PCIe Gen 4 vs Gen 5 NVMe SSDs: Are the Incredible Speeds Worth It?

Sequential Benchmarks vs Random 4K Real-World Speeds

Gen 5 SSDs boast astronomical marketing numbers like 14 GB/s. However, Windows booting and video game loading rely primarily on low-queue-depth random 4K reads, where Gen 5 is only marginally faster than Gen 4.

The Thermal Consideration

Gen 5 controllers consume significant power and require massive heatsinks or active cooling fans to prevent severe thermal throttling during sustained writes.