My current PC has a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, Radeon RX 9070 XT, 32GB of RAM, and an ASUS TUF Gaming B650M-E motherboard. I never upgraded the old 1TB SATA SSD I've been using, and I'm wondering whether it could be contributing to stutters or freezes in demanding games such as Escape from Tarkov. Game installations also write much more slowly than my internet connection can download. I mainly play games and do not edit video or use AI applications. I'm looking for a very fast 1–2TB drive and am less concerned about the brand, as long as it offers excellent reliability and performance.
4 Answers
Look for a TLC-based NVMe drive from a reputable manufacturer. Models such as the WD Blue SN5000, WD Black SN7100, Patriot VP4300 Lite, Kioxia Exceria Plus G3/G4, TeamGroup G50, or Klevv CRAS C910/C925G can all be worth considering depending on local pricing. Check the exact specifications before buying because some similarly named models use different NAND.
Your SATA SSD can definitely be the slow part when installing or updating games, but it is unlikely to be the only cause of in-game stutters. Tarkov can stutter because of the game, CPU behavior, memory usage, or shader compilation too. Still, moving the operating system and frequently played games to a modern NVMe SSD should improve installation times and general responsiveness. Your motherboard supports an M.2 NVMe drive, so check the manual for the recommended slot and install the motherboard’s heatsink if available.
For gaming, a good PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD is already more than fast enough. The WD Black SN7100 is a strong option, with sequential read speeds around 6,900MB/s, assuming it is reasonably priced where you live. You do not really need a flagship PCIe 5.0 drive for game loading.
The cost-effective 2TB options can be tempting, but some use QLC flash. QLC is not automatically unusable, especially for a mostly gaming system, but TLC is generally preferable for sustained writes, endurance, and more consistent performance. A 2TB TLC PCIe 4.0 drive is probably the best balance for this build.
That’s why I would avoid choosing only by advertised sequential speed. There are often TLC drives close to the price of the cheaper QLC models, so comparing the NAND type, warranty, and sustained-write behavior is worthwhile.
Also remember that download speed and storage speed are separate limits. Once the new SSD can write faster than the network, the internet connection or the game launcher may become the bottleneck instead.