Question Need Advice on SSDs

[WaitforAmpere?]

My main SSD is a 256GB M.2 NVME SSD, which im generally happy about but it doesn't have anywhere near the space for modern games.
However, it's also the only m.2 slot I have. So my only options to expand are SATA SSDs.
My first question, can SATA SSDs do similar job to NVME in terms of loading assets in-game. In Baldur's Gate 3, when i play in HDD the gpu doesn't even get utilised, and fluctuates at 60%-70% usage, contributing to stutter-fest.
Would SATA SSD fulfill that role?
2nd question, if the answer to previous question is a yes, can you recommend some good 500GB-1TB SATA SSDs that has decent feature-set like DRAM cache?

 

[CountMike]

My main SSD is a 256GB M.2 NVME SSD, which im generally happy about but it doesn't have anywhere near the space for modern games.
However, it's also the only m.2 slot I have. So my only options to expand are SATA SSDs.
My first question, can SATA SSDs do similar job to NVME in terms of loading assets in-game. In Baldur's Gate 3, when i play in HDD the gpu doesn't even get utilised, and fluctuates at 60%-70% usage, contributing to stutter-fest.
Would SATA SSD fulfill that role?
2nd question, if the answer to previous question is a yes, can you recommend some good 500GB-1TB SATA SSDs that has decent feature-set like DRAM cache?

SATA SSDs are much slower than NVMe but also much faster than HDDs. If there is stutter due to disk it's because other resources are also used while reading or writing,HDD typically use more resources for longer, SATA SSD and specially fast NVMe drives can cut that time to almost nothing.
Can't tel you more because you didn't say anything about rest of configuration,

 

[WaitforAmpere?]

SATA SSDs are much slower than NVMe but also much faster than HDDs. If there is stutter due to disk it's because other resources are also used while reading or writing,HDD typically use more resources for longer, SATA SSD and specially fast NVMe drives can cut that time to almost nothing.
Can't tel you more because you didn't say anything about rest of configuration,

im running ryzen 3600, amd rx6800, 16GB 3733MHz RAM.
when i do play Baldur's Gate, it's on a HDD, and the game fails to use the graphics card properly, often using only 60% of it, taking a long while (about a minute or so) to load the assets in the city area.

 

[CountMike]

im running ryzen 3600, amd rx6800, 16GB 3733MHz RAM.
when i do play Baldur's Gate, it's on a HDD, and the game fails to use the graphics card properly, often using only 60% of it, taking a long while (about a minute or so) to load the assets in the city area.

Which MB ? That's crucial because that's where disks plug in.

 

[rocktalkrock]

If your motherboard has an open PCIe slot you can buy a M.2 to PCIe adapter card.

 

[WaitforAmpere?]

Which MB ? That's crucial because that's where disks plug in.

B450 tomahawk max

 

[CountMike]

B450 tomahawk max

It has only one M.2 slot at PCIe gen3 so I would suggest Samsung 970 Evo plus to replace existing one. 500GB if it's enough or 1TB.

 

[WaitforAmpere?]

It has only one M.2 slot at PCIe gen3 so I would suggest Samsung 970 Evo plus to replace existing one. 500GB if it's enough or 1TB.

would it serve the purpose of running modern games since more and more are suggesting SSDs. And HDD is causing problems loading assets.
Starfield has also outlined that players need ssd.

 

[CountMike]

would it serve the purpose of running modern games since more and more are suggesting SSDs. And HDD is causing problems loading assets.
Starfield has also outlined that players need ssd.

That is fastest SSD you can use in that MB. Yes, fast drives are suggested for modern AA games as they have maps too large to keep in RAM se they have to access storage often.
Edit.
That GPU uses AMD SmartMemoryAcces so make sure it's enabled.

 

[Bob.B]

My main SSD is a 256GB M.2 NVME SSD, which im generally happy about but it doesn't have anywhere near the space for modern games.
However, it's also the only m.2 slot I have. So my only options to expand are SATA SSDs.
My first question, can SATA SSDs do similar job to NVME in terms of loading assets in-game. In Baldur's Gate 3, when i play in HDD the gpu doesn't even get utilised, and fluctuates at 60%-70% usage, contributing to stutter-fest.
Would SATA SSD fulfill that role?
2nd question, if the answer to previous question is a yes, can you recommend some good 500GB-1TB SATA SSDs that has decent feature-set like DRAM cache?

It's your call if you want to move everything ( OS/apps/games ) to a single nvme or just replace the hdd with a ssd.

If you go the replacement route look at a crucial mx500.