The best SSD upgrade I ever made is cheaper than ever for Prime Day – so I’m getting another

(Image credit: Samsung)

For Amazon Prime Day 2021 the Samsung 870 EVO is at its lowest price yet (not in the UK? Scroll down for Samsung 870 EVO deals in your region). I’m probably going to get another, and if you’re looking for any SSD this year, make it this one.

Like many people, I use a gaming PC I built myself and have spent many years fettling it, upgrading parts regularly, trying to keep my PCMR credentials. But while a lot of focus is spent looking for the best processors or the best graphics cards, at first I never spent much time thinking about storage.

Fast forward to today and I’m using an all-SSD gaming PC filled with amazing quality drives. One of the best upgrades I ever made was finally ditching mechanical hard drives for mass storage and going all-in with the Samsung 870 EVO.

Samsung 870 EVO at a new lowest price for Amazon Prime Day

The Samsung 870 EVO hasn’t been on the market for too long, so seeing such a crazy deal is a little surprising.

But that’s good for you and for me. I know I’m going to need another SSD at some point, especially with games like Forza Horizon 5 on the way, so instead of buying things I don’t need on Prime Day, this is a good chance to get something I do need. And that I already love.

Mechanical HDDs are lame and you should replace them as I did

There’s only one real benefit to using a mechanical HDD nowadays; high capacity at a low price. In scenarios such as a NAS, using an HDD still makes some sense. But in a home PC build, there’s no place for them anymore.

Nobody would build a PC with an HDD as a boot drive because they’re soooooo slowwwwww. So don’t punish yourself by using them for mass storage either. Whether it’s just files or your game library, a mechanical drive is not a good thing to have.

SSDs are now more affordable than ever, and yes, they are still pricier than an HDD, but the gains easily outweigh this. Value is more than just how much something costs. Finally ditching the last of my HDD storage for a Samsung 870 EVO was a more significant upgrade to my PC than a new CPU or a few more FPS in games.

It’s an upgrade you can feel. Launching apps, games, opening files, you don’t have to go and make a coffee while you wait.

Samsung SSDs — (Image credit: TechRadar)

When shopping for SSDs, shop Samsung

Whenever someone asks me what SSD they should get for their desktop or laptop, the first brand I recommend is Samsung. This isn’t out of some blind brand loyalty, it’s because they’re that good. I’ve had issues with performance, firmware and even straight-up failing with other brands, never with Samsung.

Everything about Samsung’s drives is first class, and you get a pretty solid warranty on each of them for that little added peace of mind. The companion software, Samsung Magician, is also well designed and actually useful. Beyond benchmarking, you can conduct health checks on your drives, and on SATA drives like this, you get Rapid Mode. This is some trickery involving the rest of your PC hardware to squeeze a little more from the drive.

I only use Samsung SSDs inside my PC now, and with a sale like this, the opportunity to stock up is too good to pass up. My existing 870 EVO 2TB game storage drive is almost full, so I’ll be grabbing another to replace my older 500GB 750 EVO.

If you need an SSD, buy this one. You won't regret it.

More Samsung 870 EVO deals

No matter where you live, you'll find all the lowest prices for the Samsung 870 EVO from around the web right here, with offers available in your region.