I'd buy this budget SSD for my next-gen build... if I hadn't already bought one before it got so cheap

HardwareStorageSSDsI’d buy this budget SSD for my next-gen build… if I hadn’t already bought one before it got so cheapWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Lexar)

Lexar NM790 PCIe 4.0 SSD on blue background

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Do you feel that in the air? It’s the collective excitement brewing for next-gen gaming PC platforms. And with it, the possibility of a full system upgrade that could benefit from such a drive as the Lexar NM790.

We already have someAMD Zen 5 CPUs, but we’re also on the lookout for a possible 9000-series X3D chip such as therumored 9800X3D, and we’re certainly looking out forIntel Arrow Lake CPUswhich are hopefully right around the corner.

Then, of course, there are the upcoming Nvidia Blackwell graphics cards, such as the apparent RTX 5080 and5090which can’t seem to keep themselves out of leaky benchmarks. In other words, there’s an entirely new hardware generation just around the corner.

What should one do with all this? Well, many gamers will be looking to build new rigs. There are plenty of folks out there hanging on to aging components, and a new CPU and GPU generation is a great excuse for a full overhaul.

This doesn’t mean everything has to be bleeding-edge, however. There’s one PC component that doesn’t need to be cutting-edge or next-gen, and it’s the SSD. PCIe 4.0 SSDs are still perfectly reasonable and should be for some time.

If I were building a fresh rig right now I’d opt for the Lexar NM790, given that it’s currently on sale atAmazon for $75 (save $25)for the 1 TB version or$140 (save $50)for the 2 TB version. Those are 25% and 26% discounts, respectively, which put both versions at the top end of the value chart, as far as I’m concerned.

To be clear, this is the SSD I currently use in my own rig, and it’s also the one we rate as thebest budget NVMe SSD for gaming. It’s a snappy little SSD for a more than reasonable price, even at full whack.

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Peak Storage(Image credit: Future)Best SSD for gaming: The best speedy storage today.Best NVMe SSD: Compact M.2 drives.Best external hard drives: Huge capacities for less.Best external SSDs: Plug-in storage upgrades.

Peak Storage

(Image credit: Future)Best SSD for gaming: The best speedy storage today.Best NVMe SSD: Compact M.2 drives.Best external hard drives: Huge capacities for less.Best external SSDs: Plug-in storage upgrades.

(Image credit: Future)

SATA, NVMe M.2, and PCIe SSDs on blue background

Best SSD for gaming: The best speedy storage today.Best NVMe SSD: Compact M.2 drives.Best external hard drives: Huge capacities for less.Best external SSDs: Plug-in storage upgrades.

Yes, it’s cache-less, but that doesn’t mean much these days. SSDs tend to use a portion of their TLC DRAM as a pseudo-SLC cache, which should allow for speedy operation even with file transfers of up to about a quarter of the drive’s full capacity. Which covers almost all use cases. And DRAM’s pretty irrelevant for gaming, too, because gaming is read-heavy.

It’s a fantastic budget SSD to consider if you’re looking towards a new build for a next-gen CPU or GPU. I’d opt for the 2 TB version, myself, because this will give you much more wiggle-room for game installs, but the 1 TB version is a great jumping-off point for a budget build.

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