PC gaming enthusiasts love pushing their hardware to the limits to get the best possible performance while gaming. Ever since the first bunch of PCIe 5.0 SSDs hit the market in early 2023, it has been a hot topic of discussion among new PC builders. With modern CPUs and motherboards from both AMD and Intel supporting the PCIe 5.0 standard, getting these faster NVMe SSDs seems to make more sense.

Manufacturers claim PCIe 5.0 SSDs are twice as fast as their PCIe 4.0 counterparts, but does that really mean you'll notice these performance improvements in the real world? As someone who has chased cutting-edge PC hardware for years, I'd say not quite. So, before you rush to upgrade your existing NVMe SSD, take a look at the points below to see if a PCIe 5.0 SSD is actually worth your hard-earned money.

3 Too expensive for diminishing returns

Why pay more for performance you won't notice?

Yes, PCIe 5.0 SSDs indeed boast blazing-fast transfer speeds of up to 14,000MB/s, which is theoretically twice that of the fastest PCIe 4.0 SSDs. There's no doubt that you'll see these impressive numbers in benchmarks, but what's the point if they don't translate into real-world performance across most everyday tasks? You'll struggle to distinguish a PCIe 5.0 SSD from a high-quality PCIe 4.0 drive outside of specialized workloads.

You can get a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD today for around $60-70, but you'll struggle to snag a PCIe 5.0 SSD for under $120. So, what's the point of paying twice the price for performance you won't notice while gaming? I get that manufacturers always charge a premium for cutting-edge hardware, but PCIe 5.0 SSDs have been around for over two years. When a PCIe 3.0 SSD doesn't bottleneck a gaming PC, there's no need to splurge your money on these faster SSDs just yet unless you still have a SATA SSD.

2 Cooling concerns

Do you really want an SSD that runs hotter?

The substantial speed improvements of PCIe 5.0 SSDs don't come without a cost. They generate a lot of heat under load; even idle temperatures are noticeably higher than PCIe 4.0 SSDs (typically above 50C). To keep their operating temperatures in check, manufacturers often include beefy heatsinks, with some having fans for active cooling, which is one of the reasons for the increased cost. Active cooling means more noise and moving parts that could potentially fail in the long run. I hate having to troubleshoot thermal-related issues with my CPU and GPU already, and adding an SSD that generates more heat into the mix would only make matters worse.

Yes, you can get a PCIe 5.0 SSD without a heatsink for a cheaper amount, but that means you'll have to use your motherboard's heatsink, which may not be adequate unless you have one of the higher-end Z890 or X870E boards. Even if you get a PCIe 5.0 SSD with a robust heatsink, there's no guarantee it will fit on your motherboard. For example, I remember purchasing the Corsair MP600 PCIe 4.0 SSD for my gaming rig in 2020, but I had to remove its built-in heatsink and use the one on my Asus Strix 570-E board because of its design. Without adequate cooling, you may not be able to enjoy the peak performance of these blazing-fast SSDs as they're very prone to thermal throttling.

1 Games haven't caught up yet

PCIe 5.0 SSDs are still overkill for gaming

Just because PCIe 5.0 SSDs are twice as fast as PCIe 4.0 SSDs doesn't mean your games will also load twice as fast. If anything, the loading speeds would be faster by a mere second or two, which doesn't justify the cost or increased heat generation. That's because games and most mainstream applications don't fully capitalize on PCIe 5.0's higher bandwidth. In fact, developers haven't fully maxed out the bandwidth of PCIe 4.0 SSDs yet. So, what's the point of upgrading to an even faster SSD when software is still playing catch-up?

Microsoft DirectStorage has been one of the driving forces behind the adoption of PCIe 4.0 SSDs in recent years. It improves game loading times and asset streaming by bypassing the CPU and moving data between the NVMe drive and the GPU directly. However, despite being available to developers since early 2022, only a handful of games support it, like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Horizon Forbidden West, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and EA Sports FC 25. If your existing PCIe 4.0 drive is good enough for DirectStorage, I don't see the need to rush and upgrade to PCIe Gen 5 drives, especially when most games don't even use this technology.

PCIe 4.0 SSDs remain the sweet spot for now

PCIe 5.0 SSDs are incredibly fast, but their practical advantage in everyday computing tasks remains questionable, at least for now. They run hotter, draw more power, and barely improve loading times compared to PCIe Gen 4 drives for nearly twice the cost. Some PCIe 5.0 SSDs with active cooling come with power cables for fan operation, making cable management a hassle. Until these faster drives drop in price and offer noticeable improvements in real-world scenarios, improved thermals, and better software support, PCIe 4.0 SSDs will continue to remain relevant. It makes more sense to wait and see what the PCIe 6.0 standard has to offer at this point.