10 Essential Upgrades for the Ultimate Gaming Rig in 2025

4. PCIe Gen4/Gen5 NVMe SSD Storage

Long load screens are a relic when you slot a blazing-fast NVMe SSD into your rig. PCIe Gen5 drives (think 14,000 MB/s reads!) now set the gold standard for 2025, slashing boot-ups and swinging you straight back into action after a game crash. If you’re budget-conscious, Gen4 drives are still an amazing sweet spot, handling massive open-world games and updates with ease. Aim for at least 2TB to avoid the dreaded delete-old-games dance—space fills up fast with new AAA titles. Whether it’s your main OS drive or a secondary game vault, these SSDs also help speed up installs and background downloads. For best thermal performance, grab a heat sink model (or add one) so those speeds don’t throttle under a heavy gaming binge.