SSD confusion!

[Legodude50]

It seems like the more I research the more I get confused. I’m looking to upgrade to an SSD. At first I was considering a western digital blue 1 TB m.2 Sata drive. Between lots of mixed reviews and people’s opinions I’m a lot less sure than I was when I started. People say m.2’s get hot, people saying they’re unreliable, etc. I’d really appreciate if someone could give me a recommendation. I’m willing to buy either a m.2 sata or 3.5 inch (I think) sata 3 SSD. I was also considering a nvme m.2 but the price difference is usually too much for me to consider. And it seems people talk about overheating a lot more with nvme drives. (Note that my m.2 slot is underneath my graphics card) if anyone could shed some light on this and hopefully give me some good recommendations I’d really appreciate it. I’m trying to stay within the $100-$150 range but if the best option is a little more expensive list it anyway. I rather spend a little more if the cheaper options are less reliable. Especially when it comes to storage. Thank you. 

[Jurrunio]

The faster the drive, the hotter it gets. SATA doesnt really get hot, comparing to the PCIe x4 ones but you dont need that good of a heatsink to keep them cool

 

Those who say M.2 SSDs are unreliable must be buying dodgy ones only, or repeating what some individual said without personal experience.

 

SATA SSDs in 2.5" or M.2 format only differ in size and slot they go into, no functional difference. Some prefer 2.5" as some boards disable multiple SATA ports with M.2 SATA drives, some prefer M.2 SATA because that's 2 less cables to connect and manage.

 

Crucial MX500, Adata SU800, SK Hynix S31, Kingston KC600 are my recommendations, the Samsung drives are good but usually too expensive while WD Blue and Kingston UV500 are previous generation products but they are good enough

[TheBean]

M.2 does heat up but if you have airflow it doesn't matter.

If you are looking for an SSD don't go too cheap. Those are less reliable and slower.

 

Note: when people say unreliable they mean that they have a shorter lifespan. SSDs wear out over time but cheaper ones wear out faster. But, in most cases you never have to worry about that. If you look at the TBW rating for drives, they are usually in the 150 to 300TBW range. That means you can write about 200TB of data before it's unreliable and you could encounter data loss. But, 200tb is A LOT. even if you do 50gb a day (overestimated) then 200tbw will last about 10 years. 

[Sakkura]

M.2 SATA drives generally don't have any issues with heat whatsoever. It can sometimes affect the much faster M.2 NVMe drives because they're just doing so much more work. But it's usually not a big concern as the drive will just slow down a little (still much faster than SATA) to keep the temperature in check.

[Sakkura]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

SATA SSDs in 2.5" or M.2 format only differ in size and slot they go into, no functional difference. Some prefer 2.5" as some boards disable multiple SATA ports with M.2 SATA drives, some prefer M.2 SATA because that's 2 less cables to connect and manage.

And if you open up a 2.5" SATA SSD nowadays, you often find a PCB inside that's barely any bigger than an M.2 drive anyway.

[Senzelian]

M.2 drives aren't any less reliable than conventinal SSDs and if you're interested in SATA based M.2 SSDs, then you shouldn't worry about heat dissipation.

[Legodude50]

1 hour ago, Jurrunio said:

The faster the drive, the hotter it gets. SATA doesnt really get hot, comparing to the PCIe x4 ones but you dont need that good of a heatsink to keep them cool

 

Those who say M.2 SSDs are unreliable must be buying dodgy ones only, or repeating what some individual said without personal experience.

 

SATA SSDs in 2.5" or M.2 format only differ in size and slot they go into, no functional difference. Some prefer 2.5" as some boards disable multiple SATA ports with M.2 SATA drives, some prefer M.2 SATA because that's 2 less cables to connect and manage.

 

Crucial MX500, Adata SU800, SK Hynix S31, Kingston KC600 are my recommendations, the Samsung drives are good but usually too expensive while WD Blue and Kingston UV500 are previous generation products but they are good enough

Some motherboards disable sata ports when you plug in an m.2?? That’s really odd, how could I check if mine would do that? I have a MSI x99a sli plus board 

[Sakkura]

13 minutes ago, Legodude50 said:

Some motherboards disable sata ports when you plug in an m.2?? That’s really odd, how could I check if mine would do that? I have a MSI x99a sli plus board 

Check the spec sheet on their website, or the manual.

 

As it turns out, this does affect your board:

Quote

* The SATA Express port or SATA5~6 ports will be unavailable when installing the M.2 (Gen2 x2 mode) module in the M.2 port.

 

[Legodude50]

20 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

Check the spec sheet on their website, or the manual.

 

As it turns out, this does affect your board:

 

Wow that’s very interesting. Thank you for looking it up for me. If it’s only 5 and 6 though that doesn’t concern me too much. My board has a lot of ports and I barley use any. What do you think of the ADATA XPG SX8200 pro? Toms hardware listed it as their best overall SSD. And with its price point of $150 right now that’s very close to m.2 Sata price point.  I’ve never heard of this brand though. But it looks promising!