One of my highest recommendations to improve the performance of any system that is not yet equipped with an NVMe or SSD is to install one. The size should be large enough to install Windows and/or linux at the bare minimum. A 512G drive is large enough for the basic installation of Windows with enough room to install a game or two as well.
I use a few different models of NVMe drives depending upon the purpose. I use the higher throughput type models for the OS drives. I use the less expensive models as a secondary drive to store games, photos, and whatever else I have on my computers.
Best NVMe Drives
If you want the PCIe 4.0 level of performance and are willing to pay for it AND have the compatible X570 or B550 Motherboard, this is the fastest PCIe 4.0 NVMe available. I use this model as the primary drive in my 3900x based computer with the crucial NVMe drive at the bottom of the page as the secondary drive.
IF you want the fastest NVMe PCIe 3.0 x 4 NVMe money can buy, this is the one. Very solid performance with blazing fast reads and writes. Many PCIe 4.0 NVMe do not have sustained writes as fast as this unit does.
When you are on a moderate budget this Samsung EVO unit is a very capable choice for NVMe PCIe 3.0 x 4. Still offeres sustained reads and writes of 3000MB/s.
Still a bit steep, maybe a 512G NVMe will suit you. This one is only 512G but blazes through the data.
If you are creating a budget build this one will not break the budget for your entire rig. It also makes a great secondary drive for those systems that have a faster pricier model as the primary drive.