M.2 SSD questions

[Bleedingyamato]

1 hour ago, Enderman said:

Yeah it's called a M.2 to PCIe adapter.

Is there a particular use those are meant for?

[Bleedingyamato]

2 hours ago, Zyndo said:

I would recommend just getting the intel 600p then if all you're looking for is game storage. its sequential read (the speed at which you can load game levels and rooms and whatnot) is about 3x that of a normal high end SSD for about the same price as a normal high end SSD (a couple dollars more, but its close enough). the high sequential write times, and IOPS of something like the samsung 950 pro are not going to really be relevant to your workload. you're gonna spend a ton of money on something that won't make any difference. Like I said before if you were looking to get like 500GB of SSD storage for games, you could always just get two 600P at 256GB and put them in RAID 0. This would yield speeds close to a single 512GB 950 pro (600px2 would probably be a bit faster in sequential reads, and a slower in the other areas but, as a gamer, sequential read is pretty much the only stat you need to worry about). I would not recommend putting 2x128GB 600ps together, as that particular size of that particular M.2 drive is quite slow compared to its larger brothers. also having 2 will drastically lower the heat each of them produce (not that you need to worry about heat all that much on a 600p) You also could just have a single 512GB 600p if you don't want to worry about the hassle of a RAID setup.


Here are prices of the 600P m.2 vs a high performance SATA m.2. You can also compare the performance levels on the newegg page as they usually have pretty accurate stats. Turns out in US the prices at a little different from those in Canada, so the 600p is a bit more expensive than the 850 EVO, but its still a good investment over the 850 IMO considering how much faster it is:

 

500-512GB range

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167412&cm_re=intel_600p-_-20-167-412-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820147399

 

1TB Range (newegg doesn't have it so you're going to have to shop elsewhere for one)

http://ark.intel.com/products/94926/Intel-SSD-600p-Series-1_0TB-M_2-80mm-PCIe-3_0-x4-3D1-TLC

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820147567

 

As you can see, the 600P is quite a bit faster than the 850 EVO, and not really all that much more expensive. The only big problem is that you have a nice looking white setup going on in your case and if you choose one of these M.2's you're gonna have a big green stick on your motherboard... so be prepared for that

Is the faster speed going to matter much though?  For gaming or general use?

 

I've heard people question the usefulness of SSDs for gaming by saying that aside from helping with games such as Fallout 4 or Skyrim by reducing long load times that SSDs aren't going to make a huge difference with most games.

 

Is this true or have I been mislead?  I need to know.  lol

 

As you can see my cable management is awful because idk hoe to do I well...

 

Theres very little room (barely enough for the cables) so if I get a GPU that's any longer like I assume a 1080 ti would be if/when it's made I'd have to remove the top drive cage.

 

This would restrict my options for additional SSD storage to the m.2 ports or an m.2 adapter card or an adapter for one of the 5.25 inch bays.

Edited September 14, 2016 by Bleedingyamato
Added pictures and associated comments.

[Zyndo]

11 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

If I'd get one It looks like it'd save me a little money to get 1 512GB vs. 2 256GB.  

 

So lifespan vs. initial cost seems to be the big issue.  

 

Question: so the 600P is faster than a standard sata SSD but how does it compare to a 850 pro?

the 850 pro and 850 evo perform about the same (the 850 pro is SLIGHTLY faster, but only very slightly). you aren't likely to notice the difference between them in any significant way. I've heard rumors that the 850 pro provides more consistent speeds under load but I've never really seen any evidence of that (I've also never really looked for evidence of that xD) if you meant the 950 pro (the best consumer NVME M.2 atm) the 600p is slower than it in every single way. However with your workload being primarily gaming and whatnot, you can't really take advantage of its speeds since gaming doesn't really put the right kind of work on that SSD to really make it stand out from the crowd. It would be about 35% for loading game levels, but that's about it. It would also make windows navigation a bit faster and more responsive, but not to an extent that is really a selling point. Not worth the investment for most people IMO.

as far as 1 512GB or 2x 256GB goes, you can do whatever you want. 1 512 is going to be less of a hassle and a bit cheaper overall (less hassle because you don't have to figure out how to RAID and set it up and whatnot). 256 for less heat, longer lifespan, and notably better performance (although the performance of the single 600p is still PLENTY for any gamer, and way more than a normal SATA SSD would give) so don't feel obligated to go the RAID route by any means. I just noticed you had a motherboard that was kind of designed for it so I mentioned it to give you the option since it would be easier for you to do than for most people. You could even get a single 256GB stick if you wanted. Don't let me tell you what you need to spend your money on. I was just offering up ideas and suggestions (although you really shouldn't buy a 128GB version as it isn't as fast as a high end SSD like an 850 EVO)

[Zyndo]

35 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

Is the faster speed going to matter much though?  For gaming or general use?

 

I've heard people question the usefulness of SSDs for gaming by saying that aside from helping with games such as Fallout 4 or Skyrim by reducing long load times that SSDs aren't going to make a huge difference with most games.

 

Is this true or have I been mislead?  I need to know.  lol

This is absolutely true. Fast storage options for games only increase load times. they will not increase the fps or performance of your game. for general use in windows and whatnot faster speeds will only matter for file transfers. increased IOPS will make windows a bit faster and more responsive, but not notably so over a SSD. the big reason I suggested the 600p is that is cost is similar to that of a high end SSD, and will assist you game load times. if you don't care about ANY of that and just want the largest capacity SSD for the lowest price you could always look at something like an A-Data SP550. this drive is similar capcity to what we've been discussing and is still PLENTY fast for most anyones needs, but a fair bit cheaper:

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/KTCrxr/a-data-internal-hard-drive-asp550ss3480gmc

 

Like I said before, don't let me tell you what you need. You have to decide what sort of performance you want out of your machine. storage devices are only going to affect load times. MOST of the information your game uses to run itself will be drawn from your RAM which is STUPIDLY fast compared to a even a 950 PRO (950 pro is about 2500 MBps, 2133MHz DDR4 RAM is a lot closer to 30000 MBps or some nonsense like that). Your RAM will draw what it needs from storage as a buffer and then your game will run off that. the only time you really gotta draw from a storage device is when loading a level or a room that your game program/RAM couldn't anticipate was coming. in instances like that then having much higher sequential writes will assist you greatly. Other than that a storage device won't really affect gaming speeds (unless you have like 1-4GB of RAM in your system, then it can't actually hold everything it wants to hold and your storage is accessed more often. That is why 8GB or 16GB are more commonly recommended in gaming systems) You have 16GB of RAM, with that you could just be running your games off your HDD and not notice any performance difference, you would just have longer load times at loading screens.

 

There is certainly an advantage to having an SSD in windows for better quicker and snappier navigation, but this is because that sort of task for a storage device isn't about sequential reads/write. its more about its IOPS (inputs&outputs per second). HDD's have pitiful random reads/writes (measured in IOPS), even high performance ones, but have decent sequential reads/writes though, which is what we look for in gaming.

[Zyndo]

38 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

As you can see my cable management is awful because idk hoe to do I well...

Theres very little room (barely enough for the cables) so if I get a GPU that's any longer like I assume a 1080 ti would be if/when it's made I'd have to remove the top drive cage.

 

This would restrict my options for additional SSD storage to the m.2 ports or an m.2 adapter card or an adapter for one of the 5.25 inch bays.

There are two things you can do to deal with cable management.

1. Get a better case.

2. Get a modular power supply.

 

You should upgrade your PSU (and maybe your case) before getting a 1080ti imo. You don't need more wattage or anything, but you should really have a higher quality unit. Also, a CPU cooler could be a good investment too if you wanna OC

[ARikozuM]

@Bleedingyamato

 

Can you route some of those cables behind your motherboard?

[ARikozuM]

3 hours ago, Zyndo said:

what makes you think that a single large M.2 is better than RAID 0 2 smaller ones? the only complaint you could make is information security, as if 1 drive fails you lose the information on both drives. But when you put SSD's in RAID 0 you significantly increase their lifespan (less heat and half the writes). its better in literally every other way and price is pretty much the same in most cases.

RAID on two NVMe drives is currently amounting to nothing unless you're using heavy programs or using deep queues. If you want high speed I'd go with a normal +480GB since the larger drives have more cache (generally) and more excess NAND to prolong the life of drives.

[Bleedingyamato]

5 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

@Bleedingyamato

 

Can you route some of those cables behind your motherboard?

Possibly.  The CPU power connector might be able to come up from behind the motherboard to the upper left corner near where it plugs in.

 

I've just been too lazy to try doing that.  Partly because I've got the cable from the CPU cooler zip-tied to the CPU power cable to keep it away from the fan.  

 

As for the ones by the end of the 1070 I'm not sure how much I can do there without removing the drive cage.  I had to avoid using one of the pass through holes because it right right next to where the sata ports are on my motherboard and because the ports face the front of the case the sata cable for my storage drives and DVD drive block the pass through hole.

 

Aside from allowing for a longer GPU removing the cage might allow for better management of those cables too.  

 

For now I'm not too worried about it.  The computer works even if the cable arrangement is rather ugly.  lol