SSD shopping in 2026 comes down to two questions: how much capacity do you need, and is PCIe 5.0 worth paying for? For a gaming PC the second answer is usually no. Prices have shifted this year, though, and a few PCIe 5.0 drives now cost about the same as good PCIe 4.0 ones, which changes the maths a little.
Forge PC has not tested these drives. Performance conclusions come from TechSpot, Tom's Hardware and PC Prowler, and specifications come from manufacturers and retailer listings. All prices are approximate UK prices at Scan on 12 November 2026, unless we say otherwise.
The short version
For gaming, buy a PCIe NVMe SSD and prioritise capacity. TechSpot's 2025 load-time testing found it "generally does not matter whether it is PCIe 3.0, 4.0, or 5.0".
Best value: Kingston NV3, at about £130 for 1TB or £235 for 2TB.
Best mid-range PCIe 4.0: WD Black SN7100, at about £160 for 1TB.
Best high-end PCIe 4.0: Samsung 990 Pro. The 2TB heatsink version was about £400, cheaper than the standard 2TB model on the same day.
Best value PCIe 5.0: Kioxia Exceria G3 1TB at about £160, or Crucial T710 2TB at about £330.
Skip PCIe 5.0 if your board doesn't have a PCIe 5.0 M.2 slot. That includes every AM4 board and AM5 boards with the B840 chipset.
Does PCIe 5.0 make games load faster?
Barely. TechSpot's Tim Schiesser tested load times across PCIe 5.0, 4.0 and 3.0 drives, SATA SSDs and hard drives in a large set of games (published 12 August 2025). His conclusions:
PCIe 5.0 drives "occasionally eked out a single-digit edge over PCIe 3.0 in modern DirectStorage titles, but those wins were rare and small". In one game, the fastest PCIe 5.0 drive loaded 15 per cent faster than the slowest PCIe 3.0 drive, saving about five seconds.
SATA SSDs are "showing their age". Some titles took two to four times longer to load on SATA, and in rare cases, such as the portal sequence in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, SATA drives struggled to keep up with streaming.
Hard drives are not recommended for games, and many new releases list an SSD as a minimum requirement.
Faster drives help outside games, for example copying large games and verifying files. TechSpot found TLC flash, a large SLC cache and a DRAM cache all worth having if the drive also holds Windows or you move games around a lot.
PC Prowler, a UK site, reached the same view in March 2026. It said PCIe 5.0 gains are "concentrated in specific workloads" such as large file transfers and high-resolution video editing, that Windows boots in "practically the same time" on PCIe 4.0 and 5.0, and that most games load fine from PCIe 4.0 or even 3.0.
Tom's Hardware's Best SSDs guide (updated 23 October 2026) names the PCIe 4.0 Samsung 990 Pro as its best SSD overall and best SSD for gaming.
Our picks
Drive | Type | Rated read / write | 1TB | 2TB | 4TB |
|---|
Kingston NV3 | PCIe 4.0 | up to 6,000 / 5,000MB/s | £130 | £235 | £440 |
WD Black SN7100 | PCIe 4.0 | 7,250 / 6,900MB/s | £160 | — | — |
Samsung 990 Pro | PCIe 4.0 | 7,450 / 6,900MB/s | £250 | £520 (heatsink £400) | £710 |
Kioxia Exceria G3 | PCIe 5.0 | 10,000 / 8,900MB/s (1TB) | £160 | not in stock | — |
Crucial T710 | PCIe 5.0 | 14,500 / 13,800MB/s | — | £330 | £620 |
Samsung 9100 Pro | PCIe 5.0 | 14,700 / 13,400MB/s (2TB) | £230 | £470 | £860 |
Crucial P310 | PCIe 4.0 | 7,100 / 6,000MB/s (4TB) | — | — | £440 |
Rated speeds are the manufacturer's sequential figures from Scan's listings or the maker's spec sheet, and they vary by capacity. A dash means we did not find the capacity in stock at Scan on 12 November.
Best value: Kingston NV3
Tom's Hardware lists the NV3 as its best "ultra-bargain" M.2 SSD. Kingston rates the 1TB model at up to 6,000MB/s reads and 4,000MB/s writes with 320TB written (TBW) endurance, and the 2TB at up to 6,000/5,000MB/s with 640TBW. For a game library that is plenty fast. At about £235, the 2TB is the capacity sweet spot this year. It is the drive we use in our £800 and £1,200 builds.
Best mid-range PCIe 4.0: WD Black SN7100
At about £160 for 1TB, the SN7100 is a fast PCIe 4.0 drive for not much more than the NV3. Tom's Hardware lists it as its best laptop M.2 SSD. WD's consumer SSDs are now sold by SanDisk. Scan also lists a SanDisk Optimus GX 7100 with the same rated speeds, but the 2TB was £459.98, so the 1TB is the one to buy.
Best high-end PCIe 4.0: Samsung 990 Pro
Tom's Hardware calls the 990 Pro the fastest PCIe 4.0 drive it has tested, and lists five years' warranty and up to 2,400TBW (4TB). It's expensive at 1TB (£250), but the oddity of 12 November was the 2TB heatsink version at £399.98. That was cheaper than the standard 2TB at £519.98 and is the version worth buying if it fits your motherboard (or a PS5).
Best value PCIe 5.0: Kioxia Exceria G3 or Crucial T710
The 1TB Kioxia Exceria G3 was £159.98 at Scan, the same price as the PCIe 4.0 SN7100, with rated speeds of 10,000/8,900MB/s. If you have a PCIe 5.0 slot and want 1TB, there's no penalty for choosing it. At 2TB, the Crucial T710 was £329.99, cheaper than the PCIe 4.0 Samsung 990 Pro 2TB. Scan lists it at 14,500/13,800MB/s. Note that Micron stopped shipping Crucial consumer products at the end of February 2026. It says it will continue to honour warranties, but stock is whatever remains in the channel.
The Samsung 9100 Pro is the premium PCIe 5.0 option. On 12 November the 1TB model (£229.98) was cheaper than a 1TB 990 Pro (£249.98), which is another sign of how far some PCIe 4.0 prices have drifted.
Best for big libraries: 4TB
At 4TB, the Kingston NV3 and Crucial P310 were both £439.99. Tom's Hardware warns that many 4TB drives involve compromises, such as QLC flash, no DRAM cache or a weaker controller. That matters less for a secondary game drive than for your Windows drive.
Will a PCIe 5.0 drive run at full speed in your PC?
Only if the M.2 slot supports it:
Platform | PCIe 5.0 M.2? |
|---|
AMD AM4 (B550, X570) | No. PCIe 4.0 at best, and A520 is PCIe 3.0 |
AMD AM5 with B840 | No. PCIe 4.0 only, according to AMD |
AMD AM5 with B650 | Depends on the board. Many have PCIe 4.0-only slots |
AMD AM5 with B850 | Yes, one PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot is standard |
AMD AM5 with X870 / X870E | Yes |
Intel LGA 1851 (Core Ultra Series 2) | Usually. The processor has PCIe 5.0 lanes, but check the board. Club386 measured PCIe 5.0 reads capped at around 12,200MB/s on Arrow Lake |
A PCIe 5.0 drive still works in a PCIe 4.0 slot, just at PCIe 4.0 speeds. PC Prowler also warns that PCIe 5.0 drives "run hot" and that most need a good heatsink to avoid throttling during long transfers. Many AM5 boards include an M.2 heatsink, but check before you buy a bare drive. Our AM5 motherboard guide lists which boards have PCIe 5.0 storage.
Buying tips
Capacity first. Modern games often take 100GB or more, and a 2TB drive saves you from constant uninstalling.
Avoid SATA for your main game drive. TechSpot notes that SATA's former price advantage is evaporating.
Check the warranty and endurance on the maker's site. Listings vary.
Watch for heatsink versions. As the 990 Pro shows, they sometimes cost less than the bare drive.
Black Friday is 27 November. SSDs are one of the more likely places for real discounts this year. See our Black Friday guide.
Our verdict
For most UK gamers in November 2026, the Kingston NV3 2TB at about £235 is the best SSD to buy. TechSpot's load-time testing suggests any PCIe NVMe drive is fast enough for gaming, and this one is big enough to hold a sensible library. If you want a quicker, more premium PCIe 4.0 drive, the Samsung 990 Pro 2TB heatsink version at about £400 is the one to watch. PCIe 5.0 only makes sense if your board supports it and the price gap is small, as it is with the Kioxia Exceria G3 1TB and the Crucial T710 2TB. Don't pay a large PCIe 5.0 premium expecting faster loading screens: TechSpot's testing says you won't see it.
