NVMe Speeds by PCIe Generation

NVMe Speeds by PCIe Generation

NVMe drives come in different PCIe generations, and the generation determines how fast the drive can go. A Gen 3 NVMe drive tops out at about 3,500 MB/s for sequential reads. A Gen 4 drive can reach 7,000 MB/s. A Gen 5 drive pushes beyond 10,000 MB/s and can reach up to 14,000 MB/s. Each generation roughly doubles the maximum speed.

But sequential speeds, while impressive, do not tell the whole story. Sequential speed matters when you are moving large files like videos or game installs. For everyday use like loading programs and booting Windows, random read and write speeds matter more. These measure how fast the drive can access small pieces of data scattered across the drive, which is what happens when you open an application.

Gen 3 drives are still perfectly fine for gaming and general use. A good Gen 3 drive like the Samsung 970 EVO Plus or WD Black SN750 loads games almost as fast as a Gen 4 drive. The difference in game load times between Gen 3 and Gen 4 is usually less than a second. For most people, Gen 3 is the best value.

Gen 4 drives make sense for professionals who work with large files. Video editors, 3D artists, and data scientists will notice the difference when loading and saving multi-gigabyte files. Gen 4 also future-proofs your system, since games and applications are starting to take advantage of the faster speeds. The price premium over Gen 3 has come down significantly.

Gen 5 drives are the cutting edge, but they come with caveats. They run hot and need serious cooling, often requiring a heatsink with a fan. They also need a Gen 5 compatible motherboard and CPU, which are still expensive. For most users, Gen 5 is overkill today, but if you are building a high-end workstation and money is no object, the speed is impressive.