NVMe (PCIe 4.0) vs. SATA SSD for a heavily modded Skyrim — Need insight

[Swordgun]

Hello, I'm building my first PC and as you can tell from the title, I want to know, ideally from people who have tried both setups, whether NVMe would make loading screens noticeably faster for heavily modded games. Or should I just go for a SATA SSD as loading times will not differentiate that much?

Thanks.

[Stormsong]

They're not going to be that much different, and it's more affordable to get a larger SATA drive. Also, just to bring expectations a bit back to Earth, you're not likely to be heavily modding right out of the gate if this is your first PC. Anyway, right now I'm running NVMe boot/OS and SATA for common. I have 300 mods and Skyrim load screens are 2-4 seconds.

[Swordgun]

@Stormsong the Fallen
Yeah that's pretty fast considering you're using 300 mods. But I gotta ask, are you using texture overhauls, something like Noble Skyrim? Or large, dlc-sized mods like Beyond Skyrim? Because these I think are the types of mods that really increase loading times.

[Vlad 254]

I'm running SATA SSD with 571 mods over 100 texture mods in 2k, 4k and 8K. With several mods that populate the world like OBIS and Interesting NPCs. Also run an ENB. Never really timed my loading times but they are pretty fast and they very, 3-5 seconds, sometimes 2 seconds depending on where I'm loading.

I do run a texture overhaul for a base and SMIM

[Swordgun]

That's really impressive. Thank!

[StreamWhenGuy]

It depends. If you're going for the cheapest SATA SSD but with higher capacity, it might not please your expectations. If they're pretty much equal in price I'd rather buy a 1TB NVMe than 2TB SATA. NVMe is generally faster with much lower latency, but it's not like you'll notice the difference under normal circumstances in comparison with some decent SATA SSD.

Some mods are heavy in their nature and will most likely add a few seconds to the loading time, such as DynDOLOD with the higher preset.

[Swordgun]

Found two 1TB SSDs:
- Samsung 970 EVO 1TB priced at $159,95 (NVMe)
- Crucial MX500 1TB priced at $133,29 (SATA SSD)

Difference is $26, not huge. So I picked the NVMe. Especially since I also use 3D applications in production. That might benefit from the NVMe drive.

Anyway, thank you all for your inputs, they're really appreciated.

[HunterOfPinkBunnyWabbits]

I have to move Fallout 4 to m.2 NVME from Sata SSD. note there are several NVME which have slower read and write than faster NVME. I have some with over 3 200 and one which have only 1 600.

[Stormsong]

引用自 Raskolnikov：

@Stormsong the Fallen
Yeah that's pretty fast considering you're using 300 mods. But I gotta ask, are you using texture overhauls, something like Noble Skyrim? Or large, dlc-sized mods like Beyond Skyrim? Because these I think are the types of mods that really increase loading times.

I have multiple textures overhauls going, yeah. No DLC-like mods though. I can't be bothered with the compatibility demands of those mods lol.

[Swordgun]

引用自 HunterOfPinkBunnyWabbits：

I have to move Fallout 4 to m.2 NVME from Sata SSD. note there are several NVME which have slower read and write than faster NVME. I have some with over 3 200 and one which have only 1 600.

Why did you move FO4 to an NVMe drive? Did you notice a difference in loading time?

[Swordgun]

引用自 Stormsong the Fallen：

引用自 Raskolnikov：

@Stormsong the Fallen
Yeah that's pretty fast considering you're using 300 mods. But I gotta ask, are you using texture overhauls, something like Noble Skyrim? Or large, dlc-sized mods like Beyond Skyrim? Because these I think are the types of mods that really increase loading times.

I have multiple textures overhauls going, yeah. No DLC-like mods though. I can't be bothered with the compatibility demands of those mods lol.

Gnenerally speaking if the dlc-like mod adds new worldspaces/cells it won't need a lot of patches, maybe one or two or non even. But if it adds quests and items and NPCs to existing vanilla cells and worldspaces then yeah it can be painful to fit that in a big load order because most likely there's gonna be a lot of conflicting records.

[HunterOfPinkBunnyWabbits]

引用自 Raskolnikov：

引用自 HunterOfPinkBunnyWabbits：

I have to move Fallout 4 to m.2 NVME from Sata SSD. note there are several NVME which have slower read and write than faster NVME. I have some with over 3 200 and one which have only 1 600.

Why did you move FO4 to an NVMe drive? Did you notice a difference in loading time?

Yep that was to reasomn, too many heavy mods, so I need better load times. NVME fix it to me :)