The SSD is the unsung hero of most gaming and streaming builds. Having a quality SSD in your computer will substantially speed up load times and make everything much more responsive and smooth.

If you are in a rush, here is my list of the 7 best SSDs for streaming:

• 1. Samsung 870 EVO
• 2. Western Digital WD Blue
• 3. Crucial MX500
• 4. Samsung 860 EVO
• 5. Samsung 970 EVO Plus
• 6. WD_BLACK SN750
• 7. Corsair MP400

If you want know more details about the SSDs on this list, as well as what a good SSD can do for your setup, then keep reading.

1. Samsung 870 EVO

SPECIFICATIONS

Storage	500 GB
Connection	SATA 3
Speed	560 MB/s

WHERE TO BUY

View On Amazon

PROS

• Cheap
• Decent speeds
• SATA 3 is compatible with most motherboards
• Samsung is a great brand

CONS

• 500 GB is not a lot for storing recordings

Overall this is a great SSD and probably the gold standard for SSDs. There are two types of SSDs, and which type you want will depend on your mobo.

There are SSDs that connect via a SATA cable, just like HDDs do. Then there are SSDs that connect via NVMe.

NVMe SSDs are much faster and tiny (the size of a stick of gum), but they’re also going to be more expensive and aren’t compatible with every motherboard and CPU.

Now, this SSD is pretty much guaranteed to be compatible with your setup. 560 MB/s is standard for SATA SSDs, so the 870 EVO checks off that box.

500 GB is also plenty of space for storing a few games while also holding your OS. So, including this in your streaming PC will eliminate load times for most of your games.

The only downside for this SSD is that it isn’t great for storing clips and recorded streams. Videos take up a lot of space, and that 500 GB will be eaten up fast.

This is common for SSDs, though, so I’d recommend getting a secondary HDD (external or internal) that you can use to save clips and videos.

2. Western Digital WD Blue

WHERE TO BUY

View On Amazon

SPECIFICATIONS

Storage	1 TB
Connection	SATA 3
Speed	560 MB/s

PROS

• 1 TB of storage
• Compatible with most motherboards
• Standard speed
• WD is a trusted brand when it comes to hard drives

CONS

• SATA 3 is slow if your mobo is compatible with NVMe

When you’re looking at SSDs, they’re all going to be pretty similar. It’ll mostly come down to which brands you trust and have had good / bad experiences with.

If you talk to 100 people, all 100 are going to tell you how they’ll never buy an X hard drive again. In reality, most brands are as good as the next, as long as they have a long history of quality products.

WD, Samsung, Crucial, etc are all great brands, and this WD specifically is a fantastic SSD for any streaming PC.

This has 1 TB of storage, which is absolutely fantastic. It’ll be able to handle your boot drive, a few games, and even some clips and videos.

560 MB/s is a standard speed for SATA 3 SSDs, so there are absolutely no problems with the WD Blue.

However, if your motherboard can handle an NVMe SSD, I highly recommend opting for an NVMe drive as they’re much faster.

3. Crucial MX500

WHERE TO BUY

View On Amazon

SPECIFICATIONS

Storage	1 TB
Connection	SATA 3
Speed	560 MB/s

PROS

• 1 TB
• 3D NAND
• 2.5 inches

CONS

• Crucial is not as well-known as Samsung and Western Digital

This is another great option for a 1 TB SATA 3 SSD. While Crucial is not as well known as WD, they still make great products.

This is nice and small, sitting at a 2.5 inch form factor, and it has 3D NAND storage.

3D NAND pretty much means they stacked the storage cells on top of each other which improves performance and increases the lifespan of the SSD.

As I’ve said above, 560 MB/s is standard in a SATA 3 SSD, so you’re not sacrificing any performance with the Crucial MX500.

Again, though, if you can afford it and your motherboard can handle an NVMe, you’re going to want that. It’ll improve load times much more, since NVMe is much faster.

However, this is a fine option for streamers. Your games will load fast, and it has 1 TB of space to store your games, clips, and videos.

4. Samsung 860 EVO

WHERE TO BUY

View On Amazon

SPECIFICATIONS

Storage	1 TB
Connection	SATA 3
Speed	550 MB/s

PROS

• 1 TB of space
• Fast transfer rates
• Manufactured by Samsung

CONS

• Very expensive for the amount of storage
• Standard SSD at a very high price

I have a soft spot for Samsung SSDs because I’ve never had an issue with any of their products.

However, if you talk to 100 different people, 20 of them will probably tell you how they’ll never use a Samsung SSD again. That’s just the nature of the beast when it comes to SSDs.

As far as the 860 goes, though, you might as well grab the 870. Samsung advertises V NAND technology, but this is the same exact thing as 3D NAND, which every SSD on this list has.

However, this SSD costs double the price of the rest. 1 TB is a great amount of storage for streaming, storing games, and storing clips / videos.

This SSD is fast, and will improve your load times significantly if you’re coming from an HDD. So, overall this is a fantastic SSD but it is pretty overpriced.

5. Samsung 970 EVO Plus

WHERE TO BUY

View On Amazon

SPECIFICATIONS

Storage	1 TB
Connection	NVMe PCIe 3.0
Speed	3.5 GB/s

PROS

• 1 TB storage space
• Samsung is trusted and frontrunners in SSD tech
• V-NAND (3D NAND) tech is fast
• NVMe is very fast
• Very load in-game load times with this SSD
• Really good pricing

CONS

• Your motherboard has to be NVMe x4 compatible

If you’re a streamer, you want this SSD or at least a very similar SSD in your system. NVMe SSDs are extremely fast and will immediately improve your in-game load times.

On top of that, they free up a SATA slot, which you can use for a standard HDD that you can use to store clips, videos, etc.

This 970 EVO has 1 TB of space, which will be plenty of space to handle pretty much all of your games. The only exception to this is if you only play AAA games and you play 20 different ones at a time.

As you can see from the chart, this has a 3.5 GB/s read speed, and it’s write speed is pretty much the same.

So transferring data is extremely fast, and your CPU will be able to instantly read all of the data it needs when you’re gaming.

I don’t have any real issues with this SSD at all, it’s a great choice for streamers and one of the best SSDs you could put in your computer.

6. WD_BLACK SN750

SPECIFICATIONS

Storage	1 TB
Connection	NVMe PCIe 3.0
Speed	3.5 GB/s

WHERE TO BUY

View On Amazon

PROS

• 1 TB is a good amount of space (not too much, not too little)
• NVMe makes loading games extremely fast, which is good when streaming
• WD (Western Digital) is a very trusted brand when it comes to storage

CONS

• Tad more expensive than other similar options

This SSD will do everything you need it to for streaming. As I’ve talked about, NVMe SSDs are very fast and great for load times.

If you’re streaming, your viewers will not want to sit around and wait for your game to load everytime. This is especially true if you play eSport games where you’ll be loading in and out of games often.

This SSD will make sure you’re always loaded in fast and give you the opportunity to ask who’s playing on a toaster every single game.

My only real issue with this SSD is that it does the exact same thing that the Samsung 970 EVO does, except this costs a few dollars more.

Now, if you like WD more than Samsung, then that extra cost is worth it. However, both SSDs are going to work perfectly fine.

I’d still recommend a secondary HDD for storing videos, clips from your stream, etc, but the 1 TB offered by this SSD should be plenty for most people.

7. Corsair MP400

SPECIFICATIONS

Storage	4 TB
Connection	NVMe PCIe 3.0
Speed	3.5 GB/s

WHERE TO BUY

View On Amazon

PROS

• 4 TB is a huge amount of space and will last years
• 3,480 MB/s read speeds and 3,000 MB/s write speeds
• Games will load extremely fast with this SSD

CONS

• Extremely expensive for an SSD
• Speed is standard so only paying for the extra storage
• Corsair isn’t known for SSDs but is a trusted brand nonetheless

This SSD isn’t faster than the other NVMe SSDs on this list, but it’s also not slower. However, it stores a lot more data.

4 TB compared to 1 TB is a very substantial increase. It may not seem like a big jump, after all it’s only 3 more, but when it comes to TB that’s pretty mind blowing.

With 4 TB of data, you’ll be able to store every single game you want to play and never have to worry about uninstalling them.

You’ll also be able to store all of your saved streams, clips, etc without an issue. The hardest part will be keeping your data organized over the years.

So, if you have the money and want a very fast SSD with a huge storage capacity, this is the one you want. It’ll do everything you need it to and more. It’s very fast and will last years.

What To Look For In An SSD?

A good SSD should have a decent amount of storage (500 GB+), and have good read / write speed (500+ MB/s). Higher storage SSDs will be much more expensive, though. If your motherboard supports PCIe / NVMe SSDs, then you should always choose one of those over a SATA 3 SSD because NVMe SSDs are much faster.

Before you buy an SSD, you have to figure out what your motherboard supports because that will weigh greatly on which SSD you buy.

If your motherboard supports PCIe 3.0, then you’re going to want to get an NVMe SSD. NVMe SSDs are extremely fast and they’re state-of-the-art at the moment.

For example, a typical SATA 3 SSD reads at about 560 MB/s, while a standard NVMe SSD will read at about 3.5 GB/s.

That is an insane jump, and if you’re a gamer it will shoot your load speeds through the roof. Even if you’re not a gamer, if you use your SSD as a boot drive then Windows will run like butter on an NVMe.

If your motherboard doesn’t support an NVMe, that’s okay. Regular SATA SSDs are still much better than HDDs and will load everything very fast.

Now, beyond speed, you also need enough space. 500 GB is fine, but if you play a lot of games or store a lot of clips, you’ll run out after a year or two and have to uninstall something.

You can remedy this by keeping an HDD plugged in specifically for storing videos, images, etc while you save your SSD for games. 1+ TB of space is more expensive, but it’s worth the price in the long run.

Does SSD Affect The Quality Of Your Stream?

An SSD will not affect the quality of your stream at all. It won’t improve your FPS or resolution for you or your viewers. However, an SSD will load your games much faster than an HDD, so you will spend less time on loading screens. Your stream quality will mostly be determined by your internet and CPU/GPU.

Your SSD will affect the quality of your stream very little. The only exception is if your viewers get annoyed by long load times.

If you play multiplayer games, though, you can always blame the long load times on other players.

When you stream, your stream quality and frames are going to be determined by your encoding method and your internet.

Your SSD will not play a role at all. If you want to save your streams and clips, though, you’ll want to have a large hard drive to do so.

Is 1TB Good For Streaming?

1 TB of storage is great for streaming, whether it is SSD or HDD storage. Your hard drive will not determine the quality of your stream at all, however having extra space on your drive is great for storing clips and recordings. SSDs will also improve load times, which most viewers will really appreciate.

If you’re just streaming, then you do not need a lot of storage space at all.

In fact, if you only plan on streaming one or two games then you can get away with a 500 GB SSD, or even 256 GB SSD if you’re feeling risky.

Having 1 TB of space will come in handy, though, especially if you plan on switching games a lot. Having the extra space will also allow you to save clips and videos, which generally take up a lot of space.

Overall, you can get away with a lot less than 1 TB of storage, but you will not regret getting the extra room.

Does Streaming Use A Lot Of Storage?

Streaming does not use any storage at all. You only need storage to hold the games that you play and the software to stream it. If you want to save your streams or even clips from your stream, then you will need extra storage. 500 GB of storage is recommended for streamers, but 256 GB can be enough.

If you play a lot of different games, or need to download games often in order to play whatever game is popular that week, then you’ll want more storage.

Otherwise you’d have to constantly uninstall old games and install new games. If you only play one or two games, you can get away with about 256 GB of storage.

Now, if you want to save your streams when you’re done (for posting on Youtube, for example), you will need more space.

Videos take up a lot of room, and you’ll probably want to have at least 1 TB of space to save these videos.

Luckily, HDDs are cheap and can store a lot of data, so many streamers and content creators will use a smaller SSD for storing their games and a much larger HDD for storing videos and clips.

How Much SSD Would You Need To Record A Stream?

The size of your SSD will not matter for streaming to a platform like Twitch or Youtube Live. However, if you want to record your gameplay and store the video on your own machine, you will need a 256 GB SSD or larger. Gaming videos take up a lot of space, and a 5-minute clip can require around 2 GB of storage.

If you plan on recording your stream to back it up and/or post on Youtube later, for example, then you will need a large SSD.

Games with a lot of movement and pixel changes take up more space, so if you’re playing something like Call of Duty, Valorant, etc, then you can expect an hour long stream to take up 40+ GB.

If you don’t plan on recording your stream and saving it to your own computer, then you don’t have to worry about your SSD. If all you want to do is stream to Twitch, you can get away with a 256 GB SSD.

If you want to save multiple streams to your hard drive, then you should get a 500+ GB SSD or even a 1 TB+ HDD specifically for storing your videos.