Subj : NVMe versus SATA in desktops?
To   : poindexter FORTRAN
From : Tracker1
Date : Wed Jul 12 2023 03:30 pm

  Re: NVMe versus SATA in desktops?
  By: poindexter FORTRAN to All on Tue Jul 11 2023 09:36:00

 PF> I have a 4th generation i7 desktop running Windows 10. It's got 16GB of
 PF> ram and a SATA SSD. I'm debating about upgrading my desktop PC, I'm
 PF> looking to upgrade to a newer (10th gen or higher CPU), more cores, and
 PF> trying to buy some extended life for my PC.

You're going to have to replace your motherboard and ram as well... and even an RX 6600 is likely faster than the GPU from ~8 years ago (assuming it's that old as well).. so best to just plan on a replacement, unless you really like your case.  Your PSU may be comming close to EOL as well.

 PF> The one question I was hoping to get was some real world comparison of
 PF> SATA versus NVMe in desktops. I'd like to get a system that has NVMe since
 PF> it seems like everything's going that way and I'd hate it if I ended up
 PF> being limited by SATA in a couple of years. Does anyone have experience
 PF> running NVMe on your desktop, especially if you could compare real-world
 PF> speeds with running SATA? I know the difference in design speeds, not sure
 PF> how that maps to a desktop OS.

Real world, you won't notice the difference from SATA too much.  I mostly notice when building large projects or doing things like a message scan, where you're accessing the contents of many files in a relatively short turn around...  For a very large web project, HDD to SATA SSD goes from minutes to around a minute.  Going from SATA SSD to Gen 4 PCIE NVME is a couple seconds.  So it depends on your usage, but for playing games, web, general use you aren't likely to notice.

That said, the pricing is on par between the two, with NVME being much faster in some cases.  Most current motherboards have at least 1 and as many as 3-4 NVME slots, so you might as well.  Bonus, no cable clutter.  Those last points (mb support, similar price, no cables) aare the main reasons I just say go nvme.

Things to look for are DRAM cache over "SLC" cache... the former is dedicated dram, the latter is a portion of memory that is using SLC mode for faster access...  The drives of the former being a bit better quality generally speaking, but again, unlikely to notice a difference in day to day usage.

I'm partial to Samsung, WD Black, Solidigm and Sabrent (Rocket Line).
  
   
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