M.2 Socket or SSD

[Guest]

I'm wondering if it's worth going to an M.2 SSD instead of a 2.5" SSD.  I would be using the ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Killer motherboard.  And according to the manual the M.2 would use the eSATA lane instead of a PCIe lane.   I would be using it solely for a boot drive with essential programs running on it.

 

Is it worth the extra $20 guys? Do you see any significant increase in performance?

 

What are some of the downfalls?

[Sauron]

If m.2 isn't using the pcie lane there's no point, sata 3 would be faster afaik. Are you sure it doesn't use pcie?

[Peter Vaughan Truslow]

if it would be over Sata 3 you would see equivelant speeds to a 2.5 inch SSD. the real benifit is when it has access to 2 or 4 PCIe lanes. 1 PCIe lane is even going to result in a performance boost, but Sata3 of any type are logically identical.

[Guest]

Are you sure it doesn't use pcie?

 

 

On page 32 of the manual:

 

Please be noted that the M.2_SSD (NGFF) Socket 3 is shared with the eSATA3 connector; you can only choose either the M.2_SSD (NGFF)

Socket 3 or the eSATA3 connector to use.

 

Am I just misunderstanding this?  Does eSATA use a PCIe lane?

[Sauron]

Does eSATA use a PCIe lane?

 

Not directly but all interfaces derive from a pcie lane, even sata. From what I know m.2 should be able to use all the bandwidth of a 2x or 4x pcie lane. eSata probably uses a part of it and stops the m.2 interface from having full access.

[Wingfan]

So if the M.2 is using a PCIe lane, the speed would better. But is it worth the extra money? just wondering cuz my board has M.2