Should I go with M.2 SSD ? What is the best (M.2) SSD ?

[Tai Tran]

So as the title said, I don't know much about M.2 SSD. All I know is that it's a lot faster than normal SSD and more expensive. But I don't know about all the types of SSDs and which one would be the best one for me. I'll just be gaming a lot and watch movies and surf the internet but I want the fastest response whenever I game or launch a program, and of course, when I start my pc. Hope to get tons of advice from you guys 

[JWMutant]

First question is does your board support M.2 and NVMe?

[Tai Tran]

First question is does your board support M.2 and NVMe?

LOL I wouldn't be asking if I can't plug one in my mobo

[X1XNobleX1X]

So as the title said, I don't know much about M.2 SSD. All I know is that it's a lot faster than normal SSD and more expensive. But I don't know about all the types of SSDs and which one would be the best one for me. I'll just be gaming a lot and watch movies and surf the internet but I want the fastest response whenever I game or launch a program, and of course, when I start my pc. Hope to get tons of advice from you guys 

What is your budget on SSD and capacity required?

 

Samsung recently announced the 950 Pro M.2 SSD, that will be blazing fast, and relatively inexpensive.

Starting at 256GB. 

 

I don't think they're out just yet, if you want to wait.

 

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/ssd950pro/specifications.html

 

[Tai Tran]

What is your budget on SSD and capacity required?

 

Samsung recently announced the 950 Pro M.2 SSD, that will be blazing fast, and relatively inexpensive.

Starting at 256GB. 

 

I don't think they're out just yet, if you want to wait.

The price difference between the normal 850 EVO 250GB and the M.2 850 EVO is not big but I don't know if the performance will be different. And I'm not familiar with different models of M.2 SSD from samsung. For me 250GB is good enough but there're different types of M.2 SSD and it confuses me.

[JWMutant]

Yes the Samsung or intel would be my pick.

[X1XNobleX1X]

The price difference between the normal 850 EVO 250GB and the M.2 850 EVO is not big but I don't know if the performance will be different. And I'm not familiar with different models of M.2 SSD from samsung. For me 250GB is good enough but there're different types of M.2 SSD and it confuses me.

Well, the 850 EVO is also a good SSD, but I'm pretty sure the speeds are exactly the same on both SSD SATA and M.2.

Edit (They're pretty close, if not the same)

 

 

Have a look at the 950 PRO though, it is about 2x - 2 1/2x faster than the EVO/850PRO

[SPG]

this is one of the best m.2 SSDs that you can buy right now http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VELD92U/?tag=pcpapi-20 (even beats the intel 750 in some cases)

[Tai Tran]

Well, the 850 EVO is also a good SSD, but I'm pretty sure the speeds are exactly the same on both SSD SATA and M.2

Maybe I got my information wrong or sth but I want an SSD that is different than the normal one because I want even more speed. I think I meant PCIE and not M.2 maybe ? 

 

this is one of the best m.2 SSDs that you can buy right now http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VELD92U/?tag=pcpapi-20 (even beats the intel 750 in some cases)

Will there be a big difference in speed ? 

[SPG]

Maybe I got my information wrong or sth but I want an SSD that is different than the normal one because I want even more speed. I think I meant PCIE and not M.2 maybe ? 

 

Will there be a big difference in speed ? 

oh hell ya, it beats out every sata drive you could buy (assuming its not using raid 0)

http://www.thessdreview.com/our-reviews/samsung-sm951-m-2-pcie-ssd-review-256gb-nvme-performance/

[X1XNobleX1X]

Maybe I got my information wrong or sth but I want an SSD that is different than the normal one because I want even more speed. I think I meant PCIE and not M.2 maybe ? 

 

Will there be a big difference in speed ? 

 

 

Have a look at the post I edited.

 

950 pro, I was talking about it about 2-2 1/2x faster than normal SSDs.

 

The SM951, that was linked prior, also has really good speeds, but some people have said it has overheating issues. (When it does, it throttles the speed) - As it wasn't intended for consumer.

 

 

 

In our open air test bench we quickly found out that we were experiencing performance throttling due to overheating. We found that in just just 130 seconds that our drive went from an idle temperature of 35C to the throttle point of 82C! Our performance went from being ~1500 MB/s all theway down to 70 MB/s during the throttle as a way to cool the drive down by what we are guessing is a short term cut in power and operations on the controller. "

 - Legit reviews

http://www.legitreviews.com/samsung-sm951-512gb-m-2-pcie-ssd-review_161689/3

 

Although, this speed, isn't that noticeable in the real world, unless video editing.

[Tai Tran]

oh hell ya, it beats out every sata drive you could buy (assuming its not using raid 0)

So the others M.2 SSD for ex the Samsung M.2 850 EVO will have the same speed as a normal SSD like the normal 850 EVO ? 

[MatthewLynch]

So the others M.2 SSD for ex the Samsung M.2 850 EVO will have the same speed as a normal SSD like the normal 850 EVO ? 

the M.2 is the type of connector. You can have M.2 SATA or M.2 PCIE. The PCIE are the fastest ones, if you want more speed go for Samsung SM951 thet is a PCIE SSD

[SPG]

So the others M.2 SSD for ex the Samsung M.2 850 EVO will have the same speed as a normal SSD like the normal 850 EVO ? 

ya, thats more or less the same drive, one is just m.2 the other is sata

[Tai Tran]

the M.2 is the type of connector. You can have M.2 SATA or M.2 PCIE. The PCIE are the fastest ones

Ok now I get it. Thank you. I was really confused there lol

 

 

ya, thats more or less the same drive, one is just m.2 the other is sata

So I either have to go with the one you mentioned or go with the PCIE to get more speed ey ? 

[Tai Tran]

Wait what about the Samsung XP941 ? That one is 50% more expensive than the others with the same capacity.

[MatthewLynch]

Wait what about the Samsung XP941 ? That one is 50% more expensive than the others with the same capacity.

 

Samsung SM951 is more expensive because it is a pcie M.2 ssd. If you look at there speeds you can see it is much faster that evo 850, which is rated at about 540MB/s

 

Samsung SM951 NVMe Specifications Capacity 128GB 256GB 512GB Form Factor M.2 2280 Controller Samsung S4LN058A01 (PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe) NAND Samsung 16nm 64Gbit MLC Sequential Read 2,000MB/s 2,150MB/s 2,150MB/s Sequential Write 650MB/s 1,260MB/s 1,550MB/s 4KB Random Read 300K IOPS 300K IOPS 300K IOPS 4KB Random Write 83K IOPS 100K IOPS 100K IOPS Encryption N/A

 

It doesn't quite show as I wanted. Here you can see http://www.anandtech.com/show/9396/samsung-sm951-nvme-256gb-pcie-ssd-review

SM951 with 250Gb ir rated at around 2150MB/s read and 1260MB/s write

[Tai Tran]

Samsung SM951 is more expensive because it is a pcie M.2 ssd. If you look at there speeds you can see it is much faster that evo 850, which is rated at about 540MB/s

 

Samsung SM951 NVMe Specifications Capacity 128GB 256GB 512GB Form Factor M.2 2280 Controller Samsung S4LN058A01 (PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe) NAND Samsung 16nm 64Gbit MLC Sequential Read 2,000MB/s 2,150MB/s 2,150MB/s Sequential Write 650MB/s 1,260MB/s 1,550MB/s 4KB Random Read 300K IOPS 300K IOPS 300K IOPS 4KB Random Write 83K IOPS 100K IOPS 100K IOPS Encryption N/A

 

It doesn't quite show as I wanted. Here you can see http://www.anandtech.com/show/9396/samsung-sm951-nvme-256gb-pcie-ssd-review

SM951 with 250Gb ir rated at around 2150MB/s read and 1260MB/s write

What about the xp941 ? 

[MatthewLynch]

Be aware that using a pcie ssd will take away some pcie lanes. unless you have the new skylake cpu that have 20 lanes for pcie ssd on their z170 chipset

[MatthewLynch]

What about the xp941 ? 

I believe sm951 y quite faster. Although xp941 is still faster that a regular ssd. But as I mentioned take into account that with older chipset a M.2 will take 4 pci lanes (Ithink they are four). So if you need your pci lanes for graphics cards you might want to go with a regular ssd since you don't get much difference in performance when gaming (if gaming is what you want)