NVMe SSD Gaming: M.2 Speed Revolution & HDD Extinction (2017-Present)
NVMe SSDs (Non-Volatile Memory Express) using M.2 slots revolutionized PC gaming 2017-2020, delivering 3,500+ MB/s read speeds (vs. SATA SSD’s 550 MB/s) and eliminating load times. By 2021, mechanical HDDs became obsolete for gaming as NVMe prices dropped to $100/TB.
Speed Evolution
Samsung 970 EVO (2018), WD Black SN750 (2019), and Sabrent Rocket (2019) offered 3,000-3,500 MB/s sequential reads at $100-150/1TB. PCIe Gen 4 drives (Samsung 980 Pro, WD SN850, 2020) hit 7,000 MB/s. Boot times dropped to 5-10 seconds. Game load times (Witcher 3, GTA V) shortened from 60+ seconds (HDD) to 10-15 seconds.
PS5/Xbox Series Integration
Consoles adopting NVMe (PS5’s custom 5,500 MB/s SSD, Xbox Series’ 2,400 MB/s) made SSD baseline for gaming. DirectStorage API (2022) enabled GPU-direct decompression, promising even faster loads. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart showcased near-instant world loading impossible on HDDs.
Price Collapse
NVMe SSDs dropped from $250+/1TB (2017) to $80-100/1TB (2021), matching SATA SSD pricing. Dramless budget NVMe drives (WD SN570, Kingston NV1) hit $50-60/1TB, undercutting SATA. The cost advantage eliminated reasons to buy spinning HDDs for gaming.
HDD Extinction
By 2022, HDDs survived only for bulk storage (videos, backups). New gaming builds defaulted to NVMe boot + game storage. “Is HDD good enough for games?” became r/buildapc joke answers (“if you enjoy 5-minute load screens”). The 20-year HDD gaming era ended.
Cultural Shift
“Just get an SSD” (2015-2018 advice) evolved to “obviously NVMe, why would you even ask?” Gamers expected instant load times — returning to HDDs felt like time travel. SSD loading screen memes died as developers used load time for rendering, not masking HDD slowness.
Sources: TechPowerUp SSD database, Steam Hardware Survey, price tracking (PCPartPicker, CamelCamelCamel)