Which NVMe SSD to pick for a Z390 board?

[AlexQC]

I have a Gigabyte Aorus Z390 Ultra and wanted to upgrade my 960GB SanDisk Extreme PRO SSD (SDSSDXPS-960G-G25) to a M.2 drive.

 

Which one should I get? I don't need the best one but want good performance for the money. I need at least 1TB but if 2TB is affordable (<250 CAN$ / <200 US$) I would go that route.

 

With all the chips swap on SSDs, I'm a bit lost (since reviews are no longer valid)...

[Somerandomtechyboi]

Why even swap to nvme?

 

If your sata ssd doesnt have any major problems with it then just keep it

 

If you want nvme so you can have a fast boot drive then go for a kingston a2000 or mushkin pilot e

[GeorgeMKane]

WD SN750 or Crucial P2.

 

I would recommend the SN750 though (chip swap was only done on the SN550 AFAIK), as I have personally used them before. Definitely keep the sata ssd. Just backup your data, reformat your pc, make the m.2 your primary ssd, and then connect and format your sata ssd as a new drive. Store your games or whatever on the sata ssd, and use the m.2 for windows and all that.

 

EDIT: You can get the SN750 regular or with a heatsink, if your motherboard doesn't come with one.

sn750 | sn750 with heatsink

Edited September 10, 2021 by GeorgeMKane

[tkitch]

How's your drive health in Crystaldisk Info?

 

You can always upgrade to NVME, but you'll see a supremely tiny change in performance outside of pretend benchmarks.

[AlexQC]

The health of the drive is fine but it's starting to age (Aug 2016). I would like to upgrade mostly for physical space reason I'm trying to get rid of as much cabling in my case (this is an HTPC and it's so hard to work inside it) and to get more space (if I can get a 2TB drive). I already have a WD Black mechanical drive for files (non app/games).

[Wooden Law - Black]

1 hour ago, GeorgeMKane said:

WD SN750 or Crucial P2.

Agree about the SN750 but not for the P2. It is now QLC, so as OS drive is better to avoid it, also it is DRAM-less, so terrible performance and worse endurance than drives that have the DRAM.

[-rascal-]

23 hours ago, GeorgeMKane said:

WD SN750 or Crucial P2.

 

I would recommend the SN750 though (chip swap was only done on the SN550 AFAIK), as I have personally used them before. Definitely keep the sata ssd. Just backup your data, reformat your pc, make the m.2 your primary ssd, and then connect and format your sata ssd as a new drive. Store your games or whatever on the sata ssd, and use the m.2 for windows and all that.

 

EDIT: You can get the SN750 regular or with a heatsink, if your motherboard doesn't come with one.

sn750 | sn750 with heatsink

 

21 hours ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

Agree about the SN750 but not for the P2. It is now QLC, so as OS drive is better to avoid it, also it is DRAM-less, so terrible performance and worse endurance than drives that have the DRAM.

 

Also agree with the WD Black SN750.

I have a 1TB model in my Intel Z390 setup, and loving it so far.

 

Chip swap should be just the lower-end WD Blue SN550 model.

 

The Gigabyte Z390 Aorus Pro has a heatsink for the top (primary) M.2 NVMe slot.

[AlexQC]

Thanks for all the recommendations, I finally got an WD BLACK SN750 1TB. It was cheap enough not to dent my budget.

 

Next stop: a 2 TB M.2 drive which would allow me to completely remove my 3.5" drives bay from my case which would save live 25% of the enclosure space!