I've got a couple of SSDs, a 2TB WD GREEN SN3000 and a 500GB WD BLUE SN5100, both are PCIe 4. I purchased them for around $220 combined and they're still unopened. I'm wondering if I should keep them or try to trade or sell them for a smaller SSD that performs better, especially since I'm gaming at 1440p and want high-quality textures and assets. My main concern isn't the PCIe 4 itself, but rather the DRAM cache and the sustained speeds for gaming.
2 Answers
You probably won’t find better-performing NVMe SSDs that you would notice. Even with regular use, PCIe 3 doesn’t really get maxed out, so PCIe 4 is often overkill for most tasks. It's only really important if you're transferring large files regularly between drives. Generally, the speed difference between a 500MB/s SATA SSD and a Gen 3 NVMe isn't that noticeable in day-to-day use.
From my experience building PCs over the years, there really isn't much of a difference between Gen 3 and Gen 5 SSDs for gaming. The only significant factors are heat and power consumption, which can be minor drawbacks with Gen 5. Unless you're into content creation, gaming performance isn't going to be impacted by SSD generations.
What about the DRAM cache though? I’ve heard the WD Green might struggle to maintain its peak speed during gameplay.