SATA SSD vs M.2 SSD for regular game storage?

[Memes]

Want to buy a SSD just to store games on it cause godd dammmmn loading the new Mortal Kombat 1 on a HDD takes ages. Does it really matter on the type of SSD I would get because I want a decent 1-2TB SSD so SATA would probably be economical but wouldn’t an M.2 be way better cause of the read and write advantage over SATA?

[UserNotFound]

The load time difference between regular 7.2k RPM HDD and SATA SSD is quite noticeable, but difference between PCIe NVMe M.2 SSDs is a little harder to say. Spec-wise, there is a fair bit of difference between them, but I guess it depends on whether the game leverages the advantage of Direct Storage (or some crap like it).

You might as well go for PCIe NVMe M.2 SSDs IF your mobo has slot(s) for it, SATA SSDs should be considered only IF one exceeds the available PCIe NVMe M.2 SSDs on the mobo. For example, I have 3x PCIe NVMe SSDs in my system:
1. 256GB (OS)
2. 2TB (Games)
3. 4TB (Games)

But, I'm something of a hoarder and I do hoard my games, so I'd also gotten a 4TB + 2TB SATA SSDs for games as well, plus a 6TB WD Black for older games (no sirree, never mix old and new games for me!). For my mobo, I'd have to leave two of my SATA ports unused to be able to run my 3rd PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD at full PCIe4x4 speed (I think, at least, that's what I'd gleaned reading thru the manual).

Edit - Do wait for other, more knowledgeable storage guys for more feedback, I ain't exactly a storage guy, more of a GPU guy.

[Memes]

Originally posted by UserNotFound:

The load time difference between regular 7.2k RPM HDD and SATA SSD is quite noticeable, but difference between PCIe NVMe M.2 SSDs is a little harder to say. Spec-wise, there is a fair bit of difference between them, but I guess it depends on whether the game leverages the advantage of Direct Storage (or some crap like it).

You might as well go for PCIe NVMe M.2 SSDs IF your mobo has slot(s) for it, SATA SSDs should be considered only IF one exceeds the available PCIe NVMe M.2 SSDs on the mobo. For example, I have 3x PCIe NVMe SSDs in my system:
1. 256GB (OS)
2. 2TB (Games)
3. 4TB (Games)

But, I'm something of a hoarder and I do hoard my games, so I'd also gotten a 4TB + 2TB SATA SSDs for games as well, plus a 6TB WD Black for older games (no sirree, never mix old and new games for me!). For my mobo, I'd have to leave two of my SATA ports unused to be able to run my 3rd PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD at full PCIe4x4 speed (I think, at least, that's what I'd gleaned reading thru the manual).

Edit - Do wait for other, more knowledgeable storage guys for more feedback, I ain't exactly a storage guy, more of a GPU guy.

So I have a MSI B550 Gaming Edge Mobo using a Adata SX8200 Pro 512GB but it’s currently acting weird on me feel like its degrading slowly on me so I was thinking to get a 2TB Nvme SSD and just clone my current SSD over to the new one. Would you recommend that or just clean install it just in case? Probably just keep HDD that you gave me an idea for older games and non demanding games

[Lord Flashheart]

Originally posted by Memes:

Want to buy a SSD just to store games on it cause godd dammmmn loading the new Mortal Kombat 1 on a HDD takes ages. Does it really matter on the type of SSD I would get because I want a decent 1-2TB SSD so SATA would probably be economical but wouldn’t an M.2 be way better cause of the read and write advantage over SATA?

I suggest an nvme drive for a cache (256 - 5124GB) and try primocache software.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Might as well get 2 TB NVMe since they are pretty cheap now. I´m actually thinking about getting 4 TB NVMe for my game storage since games are ballooning up in size more and more.

[Ralf]

Just make sure the m.2 you get is NVMe and not Sata, because m.2 is just a form like 2.5"

[Nabster]

Nvme is very cheap now, would definitely recommend go with nvme instead

[Overseer]

You generally just want a SSD with a good controller. SATA is not the limiting factor here. At least not until a developer actually builds their engine and loading around fast NVMe access.
Games load a lot of smaller files so often you see 3 MB/s or 8 MB/s that hold you hostage.
When i load my Starfield save, which does require a SSD, i see a peak of 308 MB/s. Far from what you would expect from a modern title with SSD in its system requirements.
So don't worry too much about it. Especially with fighting games that keep streaming during gameplay to a minimum. It's the HDD with its slow physical components that's holding you back.
I would recommend a 256-512 GB SATA SSD for the OS only, and in addition whatever SSD you want for games and files. That helps you to keep things clean and you get full device performance for the games you play.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

If you have space for it on your Motherboard it wouldn't hurt to just use like a 2TB or 4TB NVME Drive for Games. It all depends on variables such as your PC Case, what all it has room for and how many drives you want to have internally.

However also keep in mind that "most games won't load and/or prefetch any better when being stored on an NVME SSD vs a SATA 6Gbps SSD.

However even a cheap sata ssd will be better then any mechanical hdd.

This is all especially true for times when you download your games. Your system resources and drive(s) might get tied up and become unresponsive to other inputs or tasks while downloading to a slower drive such as mechanical hdd due to its low IOPS it cant multi-task like an ssd can. And also let's say you have 500Mbps ISP (or faster)... it won't download to mechanical drives at full speed since those can't handle writing at those higher speeds to which most ssds can handle just fine.

One reason why I have most games on SATA SSD is because I have an 8TB SSD as a Games drive. I then have a 2TB NVME for OS and Apps and then another 2TB NVME for cache and for work usage needs.