Question Buying a new M.2 drive, need some help

[imported_blip]

Like it says, I'm getting a new M.2 drive as my original one is not big enough. I've gotten confused about NVME, and whether I can use an NVME drive or not (or if it matters). Here is my mobo: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/B450M-DS3H-rev-10/sp#sp but I don't see anything about NVME mentioned.

On Amazon, for about the same price, are the Crucial P1, P2, and MX500 M.2 drives (about $55 for 500Gb). What's the difference? Which should I go for? Thanks!

 

[damian101]

"1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe x4/x2* SSD support)"
NVMe is just a protocol to directly access storage over PCIe, "PCIe SSD" is interchangable with "NVMe SSD".
So yes, that motherboard's M.2 slot supports NVMe SSDs.

 

[UsandThem]

Go with something like this (much faster than the Crucial P1 and P2 NVMe drives which are lower-end drives).

https://www.amazon.com/BLACK-SN750-500GB-Internal-Gaming/dp/B07MH2P5ZD

Your motherboard has one M.2 slot for NVMe/PCIe SSD.

 

[imported_blip]

"1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe x4/x2* SSD support)"
NVMe is just a protocol to directly access storage over PCIe, "PCIe SSD" is interchangable with "NVMe SSD".
So yes, that motherboard's M.2 slot supports NVMe SSDs.

Ah that's why I didn't see "nvme" anywhere. Thanks!

 

[imported_blip]

Go with something like this (much faster than the Crucial P1 and P2 NVMe drives which are lower-end drives).

https://www.amazon.com/BLACK-SN750-500GB-Internal-Gaming/dp/B07MH2P5ZD

Your motherboard has one M.2 slot for NVMe/PCIe SSD.

View attachment 33401

Thanks, I'll spend the extra few dollars for that one. Lots of choices that get a bit confusing!

 

[gorobei]

op has seemingly made his call.

for those in a similar quandry: m.2 is the form factor, nvme/sata is the protocol. nvme is faster than sata. and when buying you want to make sure the ssd has dram cache along with the basic nand. pcie3 is the good enough option for now, pcie4 only if you know you will be upgrading to a x570/b550 system (or whatever rocketlake platform) soonish.

 

[imported_blip]

op has seemingly made his call.

for those in a similar quandry: m.2 is the form factor, nvme/sata is the protocol. nvme is faster than sata. and when buying you want to make sure the ssd has dram cache along with the basic nand. pcie3 is the good enough option for now, pcie4 only if you know you will be upgrading to a x570/b550 system (or whatever rocketlake platform) soonish.

Thanks, not upgrading my mobo anytime soon so sholdn't make much of a difference. I did read about he WD SN550 which doesn't have DRAM but some people said it still outperforms the SN750 is some cases. Either way, I spent the extra $7 on the SN750, and probably won't notice much performance change either way.
Also read something saying the M.2 form factor may be on its way out. Again, keeping my mobo for a while, so didn't really matter much to me. Can't quite justify an upgrage from my 1700X yet...

 

[damian101]

The M.2 NVMe / AHCI ports on the motherboard may also be connected to the SATA bus as well as the PCIe bus and therefore allow M.2 SATAs to also be inserted in the slot

motherboard has nvme m.2 but i got an deal on an sata m.2 , will this sata ssd work?

Yes, M.2 SATA SSDs will work in that slot.

 

[Ranulf]

The M.2 NVMe / AHCI ports on the motherboard may also be connected to the SATA bus as well as the PCIe bus and therefore allow M.2 SATAs to also be inserted in the slot

motherboard has nvme m.2 but i got an deal on an sata m.2 , will this sata ssd work?

Just note that your motherboard may use up sata ports when you are using a sata m.2 drive. Check your motherboard manual.

 

[Bobsy]

pcie3 is the good enough option for now, pcie4 only if you know you will be upgrading to a x570/b550 system (or whatever rocketlake platform) soonish.

I'm upgrading to B550 and considered M.2 PCIe 4.0, but these drives are double the price of PCIe 3.0, so I was thinking better to go with a larger (or multiple) PCIe 3.0 drive than a smallish PCIe 4.0 drive. I assume I won't see the difference in real-life usage. Am I right?

 

[gorobei]

I'm upgrading to B550 and considered M.2 PCIe 4.0, but these drives are double the price of PCIe 3.0, so I was thinking better to go with a larger (or multiple) PCIe 3.0 drive than a smallish PCIe 4.0 drive. I assume I won't see the difference in real-life usage. Am I right?

you wont see much of a difference unless you are using some special work application that demands a ton of bandwidth working with large files.