Storage

Memory and storage prices spiked in 2026, but CPUs, boards and power supplies didn't. Build now around the stable parts and buy only the RAM and SSD capacity you'll actually use.

Yes — a PCIe 5.0 SSD works in a PCIe 4.0 slot; it just runs at Gen4 speed. Sequential bandwidth roughly halves, real game load times don't move, and the actual thing to watch is how your board shares M.2 lanes.

A PCIe 5.0 SSD runs hot enough to throttle with no cooling at all — but the M.2 heatsink your motherboard already ships with stops that. Here is when a separate heatsink is worth buying and when it does nothing.

NVMe is over 10x faster on paper, but games load only about a second quicker. Here is why NVMe still wins in 2026 — and it is not the reason you think.

One modern AAA game now eats 100-150GB, so a 1TB drive fills fast. Here is why 2TB NVMe is the 2026 baseline, when 1TB still works, and why Gen5 and big HDDs are the wrong place to spend.

The Gen5 9100 PRO nearly doubles sequential speed on paper, but game load times land within a fraction of a second of the Gen4 990 PRO. Here is who the extra bandwidth is actually for — and why capacity, not the generation, decides the value.

A Gen5 SSD roughly doubles sequential speed on paper, but real game load times barely move and the drive runs hotter. Here is when the extra bandwidth is worth paying for.