A 500GB NVMe SSD for $160 is one of the best Amazon Prime PC gaming deals Eurogamer.net If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy. A 500GB NVMe SSD for $160 is one of the best Amazon Prime PC gaming deals Deals by Will Judd Deputy Editor, Digital Foundry Updated on 20 Apr 2021 The Samsung 960 Evo is one of the best solid state drives on the market, and today is the perfect time to buy one. This 500GB drive normally retails for over $200, but right now it's $160 as part of Amazon's Prime Day 2018 deals. So what makes this a good time to pick up the 960 Evo? And how good is this drive anyway? Let's hit that first question first: it's a good time to get this drive because Samsung just released a successor, the 970 Evo. That drive is a little faster than the 960, but it's still in the 'early adopter' phase of its product run, which means it's still pretty darn expensive at around $200. In contrast, the 960 Evo gets about 90% of its performance at 80% of the price - not bad, right? So how fast is the 960 Evo anyway? Well, it's darn fast - it's rated with sequential read speeds of up to 3200MB/s and write speeds of up to 1800MB/s, thanks to its use of the super-fast PCIe interface. That means you'll get about six times faster read and write speeds than the average SSD that connects via SATA. Random read and write speeds are improved too, so you'll definitely notice a difference in responsiveness when upgrading from a standard SATA SSD - games should load a bit faster, copying files around your hard drive gets a speed boost and so on. The M.2 form factor is also arguably more convenient than SATA, as it takes up way less space and is usually connected directly to your motherboard. That makes for a cleaner-looking build, as you don't need to run any data or power connectors to the drive. It's also good for modern laptops, which may not have a full-size 2.5-inch drive bay in order to save on space. So all things considered, the Samsung 960 Evo is an NVMe SSD drive that's certainly worth a look. You can find it for $160 on Amazon right now, so check it out if you're interested. If you're looking for more Prime Day 2018 highlights from Digital Foundry, check our choices for the best Amazon Prime Day deals before the promotion comes to an end. More Deals Jelly Deals Logitech's G Pro X gaming headset is its lowest-ever price during Amazon's Early Access sale Prime Members can get it for just £52. Jelly Deals Save over £500 off the retail price on this beefy ASUS TUF Dash gaming laptop from Amazon Under £1080 for an RTX 3070 laptop. Jelly Deals Samsung's premium PRO 980 1TB SSD is under £80 during Prime's Early Access sale A great PC or PS5 upgrade. 1 Jelly Deals Amazon Prime Early Access Sale 2022: best gaming deals Find the best gaming deals from the second Prime Day 2022 from PS5 controllers to Nintendo Switch bundles. Latest Articles Digital Foundry Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090: a new level in graphics performance The Digital Foundry video review - and how the new GPU champion delivers for 4K 120fps gaming. Google announces cloud gaming Chromebooks less than a fortnight after Stadia shutdown GeForce Now preinstalled. 4 Feature Evercore Heroes wants to wind people up the right way "There's less rage at them, because they didn't end your fun." Genshin Impact Path of Gleaming Jade dates, login event rewards Including other anniversary rewards and how to claim them. Supporters Only Premium only Off Topic: Take a minute to appreciate Cookin' with Coolio's incredible scallops recipe. What a great book. Premium only Off Topic: Reading City of Glass in comic form "Where exactly am I going?" Premium only Off Topic: Il Buco is a transporting film about a really big hole Underlands. Off-Topic Netflix handled Sandman brilliantly It was Dreamy. 9 Buy things with globes on them And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store! Explore our store