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2TB NVME vs. 2TB 2.5 SATA SSD for Games Storage

StillNvidia680

Hi everyone,

I'm currently debating how to go about storage in my new build and am not quite sure what direction to go.

 

As of right now the only drive in the computer is a 1TB Samsung 970 Evo Plus, which would ideally just be the boot disk - work as of right now creates about 150-200GB of files a month, so I'm shuffling them off at the end of every month to my various external HDDs.  The plan for that is to get 2x 12TB + HDDs (one for local backup of the other), so that will be my main storage, but when it comes to games I know most of the ones I play benefit from SSDs over HDDs, so I'm trying to figure out what makes the most sense to purchase for a bit of extra storage for games.

 

I've got an X570 ASUS TUF Pro motherboard, so it has 2x PCI.E 4.0 slots and 8 SATA ports.  As of right now I'm aware that PCI.E 4.0 speeds have barely any benefit in general unless you very regularly transfer large batches of files, but I do see some people discussing how the new generation consoles are benefiting from it, and that soon we might see PCI.E 4.0 allowing the GPU full access with more bandwidth on PCs too (if I understand what I've read over time correctly).

 

With that being said, would you go for something like a 2TB or even 4TB WD Blue 2.5 SATA SSD for gaming storage, also keeping the other PCI.E 4.0 slot available on my computer for the future, or get something like a 2TB WD Blue NVME SSD because the cost is virtually identical to a comparable 2.5 SATA SSD?  It doesn't feel right to pay so much for a 2.5 SATA SSD with the price of NVME drives, but it also doesn't feel right to use the 2nd PCI.E 4.0 slot on my computer to put in another 3.0 drive that is mostly for gaming, when a 4.0 drive might soon be beneficial for gaming, let alone productivity / work (which would be a true priority for me).  As of right now it seems like the 2.5 SATA SSD would be the better choice, but am I missing anything? 

 

Thanks for reading and hopefully with some opinions I can figure out how I'm going to go about all my storage sooner than later haha.

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The big thing about PCI.E 4.0 Nvme SSD is, like you said, GPU full access for faster game loading.

 

The one huge factor for day-to-day users: Nvme is plug and play without cable, Sata have cables.

Since you have 2 slots on your motherboard, and one of them is taken up by your 970, I would go with a SSD + HDD combo (both sata). The SSD should be a cache for your large HDD.

Full time technology enthusiast, part time IT.

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The difference between NVMe and SATA is virtually imperceptible for gaming. If or when PC games start utilizing fast storage like the consoles, it will be just for PCIe 4.0 drives. Unless you want to go ahead and invest in a PCIe 4.0 drive, it doesn't really matter whether you choose a PCIe 3.0 NVMe or SATA SSD.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X · Cooler: Artic Liquid Freezer II 280 · Motherboard: MSI MEG X570 Unify · RAM: G.skill Ripjaws V 2x16GB 3600MHz CL16 (2Rx8) · Graphics Card: ASUS GeForce RTX 3060 Ti TUF Gaming · Boot Drive: 500GB WD Black SN750 M.2 NVMe SSD · Game Drive: 2TB Crucial MX500 SATA SSD · PSU: Corsair White RM850x 850W 80+ Gold · Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow · Monitor: MSI Optix MAG342CQR 34” UWQHD 3440x1440 144Hz · Keyboard: Corsair K100 RGB Optical-Mechanical Gaming Keyboard (OPX Switch) · Mouse: Corsair Ironclaw RGB Wireless Gaming Mouse

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3 minutes ago, Pikatchu said:

The big thing about PCI.E 4.0 Nvme SSD is, like you said, GPU full access for faster game loading.

 

The one huge factor for day-to-day users: Nvme is plug and play without cable, Sata have cables.

Since you have 2 slots on your motherboard, and one of them is taken up by your 970, I would go with a SSD + HDD combo (both sata). The SSD should be a cache for your large HDD.

Would it be safe to assume there is a 100% chance that 4.0 drives will get full access to the GPUs on PC too?  If games are being coded for it on consoles I can't imagine why it wouldn't, but I feel like I recall some debate between people when reading up on it as to when or if we'd see it on PC.  And yeah I know what you mean in regards to cables, in my case I'll need two HDDs for my main storage and a local backup anyways so I wouldn't mind a third cable for a SATA SSD. With the prices of SSDs right now I might not even need to go the cache route, a 2TB WD Blue SATA SSD is around $250, and if I really started to fill it up I wouldn't mind the uninstall shuffle at that point, it just is a bit much as of right now with only a single 1TB drive.

1 minute ago, Chris Pratt said:

The difference between NVMe and SATA is virtually imperceptible for gaming. If or when PC games start utilizing fast storage like the consoles, it will be just for PCIe 4.0 drives. Unless you want to go ahead and invest in a PCIe 4.0 drive, it doesn't really matter whether you choose a PCIe 3.0 NVMe or SATA SSD.

Makes sense, that's the general consensus I've seen so far it seems, and with PCI.E 4.0 likely having benefits for gaming in the future it likely would make sense to leave that port open and buy a drive when they enable full GPU access rather than buying one now, it'll likely be cheaper and maybe even have higher capacity options and at that point I can repurpose the SATA SSD as a scratch disk for things like video editing or something.

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@StillNvidia680

Direct storage access for GPU probably will not come any time soon, it may not happen with PCIE 4.0. The thing about this is that the technology currently does support this, but is up to both GPU Driver developers and Game developers to make it happen. Like RTX, it will take a while.

 

EDIT: Like RTX, it take a while for games to actually use the tech.

Full time technology enthusiast, part time IT.

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Just now, Pikatchu said:

@StillNvidia680

Direct storage access for GPU probably will not come any time soon, it may not happen with PCIE 4.0. The thing about this is that the technology currently does support this, but is up to both GPU Driver developers and Game developers to make it happen. Like RTX, it will take a while.

Got ya, so that is likely what people were discussing when I've read a bit on it in the past, makes sense.  I've done plenty of reading and learning but can't pretend to have a true understanding of how complex these things are to implement, or if there have been any mentions/confirmations of that tech coming to PCs. 

 

Well with everything considered it doesn't make sense to buy a 4.0 drive right now, but with the chance that technology makes it way to PCs for gaming it sounds like it would be smart to keep that port open.  Other than the convenience of the M.2 drive itself, the only real benefit to a 3.0 NVME drive would be if the jump in raw read/write speed eventually makes a difference in games, but it sounds like the benefits of 4.0 don't have much to do with the read/write speed themselves, so it wouldn't be as good of a move to get a 2nd 3.0 NVME drive. It wouldn't have a place in the system down the line if I purchase a 4.0 drive whereas the SATA SSD could stay, or be repurposed if need be.

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