Intel 750 add in vs 2.5"

[LowFatMom]

If you never plan to do any SLI, would you choose the add in card vs the 2.5" form factor (with the proper connector hyperlink etc) ?

 

[bradly1101]

If my mobo had the right m.2 connector I probably would have gone for the 2.5. It seems like it would be slightly easier to keep cool, although my PCIe card 750 has only gotten up to 42C sitting close to the back of a 980TI. Toss-up I guess.

 

[zir_blazer]

The PCIe version is more universal and straightforward. In order to use the 2.5'', you need an adapter of some sort, since you're expected to connect a miniSAS to the Motherboard. I think there are several types of adapters, including a M.2-to-miniSAS and a PCI Express card with M.2 where you can use the adapter. But if you're at that point, may as well use the PCIe version.

 

[LowFatMom]

Long story short, maybe I went to a little to quick in this but its gonna be fine.

Its been 6 years since my last PC, went mbp's and while I still like their laptop I dont need one anymore and a desktop tower fit my needs better (tired to deal with external hdds/optical drives/etc)

So I build myself a skylake build with the techreport september guide, and went with the intel 750. Meanwhile I was excited as f**k about my new build and started searching deeper into these driver AFTER I buy this (I was aware of the slower boot, but knew nothing about this whole M.2/U.2 thing)

I still believe that the 2.5" with the asus hyperlink m2 adaptor was the proper choice. I think the boot would be on par with any M.2 drives (but I dont swear it) and while I may never go the SLI route, its still now a 100% dead option because im "stealing gpu lanes".

The whole point of the z170 was to bring more dedictated lanes for the m.2, and by going with the add in card, im basically "wasting" them.

Like I said, I dont plan to do any SLI, but if im going to sell this to someone who does SLI in his build, depending on the board, it might not be the best choice.