The weak point for years (if not decades) of computers and consoles has been in the storage unit. The arrival of SATA SSDs and, later, those based on PCIe have solved this problem, but we have come across reality. But would it be interesting resurrect SATA interface for SSDs seen the PCIe problems?
Currently, the SATA interface is completely obsolete, if we compare it with the M.2 PCIe interface. We can see it on the PS5 and Xbox Series X, which are based on M.2 NVMe memories. Laptops have also forgotten 2.5-inch SATA SSDs in favor of M.2 NVMe, for making systems more compact and lightweight.
The industry has run into the harsh reality
During this year, new M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSDs. Intel already offers support for these storage units, specifically since last year thanks to the Intel Core 12th Gen. But, to date there is no no trace of these new units of storage and there is a reason.
After the marketing of speeds of 12,000 MB/s This is the reality, which is none other than temperature and performance. It is very nice to talk about 12,000 MB/s of reading and writing, but, at what cost? And it is that the problem of PCIe 5.0 SSDs is in the temperature, which will be so critical that it is forcing put fans on these units storage.
They have standardized on the M.2 PCIe interface and quite possibly got it wrong. First of all, already PCIe 3.0 SSDs are enough for gaming, PCIe 4.0 contribute little and PCIe 5.0, nothing and less. We have gone from a great solution to a saturated market that doesn’t make much sense, at least currently.
The industry has become obsessed with selling us speed, ignoring the problems of these units. When they heat up, they lose performance to protect themselves, even carrying heat sinks. These are specific moments, since the importance of SSDs for games is limited.
The great sacrificed in this speed race (pun intended) is the sata interface. The manufacturers have let it die, currently being in the background for everyone. But it could be improved upon and be as good or better than the M.2 PCIe interface and help correct the temperature problem. You just have to see the SAS4 interfacewhich offers twice the read and write speeds of SATA 3.
I wish it was all a temperature issue
Yes, we have talked about temperature problems, which is one of the great problems of M.2 SSDs, but not the only one. Currently it is very difficult to find an M.2 that has 8TB capacity, very difficult and they are brutally expensive. It seems that, if the layers are not increased, we will hardly see SSDs with more than 4 TB capacity.
Interestingly, this problem is also fixed by the SATA interface. 2.5-inch SSDs have more usable space so you can create larger capacity drives. We could have 8 TB SSD in 2.5-inch format without problems or much larger. But, the thing is that the SATA interface is no longer of interest to SSD manufacturers, who are leaving it aside.
It is logical that M.2 is chosen for laptops, because they are more compact and thinner, that is great. But in desktop computers there are no space problems, what’s more, in current towers what is left over is space. However, all this space is left empty on most occasions and is wasted. And it is that the manufacturers have already abandoned the SATA port and there is no going back to this absurdity.
