SATA 3 SSD vs M.2 PCIe SSD

[Tweed]

Is there really a real world difference between the two SSDs? Samsung 850 EVO vs Samsung 950 Pro. The read and write speeds tell us so, but has there been comparison tests between the SATA SSD and M.2 PCIe SSD when booting up or loading applications? Is there a video? I need help deciding whether to just get the 850 EVO or get 950 Pro. I don't want to blow $320 on a M.2 PCIe SSD where I can just spend $140 on a SATA SSD if it is just as fast.

[FilipSebik]

M.2 PCIe SSD Is fast as hell compared to sata SSD

[RadiatingLight]

There is a siginificant speed difference on paper. SATA 3 is only 6Gbps, so when transferring files, the M.2 will be faster. however, there is a limit to how fast SSDs need to be. I don't have any solid numbers, but i assume that M.2 does launch applications and boots marginally faster, but I don't think that it's worth the money. a SATA SSD is plenty fast enough for the small files that an OS needs to access

[porina]

A good M.2 will have higher max transfer rates through the interface. I have a Samsung SM951 ACHI and it does benchmark up to 2GB/s. Real world, I can't notice the difference between it and a mid range SATA connected SSD with "only" 550MB/s transfers. That is not to say there isn't a difference, just not one that makes a big difference in reality.

 

If price per capacity is a consideration, I wouldn't hesitate to go for a cheaper SATA connected one.

[Hunter7263]

I have both an adata 480gb drive in my computer and a Samsung 950 pro. Chances are you dont need the 950 pro. I dont "need" the 950 pro but I was considering 128gb of ram so i could make a huge ram disk for to edit videos with and picked the pro instead because cost. It makes a noticeable difference on things that need to access the ssd a lot. That being said if you are just gaming its a waste. I can tell you i notice that windows loads at only half a second off the 950 but honestly I could have waited the extra 5 seconds it would have taken to load it off a normal ssd. Is it faster? Absolutely and noticeably so. Does it make a difference? Not really.

[done12many2]

20 minutes ago, Tweed said:

Is there really a real world difference between the two SSDs? Samsung 850 EVO vs Samsung 950 Pro. The read and write speeds tell us so, but has there been comparison tests between the SATA SSD and M.2 PCIe SSD when booting up or loading applications? Is there a video? I need help deciding whether to just get the 850 EVO or get 950 Pro. I don't want to blow $320 on a M.2 PCIe SSD where I can just spend $140 on a SATA SSD if it is just as fast.

Depends how you're planning to use the 950 Pro.  If you are moving files to and from a SSD RAID 0 or a RAMdisk, it's pretty mind blowing.  Sustained read/writes are where you notice "real world" gains.

 

If you are using it as an OS drive, you will still see a difference, but it wont be overwhelmingly faster than a SSD.

 

Most people don't have a second drive fast enough to take advantage of the 950 Pro's read/write speeds.  On it's own, it's a incredibly drive.

 

I moved a 14GB file from a RAMdisk to the 950 Pro, which illustrates sustained write.  The 950 Pro's read speed are even faster so moving the file from the 950 Pro to the RAMdisk in a 2.5 GB/s deal.

[Tweed]

8 minutes ago, Hunter7263 said:

I have both an adata 480gb drive in my computer and a Samsung 950 pro. Chances are you dont need the 950 pro. I dont "need" the 950 pro but I was considering 128gb of ram so i could make a huge ram disk for to edit videos with and picked the pro instead because cost. It makes a noticeable difference on things that need to access the ssd a lot. That being said if you are just gaming its a waste. I can tell you i notice that windows loads at only half a second off the 950 but honestly I could have waited the extra 5 seconds it would have taken to load it off a normal ssd. Is it faster? Absolutely and noticeably so. Does it make a difference? Not really.

On my planned pc build, I have the 950 Pro 500 GB and the 850 EVO 500 GB. I don't plan to do much gaming. It's mainly for video editing, graphic design, animations, etc. It's really pricey to get both so I'm trying to deicide whether it is worth it or not. Just to get the 850 EVO or the 950 Pro if it's that much faster and worth the extra $200. If I just get the 850 EVO then I might get the 1 TB version... or 2 500 GB but idk...

[Hunter7263]

2 minutes ago, Tweed said:

On my planned pc build, I have the 950 Pro 500 GB and the 850 EVO 500 GB. I don't plan to do much gaming. It's mainly for video editing, graphic design, animations, etc. It's really pricey to get both so I'm trying to deicide whether it is worth it or not. Just to get the 850 EVO or the 950 Pro if it's that much faster and worth the extra $200.

Ive benchmarked up to 2.7gb/s on my 950 pro and the most ive gotten out of my ADATA is basically the sata3 limit which is what the evo will hit as well and its around 600mb/s. I find that its not as important in graphic design (at least that what my sister says, shes majoring in it at KU) but video editing you will notice it a bit. IF you do a lot of it or just really really want a smoother experience than 950 it is other wise the 850 will suite you just fine. 

 

Another reason for the 850 is you can get like 2-3 times the size for the same price and if you raid them you get a nice gain in speed while having a better capacity.

[done12many2]

2 minutes ago, Hunter7263 said:

Ive benchmarked up to 2.7gb/s on my 950 pro and the most ive gotten out of my ADATA is basically the sata3 limit which is what the evo will hit as well and its around 600mb/s. I find that its not as important in graphic design (at least that what my sister says, shes majoring in it at KU) but video editing you will notice it a bit. IF you do a lot of it or just really really want a smoother experience than 950 it is other wise the 850 will suite you just fine. 

 

Another reason for the 850 is you can get like 2-3 times the size for the same price and if you raid them you get a nice gain in speed while having a better capacity.

This is exactly what I do.  My 950 Pro is my OS/software/working drive and I have four 850 Evo SSDs in a RAID 0 to offload files to.  At night, the SSD RAID is backed up to a Synology NAS.  The 950 Pro is still faster and my 850 Evo SSD RAID.   

[Tweed]

4 minutes ago, done12many2 said:

This is exactly what I do.  My 950 Pro is my OS/software/working drive and I have four 850 Evo SSDs in a RAID 0 to offload files to.  At night, the SSD RAID is backed up to a Synology NAS.  The 950 Pro is still faster and my 850 Evo SSD RAID.   

How much GB is your 950 Pro? Is 500GB overkill or is 250GB good enough?

 

10 minutes ago, Hunter7263 said:

Ive benchmarked up to 2.7gb/s on my 950 pro and the most ive gotten out of my ADATA is basically the sata3 limit which is what the evo will hit as well and its around 600mb/s. I find that its not as important in graphic design (at least that what my sister says, shes majoring in it at KU) but video editing you will notice it a bit. IF you do a lot of it or just really really want a smoother experience than 950 it is other wise the 850 will suite you just fine. 

 

Another reason for the 850 is you can get like 2-3 times the size for the same price and if you raid them you get a nice gain in speed while having a better capacity.

Alright cool, thanks for the reply. What do you put on your 950 Pro and on your sata3 ssd? Like how do you organize your stuff?

[Hunter7263]

32 minutes ago, Tweed said:

How much GB is your 950 Pro? Is 500GB overkill or is 250GB good enough?

 

Alright cool, thanks for the reply. What do you put on your 950 Pro and on your sata3 ssd? Like how do you organize your stuff?

the 250gb 950 pro is slower btw. It uses a different controller. I mean its still  a lot faster but I think benchmarks but it at 1.6gb/s at reads.

 

Currently have windows and the adobe suite on my 950 pro. I also move projects on working onto that drive. My regular SSD is for all my games I have. I also have a 2tb regular HDD for longer term storage or projects that are finished up as well as an external back up. 

 

My 950 I basically keep as clear as possible.

[done12many2]

32 minutes ago, Tweed said:

How much GB is your 950 Pro? Is 500GB overkill or is 250GB good enough?

 

Alright cool, thanks for the reply. What do you put on your 950 Pro and on your sata3 ssd? Like how do you organize your stuff?

There is a big difference between the write speeds of the 256 GB and 512 GB.  The 256 GB has a 900 MB/sec write and the 512 has a 1500 MB/sec write.

 

There's a minor difference in read.  256 GB = 2200 MB/sec and the 512 GB = 2500 MB/sec.

 

Both are extremely fast.  It just depends on how much you want the extra speed.

[Tweed]

8 minutes ago, Hunter7263 said:

the 250gb 950 pro is slower btw. It uses a different controller. I mean its still  a lot faster but I think benchmarks but it at 1.6gb/s at reads.

 

Currently have windows and the adobe suite on my 950 pro. I also move projects on working onto that drive. My regular SSD is for all my games I have. I also have a 2tb regular HDD for longer term storage or projects that are finished up as well as an external back up. 

 

My 950 I basically keep as clear as possible.

Why do you want to "keep as clear as possible"? If I end up going with it, I think ill put my OS, adobe suite, few games, cinema 4d, microsoft office, thats all i can think of

[Hunter7263]

Mostly because I'm too lazy to deal with a lot at once. Once you hit 80+ % filled it does start to slow down like all SSD's do. My most recent paintball trip video I did came out to like 100gb worth of video so if I dont make a mental note to keep moving stuff when i'm done its pretty easy to start filling it up quickly. That being said if you arent using video thats at like 20gb/hour there plenty of room to have lots of stuff on it.

[Tweed]

30 minutes ago, Hunter7263 said:

Mostly because I'm too lazy to deal with a lot at once. Once you hit 80+ % filled it does start to slow down like all SSD's do. My most recent paintball trip video I did came out to like 100gb worth of video so if I dont make a mental note to keep moving stuff when i'm done its pretty easy to start filling it up quickly. That being said if you arent using video thats at like 20gb/hour there plenty of room to have lots of stuff on it.

Ah I see. Ok thanks! So in your opinion, there isn't really any real world difference between the 950 Pro and an 850 Pro/Evo. Maybe 5 seconds or so, but not like 1 minute faster? I might as well get a 1 TB 850 Evo since my work is just video editing, light gaming, 3d work, animations, graphic design, etc.?

[Hunter7263]

1 minute ago, Tweed said:

Ah I see. Ok thanks! So in your opinion, there isn't really any real world difference between the 950 Pro and an 850 Pro/Evo. Maybe 5 seconds or so, but not like 1 minute faster? I might as well get a 1 TB 850 Evo since my work is just video editing, light gaming, 3d work, animations, graphic design, etc.?

SSD's are already so fast that the difference is while noticeable doesnt make a real world difference for light to medium users. If you dont have any storage drives I would definitely opt for the 1tb 850 over the 512gb 950 pro. Im sure youll be happy with the 850 though.

[Tweed]

6 minutes ago, Hunter7263 said:

SSD's are already so fast that the difference is while noticeable doesnt make a real world difference for light to medium users. If you dont have any storage drives I would definitely opt for the 1tb 850 over the 512gb 950 pro. Im sure youll be happy with the 850 though.

Alright thanks for all the help and advice, I really appreciate it. 1 last thing, say that i have a 1 tb 850 evo and Im editing a video or doing some 3d work, and im finished with the project (say its a 100gb sized file) and want to transfer it to a 1 tb hdd, would it take a long time compared to 950 pro to a hdd?

[Hunter7263]

It should take the exact same as the HDD is the limiting factor by a lot on both.

[Tweed]

1 minute ago, Hunter7263 said:

It should take the exact same as the HDD is the limiting factor by a lot on both.

Oh I see