As a value-oriented gamer and PC builder, I’ve always looked for ways to get the most bang for my buck when putting a system together. Storage is a key part of any build, but there’s a fine line between buying what you need and what you think you need—the latter is where money starts to get wasted. So, here’s a simple strategy that’ll help you balance speed, capacity, and cost in your desktop PC.
Pick a motherboard with multiple NVMe slots
More slots gives you more flexibility with future upgrades
M.2 NVME SSDs like the Crucial T710 are the fastest type of storage you can get, so at a minimum, your PC should use one for your operating system and other important things like programs, video games, and essential files.
The problem you can encounter when picking a budget motherboard is that some of them only have a single M.2 PCIe slot intended for fast storage. Admittedly, this is much less of a problem today than it was a few years ago, as even ultra-budget motherboards, like the GIGABYTE B850M DS3H, now have two M.2 PCIe slots (one PCIe 5.0 and one PCIe 4.0).
Still, whether you’re building with current-gen or last-gen parts, checking that your next motherboard has at least two M.2 PCIe slots is essential. This gives you the flexibility to add a second, larger NVMe later—hopefully when prices aren’t so high.
Technically, you can always put an NVMe SSD into an enclosure, but an enclosure is an extra cost, and it’s neither convenient nor elegant if you need it permanently plugged in. Plus, you might run into a speed bottleneck, especially if you don’t have a USB4 connector on your motherboard to reach faster speeds.
Go big on your main drive (if you can afford it)
Start large and save yourself headaches later
In a perfect world, we’d all be able to afford multiple 4TB NVMes for a reasonable price and store dozens of games and large files.
Unfortunately, prices make that dream impossible for the foreseeable future, so it’s more important than ever to think carefully about how much storage you’ll invest in your primary drive. You need enough for your operating system, important programs, favorite games, and work files, and ideally, still have around 20% free, so your NVMe doesn’t slow down too much.
500GB might seem like an okay starting point on the surface, but it’s actually poor value in the current market. Even the cheapest NVMes, like the Kingston NV3, now hover around $120.
I had a 500GB NVMe in my old system, and it was a real struggle to live with. You can’t store more than one or two modern games on it before it’s basically full. It’s only fine if you’re building an office PC and don’t rely heavily on local storage for your work files.
1TB is the minimum amount you’d want in any modern machine. Even if you have to step down to a PCIe Gen 3.0 SSD to maximize savings, it’s still a much better purchase and won’t affect your games or day-to-day use nearly as much as you might think.
2TB used to provide the perfect balance between cost and space, but in today’s volatile market, it’s hard to find one under $200, which is already way more than the $128 I paid last year.
One of the cheapest 2TB NVMes I could find is the Crucial P310, which is currently listed at $226 on Amazon. It’s a steep price, but at least you won’t have to live with the headaches that come with never having enough storage.
Use SATA SSDs/HDDs and consider buying used for bulk storage
Slow SSDs work just fine for lighter games
SATA SSDs are going through a rough patch right now. Honestly, they’re terrible value these days if you’re buying new, as they often cost nearly as much as an NVMe SSD despite using an older standard.
However, if you come across a great deal or are willing to buy a used unit, which is fine if you take the right precautions and temper your expectations, they can still make for a solid storage option. They’re much faster than traditional hard drives, making them ideal for older or indie games that don’t need blazing-fast load times, lightweight programs, videos, and any other files you need relatively quick access to.
That said, traditional hard drives are still the cheapest storage medium. They’re perfect for storing media, backups, and anything you don’t need immediate access to.
Keep your main drive uncluttered and fast
Do you know what’s easier than buying more storage? Moving the files you don’t need immediate access to elsewhere. Whether it’s a NAS, an external drive, a USB stick, or even a smartphone or tablet that’s sitting half-empty, offloading files from your PC is one of the best ways to reclaim limited space on your desktop.
Although I have a 2TB NVMe in my PC, it’s already almost full. The vast majority of the space is taken up by my games, but I also have tens of gigabytes of files that I should move to my NAS, with my USB flash drives adding redundancy in case something goes wrong.
If you have an internal or external hard drive, you could just use that to store your files, while reserving the fast space on the NVMe SSD for apps and games.
Fast storage is expensive, so use it wisely
Prioritize speed only for files that deserve it
NVMe SSDs are extremely expensive right now, so if adding more storage isn’t an option (which frankly it isn’t for many of us), you can always be smart about your approach. A hard drive or NAS to store your work files will free up more space on your NVMe SSD for your apps and games, and once the prices of SSDs go down, you’ll have all the expansion you need if your motherboard has an extra M.2 PCIe slot.
I Never Cheap Out on These 4 Parts When Building a PC, and You Shouldn’t Either
A few extra dollars today could save you a headache tomorrow.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
