Best PCIe 4.0 SSDs 2023: Up your storage game

The Solidigm P44 Pro is without a doubt the fastest PCIe 4.0 drive we have ever tested. In fact, it finished within the top five fastest drives in our tests, and was only beaten by three next-gen PCIe 5.0 drives. Plus, by installing the Solidigm Windows driver you can further improve random performance in small read/writes making it even faster during everyday use.

Not only is the Solidigm P44 Pro performance top-notch, but it also has a very reasonable price so long as you shop at the right place—we found that pricing varies widely online from retailer to retailer. This is not only the best PCIe 4.0 drive on the market, but also one of the best SSDs period. And despite stiff competition from a crowded field of other excellent PCIe 4.0 drives it holds its own at the top.

The WD Black SN850X is a screaming-fast drive and ranks right up next to the FireCuda 530 near the top in terms of speed. The reason the WD Black SN850X edges out that drive as our pick for best PCIe 4.0 runner-up is that it offers better value for the money—not only does it give you the same great speed as the FireCuda, but it does so at a lower price per GB.

Also, in terms of overall performance, the SN850X stands out with its excellent real-world transfer rates and outstanding random write performance. In the crowded field of great PCIe 4.0 SSDs, the WD Black SN850X holds its own despite stiff competition.

Now with the very first signs of PCIe 5.0 drives coming to market, we’re finally starting to see companies offering budget PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives at compelling prices. The best of the affordable bunch? The WD Blue SN580 NVMe SSD. At just $50 for a 1TB model at the time of writing you can get your hands on the excellent SN580—you won’t likely find any PCIe 4.0 drives with storage that cheap. And even with the low price you won’t be sacrificing any performance here either. In our testing, the SN580 turned out both stellar benchmark and real-world results. Admittedly, it slowed down considerably in the large 450GB transfer test, but seeing as how it’s unlikely anyone will write that much contiguous data it likely doesn’t matter. When all is said and done, the SN580 is a super-affordable wonderfully high-performing PCIe 4.0 SSD. It simply can’t be beat at this price point.

In the past, you were out of luck if you wanted to upgrade your storage in a smaller-sized device such as a handheld gaming console where the longer 2280 NVMe SSDs wouldn’t fit. Thankfully, with the advent of more advanced handheld gaming consoles such as the Steam Deck, manufacturers are changing all of that. There are bunch of half-sized 2230 small form-factor SSDs on the market, and the latest WD Black SN770M is our favorite. It comes with up to 2TB of capacity and shockingly excellent real-world performance. Its unique feature is that it’s only 30mm long, meaning you’re able to use it in small devices such as a Steam Deck.

The SN770M drive has great everyday performance and truly impressive real-world transfer speed. During our testing, it cruised through the 48GB and 450GB transfer tests, beating out other zippy full-sized PCIe 4.0 drives. While the Rocket Q4 provides decent enough capacity-to-cost, if your device is able to handle the longer, standard-sized 2280 drives, you’ll likely have more options to choose from and might be able to find even better price-for-performance. Regardless, we love this compact SSD and the SN770M from Western Digital expertly fits a niche that is only likely to grow more common with devices such as the Steam Deck in the future.

The Seagate Game Drive is a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD that was made specifically for next-gen consoles—the PS5 in particular. And it doesn’t disappoint. It features DRAM for primary caching duties, which is a bit unique and almost essential for Sony’s console system. The PS5 doesn’t support HMB, so a drive such as this with DRAM cache is the optimal choice. The drive comes in 1TB and 2TB models, meaning you’ll have plenty of space to store all of your games should you need it.

While the Seagate Game Drive is optimized for a PS5, it’s no slouch as a regular SSD either. In our speed tests it did remarkably well, earning the spot as the second-fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD with random ops that we’ve ever tested. Seagate also provides a generous five-year warranty with the drive and it has an astounding 1,275TBW rating—more than double the industry norm. PS5 owners simply can’t go wrong with the Seagate Game Drive.

Sure, PCIe 4.0 is great and all, but what if you want to upgrade to PCIe 5.0? If your system features a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot, and you can afford it, then there is no question you’ll get significantly faster read and write speeds. And if you do decide to upgrade, there is currently no better PCIe 5.0 SSD than the Crucial T700. It practically shattered all of our benchmarks for both synthetic and real-world tests. How fast is it? Well, in a side-by-side comparison with the WD Black SN850X, our top pick for best PCIe 4.0, the Crucial T700 almost doubled it in sequential read and write benchmarks, was around 30 percent fast in the 48GB transfer test, and about 25 percent faster in the 450GB transfer tests. Currently, the T700 is undoubtedly the king of the hill by a fair margin when it comes to PCIe 5.0. So if and when you decide to make the change, the Crucial T700 is your best bet.