DRAM or DRAM-less, both these 2 TB WD_Black SSDs are great deals, thanks to their big beautiful Bezo

Yeah, I know. Big and beautiful aren't everyone's favorite words right now, whether or not a Bezos is involved, but in the case of these two WD_Black SSDs, it really is a great combination.

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One of them is an old stalwart, a long-term top choice of everyone in the PC Gamer hardware team, whereas the other one is a new kid on the block. It's shoved the older drive off the top slot of the best gaming SSDs you can buy, thanks to its great performance and price tag.

But no matter which 2 TB drive you pick, you're going to have bags of storage that's fast and long-lasting, giving you years of solid state storage loveliness. You're really not going to be left wanting for anything else, except perhaps another three or four of them to max out your PC.

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• 2 TB WD_Black SN7100 | $127 @ Amazon
• 2 TB WD_Black SN850X | $142 @ Amazon

2 TB WD_Black SN7100

WD_BLACK SN7100 M.2 2280 | 2 TB | PCIe 4.0 | up to 7,250MB/s read | up to 6,900MB/s write | $159.99 $127.49 at Amazon (Prime Members only, joy rummy save $32.50)
Despite being a lot newer than the SN850X, you're only getting small performance gains. But it's no slouch and still offers some of the best in-class 4K read performance. To keep the cost down, the DDR4 DRAM cache has been dropped. However, its single-sided drive design gives it a versatile form factor that perfectly suits this heatsink-less drive to PCs, consoles, and laptops.

Price check: Newegg $137.99

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The WD_Black SN7100 is currently our top choice for the best gaming SSD you can buy at the moment. It doesn't have the same outright performance as some other NVMe SSDs, especially compared to PCIe 5.0 models, but in the area that matters the most—random 4K read/writes—it's extremely good.

By dropping the DRAM cache, the SN7100 can be sold for less than the SN850X and by no small margin. What you gain in money, though, you lose in sustained write performance because once the pseudo-SLC cache (roughly 250 GB) is full, the data throughput speed will crash right down.

That only matters if your use case for the drive involves routine data writes over 200 GB, and let's be honest here, that's going to be very niche for most PC users. For the vast majority, the SN7100 will just feel like a spacious, cool-running, and fast SSD. What more do you want?

2 TB WD_Black SN850X

WD Black SN850X | 2 TB | NVMe | PCIe 4.0 | 7,300 MB/s read | 6,600 MB/s write | $189.99 $142.49 at Amazon (Prime Members only, rummy new app save $47.50)
It's a few years old now, but SanDisk's (formerly Western Digital's) classic SN850X is still a very good SSD. That's down to having a fast controller, a large pseudo-SLC cache, and a big heap of DRAM on top. Pricey but worth it.

Price check: Newegg $154.99

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I'll fess up right now. I'm a huge fan of the SN850X—so much so that I have four of them (each 2 TB) in my main PC, and another three 1 TB drives dotted about in other rigs and test platforms.

They cope with anything I care to throw at them: gaming, Unreal Engine builds, video editing, and years of random file hoarding (you never know when that research paper on ray marching will come in handy). They don't rummy nobel run hot, and thanks to two enormous caches—pseudo-SLC and DRAM—the write performance stays full speed for really long periods of time.

Sure, the SN7100 is better performing. It should be, as it's so much newer, but we first reviewed the SN850X back in October 2022, and it's just as potent as it was then. Its main weakness has always been the price tag, and I'll admit that even with this big discount, it's quite a lot of cash to hand over for a 2 TB SSD.

I genuinely believe it's worth every single cent, though, and I can't see myself replacing my collection of SN850X drives until they finally give up the ghost and head off to silicon heaven.

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Best SSD for gaming 2025

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1. Best overall:
WD_Black SN7100

2. Best budget:
Lexar NM790

3. Best PCIe 5.0:
WD_Black SN8100

4. Best budget PCIe 5.0:
Crucial P510

5. Best 4 TB:
TeamGroup MP44

6. Best 8 TB:
WD_Black SN850X

7. Best M.2 2230:
Lexar Play 2230

8. Best for PS5:
Silicon Power XS70

9. Best SATA:
Crucial MX500