1TB NVME SSDs are cheaper:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76Q1T0B-AM/dp/B07L3D19MY/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=1tb+ssd&qid=1562986938&s=gateway&sr=8-4

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-1TB-NAND-NVMe-PCIe/dp/B07J2Q4SWZ/ref=sxin_4_ac_d_pm?keywords=1tb+nvme&pd_rd_i=B07J2Q4SWZ&pd_rd_r=0a1b277a-c579-4952-bdd8-b39376f63fc9&pd_rd_w=7HMWs&pd_rd_wg=bhjFG&pf_rd_p=64aaff2e-3b89-4fee-a107-2469ecbc5733&pf_rd_r=5YW8TQN6YF9J81YAQQRR&qid=1562986956&s=gateway

OP is right, 2.5" AHCI is dead. Next-gen consoles will have PCI 4.0 NVME drives in them, so games will be designed with NVME SSDs as a baseline requirement.

It’s nice on the RAM side of things, but you can upgrade that yourself for about $110.

If you really want to budget it, I’d just go for the i5 with even 128gb SSD/8GB ram

This way you can add your own 32GB of ram and also add your own external SSD for cheap. I use these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N124XDS/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3D22H3S50HINI&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J2Q4SWZ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HCPCMKN/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A3ISMVC1FTQD6C&psc=1

Bumping this as I'm curious as well. Wondering if the TVS-872N can take these specifically:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J2Q4SWZ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

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https://www.reddit.com/r/qnap/comments/hcz7we/meager_storage_needs_looking_for_best_and_ram_for/

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Also, for the ram, I'm wondering if I can/should use 3200 MT/s instead of 2600 MT/s.