[SOLVED] Asus Z-97 Deluxe - M.2 or SATA express SSD for gaming?

[mkanet2]

I have a. Asus Z-97 Deluxe.. It currently has a SATA express SSD for its boot/OS/apps drive (C: Drive).. using the Intel SATA controller. I dont want to change this SSD HDD... leaving it as is.

My PC also has a 4TB hybrid SATA SSD dedicated for games (D: Drive). I would like to replace this HDD with a much faster one to improve gaming load time and less hiccups during loading.

Would my PC games load significantly faster with a M.2 drive or regular SSD? If there isn't a huge difference for gaming and a regular SSD is cheaper, I would prefer to just get a regular 4TB SSD.

If an M.2 drive would be significantly faster for gaming on this PC than a regular SSD for gaming, could someone recommend a compatible and affordable 4TB M.2 stick for my motherboard?

Lastly, can I just plug an M.2 stick in addition to my existing SATA HDD's so I can copy the files from my old hybrid SSD to it? I was reading something about M.2 sharing bandwidth with SATA. Anyway, I'm hoping someone would kind enough to make a good suggestion and answer my questions.

Thanks in advance!

 

[USAFRet]

Don't bother with an M.2 NVMe drive on that motherboard and use.

Once we moved beyond HDDs, there is not as much difference as the numbers would suggest.
Especially for a gaming system.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YoRKQy-UO4

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ9LyNXpsOo&t=2s

 

[kanewolf]

And SATA Express was a failed interface standard. You won't find any hardware supporting it.

 

[mkanet2]

Don't bother with an M.2 NVMe drive on that motherboard and use.

Once we moved beyond HDDs, there is not as much difference as the numbers would suggest.
Especially for a gaming system.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YoRKQy-UO4

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ9LyNXpsOo&t=2s

Thank you so much for taking the time to send those links. I suspected as such, which is why I asked. So, I might as well find the best deal on a regular SATA3 compatible SSD? Is there a good 4TB SSD you could recommend for gaming?

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you so much for taking the time to send those links. I suspected as such, which is why I asked. So, I might as well find the best deal on a regular SATA3 compatible SSD? Is there a good 4TB SSD you could recommend for gaming?

Crucial MX500 or Samsung 860/870 EVO.

 

[mkanet2]

Crucial MX500 or Samsung 860/870 EVO.

Just one more question.... From what I can tell the prices are similar between the regular 4tb SATA SSDs and the M.3 4tb sticks. Unless I'm missing something. If that's the case, wouldn't it be better to get the M.3 so it's on a completely separate bus/PCI lane than my existing SATA SSD? Also, the M.3 would just plug in without needing SATA cable mounting or anything else.

 

[USAFRet]

The M.2 port on your Z97 is almost certainly PCIe 2.0.
Rendering a typical M.2 NVMe drive to no better speed than a 2.5" SATA III SSD.

The ONLY thing you gain is lack of cables.

 

[boju]

I support what has been said.

Quick random access on drive is what you want in games and difference between sata and m2 is near non existent. You'll notice more going from that hybrid drive with small ssd space as cache, the bulk of the spinning platters would still be used regularly, to full larger ssd.

 

[Zerk2012]

I have a. Asus Z-97 Deluxe.. It currently has a SATA express SSD for its boot/OS/apps drive (C: Drive).. using the Intel SATA controller. I dont want to change this SSD HDD... leaving it as is.

My PC also has a 4TB hybrid SATA SSD dedicated for games (D: Drive). I would like to replace this HDD with a much faster one to improve gaming load time and less hiccups during loading.

Would my PC games load significantly faster with a M.2 drive or regular SSD? If there isn't a huge difference for gaming and a regular SSD is cheaper, I would prefer to just get a regular 4TB SSD.

If an M.2 drive would be significantly faster for gaming on this PC than a regular SSD for gaming, could someone recommend a compatible and affordable 4TB M.2 stick for my motherboard?

Lastly, can I just plug an M.2 stick in addition to my existing SATA HDD's so I can copy the files from my old hybrid SSD to it? I was reading something about M.2 sharing bandwidth with SATA. Anyway, I'm hoping someone would kind enough to make a good suggestion and answer my questions.

Thanks in advance!

So you have a SSHD like this https://www.newegg.com/seagate-fire...re=sshd-_-22-178-996-_-Product&quicklink=true

Fairly useless for a gaming drive over a regular HDD.

Do you really need/have 4TB of games that is a ton.

At USA prices then if you need 4TB I would get this.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/p7nypg/crucial-mx500-4-tb-25-solid-state-drive-ct4000mx500ssd1

You can get the 2TB model for 175.

 

[Inthrutheoutdoor]

Lastly, can I just plug an M.2 stick in addition to my existing SATA HDD's so I can copy the files from my old hybrid SSD to it? I was reading something about M.2 sharing bandwidth with SATA. Anyway, I'm hoping someone would kind enough to make a good suggestion and answer my questions.

Yes you can "just plug in an m.2 drive" and copy files to it. As for the sharing bandwidth part, this is true in some configurations. But you will need to check your mobo manual to see how your sata ports are wired and which ones will be shared when multiple drives are connected.

And just an FYI, an m.2 drive on your mobo isn't really gonna provide much of a performance increase compared to a good SATA 3 drive simply because of the bottlenecks on the older boards.

If you have a link to a 4TB m.2 drive for close to the same price as a 4TB SSD, please provide it here, so we can all get in on a GREAT DEAL