What is the added value of M2 vs SSD?

Luis Val · Sep 5, 2014

I am buying an ASUS MAXIMUM VII which supports M2.

When reading this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269-6.html

and normal SSD specifications, I see that the speed dont differ too much, they are always between 500-540.

What added value does this have? If I am looking to buy a Extreme Gaming PC which M2 should I buy for that board? what are my options?

I see this board only has 1 M2 port
1 x M.2 Socket 3 for M Key, type 2260/2280 devices
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_VII_HERO/specifications/

So this means that I will have to purchase additiona SSD sata drives?

USAFRet · Sep 5, 2014

An m.2 SATA drive/port is faster than a regular SATA III drive. More expensive as well.

It works exactly the same as regular SSD drives, just a little bit faster.
As far as purchasing other drives, SATA or regular HDD? All up to you, your space needs, and your wallet.

legend001523 · Sep 5, 2014

I think ssd go at a speed of 6gb/s whereas m2 go at 10gb/s, they are more expensive and generally not needed unless you really like to have fast transfers but you pay a bit more

wildfire707 · Sep 5, 2014

If you get a PCIE based M2 SSD, there are noticeable improvements in speed. Most M2 SSDs are currently SATA based, however. The only two that are currently native PCIE drives are the Samsung XP941 and the Plextor M6e series. There is a price premium for these drives currently, and not all motherboards with M2 slots can boot from an M2 drive.

There is an article on Toms about the Plextor at:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/plextor-m6e-pci-express-ssd,3763-12.html

My personal choice for my next motherboard is the ASRock Z97 Extreme6 as it has 2 M2 slots (one is x4). That way I can make a system with two drives that are both mounted on the motherboard and have no normal SATA drives (except maybe a DVD drive).

Luis Val · Sep 5, 2014

so M2 drives are not about the DRIVE speed (read/write) which is about 500 to 540, its about the PORT speed 10gb instead of 6gb, is this correct?

legend001523 · Sep 5, 2014

yeah, faster data transfer speeds basically

WyomingKnott · Sep 5, 2014

Did I get confused, or is the SATA Express interface supporting nvme also an advantage? If / when both the mobo and the drive support nvme, it eliminates a lot of the legacy performance constraints posed by an SSD pretending to be a rotating disk. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NVM_Express or http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/plextor-m6e-pci-express-ssd,3763-5.html .

USAFRet · Sep 5, 2014

WyomingKnott :

Yes, but I don't think there are any SATA E devices available yet.

Luis Val · Aug 5, 2015

maybe I am confused, but if the port is faster, but the drives have the same speed as normal SSDs, isnt there a bottleneck?

WyomingKnott · Aug 5, 2015

Luis

This thread's been quiescent for almost a year and is "dead." I'd appreciate it if you'd post this as a new question, per forum rules. Thanks.

The added value may be the same as DDR4. DDR4 came out no faster than DDR3 and more expensive. But it's got the headroom for massive improvement. Direct connection to the PCI-e bus gives a lot of headroom.

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