen4 drive offers consumers a way to leverage PCI-E 4.0 at a cheaper price point. While most SSDs are considerably cheaper versus prices one or two years ago, some Gen4 drives are still pricey. So the MP600 GS provides the somewhat faster Gen4 speeds but at a price that will be relatively affordable for most consumers.

Specs wise, the MP600 GS offers consumers 4800MB/s and 4500MB/s on the reads and writes which is very solid. This is a pretty big step up from the Samsung 980 and Lexar NM620, and will definitely improve performance in certain areas.

Crucial’s P5 Plus is our overall recommended drive due to its excellent value-proposition versus the rest of the market. The P5 Plus is perfect for those looking to pick up a high capacity Gen4 option. We’ve seen this drive drop very close to the $100 mark from certain vendors, making it one of the cheapest 2TB PCI-E 4.0 SSDs on the market. There’s also no caveats to the speeds either, with the P5 Plus 2TB model sporting a read and write speed of 6600MB/s and 5000MB/s respectively.

So not only is the P5 Plus perfect for those that need plenty of storage space for bigger games, but it is also an ideal option for workstation systems too. Based on the fact that the P5 Plus has a considerably higher read and write speed versus all of the previous drives we’ve looked at, it should be able to handle big file transfers at rapid speeds.

Moving on up again, the SN850 from Western Digital further improves on the performance that’s available with Gen4 SSDs. While the Crucial P5 Plus is more well-rounded when it comes to read and write speeds, the SN850, pushes this further by bumping up the read speeds up to 7GB/s. This is about the maximum theoretical bandwidth that PCI-E 4.0 can offer, so we’re seeing the SN850 make use of this fully.

Admittedly the write speeds aren’t as capable with the SN850. This will hinder writing to a device, and will ultimately affect the overall transfer speeds when moving things to and from drives. But it is worth noting that the SN850 is one of the few drives capable of providing consumers with a storage upgrade for their PS5.

Seagate’s Firecuda 530 is one of the best performing drives on the market with no competition coming remotely close. The Firecuda maxes out the theoretical bandwidth limits of PCI Express 4.0 by offering sequential read and write speeds of 7300MB/s and 6900MB/s respectively. There are very few drives, if any, that come close to the Firecuda 530 explicitly when it comes to performance.

Seagate blew every other manufacturer out of the water when it came to speeds, but the unfortunate caveat to picking up a drive of this calibre is the price tag. Because the Firecuda is a top performing multifaceted Gen4 SSD, it isn’t particularly cheap.

And while the price will be worth it for many, especially for those pushing their system with productivity applications, this could be considered overkill for those just building a run of the mill gaming PC.

Especially if you’re not playing triple A titles regularly, or doing something on your PC that demands that higher read and writing capabilities.

Crucial’s T700 is one of the few Gen5 SSDs on the market that consumers can pick up right now. The T700 is also one of the most capable Gen5 SSDs, offering a read and write speed of 12400MB/s and 11800MB/s respectively. Gen5 SSDs are very new, so we haven’t seen these new options reach their maximum speeds as of yet, but Crucial’s T700 really puts pedal to the metal, and is one of the strongest drives on the market right now.

As you can expect, because the T700 is an extremely capable drive it is not cheap. Consumers can expect to be spending over $150 just to secure the 1TB version of this particular drive, so if you’re on a budget, the T700 won’t be for you. One of the other major caveats is that you’ll need a Gen5 capable motherboard.

Most Ryzen 7000 motherboards will offer a Gen5 PCI-E M.2 slot, but Intel users may have to shell out a significant amount for a motherboard that offers a Gen5 slot, especially at the top-end side of the market. Overall this will significantly contribute to your build cost if you’re dead set on picking up a Gen5 option.