What is the sequential read speed limit of a standard SATA SSD (limited by the SATA interface)?

The SATA III interface, widely used for over a decade, has a bandwidth limit of 6 Gbps, which translates to a maximum theoretical speed of about 600 MB/s. Because the physical flash memory inside the SSD is actually much faster, the SATA port becomes a 'bottleneck' that prevents the drive from reaching its full potential. This led to the development of NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express), which bypasses SATA entirely and connects the drive directly to the CPU's PCIe lanes, enabling modern drives to achieve speeds of 3,500 to 7,000 MB/s.