What is M.2 ssd?

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ImNOOB00

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Feb 28, 2017
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I've seen a slot on my motherboard that says M.2 SSD. What does that mean?
Is it better than SATA SSD? If it is, what brand of M.2 that have a low price with a better performance?? (250GB NEEDED).
Actually I have this SSD, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M8ABEIM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER. I want to change this with M.2 as soon as possible if it is better than this and it has lower price
 
Solution
USAFRet
M.2 is the connection format.
It may be a SATA drive, or it may be a PCI-E drive.

The m.2 SATA runs at the same speed and uses the same bus as regular SATA drives.
The m.2 PCI-E drives can run much, much faster.

Which one will work depends completely on your motherboard.
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PC-4LIFE

PC-4LIFE

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M.2 SSD's are generally more expensive than SATA SSD's, even if they have the same space and brand.

However M.2 SSD's are capable of having much higher read/write speeds as it uses bus lanes.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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M.2 is the connection format.
It may be a SATA drive, or it may be a PCI-E drive.

The m.2 SATA runs at the same speed and uses the same bus as regular SATA drives.
The m.2 PCI-E drives can run much, much faster.

Which one will work depends completely on your motherboard.
 
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Solution
geofelt

geofelt

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Oct 9, 2006
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m.2 is a physical format.
It is about the size and shape of a stick of gum.
What is your motherboard?

On a motherboard, some m.2 slots can run in faster X4 speed and can use a compatible pcie nvme device to get faster sequential speeds.
That is not the biggie that you might think.
It is the random speeds that count, and your ssd will be just about as good.

I would not have picked the sandisk ssd over a Samsung evo.
Primarily for better performance and reliability.
but since you already have it go ahead and use it.
Do not bother with m.2
 
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I

ImNOOB00

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My motherboard is MSI Z270 SLI PLUS: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MR32I8L/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
 
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Sakkura

Sakkura

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The Sandisk Ultra II is from the same era as the Samsung 840 Evo, and the Ultra II has turned out to be the better choice there. The 840 Evo ran into a severe slowdown issue, whereas the Ultra II is just a workhorse.
 
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K

kraelic

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Feb 12, 2006
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m.2 can be SATA or PCI express in a 'gum stick' form. a Samsung 850 evo is much like the 2.5 inch form 550Mbps, the Samsung 960 evo uses pci express 4 lanes and up to 3200Mbps speed. You have to see if your m.2 is limited to sata or pci express. An x99 user had bought a sata and his board only supported PCI express. I have a dell 7558 that only uses sata m.2

There is also the intel 600 series m.2 that has write speeds like a sata drive and read speeds more into the pci express side for a value nvme m.2
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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The 840's had a firmware update that fixed that.
I have 2 (250GB each), and a 960GB Ultra II.
All 3 run at about the same speed.
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geofelt

geofelt

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Sakkura

Sakkura

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It's more of a workaround, and the Ultra II doesn't require one. And as you say, the performance is otherwise pretty similar. Certainly don't see any reason to warn people off the Ultra II.
 
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