Looking back at the early months of 2021, the storage performance debate between Intel and AMD was heating up. Intel was preparing to launch its 11th Gen Core Rocket Lake desktop processors, and the company made a bold claim that caught the attention of hardware enthusiasts. According to Intel, its new platform would deliver PCIe 4.0 storage performance up to 11 percent faster than AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series. At the time, this was a notable statement because Intel had been trailing AMD in PCIe 4.0 adoption for nearly a year and a half. Rocket Lake was set to finally bring the interface to Intel’s desktop lineup, and the company wanted to assert dominance before the processors even hit shelves.
Rocket Lake was the successor to Intel’s 10th Gen Comet Lake platform. If you are looking at the previous generation, check our best motherboard for i9-10900K guide. The historical context matters here because Intel had skipped PCIe 4.0 entirely on Comet Lake, while AMD’s Ryzen 3000 and 5000 platforms had already been shipping with full support since mid-2019. By early 2021, AMD users had enjoyed a significant head start with high-speed NVMe SSDs, and Intel needed a compelling narrative to close that gap.
Table of Contents
The Original Claim
In February 2021, Intel published benchmark results comparing its flagship Core i9-11900K against AMD’s Ryzen 9 5950X. Both systems were equipped with a 1TB Samsung 980 Pro SSD, 32GB of DDR4-3200 memory, and an NVIDIA RTX 3090 graphics card. The operating system was Windows 10 20H2, installed on a separate Intel 760p SSD to keep the test drive isolated. Intel’s Ryan Shrout shared the results on Twitter, presenting a comparison graph that showed the Intel platform pulling ahead.
The specific test used was PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark. Intel reported that the Core i9-11900K system scored 11 percent higher than the Ryzen 9 5950X setup. This figure was quickly circulated across tech news outlets and hardware forums. However, the claim was immediately met with skepticism from readers who questioned whether the test truly reflected storage performance or something else entirely.
Understanding the Benchmark
PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark is a condensed version of the full system drive test. It is designed for entry-level SSDs that lack the performance to complete the full suite without bottlenecking. The benchmark uses six stages: booting Windows, loading Adobe Illustrator, loading Photoshop, loading Excel, copying files, and performing disk operations. These stages use smaller, less demanding real-world traces than the full test.
The methodology is worth examining because the Samsung 980 Pro is a high-end PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive, not an entry-level model. When you run a lightweight benchmark on a flagship drive, the test often becomes limited by CPU overhead, platform latency, or protocol efficiency rather than the drive’s raw capabilities. This nuance is critical when interpreting vendor-provided results.
The test configurations also deserve scrutiny. Intel paired the i9-11900K with an ASUS Z590 ROG Maximus XIII motherboard, a premium board that represented some of the best motherboards for i9-11900K builds. AMD’s Ryzen 9 5950X was tested on an ASUS X570 board. Intel’s original documentation incorrectly named the AMD motherboard as an “ASUS X570 ROG Rampage VIII,” a product that does not exist. This naming error, first spotted by Overclock3D, was a minor but embarrassing detail that fueled doubts about the rigor of the comparison.
Critical Analysis and Limitations
Several independent observers and competing publications raised valid concerns about the benchmark. PC Gamer explicitly called the result cherry-picked, pointing out that the Quick System Drive test is meant for drives that cannot handle the full benchmark. Running it on a top-tier SSD like the 980 Pro is unusual and can mask the true storage performance differences between platforms.
The 11 percent gap may reflect how each platform handles NVMe protocol overhead, Infinity Fabric latency, and CPU-attached storage pathways. AMD’s Ryzen 5000 architecture uses Infinity Fabric to connect the I/O die and compute dies, which can introduce latency in storage-bound workloads. Intel’s Rocket Lake platform, with its direct CPU-attached PCIe lanes, might have delivered lower latency in this specific test. However, AMD offered more PCIe 4.0 connectivity overall through its PCH lanes, giving users more flexibility for multiple high-speed devices.
Ryan Shrout clarified that the Samsung 980 Pro was connected via a PCIe riser card in an x16 slot to ensure CPU-attached access on both platforms. This was not the typical M.2 slot configuration that most users would employ. The transparency was appreciated, but it also highlighted that the test setup was deliberately controlled to isolate a specific variable. For the average gamer or content creator, the real-world difference was likely indistinguishable.
At the time, even SATA SSDs performed nearly as well as NVMe drives in most competitive gaming scenarios. The gap between PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0 was even smaller in typical gaming workloads. While prosumer tasks like video editing and large file transfers could benefit from the extra bandwidth, the 11 percent figure in a synthetic benchmark did not translate into noticeable improvements for everyday users.
What Happened Next
Rocket Lake launched in March 2021 and brought PCIe 4.0 to Intel’s desktop platform for the first time. Later that year, Alder Lake introduced a hybrid performance architecture and cemented Intel’s commitment to modern PCIe standards. Raptor Lake followed in 2022, and Arrow Lake eventually brought PCIe 5.0 support to Intel’s consumer lineup.
AMD did not stand still. The Ryzen 7000 series launched with native PCIe 5.0 support in 2022, and Ryzen 9000 continued to push the platform forward. PCIe 5.0 SSDs have since entered the market, though they still face thermal challenges and platform-specific limitations. Interestingly, recent discussions in 2026 indicate that Intel Arrow Lake processors can bottleneck PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSDs by roughly 16 percent, limiting peak speeds to around 12 GB/s instead of the theoretical 14 GB/s.
Microsoft’s DirectStorage API has also shifted the conversation. First introduced for Xbox and later ported to Windows, DirectStorage allows games to stream assets directly from SSD to GPU without passing through the CPU. This technology, which began seeing wider adoption in 2026, has made high-speed SSD performance more relevant for gaming than it was in 2021. Modern titles are increasingly coded to take advantage of improved transfer speeds, turning what was once a theoretical benefit into a practical one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are PCIe 4 SSDs worth it?
For most gamers, the difference between PCIe 3.0 and PCIe 4.0 SSDs is minimal in everyday titles. However, for content creators, video editors, and users running large file transfers, the extra bandwidth is noticeable. With DirectStorage gaining traction in 2026, PCIe 4.0 SSDs are becoming a more practical investment for future-proofing.
Is PCIe 4.0 future proof?
PCIe 4.0 remains a solid standard for most users in 2026, though PCIe 5.0 SSDs and motherboards are now available. For typical gaming and productivity, PCIe 4.0 provides more than enough bandwidth. It will likely remain relevant for several more years before becoming a noticeable bottleneck.
Does PCIe 4.0 make a difference for GPU?
For current graphics cards, PCIe 4.0 offers only marginal improvements over PCIe 3.0 in gaming performance. Most GPUs do not saturate the bandwidth of a PCIe 3.0 x16 slot. The difference becomes slightly more noticeable at higher resolutions or in specific workstation workloads, but it is not a deciding factor for the average build.
Is PCIe 4 or 5 better for SSD?
PCIe 5.0 offers roughly double the bandwidth of PCIe 4.0, allowing for sequential read speeds up to 14 GB/s on paper. In practice, current PCIe 5.0 SSDs face thermal and platform limitations that prevent them from reaching theoretical peaks. For most users in 2026, a high-quality PCIe 4.0 SSD still offers the best balance of performance, thermals, and price.
What is the fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD?
The Samsung 990 Pro, WD Black SN850X, and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus are among the fastest PCIe 4.0 SSDs available in 2026. These drives consistently deliver sequential read speeds above 7,000 MB/s and strong random IOPS performance. The exact leader depends on firmware revisions, capacity, and specific workload patterns.
Conclusion
The 11 percent claim was technically accurate in the specific benchmark, but it told only part of the story. Storage performance depends heavily on workload, platform architecture, and whether the bottleneck lies in the drive, the CPU, or the interface. In 2026, with PCIe 5.0 SSDs and DirectStorage gaining traction, the 2021 debate between Intel and AMD over PCIe 4.0 storage leadership feels like a footnote. What matters today is how the entire platform handles high-speed storage, not just a single synthetic benchmark result.
Related News:
AMD Radeon RX 6800 vs RX6800 XT
There are people who love playing video games, and then there are enthusiasts who devote their lives to gaming.
Corey has been playing games since The Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy III were still young.
Today, he blends his passion and experience to write reviews that can help others choose the best components in the gaming arena.