Which M.2 NVME drive?

[RileyTheFox]

I'm looking on getting an M.2 NVME SSD (or maybe just standard M.2 depending on prices) to put Windows on and some games. I was wondering which one I should buy as I'm not good at knowing what to get when it comes to SSDs. I know my BIOS supports NVME as I checked that. Also, will my motherboard be able to boot to an NVME drive?

 

The capacity of the drive doesn't need to be huge. It just needs to fit Windows on and a couple of games (Overwatch, TF2)

 

Motherboard: ASUS Z-97P

BIOS Revision: 2803

CPU: Intel Core i5 4460

[stealth80]

Samsung 950/960 pro 256gb

[RileyTheFox]

Just now, stealth80 said:

Samsung 950/960 pro 256gb

Ok thanks! Is my motherboard capable of booting to the drive though?

[stealth80]

should be if it has nvme options. Just google "m.2 windows install" theres a few bios settings you will need to change around to make it recognise, install and load from the m.2. Making it recognise doesn't mean it will boot from it

[PenPoint]

Samsung 960 Pro is the state-of-the-art M.2 NVMe SSD in the market - however, since the chipset of your mobo is Z97, the M.2 bandwidth is limited to 10Gbps. 960 Pro outperforms 10Gbps way ahead of it. If you really want to use a full-performing M.2 SSD on your mobo, get a M.2 to PCIe slot gender which supports PCIe 3.0 x4 since most of the newest M.2 NVMe SSDs perform at 3.0 x4. And btw, as far as I know Z97 supports booting from NVMe drive with or without driver(not sure). You can also get SATA-based M.2 SSDs like 850 EVO or MX300.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, PenPoint said:

Samsung 960 Pro is the state-of-the-art M.2 NVMe SSD in the market - however, since the chipset of your mobo is Z97, the M.2 bandwidth is limited to 10Gbps. 960 Pro outperforms 10Gbps way ahead of it. If you really want to use a full-performing M.2 SSD on your mobo, get a M.2 to PCIe slot gender which supports PCIe 3.0 x4 since most of the newest M.2 NVMe SSDs perform at 3.0 x4. And btw, as far as I know Z97 supports booting from NVMe drive with or without driver(not sure). You can also get SATA-based M.2 SSDs like 850 EVO or MX300.

You mean a PCIe to M.2 adapter, right? 

[PenPoint]

2 minutes ago, IAmLamp said:

You mean a PCIe to M.2 adapter, right? 

Not sure, but I'm sure that what both of us were trying to tell others is this :

 

 

Sorry for the bad English skills

[Guest]

44 minutes ago, PenPoint said:

Not sure, but I'm sure that what both of us were trying to tell others is this :

 

 

Sorry for the bad English skills

Yeah, on point. 

[RileyTheFox]

1 hour ago, PenPoint said:

Samsung 960 Pro is the state-of-the-art M.2 NVMe SSD in the market - however, since the chipset of your mobo is Z97, the M.2 bandwidth is limited to 10Gbps. 960 Pro outperforms 10Gbps way ahead of it. If you really want to use a full-performing M.2 SSD on your mobo, get a M.2 to PCIe slot gender which supports PCIe 3.0 x4 since most of the newest M.2 NVMe SSDs perform at 3.0 x4. And btw, as far as I know Z97 supports booting from NVMe drive with or without driver(not sure). You can also get SATA-based M.2 SSDs like 850 EVO or MX300.

 

I found this online https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-DrivePEKKW256G7X1-Optane-Solid-State/dp/B01K4I77DA/ref=sr_1_21?ie=UTF8&qid=1485601271&sr=8-21&keywords=NVMe+SSD+m.2 Would that suit my needs?

 

Sorry for the late reply, I had to go out

[PenPoint]

18 hours ago, EvilCat70 said:

I found this online https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-DrivePEKKW256G7X1-Optane-Solid-State/dp/B01K4I77DA/ref=sr_1_21?ie=UTF8&qid=1485601271&sr=8-21&keywords=NVMe+SSD+m.2 Would that suit my needs?

 

Sorry for the late reply, I had to go out

I'm also sorry for the late reply

600p is quite a disappointing product, I personally won't recommend it.

[dexT]

The 960 EVO is the best buy. Barely slower than the fastest SSD the 960 PRO but much less expensive.

 

I use the SilverStone ECM20 adapter and it's great. The Aquacomputer KryoM.2 is probably great as well judging by their products I own, super high quality stuff.

[Exprima]

I like the Plextor M8PE because it's a good value and you won't really see much real world difference compared to the 960 Pro. Also the heatsink is nice.