GameStop NVMe SSD 2TB SSD Review: A surprisingly capable budget drive for the PS5

Tom's Hardware Verdict The GameStop NVMe SSD is a decent gamer-oriented drive with good performance and a nice heatsink at an affordable price. Pros + Good all-around performance + Heatsink, cool-running + Decent price at all capacities Cons - Lack of full specifications - No direct support Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test . Go to page: GameStop NVMe SSD Introduction Page 1: GameStop NVMe SSD Introduction Page 2: GameStop NVMe SSD 2TB Performance Results When we think of GameStop, we don’t exactly think SSD. However, the company has released a PS5-friendly NVMe SSD “Card” that’s surprisingly capable. The heatsink is aesthetically pleasing, and the prices are good at all capacities. That’s almost too good to be true – what’s really behind this unusually marketed drive? Have any corners been cut to make this work? We’re pleased to say the GameStop NVMe SSD is actually a pretty good bargain. Our testing revealed no unpleasant surprises, and the drive, on the whole, is a pretty good budget pick. Performance is good, power efficiency is acceptable for use in a laptop sans heatsink, and the hardware is surprisingly good. We’re not seeing any weird SSD controllers or flash here – just a reliable controller from Silicon Motion paired with Samsung flash. The heatsink is capable and PS5-compliant, so no complaints there. The only thing that might make you hesitate is the lack of hard specifications for the drive. However, in our testing, it meets our expectations, and this drive is backed by a known company. So far, so good. Let’s get into it. GameStop NVMe SSD Specifications Swipe to scroll horizontally Product 1TB 2TB 4TB Pricing $175.74 $237.49 $427.49 Form Factor M.2 2280 M.2 2280 M.2 2280 Interface / Protocol PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4 PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4 PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4 Controller Silicon Motion SM2268XT2 Silicon Motion SM2268XT2 Silicon Motion SM2268XT2 DRAM N/A (HMB) N/A (HMB) N/A (HMB) Flash Memory Samsung 236-Layer TLC Samsung 236-Layer TLC Samsung 236-Layer TLC Sequential Read 7,400 MB/s 7,400 MB/s 7,400 MB/s Sequential Write 6,400 MB/s 6,400 MB/s 6,400 MB/s Random Read N/A N/A N/A Random Write N/A N/A N/A Endurance N/A N/A N/A Part Number 24VG-GSPL-NVMeSSD-Heatsink-1TB 24VG-GSPL-NVMeSSD-Heatsink-2TB 24VG-GSPL-NVMeSSD-Heatsink-4TB Warranty 5-Year 5-Year 5-Year The GameStop NVMe SSD Card, or just NVMe SSD, was originally intended to be available only at 1TB and 2TB. Currently, there is also a 4TB version. These are priced at $175.74, $237.49, and $427.49 at the time of review. The 1TB price isn’t bad, being priced a bit above the Crucial P310 , the Kingston NV3 , and the Biwin Black Opal NV7400 . Considering this drive has a heatsink and TLC flash, it should be more than a match for any of those three. The price at 2TB has no competition at the moment, and the same goes for 4TB, for that matter. It