M2 vs. SATA for general use

[thilanliyan]

So I have an Asus Z87-Expert board right now and I'm using an Intel 535 180GB SSD as my OS drive but it is nearly full and I would like something bigger, minimum 500GB, and Cyber Monday is coming up.

My board doesn't have a M2 slot so I can only use SATA drives right now. Next year when AMD Zen launches I may build a new system.

My question is, would I notice much difference in day-to-day use (some gaming) between a M2 drive and a SATA drive? If so, I would wait until I build a new system to snag a drive, but if not I might just pick up a SATA drive during Cyber Monday if there is a decent sale.

 

[Valantar]

If you go for a high-end m.2 drive (960 Evo or Pro, for example), you'll probably notice a minor difference. Worth the price? Not really, unless you do storage-intensive work like video editing. Go for capacity first, speed second. Although the Intel 600p seems to be turning into a bargain, it's not that much faster than a SATA drive. Cheap for NVMe, though.

 

[Valantar]

Deleted double post. Sorry, don't know what happened.

 

[thilanliyan]

If you go for a high-end m.2 drive (960 Evo or Pro, for example), you'll probably notice a minor difference. Worth the price? Not really, unless you do storage-intensive work like video editing. Go for capacity first, speed second. Although the Intel 600p seems to be turning into a bargain, it's not that much faster than a SATA drive. Cheap for NVMe, though.

Should have added, I do want something reliable. Intel (at least back then) was known for having decent reliability I think, so I went with them. Does that crown belong to Samsung now? I want a 5-year warranty at least, 10-years would be amazing.

 

[Valantar]

I think the only 10-year SSD warranty out there is on the 850 Pro. The 9xx XXX series are 5 years or less, IIRC. In general, though, most SSDs are rock solid. Wear is a non-issue, but random failures do of course happen. Very hard to prevent, but they are rare. Nothing like OCZs of old.

 

[thilanliyan]

I see both the Sandisk Extreme Pro and Samsung 850Pro have 10-year warranties and are about equally priced here in Canada for a 500GB model (Sandisk is 480GB and Samsung is 512GB).
Which one should I be going for?

 

[Insert_Nickname]

My board doesn't have a M2 slot so I can only use SATA drives right now. Next year when AMD Zen launches I may build a new system.

Easily solved with a PCIe-to-M.2 adaptor. You will not be able to boot an NVMe drive without specific UEFI support, however.

My question is, would I notice much difference in day-to-day use (some gaming) between a M2 drive and a SATA drive? If so, I would wait until I build a new system to snag a drive, but if not I might just pick up a SATA drive during Cyber Monday if there is a decent sale.

Short answer? No.

 

[coercitiv]

My question is, would I notice much difference in day-to-day use (some gaming) between a M2 drive and a SATA drive?

No.