As the size of games continues to swell with each passing year, it’s become more important than ever before to have plenty of storage for your gaming rig or console. NVMe solid-state drives (SSDs) are the best way to add some to desktop PCs and PS5s, as they’re compatible with those systems, have high capacities, and feature excellent read/write speeds that’ll shorten your loading times in-game.
One of the best SSDs I’ve ever used is Samsung’s 980 PRO. It often goes on sale since it’s no longer the manufacturer’s latest model, but right now, you can get the 2TB variant for just $100. This is the drive’s lowest-ever price, so if you’re in need of a new SSD that’s both large and fast, now is a great time to pull the trigger.
I bought the Samsung 980 PRO a few months ago in April when a deal dropped its price by nearly $100, and thanks to the excellent balance of price and performance that it offers, it’s quickly become the SSD I default to when giving recommendations. Since my purchase, Samsung has reduced the cost of the 2TB model even more, with the normal price hovering around the $140-180 mark currently. Thanks to this new sale, though, you can snag it for $100.
Performance-wise, you can look forward to up to 7,000 MB/s read and 5,100 MB/s write, which is a significant step up from the 3,500 MB/s read and 3,300 MB/s write you’d get with its predecessor, the Samsung 970 EVO Plus. Samsung’s latest drive, the 990 PRO SSD, can achieve 7,450 MB/s read and 6,900 MB/s write, but it’s also considerably more expensive. Because of that, the 980 PRO is my top pick, and will be the best option for most gamers in general.
Windows Central’s Managing Editor Richard Devine reviewed the Samsung 980 PRO when it released in 2021, giving the PCIe Gen 4 drive a score of 4 out of 5. As someone that’s been using it for a while now, I can confidently say that he was right when he said it’s a “beast mode upgrade for your PC or PS5.”
