SSD or M.2 as a boot drive...?

icetimed · Feb 20, 2017

Hi all.

I have been slowly buying parts for my PC and have come to the crunch time for my SSD.

The board I have is a Z170-A.
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z170-A/

I will be buying a 1TB WD Blue HDD and a 250GB boot drive for the OS and some selected games and software.

The question I have for you is this.

Should I stick with this SSD
https://www.amazon.fr/Disque-Interne-SanDisk-Version-r%C3%A9cente/dp/B01F9G43WU/ref=pd_sim_147_6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=EKG4RT4XTBQ27RAYMP6N

or actually buy this instead?
https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B01M4OO1FT/ref=sr_1_2?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1487589950&sr=1-2&keywords=m.2+pcie+3.0

The prices are not that different and as far as I can tell I would increase the speeds from roughly 550mb/s to 1.2 and 2.4 gb/s (read and write).

Im also just learning about M.2 and so feel a bit unsure about the compatibility!

Thanks for your help.

mitch074 · Feb 20, 2017

icetimed :

Provided you're not installing a legacy OS on it, you should go the M.2 way - it takes up less room in your PC (good for ventilation) and is, indeed, faster at least in bursts (like booting). If you intend to install Windows 7 on it though, it isn't recommended.

Sakkura · Feb 20, 2017

The Sandisk SSD Plus is awful. You can definitely go for a regular SATA SSD, just not that one.

Note that the sequential transfer speed, the main thing M.2 allows you to boost, are typically not important for the user experience.

MBright8950 · Feb 20, 2017

As someone who has used both and SSD and M.2 the difference is noticeable and your OS will feel a bit more snappy. However I wouldnt consider it a high priority if you have other parts/pieces of the build still waiting to be purchased. My biggest recommendation if you do M.2 is to do a fresh install of the OS on the M.2 rather than transfering from the SSD. If you purchase a samsung M.2 you can use their Migration software which is simple but problems can still arise. Let us know if any other questions come up.

icetimed · Feb 20, 2017

Thank you everyone - I will be going for the M.2 and and running a clean install of windows 10 pro onto it.
Thank you for the heads up on the SSD Sakkura, Ill give it a wide birth in future!
Ultimately the extra speed should help with some of the 3DS MAx rendering I do from time to time I think? Either way for roughly the same price it seems silly to opt for the older version of storage!
I'll keep this updated if I come across any problems while installing. Thanks again!

mitch074 · Feb 21, 2017

icetimed :

If your scenes include heavy materials (very large textures etc.) that can't it in RAM, then you might get a slightly (i.e. a couple seconds on a several minutes long scene) faster render with the M2 compared with the SATA - in most cases you won't see the difference. The M.2 can show how good it is when processing very large amounts of data, such as uncompressed video.

icetimed · Feb 22, 2017

mitch074 :

icetimed :

If your scenes include heavy materials (very large textures etc.) that can't it in RAM, then you might get a slightly (i.e. a couple seconds on a several minutes long scene) faster render with the M2 compared with the SATA - in most cases you won't see the difference. The M.2 can show how good it is when processing very large amounts of data, such as uncompressed video.

Thank you for your help mitch - much appreciated!

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