I'm considering whether to splurge $250 on a 2TB Gen 5 M.2 SSD, but I'm wondering if it's worth it compared to sticking with Gen 4 or even going back to SATA. Are there significant performance benefits, or should I save my money?
5 Answers
Honestly, for most regular users, Gen 5 SSDs don't offer much extra value. Gen 4 drives are pretty similar in terms of performance and typically cost the same as SATA drives. Unless you have a very specific task that needs the speed, going with Gen 4 is the smarter choice.
I used four SATA drives in RAID 10, and while read speeds are decent, writes are a bit sluggish, especially with QVO drives.
For most users, Gen 4 is the sweet spot. You can find a solid 2TB Gen 4 drive for around $100 or less, which gives you amazing performance without the huge price tag of Gen 5 drives.
Unless you have specialized workloads that specifically demand Gen 5 speeds, you probably won't notice much difference compared to high-end SATA or Gen 4 drives, especially in gaming.
What if I'm transcoding UHD video files for something like a Jellyfin server? Would it make a difference then?
In practical everyday use, Gen 5 doesn't really show significant advantages. Unless you're moving huge files often, stick with Gen 4. And remember to make sure the drive has DRAM cache for better performance overall.
As it stands, it's not a good deal. The speed gains are negligible for most tasks, plus the heat output is higher and the pricing doesn’t justify the performance. If you want a reliable experience, I recommend a high-end Gen 4 drive.
You should definitely consider the Samsung 990 Pro for high performance if you're going Gen 4.
What do you mean by 'waste'? If I buy a Crucial T705, will it really perform just as well as a WD_BLACK SN850X when loading and transferring files?