Hello, fellow gamers and tech enthusiasts! When it comes to creating your perfect gaming setup, there’s one aspect you can’t afford to overlook – storage. Your storage choice directly affects not just where you store your games, but how quickly they load, how smoothly they run, and your overall gaming experience.
In this guide, we’ll journey through the five main types of storage: HDD, SATA SSD, NVMe Gen 3, NVMe Gen 4, and NVMe Gen 5 to help you choose the right drive for your use case.
Personally, when I’m choosing Solid State Drives (SSDs) I tend to aim for higher endurance drives for my main drive where there will be lots of writes, like a Windows C Drive or a drive used as a scratch disk for video editing, and lower endurance drives for game drives where the use is less write intensive.
A Word of Warning
If you see a drive from a brand you have never heard of and that’s not on our list we would avoid them, there are lots of “no name” SSDs popping up that claim to have huge capacities for unbelievable prices that are absolutely fake.
Hard Disk Drives
What are Hard Disk Drives best for?
Traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDD’s) are the most cost-effective storage method for your PC and are great for bulk storage. If you’re gaming on a budget or need a lot of storage where speed is less important, HDDs are your go-to option.
How do Hard Disk Drives work?
At the heart of each HDD are one or more magnetically sensitive platters, spinning at high speeds, with an actuator arm that moves a read/write head across their surfaces. When data is written to the disk, the read/write head changes the magnetic alignment on the platter to represent binary data (1s and 0s). When data is read, the head detects the magnetic alignment and translates it back into binary data.
Hard Disk Drives Max Speed & Durability
HDDs speed varies depending on the RPM (revolutions per minute). Most consumer drives spin at either 5400 RPM or 7200 RPM, with maximum data transfer speeds typically up to around 200 MB/s for the latter. In terms of durability, while HDDs have a theoretically infinite lifespan for write cycles, their mechanical nature means they can fail due to physical wear or damage, with most drives having an average lifespan of around 5-10 years under normal use. HDDs are more sensitive to being bumped or moved while on and magnetic interference.
Internal vs External Hard Disk Drive Options
Internally to install a HDD you need a spare SATA Data and SATA Power Connector, most modern motherboards will support between four and six SATA drives being installed. If you don’t have any connectors left in your PC or you don’t want to install a drive inside your PC there are also external options available that connect via USB to your PC though they often need their own plug to power them. It’s worth noting that external drives can often actually be cheaper to buy than internal ones due to the volume of external drives sold especially with consumer-grade drive options.
Pros:
Hard Disk Drives are the cheapest of the storage type here per TB and offer the highest capacity options.
Cons:
Unfortunately, HDDs have slower read/write speeds compared to SSDs or NVMe drives. This could mean longer load times for games and slower file transfers.
Cost per TB:
Consumer HDDs cost around £20 – £33 though we aim for about £17 per TB for external high-capacity HDD’s when we are buying.
Reputable Consumer Grade Hard Disk Drives Options
There are only a handful of hard drive manufacturers left as they have become a commodity product with a low margin for manufacturers these are Seagate, Toshiba and Western Digital.
Internal Consumer Hard Disk Drives
The ranges that are intended for use in home desktop PC’s include Seagate BarraCuda, Toshiba P300, WD Blue, WD Black
External Consumer Hard Disk Drives
LaCie 1big Dock, Sea Expansion, Seagate FireCuda Gaming Hub, WD Elements, WD My Book, WD Black Game Drive, WD Black Game Drive
SATA SSDs
What’s it best for?
A balance between speed and cost. Great for general gaming and personal use and storing your games library for all but the most graphically and data intensive games. Solid State Drives have an estimated lifespan measured in Terabytes Written (TBW) which is the total writes that the manufacturer has designed the drive to withstand.
Pros:
- Faster read/write speeds than HDDs, which means faster load times for your games.
- Generally most consumer desktop PC’s have more spare SATA headers than other interfaces
Cons:
- While they’re faster, SSDs are more expensive per TB than HDDs and have a limited lifespan due to the finite number of writes they can handle.
Cost per TB:
Approximately £40 – £100.
Reputable Consumer Grade SATA SSD Options
Lower Endurance
- Crucial BX500
Read 540 MB/s | Write 500 MB/s- 240 GB 80 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- 480 GB 120 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 360 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 720 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- Crucial MX500
Read 560 MB/s | Write 510 MB/s- 250 GB 100 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 500 GB 180 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 360 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 700 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 4 TB 1,000 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- Kingston A400
Read 500 MB/s | Write 320 MB/s- 120 GB 40 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- 240 GB 80 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- 480 GB 160 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- 960 GB 300 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- Samsung 870 QVO
Read 560 MB/s | Write 530 MB/s- 1 TB 360 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 720 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- 4 TB 1,440 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- 8 TB 2,880 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- WD Blue
Read 555 MB/s | Write 440 MB/s- 250 GB 100 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 500 GB 200 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 400 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 500 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 4 TB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Higher Endurance
- Samsung 870 EVO Range
Read 560 MB/s | Write 530 MB/s- 256 GB 150 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 512 GB 300 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 1,200 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 4 TB 2,400 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- Samsung 870 Pro
Read 560 MB/s | Write 530 MB/s- 256 GB 300 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 512 GB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 1,200 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 2,400 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 4 TB 4,800 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
M.2 NVMe Gen 3
What’s it best for?
High-speed gaming, 4K video editing, and professional use.
Pros:
- Even faster than SATA SSDs, due to using the PCIe lanes directly. It reduces game load times significantly.
Cons:
- NVMe drives are more expensive than SATA drives and require a compatible motherboard with available M.2 slots.
- Gen 3 drives are beginning to be discontinued as manufacturers move to Gen 4 and 5 models
Cost per TB:
Around £35 – £55
Reputable Consumer NVMe Gen 3 Options
Personally, I tend to aim for higher endurance drives for my main drive where there will be lots of writes, like a Windows C Drive or a drive used as a scratch disk for video editing, and lower endurance drives for game drives where the use is less write intensive.
Lower Endurance
- Crucial P3
Read 3,500 MB/s | Write 1,900 MB/s- 500 GB 110 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 220 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 440 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 4 TB 800 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- Samsung 970 EVO Plus
Read 3,500 MB/s | Write 3,300 MB/s- 500 GB 300 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 1,200 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- WD Green SN350 TLC
Read Varies | Write Varies- 500 GB 60 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
Read 2,400 MB/s | Write 1,500 MB/s - 1 TB 80 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
Read 2,400 MB/s | Write 1,850 MB/s
- 500 GB 60 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- WD Green SN350 QLC
Read Varies | Write Varies- 1 TB 100 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
Read 3,200 MB/s | Write 2,500 MB/s - 2 TB 100 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
Read 3,200 MB/s | Write 3,000 MB/s
- 1 TB 100 TBW | Limited 3-Year Warranty
- WD Red SN700
Read Varies | Write Varies- 500 GB 1,000 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read 3,430 MB/s | Write 2,600 MB/s - 1 TB 2,000 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read 3,430 MB/s | Write 3,000 MB/s - 2 TB 2,500 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read 3,400 MB/s | Write 2,900 MB/s - 4 TB 5,100 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read 3,400 MB/s | Write 3,100 MB/s
- 500 GB 1,000 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Higher Endurance
- Samsung 970 Pro
Read 3,500 MB/s | Write 2,700 MB/s- 500 GB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 1,200 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
M.2 NVMe Gen 4
What’s it best for?
Cutting-edge gaming, intensive applications, and professional workloads.
Pros:
- Gen 4 drives take advantage of PCIe 4.0 to double the potential speed of Gen 3 drives.
- Gen 4 drives have been out for long enough to have matured and tend to be pretty reliable
- Gen 4 drives are currently the most widely available of all the M.2 NVMe drives
Cons:
- As with Gen 3, Gen 4 drives are pricier and need a compatible motherboard. As of now, only the more modern motherboards support PCIe 4.0.
Cost per TB:
This is a little more complex as the higher the capacity past a certain point the higher the cost per TB so we’ve split it out for you into expected cost per TB for each capacity. The cheaper the drive the lower the endurance, the maximum speed, cache, and warranty will tend to be with a premium charged for the very largest sizes (8 TB) and more “professional” targeted drives. With the smallest drives, you will pay more per TB as there is a minimum cost to manufacture the part and you are seeing more manufacturers pull these lines from production as they don’t make much sense for them as storage prices fall.
- 250 GB Approximately £80 – £160 per TB
- 500 GB Approximately £46 – £150 per TB
- 1 TB Approximately £44 – £117 per TB
- 2 TB Approximately £44 – £165 per TB
- 4 TB Approximately £44 – £115 per TB
- 8TB Approximately £92 – £125 per TB
Reputable Consumer NVMe Gen 4 Options
Lower Endurance
- Corsair MP600 CORE XT
Read Up To 5,000 MB/s | Write Up To 4,400 MB/s- 1 TB 250 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 450 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 4 TB 900 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- Corsair MP600 Pro
Read Varies | Write Varies- 500 GB 350 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 6,600 MB/s | Write Up To 3,600 MB/s - 1 TB 700 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 7,000 MB/s | Write Up To 5,700 MB/s - 2 TB 1,400 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 7,000 MB/s | Write Up To 5,700 MB/s - 4 TB 3,000 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 7,000 MB/s | Write Up To 6,500 MB/s
- 4 TB 6,000 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 7,000 MB/s | Write Up To 6,100 MB/s
- 500 GB 350 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- Crucial P3 Plus
Read Up To 5,000 MB/s | Write Up To 4,200 MB/s- 500 GB 110 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 220 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 440 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 4 TB 800 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- Crucial P5 Plus
Read Up To 6,600 MB/s | Write Up To 5,000 MB/s- 500 GB 300 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 1,200 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0
Read Varies | Write Varies- 500 GB 350 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
Read Up To 7,000 MB/s | Write Up To 3,700 MB/s - 1TB 700 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
Read Up To 7,000 MB/s | Write Up To 5,800 MB/s - 2TB 1,400 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
Read Up To 7,000 MB/s | Write Up To 6,850 MB/s - 4TB 3,000 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
Read Up To 7,000 MB/s | Write Up To 6,850 MB/s - 8TB 5,600 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
Read Up To 7,100 MB/s | Write Up To 6,000 MB/s
- 500 GB 350 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
- Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus-G NVMe 4.0
Read Varies | Write Varies- 1TB 700 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
Read Up To 7,300 MB/s | Write Up To 6,000 MB/s - 2TB 1,400 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
Read Up To 7,300 MB/s | Write Up To 6,900 MB/s - 4TB 2,800 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
Read Up To 7,300 MB/s | Write Up To 6,900 MB/s
- 1TB 700 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
- Samsung 980
Read Up To 3,500 MB/s | Write Up To 3,000 MB/s- 500 GB 300 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- Samsung 980 Pro
Read Up To 7,000 MB/s | Write Up To 5,000 MB/s- 500 GB 300 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 1,200 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- Samsung 990 Pro
Read Up To 7,450 MB/s | Write Up To 6,900 MB/s- 1 TB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 1,200 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- Seagate FireCuda 520
Read Up To 5,000 MB/s | Write Up To 4,850 MB/s- 500 GB 300 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 1 TB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 1,200 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- WD Black SN850X
Read Varies | Write Varies- 1 TB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 7,300 MB/s | Write Up To 6,300 MB/s - 2 TB 1,200 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 7,300 MB/s | Write Up To 6,600 MB/s - 4 TB 2,400 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 7,300 MB/s | Write Up To 6,600 MB/s
- 1 TB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Higher Endurance
- Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 SSD
Read Varies | Write Varies- 500 GB 800 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
Read Up To 5,000 MB/s | Write Up To 2,500 MB/s - 1 TB 1,650 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
Read Up To 5,000 MB/s | Write Up To 4,400 MB/s - 2 TB 3,350 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
Read Up To 5,000 MB/s | Write Up To 4,400 MB/s
- 500 GB 800 TBW | Limited 2-Year Warranty (Up to 5 Years with registration)
- Seagate FireCuda 530
Read Up To 7,300 MB/s | Write Up To 6,000 MB/s- 1 TB 1,275 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 2 TB 2,550 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- 4 TB 5,100 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
M.2 NVMe Gen 5
What’s it best for?
The future! Perfect for the highest-end gaming, and the most intensive applications.
Pros:
- Gen 5 drives are the fastest drives on the market. They’re the ultimate if you need blistering speeds.
Cons:
- As you’d expect, these are the most expensive drives per TB
- They require the latest motherboards with PCIe 5.0 support.
- PCIe 5.0 Controllers are new and have had some teething trouble
- You are paying a significant “shiny stuff” premium for the speeds that in most applications today you won’t really notice a big difference in despite the “Ultimate Gaming Drive” marketing some manufacturers are pushing.
- There is currently not a huge amount of competition as they are very new with some manufacturers not having released their versions which means prices are higher than they might otherwise be.
- The largest capacity available at the moment is 4TB so if you’re looking for more space in limited slots you may want to look for a Gen 3 or Gen 4 drive instead.
Cost per TB:
Around £160 – £400.
Reputable Consumer NVMe Gen 5 Options
Lower Endurance
- Corsair MP700
Read Varies | Write Up To Varies- 1 TB 700 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 9,500 MB/s | Write Up To 8,500 MB/s - 2 TB 1,400 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 10,000 MB/s | Write Up To 10,000 MB/s
- 1 TB 700 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
- Crucial T700
Read Varies | Write Up To Varies- 1 TB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 11,700 MB/s | Write Up To 9,500 MB/s - 2 TB 1,200 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 12,400 MB/s | Write Up To 11,800 MB/s - 4 TB 2,400 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 12,400 MB/s | Write Up To 11,800 MB/s
- 1 TB 600 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Higher Endurance
- Seagate FireCuda 540
Read Varies | Write Up To Varies- 1 TB 1,000 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 9,500 MB/s | Write Up To 8,500 MB/s - 2 TB 2,000 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
Read Up To 10,000 MB/s | Write Up To 10,000 MB/s
- 1 TB 1,000 TBW | Limited 5-Year Warranty
So there you have it, the five storage contenders. Remember, it’s all about finding the balance between capacity, speed, endurance and budget that best suits your individual needs.
Did you find this guide helpful? Does your current setup meet your storage needs? Do you have any questions we’ve not answered? Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments below or join our lively debate on the Gaming.Buzz Community Discord!