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How to Choose an SSD (and How Much Storage You Actually Need)

The SSD is the part that makes a PC feel fast — Windows boots in seconds, games load quickly, and everything stops feeling sluggish. It's also one of the simplest parts to buy right. Three decisions, in order: the type, the generation, and the size.

NVMe vs SATA — the type

Two kinds of SSD exist, and the choice is barely a choice anymore:

• NVMe (M.2 stick) — a small stick that slots straight into the motherboard, no cables. Several times faster than SATA. This is what every current motherboard is built for, and what you should buy.
• SATA (2.5" box) — the older flat rectangle, needs a data cable and a power cable, and tops out around 550 MB/s. Only buy one if your motherboard has no free M.2 slot, or if it's a spare drive you already own. For a new purchase, NVMe wins on speed, price, and simplicity — there's no reason to buy SATA new in 2026.

Gen4 vs Gen5 — skip Gen5 for gaming

NVMe drives come in generations. Gen4 drives read at up to about 7,400 MB/s; Gen5 drives go faster still on paper. Here's the thing: games don't load meaningfully faster on a Gen5 drive. The bottleneck in game loading stopped being the drive's top speed a while ago — it's everything else in the chain. Gen5 drives also cost more and run hotter, sometimes needing a chunky heatsink of their own. Gen4 is the sweet spot, and it's what all three of our builds use.

How much storage: 1TB vs 2TB

Modern games are big — 50 to 150GB each is normal now, and a few push past that. Windows itself takes around 30GB, plus apps and files. Here's how the sizes shake out:

One note on 2026 pricing: the memory shortage has pushed SSD prices well above where they sat a year ago. A 1TB drive that used to cost around $55 now runs $150+. That's the market, not a bad pick — and it's exactly why the 1TB-vs-2TB decision is worth thinking about instead of just buying the biggest drive by default.

Heatsink and DRAM — what they actually do

• Heatsink. A slab of metal that keeps the drive cool during long writes. It matters for sustained work — copying hundreds of gigabytes, video editing. For gaming it barely matters. Most motherboards include a heatsink plate for the top M.2 slot, and some drives (like the Lexar NM790 in our Mid-Range Build) come with one built in. Use one or the other, never both stacked together.
• DRAM cache. A small memory chip on the drive that helps with lots of tiny files. For game loading it barely registers. Don't pay a premium for it — a DRAM-less drive is fine for a gaming PC.
• QLC vs TLC. Two kinds of flash memory. TLC (the NM790 and SN850X) lasts longer under heavy writing; QLC (the Kingston NV3) is cheaper per gigabyte and perfectly fine for a games drive. The endurance numbers tell the story: the NV3 is rated for 320 TBW (terabytes written), the NM790 for 1,000 TBW, the SN850X for 1,200 TBW. At normal use — even heavy gaming use — any of them outlasts the PC they're in.

The SSDs in our builds

The short version