M.2 vs SSD for OS & few games

[Rex5150]

i dont play many pc games, zero AAA games at the moment but normally just play one at a time. curious if what size would be recommended and should i use M.2 type since i have the option on my mobo since M.2 is faster or go sata and get more gigs per dollar

[Katsunaka]

256gb is more than enough for your OS and some games.

 

[Mira Yurizaki]

NVMe based SSDs offer practically no appreciable improvement in loading time or performance in games from what I can tell. At least, not in the same level as an HDD vs. SSD of any sort. In other words, the jump from HDD to SSD is amazing. The jump from SATA SSD to NVMe SSD is maybe there, but not really.

 

I'd get a larger SSD.

[Mike Soda]

4 minutes ago, Rex5150 said:

i dont play many pc games, zero AAA games at the moment but normally just play one at a time. curious if what size would be recommended and should i use M.2 type since i have the option on my mobo since M.2 is faster or go sata and get more gigs per dollar

I've noticed that M.2 SSD's have shorter warranties than Sata 3's. I'm not sure if this implies a decrease in life expectancy or not. What I do know is that the real-world performance between a Samsung 950 Pro M.2 & Samsung 850 EVO Sata 3 SSD is negligible in gaming. All it'd do is help make your games & Windows startup load maybe a second or two faster. Which isn't worth the price premium, at least not until the next gen of NVMe SSD's come out.

[ARikozuM]

If you're asking about M.2 vs SATA using the SATA standard, it really depends on if you're okay with two of your SATA ports (usually the ones associated with SATA Express) being disabled.

 

As far as PCIe vs SATA M.2, the difference is felt only if you have a vast amount of heavy startup programs or do work with high data throughput.

[paddy-stone]

Another one that's confusing M.2 with NVME. M.2 can be either NVME or SATA, and motherboards M.2 slots can support SATA/NVME or both, I happen to have one that supports both, which was another reason for me to choose the mobo I have... I am re-using my SATA m.2 drive until I decide if I want/need a faster NVME drive on this rig.

 

I suspect you'd be fine with SATA, so either M.2 or 2.5 SSD, and they are cheaper at the moment still by quite a margin compared to NVME. So I think you'd be fine with a 240/250/256GB model.