SSDs — Solid State Drives for Fast Storage
Solid State Drives — NVMe, SATA & PS5 SSDs (79)
How to Choose an SSD
The right SSD depends on your motherboard, what you store, and how fast you need it. Use the guide below to pick the correct type, capacity and speed.
NVMe M.2 drives are far faster (often 5,000–7,000 MB/s on PCIe 4.0) and plug directly into the motherboard. SATA SSDs (~550 MB/s) are slower but cheaper and fit almost any PC. Use NVMe for your boot drive and games; SATA for budget or extra capacity.
PCIe 4.0 NVMe reaches the highest speeds if your CPU and board support it; PCIe 3.0 (up to ~3,500 MB/s) is still very fast and cost-effective for gaming and office work. Both use the same M.2 slot — check what your board supports.
1TB is a practical starting point: Windows and apps use ~100GB and modern games run 50–150GB each. Choose 2TB+ for a large library or video work. You can always add a second drive later.
SSDs are rated for total writes (TBW). For gaming and everyday use, standard consumer endurance is plenty; only constant heavy-write workloads need high-endurance drives. Larger drives generally last longer.
Most NVMe drives are M.2 2280. Fast PCIe 4.0 drives run warm, so a heatsink helps — and the PS5 specifically needs a PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive with a heatsink. Check your motherboard's or console's supported sizes first.