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An XDA Developers writer says months of gaming on a Crucial T710 PCIe 5.0 SSD brought no noticeable loading-time improvement over a Corsair PCIe 4.0 drive. The account is a personal comparison, not a controlled benchmark; it suggests gamers may get more practical value from added capacity than higher peak sequential speeds.
An XDA Developers writer says upgrading from a PCIe 4.0 Corsair MP600 to a PCIe 5.0 Crucial T710 did not produce a noticeable improvement in game loading after about six months of use. The account suggests that players already using a capable NVMe drive may see little practical benefit from paying extra for the newer drive generation solely for gaming.
The writer moved to an AM5 system earlier in 2026 and paired its X870E motherboard with the T710. Crucial advertises the SSD with sequential read speeds of up to 14,900 MB/s; the writer said that figure is about three times the peak speed of the older MP600. Those headline throughput figures did not translate into an obvious difference in fast travel or save loading across the games played.
The comparison reflects one user’s experience rather than a controlled test. The writer did not report standardized timing results, a list of every game tested, or details such as system configuration and test conditions. The reported conclusion is narrower: the writer could not perceive a meaningful improvement during ordinary play, and said any small time savings were too slight to notice without a stopwatch.
The article argues that peak sequential read speeds are not a complete measure of game performance. Games can rely on different storage access patterns, while CPUs, memory, graphics hardware, game engines, shader compilation and online services can also affect how long a player waits. A faster drive addresses only the part of loading that is limited by storage.
Capacity May Beat Peak Speed for Games
For players shopping for an upgrade, the report highlights a gap between benchmark throughput and an experience they can readily notice. Moving from a hard drive or a slower SATA SSD to NVMe storage can make a substantial practical difference, but the writer’s experience suggests that users who already have a capable NVMe drive may encounter diminishing returns from upgrading again for gaming.
The price difference can also compete with other priorities. The writer recommends considering a larger PCIe 4.0 SSD instead of paying a premium for PCIe 5.0 speed when gaming is the main use. That trade-off may matter to players managing large libraries: the article notes that many AAA games occupy more than 100 GB, while making no claim that every buyer will face the same prices or storage needs.
This is not evidence that PCIe 5.0 drives never help games, or that they have no value outside gaming. The writer says the T710 may be useful for other demanding work, including running several virtual machines at once, and expects faster storage could matter more as game technology and data demands change.
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Why Sequential Speeds Can Mislead
SSD manufacturers commonly advertise maximum sequential read speeds, which describe how quickly a drive can read large amounts of data in a particular pattern. The XDA article says games often make different demands, including random reads and relatively low queue depths. Those workloads may not push a drive anywhere near its advertised sequential maximum.
Loading a game also involves more than retrieving files. The processor may need to decompress and process assets, data must be prepared in system memory and graphics memory, and the game engine may have work to complete before play begins. Some waits can involve shader compilation or network services rather than storage alone, limiting the benefit of a faster SSD.
Microsoft’s DirectStorage technology is intended to reduce CPU overhead for storage operations and can use the GPU for asset decompression. The writer sees potential for the feature to make faster storage more relevant over time, but says current DirectStorage titles played during the comparison—including Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart—did not appear to load faster on the T710 than they had on the older drive.
“I just don’t see the difference at all, no matter what title I play.”
— XDA Developers writer
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The Comparison Has No Timed Results
The published account does not give measured load times, a controlled testing method, or a broad sample of systems and games. It therefore cannot establish how much time PCIe 5.0 saves or costs across players generally. The writer’s finding is that the difference was not perceptible in their use, not that the two drives perform identically in every game or workload.
It is also unclear how future games will use DirectStorage or whether their storage demands will make PCIe 5.0 speeds more useful. The article describes that as a possibility, not a current result. Drive prices and the value of extra capacity vary by model and market; the article offers no price survey or measured cost comparison.
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Future Games May Change the Equation
For now, the practical guidance in the report is to weigh capacity, price and existing drive performance before choosing a PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming. Buyers on older storage may benefit more from moving to a modern NVMe drive than from paying extra to move from PCIe 4.0 to PCIe 5.0.
The question may need revisiting as more games use DirectStorage and other techniques designed to move and decompress assets efficiently. Until broader, controlled comparisons show a consistent benefit, the XDA writer’s experience offers a reason for gamers with a good NVMe drive to treat higher peak speeds as a specification—not a guarantee of shorter waits.
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Key Questions
Did the PCIe 5.0 SSD make games load faster in the XDA writer’s experience?
The writer reported no noticeable improvement in fast travel or save loading after switching from a PCIe 4.0 Corsair MP600 to a PCIe 5.0 Crucial T710. This was a personal comparison, not a controlled benchmark.
Does the T710 have higher advertised read speeds?
Yes. Crucial advertises sequential read speeds of up to 14,900 MB/s. The writer said that is about three times the peak speed of the older MP600, but did not notice a comparable gaming benefit.
Why might a faster SSD not reduce game loading much?
Storage is only one part of loading. CPU work, asset decompression, memory preparation, game-engine tasks, shader compilation and online services can also affect wait times.
Is PCIe 5.0 storage useless for gaming?
The article does not establish that. It reports one writer’s experience and argues that gamers already using a capable NVMe drive may see limited gains today. PCIe 5.0 may still suit other demanding workloads or future games.
What should gamers prioritize when buying an SSD?
The writer recommends comparing the cost of a faster drive with the benefit of more storage capacity, especially for gaming libraries with large titles. The best choice depends on the buyer’s current drive, budget and other workloads.
Source: XDA Developers
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