If you complain to your tech-savvy friend that
watches LTT that your computer or laptop is slow, chances are he or she will ask you to upgrade to
an SSD from the older dinosaur HDD. But which D is right for you? Here, in 2022, chances are
you're probably using an M.2 PCIe NVMe drive. But there is PCIe Gen 3 and then, there's the newer
PCIe Gen 4 and also Gen 5 haven't come out yet. What is the difference between all of them?
Today, I'm going to tell you the top reasons why you should consider upgrading to a PCIe Gen
4 drive from a PCIe Gen 3 drive. Let's get driving. Full disclosure, this video is sponsored by Corsair
with their Corsair MP600 PRO LPX PCIe Gen 4 x4 NVMe M.2 SSD, which they have kindly sent
over for demonstration purposes. Everything in this video will still be valid no matter which PCIe
Gen 4 SSD you decide to buy. But, of course, do check the specs and reviews before making your
purchase. A long long time ago, in a land far away, back in the historic days of 2010, PCIe Gen 3
was introduced. It brought double the bandwidth and speeds from the previous PCIe Gen 2 and was
quite a game-changer. Then, came the new kid on the block, PCIe Gen 4 in 2017, which also doubled the
bandwidth and speeds from the previous generation, in this case, PCIe Gen 3. Now that we're in 2022,
PCIe Gen 5 is already here. However though, Intel 12th Gen already has Gen 5 support. AMD is
expected to follow suit just this year. PCIe Gen 4 is still pretty much the standard currently. As for
M.2 SSDs, which are the tiny little ones like this. They come in both PCIe NVMe and SATA. To find
out more about the differences between the two, check out our 'Your Mother No Teach' video on that.
Very easy mah. But the gist of it is that PCIe NVMe is much faster than SATA although they are both
using M.2 interface. Now that we're a little more caught up on some background information regarding
SSDs and specifically PCIe NVMe SSDs, let's get into the top reasons why you should consider
upgrading from PCIe Gen 3 to Gen 4 in 2022. The number one benefit of upgrading from PCIe
Gen 3 to Gen 4 is definitely the increased bandwidth. PCIe Gen 4 basically doubles the bandwidth available
per lane. For example, our Corsair MP600 PRO LPX PCIe Gen 4 NVMe M.2 SSD here has sequential
read speeds up to 7,100 MB/s and a sequential write speeds up to 6,800 MB/s. In
comparison, PCIe Gen 3 SSDs have read and write speeds of up to maybe 3,500 MB/s. Now, let's
move on to the reasons because the reason is you. Reason number one, PCIe Gen 4 SSDs are
better for content creators. For video editors and colorists who frequently deal with massive
files, it will be much easier to copy media files from your recording devices into your computer
for the edit. Also, if you're a real professional who deals with 4K footage and up, especially
with files that have massive data rates, such as RED RAW or ARRI footage, your timeline will scrub
much smoother during the edit. This will matter more in the future because even mirrorless
cameras and phones can shoot up to 8K. Also, codecs like Apple ProRes might have higher
data rates and the file size might be bigger. But they are a lot easier to edit on lower-end systems
compared to compressed formats like H.264 or H.265 or HEVC. So you might want to transcode
to that if your PC is struggling and your faster Gen 4 SSD will definitely help. Also, you won't need to
use proxies anymore if storage was your bottleneck. That should save you quite a lot of time having to prep
and transcode all your files before you start an edit. Reason number two, it's better for gamers.
I'm talking especially for those who like to play AAA titles like me. Some games can have
massive files, which means that the levels can take forever to load if you don't have faster storage
options. For instance, in open-world games such as GTA 5, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Cyberpunk 2077,
Horizon Forbidden West, and Elden Ring, especially at higher resolutions where texture and model
files can be bigger. This means that you'll get past the dreaded loading screens much faster.
Other than that, the loading of texture files is also faster, leaving you with a seamless and immersive
experience, which means you won't have to deal with so many glitches and texture pop-ins, which can
make for a funny video compilation for YouTube. But not so much your gaming experience. It could also
just be your GPU or VRAM not being enough, so yeah. Reason number three, it's more future-proof. If
you're building a new system or you're intending to make your current system last as long as
possible, upgrading to PCIe Gen 4 will be better even if it may or may not be fully utilized in your
current system and your games. Game graphics fidelity is getting better and better as computer tech
continually advances, which means that game files are also getting larger and require faster and
faster storage devices. The same can be also said about video recording because now, mirrorless
can record 8K. Having a storage device that you're not saturating in terms of speed will give you more
headroom to deal with future releases and tasks. Reason number four, because this is
PCIe Gen 4, it is compatible with PS5. Let's face it, 1TB of storage on a console
like the PS5 can run out pretty darn fast, especially if you've opted for the version without
the CD, which is the digital version. Also, internet speeds in Malaysia are slower than Jay&Tee delivering
a package. So you don't want to always have to re-download all your games all the time. Luckily for us,
the PS5 is compatible with the compact form of M.2 2280 SSDs like this one and is able to take advantage
of the performance abilities of PCIe Gen 4 SSD. However, they have a pretty strict specs requirement.
The Corsair MP600 PRO LPX PCIe Gen 4 NVMe M.2 SSD, for example, with transfer speeds up to
7,100MB/s read and 6,800 MB/s write will definitely meet all the PS5
M.2 performance requirements. For a quick and easy storage upgrade, this
has 2TB and the built-in one has only 1TB so that will be double the space. Reason almost
number five, like Maroon 5, it has faster application load times. So you're going to get
faster Window boot times and application load times, which is already super fast on PCIe Gen 3
SSDs. Also your system could feel a tiny bit more responsive, though probably negligible depending
on what you're working on. But hey, if your time is as precious as Jeff Bezos', then upgrade
lah, wait for what? #GetIt, wait for what? Now that you know the top 4.5 reasons why you should
upgrade to PCIe Gen 4 SSDs, here are some very important things to note before you do get that
upgrade. Firstly, make sure that your motherboard has PCIe Gen 4 support. So that you don't end up
wasting your money by having your brand new spanking PCIe Gen 4 SSD to be bottlenecked by
PCIe Gen 3 speeds because it's actually backward compatible. Secondly, these SSDs can run a little
hot compared to PCIe Gen 3 and require a heatsink like this or heat spreader to cool it down. You can
buy a removable one if your motherboard cover can already support it so you can just take it out
like that lah. But of course, it won't provide as much cooling as the fins on the MP600 PRO or something
like that due to the increased surface area with these fins allowing for more dissipation of the
heat. With that being said, it's a new year, a new you, and maybe a new D. We personally recommend this
Corsair MP600 PRO LPX PCIe Gen 4 NVMe M.2 SSD because we've been using it for a while and it's
been pretty solid. Anyways, that's everything I have to say about PCIe Gen 4 SSDs versus PCIe Gen 3
SSDs. If you thought this video is awesome, don't forget to like and share, subscribe to our Youtube
channel and hit the notification bell to see more content like this. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram,
and TikTok to see more shenanigans from the MOBhouse crew. Again my name is Shane, and
I'll see you in the next one after I reply to all your comments in the comments section. So
remember leave some comments lah.
