Intel generated a significant amount of hype when it first launched the 660p line of SSDs, largely because they represented an early implementation of quad-level cell (QLC) NAND storage, a move that many saw as an important step to larger capacity, cheaper versions of the best SSDs for gaming and, indeed, the best NVMe SSDs.
That promise is born out by sales like this: Amazon is currently offering the 2TB version of the 660p for $195, way down from its original MSRP of $399.99. This essentially means you're getting NVMe speed (1,800MB/s sequential) for around or even less than the price of SATA storage. Plus, because this is the 2TB model, you're not just getting a slender boot drive—this is enough space to stash your OS, a significant amount of your games library, and potentially even some media and backup as well.
Does faster storage matter for gaming? Yes and no. Faster drives can shave seconds off load times, which add up in games where you're frequently staring at a splash screen or watching a canned animation while content loads in the background. Even more importantly, a fast SSD can significantly improve boot times, and there's nothing more boring than staring at a Windows logo while you're waiting to dive into F1 2019.
While the 660p has shown some issues during large file transfers (it tends to slow down significantly when it runs out of cache) the odds of you encountering that kind of reduced speed in day-to-day usage is pretty low. Unless you're planning on the using the 660p for shifting massive files, it's an easy recommend at this price point (or anywhere around the $200 mark).
Not for you? Check back in November for the best Black Friday SSD deals of the year.
