With the recent widespread adoption of NVMe SSDs, the future of SATA SSDs has become a topic of discussion. While NVMe drives offer incredible read/write speeds, SATA SSDs remain attractive due to their lower cost and built-in support. So, which one would you prefer for new systems? Does the performance advantage of NVMe always make a significant difference, or are SATA SSDs still sufficient in certain use cases?
NVMe SSD or SATA SSD? How does the performance comparison look?
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I recently helped a friend upgrade his old i5-4460 PC with an SSD, but he was on a tight budget. He ended up getting a 1TB SATA SSD for £60, and honestly, he couldn’t even tell the difference between that and an NVMe in day-to-day use. Windows booted in 10 seconds either way, games loaded at the same pace, and even heavy Photoshop files opened a fraction faster—but not enough to justify the £80 price gap for an NVMe.
Then I upgraded my own rig with a PCIe 4.0 NVMe last month (mostly because I got it for free with a motherboard bundle). Sure, file transfers hit 6000MB/s, but in real usage? It’s mostly silent unless I’m moving massive video files or compiling code. For everything else—web browsing, Office, even some gaming—it’s overkill. Unless you’re building a high-end workstation or editing 8K footage, a good SATA SSD is more than enough and gives you way better value.
Ever since I've experienced NVMe drives, I've personally seen the difference, especially in how much faster Windows boots up and how quickly large files copy over. In a B2B project, we upgraded a laptop to an AMD Ryzen + NVMe SSD combo, and Windows 11’s boot time dropped to just 10 seconds. With a SATA SSD, even the best ones took around 30 seconds. Sure, NVMe is pricier, but even with borrowed external SSDs like the Samsung T9, that instant response is incredible.
But I don’t think NVMe is necessary everywhere. I once used a SATA SSD in a media server, and it was fine even for tasks like 4K video editing—as long as the CPU and RAM were good. So while the difference is noticeable in gaming PCs or video editing, it’s also felt in daily use, especially with multitasking. However, if the budget is tight, you can often upgrade from a 256GB SATA SSD to a 1TB NVMe for a similar price.
My advice? If your motherboard supports it and your budget allows, make the switch to NVMe.
NVMe SSDs make me cringe at SATA prices these days 😅 I'm still at the "where's the SATA option in BIOS?" beginner level, while I assume I'll just plug in an NVMe and boot straight from the drive 🙃