If you’re on the lookout for the best SSD for gaming proper now, then a PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive is your greatest wager, with speeds of up to 7000MB/s. Since we’re nearing the theoretical most speeds of 8GB/s in its x4 M.2 format, nevertheless, we’re already wanting forward in the direction of PCIe 5.0 expertise earlier than PCIe 4.0 even turns into normal.

PCIe 5.0 has the potential to double the bandwidth over the earlier era with up to 16GB/s learn and write speeds. Better but, the new tech could possibly be sitting in the best gaming PC in just just a few years time, in accordance to Tom’s Hardware.

Manufacturer Silicon Motion has introduced that ‘enterprise-grade’ (learn: not for customers) SSD controllers with a PCIe 5.0 interface can be launched in 2022. With PCIe 4.0, there was a slight hole between the normal shifting from industrial functions like servers to shopper tech such as gaming PCs, and we’d count on the similar to apply with PCIe 5.0, so it could possibly be a 12 months or two till we see consumer-grade PCIe 5.0 drives hitting the market.

Even although Intel is just just including support for PCIe 4.0 next month with its new Rocket Lake processors, the fourth era PCIe slot could already present its age fairly quickly.

That’s not to say Intel isn’t ready, nevertheless. According to Tom’s Hardware, Intel’s 12th era Alder Lake processors, also expected to release this year, could include support for the fifth era normal. The similar’s doubtless true of AMD’s Zen 4 CPUs, which are slated for a 2022 launch, bringing with them DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 support too.

Considering PCIe 6.0 is on track to be finalised by the finish of the 12 months, who is aware of how lengthy PCIe 5.0 will final earlier than it’s outdated? Our guess will not be very lengthy in any respect, given the anticipated shelf-life of PCIe 4.0.