SATA 3 SSD Vs. PCIe x4 SSD

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Ashutosh_5

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I am purchasing Dell XPS 8930 Desktop as mentioned here:

https://www.costco.com/Dell-XPS-Tower---Intel-Core-i7---6GB-NVIDIA-Graphics.product.100380443.html

It supports PCIe x4 SSD as well as SATA 3 SSD.
I am planning to add around 500 GB SSD. My plans are to have Windows on the 1 TB hard-drive(backed with Intel Optane memory) and have ubuntu Linux on 500 GB SSD.

Looking at this situation - is it worth going for PCIe x4 SSD over SATA3 SSD?
I am planning to get one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IAGSD68/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

OR

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078471VNX/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A3ISMVC1FTQD6C&psc=1

I also looked upon this youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRA2I13GMkg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJCHx7mZEKo

Also doesn't the m2.SSD(which doesn't has any cable and directly connects to the motherboard) better than SATA 3 SSD?
 
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Major_Trouble
If you're supporting your 1TB HDD with an Intel Optane I guess you're using one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Optane-Memory-Module-MEMPEK1W016GAXT/dp/B06XSMTN31

That uses the m.2 slot which you only have one of according to the specs you listed. That would mean you could only use a SATA SSD.

I tend to use the BIOS to select my boot drive as I dislike messing about with bootloaders. If you have your system up and running with your linux bootloader installed on your Windows drive then upgrade your Windows installation it all starts to go wonky. I just keep them seperate but I am sure those more knowledgeable in linux than me could easily sort it out.
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nitrium

nitrium

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The M.2 drive will be up to around four times faster at higher queue depths (2,000 MB/sec) vs the SATA drive (~500 MB/sec). That said, at lower QDs (which is 99% of most drive activity) they all perform much the same. Unless you are a VERY heavy user (e.g. film editing/transfer) you won't notice any tangible difference.
 
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Ashutosh_5

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Thanks for the response.
But if that is the case why the PCIe x4 SSD are almost double the price? Are we missing something? On my Ubuntu Linux I will be running good amount of I/O intensive applications(Bigdata and NoSQL)

 
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Major_Trouble

Major_Trouble

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The Intel Optane and PCIe x4 SSD would both use an m.2 port. Make sure the Dell motherboard has 2x m.2 port if you end up going the route of have two devices using m.2.

Personally I'd play it safe and just go SATA SSD. Getting Windows to dual boot alongside Ubuntu without either of them writing bootloaders to each other can get messy. Being able to just unplug a SATA based drive for OS installs would be easier than unmounting a m.2 drive.
 
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Ashutosh_5

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Yes the Dell mother board has that provision to put another one.
the optane uses PCIe NVMe 3.0 x2 and the system has:
•One PCIe x16 card slot
•Two PCIe x1 card slots
•One PCIe x4 card slot
also •One M.2 card slot for SSD (SATA or PCIe/NVMe)
One still have space for an SSD even if you have the intel optane.

For dual boot linux - one need to have the Linux bootloader before the Windows Loader so essentially I have let Linux write into the Bootable Hard drive containing Windows...I know the boot time will be slightly slower but once I am into Linux - it's all going to be much faster, right?
 
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Major_Trouble

Major_Trouble

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If you're supporting your 1TB HDD with an Intel Optane I guess you're using one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Optane-Memory-Module-MEMPEK1W016GAXT/dp/B06XSMTN31

That uses the m.2 slot which you only have one of according to the specs you listed. That would mean you could only use a SATA SSD.

I tend to use the BIOS to select my boot drive as I dislike messing about with bootloaders. If you have your system up and running with your linux bootloader installed on your Windows drive then upgrade your Windows installation it all starts to go wonky. I just keep them seperate but I am sure those more knowledgeable in linux than me could easily sort it out.
 
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