While choosing the right SSD for your custom PC isn’t as complicated as picking the right motherboard, there's more to it than just finding the right capacity. In this guide we'll show you how to pick the right storage for your build and give you some need-to-know tips on topics like form factor or read/write speeds.
Form Factor
Let's get into the kinds of storage you're likely to come across in your search. These days, SSDs, or solid-state drives, are pretty much the norm in most devices ranging from mobile phones all the way to high-end gaming PCs. Not only are they smaller and faster than traditional hard drives (HDDs), but they do away with any moving parts and as a result, they're less prone to failure over the long term.
Now when it comes to SSDs, you can separate them into two categories: SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) and NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express). SATA drives are older and utilize cables to communicate back and forth with your PC. These drives were originally a stopgap solution during the transition from HDDs, which means that in terms of performance, they fall squarely in the middle between HDDs and NVMe.
NVMe drives aren't just faster and newer though, some can plug directly into a specially designed slot on your motherboard called an M.2 slot without the need for extra cables. There are multiple types of NVMe drives as well. For example, we already briefly mentioned "M.2 SSDs," but there are also NVMe drives that can plug directly into your motherboard's PCIe slot too (the same type of slot you would plug your graphics card into for example). Most newer motherboards usually have multiple M.2 and PCIe slots you can use in this way.
In fact, it’s pretty common practice to use two SSDs in a system: one that contains runs your operating system and another to install everything else such as your apps, games, etc. Splitting it up this way can save you some headaches down the road. It's not outside the realm of possibility that a drive can fail for any number of reasons. It's a lot less time consuming to swap out that drive without having to deal with the pain of remembering and redownloading everything from a single drive.
The latest of these SSDs are compatible with PCIe 5.0—the latest generation found on specific newer mobos as of writing—and they're fast. Because they’re so new, expect to pay a premium on these. because they’ Also, it's good to know that in order to capitalize on those speeds you want to make sure that your motherboard and SSD use the same PCIe version. PC Part Picker is an amazing resource when it comes to checking stuff like this and can you a ton of time and scrolling between specs.
To be totally blunt, unless you're upgrading a PC that only supports SATA drives, there's really no reason not to go with an NVMe drive—especially now that prices have started to drop back down and that "new" tax has started to wear off (with the exception of PCIe 5.0 SSDs). Since this guide is largely aimed at new builders, my advice is to ignore other form factors like SATA or even PCIe 5.0 drives.
M.2 SSDs are a great middle ground when it comes to speed and performance, and, because they're so easy to install, they're an amazing choice for first time builders. They are prone to overheating though, which is why as you start to look at more options you might notice that many will specify the inclusion of a heatsink. These heatsinks help dissipate and draw heat away from the SSD and keep it from overheating and you'll definitely want to make sure the one you end up going with has one.
One of the nice things about building your own PC is that you can always add more storage down the road and swap out parts as you go. Other formats are always a great (and sometimes more budget-friendly) option available to you but ultimately, the best drive is going to be the one that meets your specific criteria of price and capacity.
Essential Specs
First let's talk about capacity, again keeping in mind that it boils down to how much you're willing to spend and how much you actually need. While your storage needs can vary depending on what you're planning to do with your build, SSDs can fill up deceptively fast even if you're just installing a few games at a time. I'm constantly installing and uninstalling games based on what I think I'll be playing because limited storage is a concern. Don't be like me—more storage is rarely a bad thing and, if your budget allows for it, 1TB is the minimum amount of storage we recommend equipping your build with.
The file sizes for modern games can get pretty beefy and if you anticipate using your PC for more than just gaming, like video editing for example, you might want to spring for an even larger drive. Do note that once you start going past 2TB, M.2 SSDs can start to get pricey quite quickly so really consider what you'll putting on that drive before committing to the purchase. Again, there's no real pressure to max out as you can always add more down the road too. But at the end of the day, it's always better to have more storage than you need.
Read and write speeds are probably the most important way for us to functionally tell SSDs apart. Read speeds represent how quickly you can access the files on a drive and write speeds, which are the opposite, show how long it takes to save new information to one. Both of these metrics are usually shown in megabytes per second (MB/s). For example this 990 Pro M.2 Drive from Samsung, often considered as one of the best, has a read speed that caps out at 7450 MB/s and a write speed of up to 6900 MB/s. To give you a better sense of just how ridiculously fast SSDs have become: SATA drives start to hit their theoretical maximum read and write speeds around 550 MB/s, and HDDs are even slower, capping around the 150 MB/s mark.
Faster SSD speeds can make your PC feel snappier and more responsive, opening programs more quickly for example. They can help with gaming performance too such as minimizing load times and lending to an overall smoother gaming experience. With that said, having the fastest SSD really isn't the end all be all when it comes to a gaming build. Don't let min maxing and benchmarks fool you into thinking that you need to spring for the absolute fastest possible drive. Especially if you a play a lot of games in the in the online space, you won't really be able to reap the benefits from high-speed drives. Now you could definitely make the case if you play a lot of solo games offline but in reality, you're probably not going to notice the extra few seconds a game takes to boot up when it all is said and done.
Hopefully, that motivates you to find a drive that hits your individual sweet spot between performance, price, and capacity. You're now a little more equipped with the basics of what to look for in an SSD. With that said, no component in a build exists within its own bubble and choosing your components is rarely a totally linear process. Expect to choose, and then go back and rechoose probably a few more times before your build finally starts to truly solidify. Choosing one part will affect your choice of others and while that can seem confusing at first, for those willing to put in a bit of time, piecing together your PC part by part can be really worthwhile in the end! Not only will you have a more granular understanding of how it all works together, you'll enjoy the process of building a lot more too.
Let us know how your building journey is going in the Comments section below!
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