Upgrading HDD to SSD question about M.2 drives

[gregoryvg]

Okay, I have an older computer with an i5 2500k on an Asus P8P67 (Sandy Bridge) motherboard using Windows 7. Can I upgrade using to an SSD on an M.2 drive or do those need different connectors? I'm guessing all I need is an empty PCIe 2.0 x1 channel? Any reason to get the M.2 over the regular SATA ones?

My motherboard:
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8P67_REV_31/specifications/

The SSD I'm thinking about getting:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820156155

Will also look at recommendations.

 

[FFFF]

You linked to a SATA drive which doesn't require any PCI channel and your motherboard doesn't have a M.2 slot so there's no point going M.2 over standard 2.5". Also if you want a PCIe SSD you'd need something like this:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...20249082&cm_re=m.2_aic-_-20-249-082-_-Product

But unless you're maintaining big databases or editing 4K videos, there's no tangible advantage to using PCIe drives in real world scenarios. So my advice is to just get the 2.5" version of that Crucial MX300:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820156152&cm_re=mx300-_-20-156-152-_-Product

 

[deustroop]

M2 is a port which connects to the fast PCIe bus. But the transfer rate is determined by the attached device. If connecting an ssd, a SATA ssd will drive at the same speed as it would if connected to a SATA port.

The M2 device you mention above is a SATA ssd. You may confirm this by regarding the standard SATA speeds quoted:

"Sequential reads/writes up to 530 / 510 MB/s on all file types".

(The fast SSD drives you may be thinking of, that use M2, are NVME ssd's)

The other problem you face is that the board does not have an M2 port so there is no organic port for the selected drive.Members here have used PCIe adapters, like this one I think:

http://www.addonics.com/products/adm2px4.php.

But as FFFF says, given you want the SATA drive you should just buy the 2.5" version and use a SATA port.

 

[FFFF]

Regarding what @deustroop said, you should keep in mind that M.2 is an interface that can be used both for SATA and PCIe drives and a load of other stuff like Wi-Fi/Bluetooth mini-cards and even LTE modems. It's an interface intended mostly for compact devices like laptops, tablets and really small desktops.

 

[Valantar]

All that's said above is true. As to your specific question, you could adapt an m.2 drive to run off a regular PCIe 2.0 x1 slot, but why would you do that? It'd run at 1/8 of its maximum throughput (NVMe drives normally have PCIe 3.0 x4 interfaces), making it - at best - roughly the same speed as a regular SATA drive, just far more expensive. Not to mention that the drive wouldn't be bootable on your motherboard anyway. There's no reason at all to do this.

 

[gregoryvg]

Okay, thanks for the help about M.2 drives, I thought it just went in your PCIe, but it looks like it is a whole separate slot.

Okay, I have it narrowed down to these two 2.5" SATA drives, any opinions?

WD Blue 1TB, $275 at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LXPENRR/ref=psdc_1292116011_t3_B00PAFJJRA

Mushkin Reactor 1TB, $257 at Amazon (sold by someone else though)
https://www.amazon.com/Mushkin-REAC...ature_three_browse-bin:14027460011|6797521011

My thoughts, I like that the Mushkin is $20 cheaper but it is also a 2014 model, while the WB Blue is a 2016 model. Other than that they seem roughly equal.

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[Valantar]

The WD Blue has gotten pretty abysmal reviews from what I've seen. I'd stay away from it. The Reactor should be decent, but I don't know if it's the best option out there for that price. Look around for reviews.

 

[FFFF]

Both are good choices with WD Blue basically being a Sandisk X400 with less warranty but I'd definitely choose the old Mushkin Reactor which is a drive based on the legendary BX100 over it. Here's the review for it:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8949/mushkin-reactor-1tb-ssd-review