monere

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Hi,

I have 2 questions regarding SSDs...

1... Do the games that I install on my HDD instead of the bootable Windows 8.1 SSD run at the speed of the HDD, or at the speed of the SSD? And yes, I'm aware that my question might not make too much sense, but I didn't know how else to ask because it's not very clear in my mind either what I'm trying to find out, it's just a thought which I can't figure out how to putti nto words, so I hope you'll forgive me for my lack of lcarity and thaty you can still understand what I mean :)

2... I'm checking various SSD offers on some local classified ads sites, and I'm noticing that some SSDs have NVMe 1.3 associated with them, while others have NVMe 1.4 associatde with htem, so my questions is: does it make any difference which NVMe version the SSD that I'll buy is? I mean, there has to be a difference even if it's a small one, but my concern is that I could end up buying an SSD NVMe 1.4 for example, but when I install it on my MoBo it might not work, and I would have lost all of the money, which I obviously don't want to happen.

So, can you please clear up this NVMe 1.3 vs NVMe 1.4 thing for me? How safe / screwed I am if I buy a SSD with / for NVMe version that might not work with / for my MoBo?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Hi,

I have 2 questions regarding SSDs...

1... Do the games that I install on my HDD instead of the bootable Windows 8.1 SSD run at the speed of the HDD, or at the speed of the SSD? And yes, I'm aware that my question might not make too much sense, but I didn't know how else to ask because it's not very clear in my mind either what I'm trying to find out, it's just a thought which I can't figure out how to putti nto words, so I hope you'll forgive me for my lack of lcarity and thaty you can still understand what I mean :)

2... I'm checking various SSD offers on some local classified ads sites, and I'm noticing that some SSDs have NVMe 1.3 associated with them, while others have NVMe 1.4 associatde with htem, so my questions is: does it make any difference which NVMe version the SSD that I'll buy is? I mean, there has to be a difference even if it's a small one, but my concern is that I could end up buying an SSD NVMe 1.4 for example, but when I install it on my MoBo it might not work, and I would have lost all of the money, which I obviously don't want to happen.

So, can you please clear up this NVMe 1.3 vs NVMe 1.4 thing for me? How safe / screwed I am if I buy a SSD with / for NVMe version that might not work with / for my MoBo?
1. The HDD.

2. Don't buy a used drive.


What motherboard this is going on has a major impact on what drive you might buy.
Along with the rest of your components.
 
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monere

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"the classified" don't count for that.

Only buy from a valid retailer.
I think I've seen some valid retailers on those sites. Not many, but there were definitely a few of them :)

But may I ask why you recommend that I won't buy from other people even when the SSDs they sell are sealed and unused? What's the danger that I'm missing??

Best to provide ENTIRE description you are given....

Brand, model number; capacity, and everything else available.
dang, after 30 minutes of searching I can't seem to find all of those SSDs that I was talking about, But here are a few that I managed to find (when / if I find the rest of them I'll post them, but I hope that I'll know the answer to my question by then so that I won't have to dig through the 100s of ads that I just checked over the last 5+ hours because this excruciatingly boring):

https://americas.kioxia.com/en-us/business/ssd/client-ssd/xg6.html (check out the Interface row under the Basic Specifications tab, you will see at the end of that row "NVMe 1.3a")

https://www.samsung.com/uk/memory-storage/nvme-ssd/970-evo-plus-nvme-m-2-ssd-1tb-mz-v7s1t0bw/ (again, scroll down to the Specifications section and right there beneath the Interface column title you will see NVMe 1.3 being mentioned)

And here's one with NVMe 1.4 being mentioned, although this website is a local (Romanian) e-store, albeit one of the biggest ones. I tried finding this being mentioned on Crucial's site and even though I did manage to find the exact same SSD that it's being shown here, there was no mentioning of NVMe 1.4 anywhere, which makes me think that this must be something pulled out of thin air by this local website (cel.ro) to up the prices because they know that people check for these things before making a purchasing decision:

ssd.jpg


Again, I will keep trying to find more of these ads that mentioned either 1.3 or 1.4 but don't hold your breath that I'll find them because I've been looking at ads about SSDs for at least 6 hours (not even joking), I must have checked close to 700-ish by now, and I dread doing it all over again. I hope you can understand and can help me figure out what the difference between 1.3, 1.3a and 1.4 is based on these 3 examples. If not... I don't know, I guess I'll rather waste a few bucks at my first ever SSD purchase and see what happens :)
 

monere

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We need your complete motherboard info:

Brand, model, etc.

It is entirely possible that NO NVMe is suitable for your motherboard...because you have told us nothing about it.

I've not decided on my MoBo yet but it will be one of these 3 for sure (unless you have a better recommendation):

Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro AX
AsRock B550M Steel Legend
MSI Pro B550M-VC WiFi

Sorry for not figuring out earlier what you want, but I've spend over 8 hours doing research for this computer and it's 4 AM here in Romania and I can barely stay awake to even type this :)

If you need more info let me know but I'll probably provide it when I woke up (in 6-9 hours or so)...

WHAT sites?

And you're looking at the wrong thing.
You need to be looking at PCIe 3.0, 4.0, SATA.
Not NVMe 1.4 or whatever.

But we NEED your motherboard make/model.
Um, they are local sites, I don't think you'd know them (although you probably know OLX as it's pretty known in certain parts of the world). That kind of sites

Here's the MoBos that I'm considering, I haven't decided which one of these 3 I will go with as I'm still in the research phase, but if you think one of these fits my needs please do say so! Or, if you have another suggestion that I haven't considered yet let me know as I'm open to suggestions :)

Gigabyte B550M Aorus Pro AX
AsRock B550M Steel Legend
MSI Pro B550M-VC WiFi
 

monere

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It looks like all 3 of those boards have 2 ports for M.2 drives.

One slot supports up to Gen 4 PCIe

The other Gen 3 PCIe.

Not much real world difference between Gen 3 and Gen 4.
well yeah, I knew that (I found this out these days from various members of TH). The only limitation was the CPU... or rather, the APU as I'll be using a Ryzen 7 5700G and apparently this works with PCIe 3.0 SSDs. In this regard things are clear.

What I don't know yet is what those NVMe 1.3, 1.3a and 1.4 versions are and how (if at all) they impact my SSD's performances. That's what I wanted you guys to tell me before I spend all of my SSD money on 2 SSDs that might not work because they're the wrong version or something :)