Best 500gb m.2 SSD for $80

[superlinusfan]

I dont know much about SSDs or which one is the best, so Im not too sure what to get, but it seems like they cost $70-$80

should I just get the cheapest one I see or are some companies better than others?

[Jurrunio]

Make sure you get those with DRAM, DRAMless ones have much worse latency as it fills up.

[Olllllli]

I'm not sure, but I believe there are SATA and NVMe versions of m.2 ssds. NVMe m.2 SSDs are considerably faster than SATA m.2 SSDs. Although in the real world, the speed differences are big, but are hard to notice unless you are moving large files. 

[tJuggernaut29]

your mileage may vary, make sure you read the specs and look at benchmarks for comparison.

That being said, the brands I trust are Samsung, WD, and SanDisk

[superlinusfan]

also do m.2 drives take up CPU PCIE lanes? Like if a CPU can only have 16 PCIE lanes and a graphics card is installed into the pcie x16 slot, will an m.2 ssd (or just anything m.2) not work?

[Olllllli]

1 hour ago, superlinusfan said:

also do m.2 drives take up CPU PCIE lanes? Like if a CPU can only have 16 PCIE lanes and a graphics card is installed into the pcie x16 slot, will an m.2 ssd (or just anything m.2) not work?

NVMe m.2 drives do. 4 Lanes I believe. Your CPU may have 16 PCIE lanes, but your motherboard will also have more lanes via the chipset. Check your motherboard manual as to which M.2 slots are connected to which. 

[Jurrunio]

3 hours ago, superlinusfan said:

also do m.2 drives take up CPU PCIE lanes? Like if a CPU can only have 16 PCIE lanes and a graphics card is installed into the pcie x16 slot, will an m.2 ssd (or just anything m.2) not work?

M.2 SATA or NVMe? What CPU?

[superlinusfan]

2 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

M.2 SATA or NVMe? What CPU?

sata m.2, no specific CPU, just making one up for the example

[Jurrunio]

57 minutes ago, superlinusfan said:

sata m.2, no specific CPU, just making one up for the example

Because with NVMe it's different between Ryzen CPUs, Ryzen APUs and Intel stuff. On SATA though the SSD is connected to the chipset and do not slow the GPU connection down.

[Billy Pilgrim]

7 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

Make sure you get those with DRAM, DRAMless ones have much worse latency as it fills up.

How do you check?

[Jurrunio]

14 minutes ago, Billy Pilgrim said:

How do you check?

Google it

[DanielNS84]

If you can find them on sale get a Samsung Evo, cheaper than the Pro model and very fast for normal use: https://www.google.com/search?q=samsung+970+evo+500gb&source=lnms&tbm=shop&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjjtq6pu7jfAhUrrVkKHUeACR8Q_AUIDigB&biw=2560&bih=1280

 

They float a little over $100 when not on sale but I've seen them in the $80's, if $80 is a hard limit Intel makes some with lower speeds for cheap that aren't bad at all.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/13078/the-intel-ssd-660p-ssd-review-qlc-nand-arrives

 

Alternately, at the bottom of the price chain is usually Adata: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B075Y23Y37?tag=amz-mkt-chr-us-20&ascsubtag=1ba00-01000-s1060-win10-other-smile-us000-pcomp-feature-scomp-wm-5&ref=aa_scomp

 

Significantly slower though, it really is worth just saving up the extra $20-30 as it will last you forever and well into your next system (Especially if you combine them in a system to make a larger/faster volume).