NVMe or Regular SSD

[icerouther]

I'm looking at upgrading my SSD.

Currently I'm using a 250GB Samsung 840Evo SSD and I'm looking to replace it with a 1000GB harddrive, mainly because games are getting so ridicoulously big nowdays.

Some of the bigger ones seem to be around 100GB nowdays. Anyway I'd prefer to be able to have 5 or 6, games installed at the same time without having to worry wether they fit on my SSD or not and HDD is just too slow. 

Also upgrading to a 500GB SSD seems like a too small upgrade, with the rate which filesizes are growing.

 

Anyway the real question is wether or not I should get a regular SSD or if there is any value in getting a faster NVMe SSD, which is significantly more exspensive.

In terms of the research I've done so far, it seems that when it comes to loading times in games, there isn't really any benefit to using the more exspensive NVMe SSD, since those loading times are bottlenecked by the CPU aswell.

 

What about other applications though? Which ones really benefit from the faster read and write speeds of NVMe SSDs? Does it affect Windows start up times at all and if so by how much? Does it help with things like going through the timeline in Premiere Pro or After Effects? Or is there really not much point in buying a NVMe SSD as a consumer and it's really mainly just usefull when you use it in a server for running a website?

 

It would be much appreciated, if anybody who's informed on the topic could could share their knowledge with me.

 

And maybe advise me if it's worth it for me at all to spend the extra money, considering that I'd play some games and maybe edit a video from time to time (which is really just a hobby and nothing more though).

[Zodiark1593]

NVME helps where you're regularly moving around substantial quantities of data and need it done quickly. Certain workloads can be bottle necked by the storage subsystem here, such as scrubbing in large video projects. Games, on the other hand, are like to be bottle necked by other factors during loading than a SATA SSD.

 

I'd just go with a large SATA drive here.

[WereCat]

NVME has faster sequential write/read speeds which helps when writing/reading large files but in the random write/read performance, its barely any better than regular SATA SSD so you wont really notice any more snappines and load times from OS, applications or games.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

TL;DR buy a large SATA SSD

 

Other than working with raw 4K+ footage nVME really has no benefit. SATA SSDs are still more than fast enough. Hell, I run a PC that's as good as it gets on consumer hardware off a mediocre SATA SSD and it's never been an issue. I'd actually recommend a single large (1TB or larger) SSD for high-end builds today. For games it makes no difference and for video editing maybe if you're working with a lot of raw 4k footage but otherwise no.

 

[icerouther]

Alright thanks for all the answers. Looks like I'll be buying a regular SATA SSD.

 

However I have a few more questions.

 

Are there any advantages/disadvantages to buying a M.2 SSD over a 2.5"SSD, other than the way you store them in your system? Wether it's pluging them right into your Motherboard or connecting it with a SATA cable and mounting it somewhere else?

 

And do you guys have any particular reccomendations for the brand and model of SSD?

[NoodleFish]

52 minutes ago, icerouther said:

Alright thanks for all the answers. Looks like I'll be buying a regular SATA SSD.

 

However I have a few more questions.

 

Are there any advantages/disadvantages to buying a M.2 SSD over a 2.5"SSD, other than the way you store them in your system? Wether it's pluging them right into your Motherboard or connecting it with a SATA cable and mounting it somewhere else?

 

And do you guys have any particular reccomendations for the brand and model of SSD?

If you mean plugging it into the M.2 slot on your motherboard, there wouldn't be an improvement compared to a SATA. However, if you do get your hands on a M.2 to PCI-E, it's worth every penny. Just take a look at the new Intel Optane and it's unbelievable read and write speeds.

 

I would suggest getting any ssd that is reputable. Ex, Corsair, ADATA, Kingston, Samsung, Curcial. and etc as long as it's not a low cost Chinese branded company. Bought one last year off of Amazon and only lasted 5 months.

[icerouther]

54 minutes ago, NoodleFish said:

If you mean plugging it into the M.2 slot on your motherboard, there wouldn't be an improvement compared to a SATA. However, if you do get your hands on a M.2 to PCI-E, it's worth every penny. Just take a look at the new Intel Optane and it's unbelievable read and write speeds.

 

I would suggest getting any ssd that is reputable. Ex, Corsair, ADATA, Kingston, Samsung, Curcial. and etc as long as it's not a low cost Chinese branded company. Bought one last year off of Amazon and only lasted 5 months.

I was thinking of something like a Samsung 960 Evo. That seems to be a very simular price wether you take the 2.5", M.2 or the mSATA version.

And the way I understand it, there shouldn't be any significant diffrence between the 3 types of drive other than how it's connected to the motherboard and how it's stored inside your case (and from what I understand that model wouldn't benefit from such a pci-e add-in card anyway as it's only using AHCI and not NVMe. correct me if I'm wrong)

 

Also I've heard a while ago about cheaper SSDs that are missing out on some dedicated chip, that contains a library of where all the files on the SSD are stored, so that the CPU can find and access them faster, but I can't remember what that was called. So how can I make sure that the SSD I'm buying is not missing out on that. What is that called?

 

And from looking at my motherboard again and figuring out that what I have is not actually a M.2 Slot but a mSATA slot, since I still have a Z68 motherboard with a i7-2600k in it, which is older than the M.2 standard itself, I have another question: Do modern boards still have mSATA slots or am I going to be stuck with a mSATA drive that I can't use anymore, if I upgrade my CPU and the mainboard along with that, incase I buy a mSATA drive?

 

Also what are the chances that I can't boot from that mSATA drive. I've read from older motherboards with M.2 Slots (still newer than mine obviously) that couldn't boot from a drive pluged into the M.2 Slot, or only could do so after a BIOS Update.

[thedude4bides]

One question I didn't see answered yet is that, yes, NVMe drive do boot faster.  

 

Regarding M.2 SSD vs Sata SSD... I love that M.2 is so much cleaner in the case without having to use any cables.  This is a big plus IMO.  

 

However, it is worth pointing out that temps can get hotter on the M.2 if it is near the GPU or doesn't have a heat spreader.

[icerouther]

22 hours ago, thedude4bides said:

One question I didn't see answered yet is that, yes, NVMe drive do boot faster.  

 

Regarding M.2 SSD vs Sata SSD... I love that M.2 is so much cleaner in the case without having to use any cables.  This is a big plus IMO.  

 

However, it is worth pointing out that temps can get hotter on the M.2 if it is near the GPU or doesn't have a heat spreader.

Sounds like I'd really prefer a to get the M.2 Drive, but sadly I only have a mSATA port on my old mainboard. So I guess I'd have to either get the oldschool 2.5" drive or a M.2, with a PCI Adapter card, so I cantake it with me if I finally upgrade my CPU and Mainboard. And getting a mSATA drive seems pointless if I ever do that upgrade, cause moderne Mainboards don't seem to have that connector anymore.

 

So it's either M.2 with Adapter card for me or 2.5" SSD

[QBtech]

I would advise against buying a msata ssd. Mobos have made the switch to m.2 quite awhile ago and you simply wont find any new products offering a slot. Sata will probably stick around for ever seeing some of us just need that spinning rust. 

 

Nvme drives are often quicker and snappier than sata, but it isnt night and day as it was from moving from an hdd to a ssd. Nevertheless, everything that relies on files of lets say +500 mb will load (slightly) quicker. 

 

Just get yourself a 2.5 inch sata drive, no hassle with addin boards now and in the future, no hassle with getting it to boot. As for brands, ive personally only had Crucial and Samsung drives, and none of mine have failed over the last 7-8 years. Still rocking a 128gb crucial m4 as my main daily ubuntu drive. But honestly, just look at which drive you like and read some reviews.

Edited July 3, 2018 by QBtech

[IAnthonyFX]

3 hours ago, icerouther said:

Sounds like I'd really prefer a to get the M.2 Drive, but sadly I only have a mSATA port on my old mainboard. So I guess I'd have to either get the oldschool 2.5" drive or a M.2, with a PCI Adapter card, so I cantake it with me if I finally upgrade my CPU and Mainboard. And getting a mSATA drive seems pointless if I ever do that upgrade, cause moderne Mainboards don't seem to have that connector anymore.

 

So it's either M.2 with Adapter card for me or 2.5" SSD

I would go with the 2.5'' SSD in your case then. No need to worry about adapters and such.