Is my 2.5" SSD my fasted option for gaming?

[user7]

I was recently given a new cpu & motherboard for an upgrade. 

i5 3570k / gaz77dh3 > i7 6700k / MSI 170a

 

I noticed the board has m.2 slots > (2 x 2280 Key M(PCIe Gen3 x4/SATA)

But i'm not entirely sure what this means. I haven't been keeping up to speed with the interfaces and speeds ect.

 

I think pcie is just the connection, and it would need to be nvme for any real speed difference for the OS and gaming? since it just says sata? 

would there be any benefit from using an m.2 ssd over my usual 2.5" SSD through sata?

 

or, what about using another pcie lane with one of those adapter cards for m.2 if the interface is quicker that way?

 

i'm sure i have things muddled up, any help would be appreciated.

[K2K Tech Reviews]

YES!! BIG BENEFIT WITH M.2!! PCIe is 2-3x faster than SATA.

Make sure to get a drive that says, "NVMe". That'll be fast.

 

Get the Samsung 970 Evo.

[curiousmind34]

NVME has some benefit, specifically in sequential loads (large transfers) where the SATA III interface becomes a bottleneck, however for small file transfers and day to day use it depends more on the quality of the drive than the interface it is on.

However, if you are to buy a new SSD get an NVME (PCIe) SSD, as budget NVME SSDs (like the SN550) are almost the same cost as SATA drives. Also, watch out for m.2 sata, they may look like NVME but they are actually SATA.

 

Game loading times decrease from having any SSD over a hard drive, but beyond that there is not really much of a worthwhile benefit. Most games right now have not really been optimized to take advantage of the extra NVME bandwith.

[Ydfhlx]

On 4/13/2021 at 5:06 PM, K2K Tech Reviews said:

YES!! BIG BENEFIT WITH M.2!!

But is it? In games loading times won't be noticeable.

Honestly, if you have a decent quality SATA SSD right now and are on a budget, I wouldn't bother to upgarde.

 

If you wanted however, yes you can get an NVMe M.2 SSD.

[K2K Tech Reviews]

Oh yea. Totally noticeable.