M.2 or 2.5"

[Tropheus]

Hey guys. I decided to build a PC for 2016, here are specs: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/dzkrcc .

 

My question is, I was considering getting an M.2 , but I was turned off of it when my cousin, who purchased a Plextor (M6e I believe?) 2 years ago said that it gave him a lot of issues such as an intolerable splash screen that could not be removed or modified, and also having to change boot mode settings every time he made any sort of changes to his hardware. 

 

Were these problems that he encountered specific to the Plextor or are these notorious among M.2 SSD's? Should I go for the Samsung M.2:

 

Samsung MZ-N5E250BW

850 EVO

 

or should I just stick to a regular 2.5"? 

 

Let me know what you guys think, any help is greatly appreciated!

[fjdhdhcyfhf]

a splash screen from a SSD? something is wrong but i dont think its the M2

[Daveeede]

M.2 is only worth it if you're going for NVMe speeds. Otherwise it will be pretty much equivalent to 2.5 in SATA. In fact, it will still be SATA.

[RadiatingLight]

If you have the cash and really need the extra speed, sure. it wont cause any problems, but a typical consumer doesn't need any more than SATA speeds

[Tropheus]

Yeah, I'm not desperate for the extra read/write speeds, but since the two SSD's I've picked out between my M.2 and 2.5" options, are around the same price ($5 difference) it is putting me at a crossroads.

[bakwan]

9 minutes ago, Tropheus said:

Hey guys. I decided to build a PC for 2016, here are specs: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/dzkrcc .

 

My question is, I was considering getting an M.2 , but I was turned off of it when my cousin, who purchased a Plextor (M6e I believe?) 2 years ago said that it gave him a lot of issues such as an intolerable splash screen that could not be removed or modified, and also having to change boot mode settings every time he made any sort of changes to his hardware. 

 

Were these problems that he encountered specific to the Plextor or are these notorious among M.2 SSD's? Should I go for the Samsung M.2:

 

Samsung MZ-N5E250BW

850 EVO

 

or should I just stick to a regular 2.5"? 

 

Let me know what you guys think, any help is greatly appreciated!

Ye, my plextor m.2 m6e always had this dumb splash screen, and it would go through the asus mobo splash screen twice. 

[bakwan]

I am actually not sure if the samsung m.2 will have the splash screen or not

[mariushm]

Figure out what m.2 connector you have and where it's connected to, before making the decision.

 

m.2 connectors can use pci-e v2.0 lanes or v3.0 lanes ... v2.0 lanes are 500 MB/s each, v3.0 are about 985 MB/s each lane.  Then, some m.2 connectors are only pci-e x2, some are pci-e x4 ... which means you may have as little as 1 GB/s or as much as almost 4 GB/s

Also, some motherboard connect the m.2 connector to the chipset which is then connected to the processor through a relatively weak bus, let's say everything connected to chipset including the m.2 connector share 4 GB/s of bandwidth.

Especially with m.2 connectors coming from chipset, these often use pci-e v2.0 lanes created in the chipset, so you get only 2x500 MB/s or 4x500 MB/s at best.

 

So if your m.2 connector is only pci-e v2.0 x2 , may not be worth buying a m.2 drive as it's going to be limited to 1 GB/s when you could have a 2.5" ssd in a metal or plastic case which would limit the drive to ~ 550 MB/s but potentially have better thermals and be safer to handle

 

[bakwan]

1 minute ago, mariushm said:

Figure out what m.2 connector you have and where it's connected to, before making the decision.

 

m.2 connectors can use pci-e v2.0 lanes or v3.0 lanes ... v2.0 lanes are 500 MB/s each, v3.0 are about 985 MB/s each lane.  Then, some m.2 connectors are only pci-e x2, some are pci-e x4 ... which means you may have as little as 1 GB/s or as much as almost 4 GB/s

Also, some motherboard connect the m.2 connector to the chipset which is then connected to the processor through a relatively weak bus, let's say everything connected to chipset including the m.2 connector share 4 GB/s of bandwidth.

Especially with m.2 connectors coming from chipset, these often use pci-e v2.0 lanes created in the chipset, so you get only 2x500 MB/s or 4x500 MB/s at best.

 

So if your m.2 connector is only pci-e v2.0 x2 , may not be worth buying a m.2 drive as it's going to be limited to 1 GB/s when you could have a 2.5" ssd in a metal or plastic case which would limit the drive to ~ 550 MB/s but potentially have better thermals and be safer to handle

 

so on my asus z97-a, i have a plextor m.2 m6e ssd. I get a plextor splash screen on it and it goes through the asus mobo splash screen twice due to that. Now for example on a asus z170 sabertooth mobo, would the samsung m.2 ssd tropheus listed give a splash screen ?

[Tropheus]

6 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Figure out what m.2 connector you have and where it's connected to, before making the decision.

 

m.2 connectors can use pci-e v2.0 lanes or v3.0 lanes ... v2.0 lanes are 500 MB/s each, v3.0 are about 985 MB/s each lane.  Then, some m.2 connectors are only pci-e x2, some are pci-e x4 ... which means you may have as little as 1 GB/s or as much as almost 4 GB/s

Also, some motherboard connect the m.2 connector to the chipset which is then connected to the processor through a relatively weak bus, let's say everything connected to chipset including the m.2 connector share 4 GB/s of bandwidth.

Especially with m.2 connectors coming from chipset, these often use pci-e v2.0 lanes created in the chipset, so you get only 2x500 MB/s or 4x500 MB/s at best.

 

So if your m.2 connector is only pci-e v2.0 x2 , may not be worth buying a m.2 drive as it's going to be limited to 1 GB/s when you could have a 2.5" ssd in a metal or plastic case which would limit the drive to ~ 550 MB/s but potentially have better thermals and be safer to handle

 

I'm going for the ASUS Z170 Sabertooth S. May be blind but I don't see the m.2 connector 

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132715

[bakwan]

2 minutes ago, Tropheus said:

I'm going for the ASUS Z170 Sabertooth S. May be blind but I don't see the m.2 connector 

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132715

there definitely is an m.2. You can see it in the picture and in the spec sheet. Funny thing is i just bought this mobo.

[mariushm]

18 minutes ago, bakwan said:

so on my asus z97-a, i have a plextor m.2 m6e ssd. I get a plextor splash screen on it and it goes through the asus mobo splash screen twice due to that. Now for example on a asus z170 sabertooth mobo, would the samsung m.2 ssd tropheus listed give a splash screen ?

According to the motherboard's manual ( here: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1150/Z97-A/e9060_z97-a_ug_for_web_only.pdf )

page 6

 

* 2 pci-e v2.0 x1 slots*

The PCIe x1_1/2 slots share bandwidth with M.2 Socket 3. The M.2 Socket 3 is disabled by default

page 7

The SATA Express port shares bandwidth with M.2 socket

 

So at least 2 lanes going to M.2 connector are pci-e v2.0 which makes me think it's maximum 1 GB/s. The connector however is keyed as M, which means the contacts are there for up to 4 pci-e lanes - could be that the M key connector is the most common though, the connector itself could have only 2 lanes in it ... i don't have time to comb the manual in more detail.

 

Quote

I'm going for the ASUS Z170 Sabertooth S.

M.2 connector is below the chipset.

m.2 with m key has both sata and pci-e lanes in contacts, sata lanes are shared with  sata express 1 port and you can configure the m.2 from bios to work in sata mode instead of using pci-e lanes

Considering the close location near the chipset, I'd say it probably takes 4 pci-e v3.0 lanes from the z170 chipset. 

 

Though it's funny... the whole chipset "talks" to the processor through DMI v3.0, which has a bandwidth of 8 GT/s , basically equal to a pci-e v3.0 x4 link.  So the chipset can create up to 20 pci-e v3.0 lanes and also has sata controllers built in and usb controllers but the connection to cpu is a crappy pci-e v3.0 x4.

 

 

[lettuce head]

honestly, unless youre going for nvme speeds, its unlikely that m.2 (right now) is the way to go. cutting 2 more seconds off of your boot time really wont matter much.

where m.2 shines right now is in small form factor. it takes up almost literally no space and has no cables.

so if you aren't checking off the nvme speed or small form factor boxes, just go for the 2.5" ssd.

if you are building, just for future proofing, I would grab a mobo with support for an m.2 but keep it empty for the time being.