On paper, the Klevv CRAS C930 M.2 SSD should be one of the best options on the market. With impressive advertised read (7,400 MB/s) and write (6,800 MB/s) speeds, it should show that you don’t have to go with a more well-known brand like WD or Seagate to get a quality SSD for your PS5.
With a very reasonable price tag of $143 for the 2TB model and $79.99 for the 1TB model, it’s more affordable than many of its big-name rivals. So we know it can compete price-wise, but can it compete when compared to the others? best SSDs for gaming?
Having previously tested and reviewed the Nextorage NEM-PA series SSD, an equally unknown brand, I know firsthand that you don’t have to spend a fortune to get bang for your buck – or in this case, speed.
Editor’s note: Currently the C930 is not available in the UK, but after checking with the manufacturer we were told this should be soon. Until then we recommend the Nextorage option linked above.
Design and features
The Klevv CRAS C930 drive looks like a standard SSD stick, nothing unusual or flashy. With the option to use it as a SSD for PS5it comes with a heatsink that you can attach to the drive yourself. This is a unique design decision as it allows PC users to easily add the SSD to their build with their own heatsinks if needed.
Attaching the heatsink was a very simple task, all you have to do is remove the adhesive strip covers on the heatsink and attach it to the SSD drive. To be honest, I was a little nervous about attaching this myself as I had only worked with SSDs before that had integrated heatsinks, but it couldn’t have been easier.
I experienced similarly fast speeds in Marvel’s Midnight Suns that would make Quicksilver envious, as it loaded me into my save game from the main menu in just 3 seconds on average.
I really like the design of the heatsink. It has a slightly grid-like design on the end of the case, finished in matte black, contrasting with the “KLEVV” logo on the other end. While I know I won’t see the SSD or its design 99% of the time since it’s in my PS5, I appreciate the fact that it looks nice and premium.
I’m happy to report that the drive stayed nice and cool in the 1% of time I was actually watching it, despite being under heavy use in the PS5 just a few minutes earlier. Unfortunately, I can’t measure the actual temperature of the drive while in use in the PS5, but if the temperature after use was any indication, the heatsink is really working effectively.
Not only does it work, but it’s a very small drive and heatsink combo. It doesn’t feel heavy and fits perfectly into the PS5’s extra M.2 SSD storage slot, allowing you to snap it into the 80mm screw slot. As with attaching the heatsink, you won’t have any trouble actually fitting it into your console.
Performance
As I mentioned earlier, the Klevv CRAS C930 M.2 2TB drive has a factory read speed of 7,400MB/s and a write speed of 6,800MB/s. Both are impressive numbers that put it ahead of the WB Black SN850X, Samsung 980 Pro, and the Nextorage NEM-PA series. Those are really impressive advertised speeds, especially considering how much you’re actually spending.
To test this impressive read speed, I installed it in my PS5 and found that, unfortunately, it didn’t quite hit that mark when the console formatted the drive. With a read speed of 6,408 MB/s, it falls just short of the 1,000 MB/s read speed. That’s less than the Nextorage NEM-PA series, which reached 6,539 MB/s, but more than the WD Black SN850P, which reached 6,293 MB/s.
When testing the drive in CrystalDiskMark on my PC, the results achieved were consistent with what was advertised on the Klevv CRAS C930 box. Across three tests, the drive achieved an average read speed of 7,327MB/s and a write speed of 6,795MB/s. Both are impressive numbers, but I was particularly impressed with the write speed, which is only 5MB slower than the speed advertised on the box.
Now that we’ve gotten the technical jargon out of the way, the question is how performance stacks up in practice and in actual use. Well, in several games on my PS5, I whizzed through loading screens with ease and barely had time to think about picking up my phone to scroll through Twitter/X.
On my first attempt in Hitman 3: World of Assassination, I was able to send Agent 47 on a top secret mission from the main menu in just 12 seconds. This actually improved over time, as every time I entered a new level during roughly 2 hours of gameplay, I measured the loading times. At its fastest, it loaded me from the mission selection screen to Miami, one of the largest and most densely populated maps in the game, in just 7 seconds. On average, I waited no longer than 9 seconds to get straight into the action.
I experienced similarly fast speeds in Marvel’s Midnight Suns that would make me envious of Quicksilver, as it loaded me into my save game from the main menu in just 3 seconds on average. I was incredibly impressed with this across multiple tests, all of which achieved similar speeds.
Not only did it load super quickly to get me into my save game, but from leaving the mission hub area of the game to actually entering a mission scenario, it took me an average of just 8 seconds across three tests.
My last test was with the PlayStation exclusive Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, which was specifically designed to take advantage of SSD technology. As we saw in our testing of the Gen 5 Crucial T700 Pro, the loading times were so fast that it’s hard to miss. I honestly couldn’t believe I loaded into the game from the main menu in under 2 seconds. Of the 10 tests I did, the slowest was 1.7 seconds and I think that might have been partially due to human error on my part as I was too slow to hit the timer.
Similarly impressive speeds were also seen when transferring games between the internal storage and the additional drive. Hitman 3, which is a whopping 78GB, transferred to the Klevv CRAS C930 in just 30 seconds and returned from the additional drive to the internal storage in just over 5 minutes. Midnight Suns, which is half the size of Hitman 3 at 43GB, made the jump in half the time – funnily enough, in just 15 seconds and was back on my internal storage in just 3 minutes. Basically, you won’t have long to wait for this SSD to fill up. In fact, I think you’ll struggle to fill it up entirely, as 2TB gives you more than enough space to cram it full of games. I moved my entire library to the drive and still had 500GB of space left – just enough to download Warzone… maybe.
Should you buy the Klevv CRAS C930 2TB M.2?
While Klevv may not be the most well-known brand on the market right now, that doesn’t mean they should be ignored in favor of the bigger names. If you’re looking for one of the best SSDs for gaming, I think you should seriously consider purchasing the Klevv CRAS C930 2TB SSD.
With a starting price of just $79.99 for the 1TB model or $143 for the 2TB model, you really can’t go wrong. It undercuts the price of the Nextorage NEM PA series, which we consider to be the best budget SSD for the PS5. And I think that’s exactly the market this drive is hitting. You won’t break the bank buying one of these drives, and that makes those blazing-fast speeds even more attractive.
The drive’s packaging proudly states “Born for Faster Life” and I think that sums it up pretty perfectly. It has breathed faster life into my PS5.
This is how we tested the SSD
I used the Klevv CRAS C930 2TB M.2 SSD as the primary drive in my PS5 for a week, using it both in a test environment where I measured loading times, etc., and just in everyday use.
I used the PS5’s internal benchmark to measure read speeds in the console when installing the drive, transferred my library to the drive, and downloaded several games to it for testing purposes – including Hitman 3, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, the three games I’m highlighting in this review. I chose the latter because of its DirectStorage capabilities, as well as the fact that it’s designed to rely on the PS5’s SSD storage.
When testing on PC, I installed the drive into my PC’s SSD slot and used CrystalDiskMark to measure the drive’s read and write speeds, calculating the average after running three individual tests.
If you want to learn more about how we test SSDs here at GamesRadar+, check out our full hardware guide.
You don’t have to settle for a flashy internal drive. Check out the Best external hard drives for gamingThe best external PS5 hard drivesand the best external PS4 hard drives.
