Which 2nd SSD should I get?

[OskarE.R]

My pc is around 3-4 years old now, and I find myself running most 'larger' games on my HDD, purely due to not enough storage on my ssd. 

 

So i'm thinking of purchasing a 500gb or 1TB ssd in the near future. My budget is around £100-150. And i'm wondering what is best to go for. 

 

Should I get a m.2 drive? Or normal ssd etc

 

system specs:

-i5-6600k 3.5ghz (Overclocked to 4.5)

-RX480 strix 8gb

- samsung 850 evo 250gb ssd

- 3tb Toshiba HD

-asus z170 motherboard

-evga g2 650watt psu

-Aurora Fenix case

-BenQ zowie 1440p 144hz

[Mateyyy]

If it's just for games, you could get an Intel 660p or Crucial P1/P2 (both are NVMe M.2). They're fairly cheap and plenty fast for games.

[aDoomGuy]

SATA SSD will be fine for games.

[Dedayog]

With your setup, I would just get the cheapest DRAM SSD you can find.   Good baseline...

 

2.5" - https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NAND-SATA-Internal/dp/B077SF8KMG

 

M.2 - https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-NAND-2280SS-Internal/dp/B0784SY515/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=crucial+p1+1tb&qid=1591189189&s=electronics&sr=1-4

 

 

[iBabySlapper]

If you're purely going for a game drive, I find it's not worth the extra money for a DRAM cache SSD. You can find a cache-less 1TB SSD for around £75, when a cache'd SSD is around £100. Games still load very quickly compared to a hard drive.

 

I actually managed to find a 1TB cache-less NVME SSD for £77, so I bought it for shits and giggles. I'll probably do a short user-review of it here when I get it.

[OskarE.R]

Sorry i'm a total newbie. I'm not sure what DRAM and nvme really are.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/4Qw7YJ/crucial-mx500-1tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-ct1000mx500ssd4

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/h3tQzy/crucial-mx500-1tb-25-solid-state-drive-ct1000mx500ssd1

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/9nhKHx/intel-660p-series-1tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-ssdpeknw010t8x1

 

I've picked out these 3 from your suggestions. No idea what to choose though. Also do I get m.2 or normal ssd? I dont really know the benefits.

[iBabySlapper]

1 minute ago, OskarE.R said:

Sorry i'm a total newbie. I'm not sure what DRAM and nvme really are.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/4Qw7YJ/crucial-mx500-1tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-ct1000mx500ssd4

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/h3tQzy/crucial-mx500-1tb-25-solid-state-drive-ct1000mx500ssd1

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/9nhKHx/intel-660p-series-1tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-ssdpeknw010t8x1

 

I've picked out these 3 from your suggestions. No idea what to choose though. Also do I get m.2 or normal ssd? I dont really know the benefits.

A video that explains DRAM cache pretty simply.

[Dedayog]

1 minute ago, OskarE.R said:

Sorry i'm a total newbie. I'm not sure what DRAM and nvme really are.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/4Qw7YJ/crucial-mx500-1tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-ct1000mx500ssd4

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/h3tQzy/crucial-mx500-1tb-25-solid-state-drive-ct1000mx500ssd1

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/9nhKHx/intel-660p-series-1tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-ssdpeknw010t8x1

 

I've picked out these 3 from your suggestions. No idea what to choose though. Also do I get m.2 or normal ssd? I dont really know the benefits.

NVMe is the newer standard of SSD, usually 2-5+GB/sec vs the 550MB/sec of SATA.  M.2 is just the form factor (size/shape) of the drive.  M.2 can be had in NVMe or SATA (what you're calling normal SSD).

 

DRAM is RAM on the drive that helps with caching.  DRAM-less drives tend to slow down when over a certain % full, like 50%.  Since you're gaming on it, you'll most likely fill it up a good bit making DRAM useful, IMO. 

[OskarE.R]

Just now, Dedayog said:

NVMe is the newer standard of SSD, usually 2-5+GB/sec vs the 550MB/sec of SATA.  M.2 is just the form factor (size/shape) of the drive.  M.2 can be had in NVMe or SATA (what you're calling normal SSD).

 

DRAM is RAM on the drive that helps with caching.  DRAM-less drives tend to slow down when over a certain % full, like 50%.  Since you're gaming on it, you'll most likely fill it up a good bit making DRAM useful, IMO. 

Ok. I'm happy to spend the money for a better product. So i'll get an SSD with DRAM and NVMe.

 

M.2 vs Sata is literally just the slot it goes into? So i'll just choose whatever is cheapest I guess.

 

 

Done a little research and it's basically the choice of one of these. Which should I choose and why (If you dont mind explaining

[iBabySlapper]

It's not in your list, but if you want a fast game drive I'd recommend a Sabrent Rocket Q. It's a fast NVME drive at a competetive price, and ideal for a fast game drive. It's won't be ideal for a boot drive, but that's not what you're buying anyway. It's a similar category drive to a Intel 660p, but it's a lot more modern and has DDR4 Cache instead of SLC.

[aDoomGuy]

1 hour ago, OskarE.R said:

Ok. I'm happy to spend the money for a better product. So i'll get an SSD with DRAM and NVMe.

 

M.2 vs Sata is literally just the slot it goes into? So i'll just choose whatever is cheapest I guess.

 

 

Done a little research and it's basically the choice of one of these. Which should I choose and why (If you dont mind explaining

Crucial MX500 has a reasonable price and you won't notice any difference between that and NVME when it comes to gaming. If money is not an option get two MX500 drives and put them in RAID 0. I recommend 1TB version or higher (even if you RAID), size of games these days.. through the roof man.

[OskarE.R]

12 minutes ago, aDoomGuy said:

Crucial MX500 has a reasonable price and you won't notice any difference between that and NVME when it comes to gaming. If money is not an option get two MX500 drives and put them in RAID 0. I recommend 1TB version or higher (even if you RAID), size of games these days.. through the roof man.

Isnt this my best option?: Crucial P1 3D NVMe PCIe M.2 1TB £100

 

I did a quick comparison between this and the MX500 1TB , and this seems to outclass it.

 

Also will look into the Sabrent Rocket Q as @iBabySlapper suggested

[Tan3l6]

53 minutes ago, OskarE.R said:

Isnt this my best option?: Crucial P1 3D NVMe PCIe M.2 1TB £100

 

I did a quick comparison between this and the MX500 1TB , and this seems to outclass it.

 

Also will look into the Sabrent Rocket Q as @iBabySlapper suggested

Why Q though?'

Q is for QLC imo.

Regular Rocket is better ...

[aDoomGuy]

2 hours ago, OskarE.R said:

Isnt this my best option?: Crucial P1 3D NVMe PCIe M.2 1TB £100

 

I did a quick comparison between this and the MX500 1TB , and this seems to outclass it.

 

Also will look into the Sabrent Rocket Q as @iBabySlapper suggested

For games you will not notice any difference. What takes time when loading games these days is the connecting to servers and the eternity of splash screens. If you want to transfer large files back and forth then yes, a NVMe drive outclasses SATA but games don't even fully utilize SATA bandwith.

 

I launched Shadow of the Tomb Raider which is installed on my NVMe and during loading it was sitting between 150-200 MB/s while the drive is good for 2000 MB/s so as I said for loading games you won't see a difference.

[OskarE.R]

12 minutes ago, aDoomGuy said:

For games you will not notice any difference. What takes time when loading games these days is the connecting to servers and the eternity of splash screens. If you want to transfer large files back and forth then yes, a NVMe drive outclasses SATA but games don't even fully utilize SATA bandwith.

 

I launched Shadow of the Tomb Raider which is installed on my NVMe and during loading it was sitting between 150-200 MB/s while the drive is good for 2000 MB/s so as I said for loading games you won't see a difference.

I do a lot of transferring games, so I think it would be worthwhile. I have slow wifi speeds, so I often download games and transfer them to my brother via ethernet, we have a 10gb home network setup.

 

So just get the cheapest sata I can basically?

[Dedayog]

1 minute ago, OskarE.R said:

I do a lot of transferring games, so I think it would be worthwhile. I have slow wifi speeds, so I often download games and transfer them to my brother via ethernet, we have a 10gb home network setup.

 

So just get the cheapest sata I can basically?

Not necessarily.  Get the cheapest decent SSD, whether it's SATA or NVMe, M.2 or standard.  MX500 is a great SSD, whichever format you grab it.  

 

Large files are for NVMe specifically, as in 100GB files.  Not 100GB of files, but a single file 100GB in size.  That's where NVMe speeds are a benefit.  Gaming is a lot of little files.

 

[OskarE.R]

2 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Not necessarily.  Get the cheapest decent SSD, whether it's SATA or NVMe, M.2 or standard.  MX500 is a great SSD, whichever format you grab it.  

 

Large files are for NVMe specifically, as in 100GB files.  Not 100GB of files, but a single file 100GB in size.  That's where NVMe speeds are a benefit.  Gaming is a lot of little files.

 

From what I can see, there aren't really any 1TB ssd's for less than £100 . So i'm confused. I may aswell just get the Crucial P1? It's the same price £100

 

http://prntscr.com/st79ko

 

I could get the TCsunbow, but i've never heard of this... the rest are like £10 difference of the P1

[aDoomGuy]

2 minutes ago, OskarE.R said:

I do a lot of transferring games, so I think it would be worthwhile. I have slow wifi speeds, so I often download games and transfer them to my brother via ethernet, we have a 10gb home network setup.

 

So just get the cheapest sata I can basically?

Well since games often consist of a vast amount of tiny files, don't expect any insane speed when transferring all the time but NVMe will in some cases be faster unless there is another bottleneck.

 

For loading games any SSD should be fine. Obviously I haven't tried all the solid state drives out there but even the Kingston A400 was better than a spinning drive. MX500 is good and will last a long long time while being cheap.

[Dedayog]

5 minutes ago, OskarE.R said:

From what I can see, there aren't really any 1TB ssd's for less than £100 . So i'm confused. I may aswell just get the Crucial P1? It's the same price £100

 

http://prntscr.com/st79ko

 

I could get the TCsunbow, but i've never heard of this... the rest are like £10 difference of the P1

TCsunbow is a good drive, just not as well known.  Worthwhile purchase.

[aDoomGuy]

2 minutes ago, OskarE.R said:

From what I can see, there aren't really any 1TB ssd's for less than £100 . So i'm confused. I may aswell just get the Crucial P1? It's the same price £100

 

http://prntscr.com/st79ko

 

I could get the TCsunbow, but i've never heard of this... the rest are like £10 difference of the P1

If it is cheaper than the MX500 then go ahead I suppose. P1 is using QLC memory. QLC memory slows down when you write large files to it (not that you probably notice when it comes to installing games). I have two QLC SSD in RAID and they work perfectly fine with games so P1 should also be fine for games. I haven't tried it for myself though.

[OskarE.R]

 

6 minutes ago, aDoomGuy said:

If it is cheaper than the MX500 then go ahead I suppose. P1 is using QLC memory. QLC memory slows down when you write large files to it (not that you probably notice when it comes to installing games). I have two QLC SSD in RAID and they work perfectly fine with games so P1 should also be fine for games. I haven't tried it for myself though.

 

8 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

TCsunbow is a good drive, just not as well known.  Worthwhile purchase.

 

Yes it's about £5 cheaper than the Mx500. is the MX500 better than the p1?

 

Or should I just get the TCSunBow X3 and save myself £25

[Dedayog]

3 minutes ago, OskarE.R said:

 

 

 

Yes it's about £5 cheaper than the Mx500. is the MX500 better than the p1?

 

Or should I just get the TCSunBow X3 and save myself £25

I would get the MX500 over the P1, but you can't argue with the price of the X3.  Personally I have experience with the MX drives, I have used a few.  The X3 is something I would definitely buy in the future, as it seems to perform well in reviews.

 

Buy the TCSunbow, save the money for something else.  Or just save it.

[aDoomGuy]

9 minutes ago, OskarE.R said:

 

 

 

Yes it's about £5 cheaper than the Mx500. is the MX500 better than the p1?

 

Or should I just get the TCSunBow X3 and save myself £25

MX500 is pretty solid. If you get that it will last you a long time. I used the 480GB version before I gave it away with my old PC. In the eshop that I use I found several complaints about the P1 and it's longevity. The X3 I don't know much about it but I have some doubts about it as well. One thing I can say for certain is that the MX500 will fulfill your needs and it will be reliable. As for the X3, I cannot find any information regarding TBW rating but if you want to save 25$ then go for it I guess. Should last a good while if it is decent.