Are you building a gaming PC and wondering which SSD is worth your money, whether SATA or M.2 is better, or if games ever lag on SSDs? Here’s what you need to know to play smoothly and make a smart upgrade.
What SSD is good for gaming PC?
For gaming PCs, you want fast load times, lots of space, and reliability. The current best SSDs for gaming are fast PCIe Gen4 and Gen5 NVMe M.2 drives. For most gamers, the WD Black SN7100, Samsung 990 Pro, WD Black SN850X, Crucial T700, and budget picks like the Biwin Black Opal NV7400 or Team Group MP44 combine speed and value[2][3][4]. Gamers should target 1TB to 2TB for enough room for modern titles, many of which are over 100GB each[2][3][4], with 2TB as the sweet spot for most gaming PCs[2][3][4].
High-end PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSDs like the WD Black SN8100 or Crucial T705 are the fastest you can buy—delivering blazing sequential speeds and excellent random read/write performance, but come with a price premium[2][3][4]. For most gamers, PCIe Gen4 NVMe drives offer nearly all the gaming benefits at a better price. SATA SSDs, especially the Crucial MX500, are worthwhile budget options if your motherboard doesn’t support NVMe or for secondary bulk storage[2][3][4].
Are SATA or M-2 SSDs better?
This is a common question, especially if you’re upgrading an older system or working with a tight budget. M.2 is a form factor that can use either SATA or NVMe technology[8]. M.2 NVMe SSDs are far faster than SATA SSDs: SATA tops out at 600MB/s, while NVMe (PCIe Gen3/Gen4/Gen5) reaches thousands of MB/s—up to 7,000MB/s for Gen4 and over 14,000MB/s for Gen5[2][3][4][8].
M.2 NVMe SSDs provide much better performance for gaming, with faster load times and smoother asset delivery during play[2][3][4][8]. SATA SSDs, available both in M.2 and 2.5-inch form, cost less and work fine for most games, but the gap in real-world feel is noticeable especially if you play games with big worlds or lots of textures[5][6][8].
If your motherboard supports NVMe, it makes sense to go NVMe/M.2 PCIe for speed and futureproofing[2][3][4][8]. Go for SATA SSDs only if you run out of NVMe slots or need secondary storage on a budget[5][6][7][8]. Real gaming improvement is most dramatic switching from HDD to SSD; switching from SATA to NVMe is an upgrade, but the biggest leap is if your games and OS support the latest technologies[2][6][8].
Do games lag on SSD?
Generally, games do not lag on healthy SSDs—both SATA and NVMe options offer smooth and fast performance compared to mechanical hard drives[2][3][4][8]. However, lag or stutters in games may have other causes, such as GPU, RAM, system settings, or failing disks[7][10][11]. Most laggy experiences reported after moving to SSDs are not caused by the SSD itself but by unrelated system issues or SSD health problems[10][11]. If a drive is failing, lag and freezing can occur even on SSDs[10]. Filling up an SSD too much (running at >90% capacity) can also hurt performance[9].
For most gamers, SSDs mean minimal load times, better texture streaming, and much less stutter—unless there are hardware faults or system configuration errors[2][3][4][7][11]. Modern games leveraging DirectStorage or similar technologies will show excellent results on NVMe SSDs[2][6][8]. If your games lag after installing an SSD, check for firmware updates, diagnostics, and system resource usage—the SSD itself is rarely the bottleneck if installed and configured correctly[7][10][11].
Conclusion
The best SSDs for gaming are fast PCIe NVMe M.2 drives with 1TB+ capacity. M.2 PCIe NVMe is better than SATA for speed. SSDs almost never cause game lag unless there’s a hardware or system issue[2][3][4][7][8][10][11].
