They might not be as flashy as one of the best graphics cards or RGB-lit RAM sticks, but what could be more important than those stick-thin drives that store all your most precious files? Grabbing one of the best SSDs for gaming is a great way to improve your general desktop experience, and it isn't too expensive to do so these days, either. The Samsung 970 Pro 1TB shows that even the top end of NVMe SSDs are no longer the wallet destroyers of old.
Desktop storage has undergone an almost cataclysmic shift over the past few years, and the result has been astonishing for those of us used to 250GB SATA SSDs costing upwards of $200. Now we have NVMe interfacing, which is much, much faster than SATA, and we have it in high capacity for a relatively low cost, too.
NVMe drives are looking like they'll be future-proof, as well, with the PCIe 4.0 standard rolling out and next-gen Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 consoles promising a focus on speedy storage.
We reckon the 1TB Samsung 970 Pro is the best NVMe SSD, but at its full retail price you’re paying a premium for it over, for example, the also fantastic Samsung 970 EVO Plus. With this 20% ($80 USD) discount on Amazon’s US site, however, the margins are a little slimmer and you’re getting an SSD that’s built to last.
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With a sequential read speed of 3,500MBps and a write speed of 2,700MBps, you’re guaranteed super quick transfer speeds, and an incredibly responsive desktop experience to boot (providing you install your operating system onto it). 1TB of capacity is more than enough for most purposes, too, and you can always pair it with another cheap SATA SSD to help store your oversized movie or music collection.
The 970 EVO Plus writes a little quicker than the Pro, but spending the extra on the 970 pro guarantees you much better longevity. The 1TB Pro has an endurance rating of 1,200TBW (terabytes written), whereas the 1TB EVO Plus has only 600TBW endurance. If you’re looking for something that’s speedy, high-capacity, made from quality components, and will last you a long time, you can’t go wrong with the Samsung 970 Pro 1TB NVMe SSD at this price.