2.5" ssd vs m.2 ssd (western digital blue)

[padredetodo]

I was looking for an ssd and I've found that m.2 is a little faster than normal sata 2.5". I could buy the m.2 version of the WD blue just for 5usd more. Is it worth it or not? I primarily play games in my pc. My Mb is a msi b350 pc mate, it has 1 m.2 Mkey port.

 

[USAFRet]

I was looking for an ssd and I've found that m.2 is a little faster than normal sata 2.5". I could buy the m.2 version of the WD blue just for 5usd more. Is it worth it or not? I primarily play games in my pc. My Mb is a msi b350 pc mate, it has 1 m.2 Mkey port.

An m.2 SATA drive is not faster than a 2.5" SATA drive, of the same make.
It's basically the same drive in a different package and connection.

For instance, the WD Blue, 250GB, the difference is (in theory) between 2D NAND and 3D NAND. No matter which package.
m.2 SATA 2D NAND - $90
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-250GB-Internal-SSD-WDS250G1B0B/dp/B01LY154MY
Sequential read speeds of up to 545MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 525MB/s.

2.5" SATA 2D NAND - $90
https://www.amazon.com/250GB-Internal-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B01LXDQX35
Sequential read speeds of up to 545MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 525MB/s.

2.5" SATA 3D NAND - $95
https://www.amazon.com/250GB-Internal-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B073SB2MXW
Sequential read speeds up to 560MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 530MB/s.3

m.2 SATA 3D NAND - $95
https://www.amazon.com/250GB-Internal-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B073SBV3XX
Sequential read speeds up to 560MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 530MB/s.3

You will NOT see any difference between Sequential 545MB/s and Sequential 560MB/s, especially in the gaming world. Less than 3% difference.
It's like 2 versions of your car having a top speed 124mph vs 126mph.

The m.2 has the benefit of fewer cables. But look on your motherboard manual, and see which regular SATA ports are disabled when you use that m.2 slot.

What documentation do you have telling you it is 'faster'?

 

[padredetodo]

I was looking for an ssd and I've found that m.2 is a little faster than normal sata 2.5". I could buy the m.2 version of the WD blue just for 5usd more. Is it worth it or not? I primarily play games in my pc. My Mb is a msi b350 pc mate, it has 1 m.2 Mkey port.

An m.2 SATA drive is not faster than a 2.5" SATA drive, of the same make.
It's basically the same drive in a different package and connection.

For instance, the WD Blue, 250GB, the difference is (in theory) between 2D NAND and 3D NAND. No matter which package.
m.2 SATA 2D NAND - $90
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-250GB-Internal-SSD-WDS250G1B0B/dp/B01LY154MY
Sequential read speeds of up to 545MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 525MB/s.

2.5" SATA 2D NAND - $90
https://www.amazon.com/250GB-Internal-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B01LXDQX35
Sequential read speeds of up to 545MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 525MB/s.

2.5" SATA 3D NAND - $95
https://www.amazon.com/250GB-Internal-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B073SB2MXW
Sequential read speeds up to 560MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 530MB/s.3

m.2 SATA 3D NAND - $95
https://www.amazon.com/250GB-Internal-Solid-State-Drive/dp/B073SBV3XX
Sequential read speeds up to 560MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 530MB/s.3

You will NOT see any difference between Sequential 545MB/s and Sequential 560MB/s, especially in the gaming world. Less than 3% difference.
It's like 2 versions of your car having a top speed 124mph vs 126mph.

The m.2 has the benefit of fewer cables. But look on your motherboard manual, and see which regular SATA ports are disabled when you use that m.2 slot.

What documentation do you have telling you it is 'faster'?

I don't have any "documentation", I've just watched lots of benchmarks and read info in general.

 

[USAFRet]

I don't have any "documentation", I've just watched lots of benchmarks and read info in general.

Well...as seen above, there is no difference between an m.2 SATA drive and a 2.5" SATA drive.
The benchmarks you may have seen are probably talking about an m.2 NVMe drive. Those ARE faster.

Same package, same physical connector, different protocol.

 

[padredetodo]

Ok. that's it, I'm tired of searching, I'm buying the m.2 and * it haha. Thanks for your help bud.

 

[moosedoctor]

I was losing it over the same deal a year ago when I picked up an Intel 600 M.2. Benchmarked the crap out of M.2 vs different SSDs and in the end=
1. It's just so convenient to have an SSD already on the motherboard.
2. Transfer speeds get marginally better scores on Crystal Bench. In fact I remember the cable SSD beat the M.2 on something.

We're talking such marginal increase in performance in transfer speeds on certain tasks. You are absolutely not going to see the difference you saw when you first switched to an SSD. In face you are not going to notice any difference in gaming or other stuff you do. M.2 is likely where the industry is headed. Think about the money they save on manufacturing.