Micron's 3610 Are PCIe 5 SSDs for Affordable Gaming PCs

Memory giant Micron unveiled a new range of affordable PCIe 5 SSDs this week at CES 2026. Known as 3610, these M.2 internal SSDs offer high-end read and write speeds, but use QLC NAND and a DRAM-less design to keep the price down. They won't be sold to consumers, only OEMs who are building more affordable gaming PCs, so these would never have been Crucial drives. But in the aftermath of Micron's shuttering of the iconic brand, it still feels weird to have new SSDs not destined for data centers without the Crucial nametag.

Although there hasn't been a huge need for gamers to grab PCIe 5 SSDs in recent years—the performance difference just doesn't really affect gaming—the price tag was also prohibitive. With RAM and storage prices skyrocketing the world over, though, Micron clearly sees an opportunity to encourage gamers on to ...