Worth going from SATA SSD to NVMe for normal use?

[HeartbreakKid]

Something I keep seeing asked and never getting a decent answer.

I am not convinced every upgrade is worth what people claim.

I suspect the answer is more nuanced than it first looks, which is why I wanted to ask people who have been there.

Would be interested to hear what people here think.

[Totally]

SATA vs NVMe is mainly about speed, but the real world difference depends on what you actually do.

A SATA SSD like the Samsung 870 EVO 1TB
Samsung 870 EVO 1TB SATA SSD
runs at around 500 to 550 MB per second and works in almost any system. It is a solid, reliable upgrade from a hard drive and is already fast enough for general use.

An NVMe SSD like the Samsung 980 PRO 1TB
Samsung 980 PRO 1TB NVMe SSD
can reach 3000 to 7000 MB per second and connects directly to the motherboard. It has much lower latency and far higher peak performance.

In everyday use such as browsing, forum work, and normal applications, the difference is small. Boot times and app loading may only improve slightly.

In heavier workloads such as video processing, large file transfers, or running multiple virtual machines, NVMe is significantly faster and the difference is very noticeable.

For most forum-related workloads, SATA is already sufficient. NVMe is the better choice for new systems or if the price difference is small, but it will not dramatically change everyday performance on its own.

In simple terms, SATA is good enough, NVMe is faster when you can actually use the speed.

[RayOfLight]

That is pretty much it. Good thread this.

[DarkEnergy]

Spot on. Cheers for sharing.

One or two sensible changes often make more difference than people expect.

[veritas.io]

Not sure I am fully with you on that one. Thanks for that.

Windows gets slower over time not because of hardware but because of accumulated junk.

[Ben]

Not sure I am fully with you on that one. Thanks for that. Windows gets slower over time not because of hardware but because of accumulated

Yeah that is about right. Always the way.

Good thread this.

[Kev5]

Can't argue with that. I know exactly what you mean.

Cheers.