[SOLVED] Help choosing M.2 SSD

[Vishal_7]

I have a ADATA SU650 480GB Sata SSD for my setup as default bootable drive. Problem is with only few TB of data written on it( around 15TB and operated for 11 months), it has started to give hiccups. Previously it was less and didn't affect much but with time it has increased a lot. I do not install/run games on it. Only windows 10 latest along with other softwares(from visual studio to premiere pro to office to name a few). What happens is while working suddenly the system would just hand up/become unresponsive and would take a lot of time getting back at full speed.
With some search I got to know my drive doesn't has DRAM cache which seems like a very important thing to consider. So now I'm moving that ssd to my old laptop used for normal day to day activity(5 yr old with 5.2k rpm hdd, so it would be a solid upgrade for that) and going for a M.2 drive on my MSI B450M Pro VDH.

I got to know that m.2 ssd is best /fastest when it is NVME. So a few questions which I wanted to clarify:

1. Do all nvme ssd have the cache thing ? if I'm going nvme means I don't have to worry abt the problem I'm facing on my current SSD ?
2. It's not worth it to go for m.2 sata ssd as it would be operating just like sata ssd right ?
3. What is the diference in Adata XPG SX6000 Lite and Adata XPG SX6000 Pro ?
4. Is there any NVMe versioning ? any effect of going latest version or old version or should I check the version before buying ?
5. Some of the ssd below are not nvme but are sata ssd operational speeds. will they be fine as due to the fact that they are from branded and trust able companies ?

I have shortlisted a few M.2 ssd's as per my requirement,product availability [india] and budget. Please suggest which one to go with .(the lesser the better)

Adata XPG SX6000 Lite 512GB M.2 NVMe ₹5,999 INR $83.76 USD

Adata XPG SX6000 Pro 512GB M.2 NVMe ₹7,789 INR $108.75 USD

Corsair Force MP510 480GB M.2 NVMe ₹6,399 INR $89.34 USD

Crucial MX500 3D NAND 500GB M.2 ₹4,820 INR $67.30 USD ---- ----- NOT NVMe

Crucial P1 3D NAND 500GB M.2 ₹4,650 INR $64.92 USD

WD BLUE 500GB PC SSD (WDS500G2B0B) ₹5,975 INR $83.42 USD -------- NOT NVMe

Samsung 860 EVO 500GB M.2 ₹6,499 INR $90.74 USD --------- NOT NVMe ?

Desktop Specs:
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600 stock
MOBO: MSI B450M PRO VDH
SSD: ADATA SU650 480GB SSD
HDD: Western Digital Blue 1TB 7.2k rpm HDD
GPU: Asus Strix Radeon RX 570 OC
CPU Cooler: DeepCool Gammaxx S40
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 CL16 3000MHz 8GB*2
PSU: Corsair CX450 PSU
Cabinet: Corsair Carbide SPEC 04 cabinet.

 

[helpstar]

check your ADATA for errors with its adata tool and update the firmware if available. Backup important data before doing so.

1:no, some NVME SSDs do have different nand chips installed, SLC would be the fastest but most expensive, MLC is fast but a bit expensive, TLC is the usual standard in mid range and QLC can be slower than a normal HDD. Some lower priced SSDs have a Cache with SLC memory chips, which can be adaptive to the used space of the SSD, and QLC memory. E.g. the Crucial P1,

Write	950MB/s SLC-Cached

Cache	512MB (DDR3), SLC-Cache (5-50GB)

This means, depending how much space is left on the SSD, it can have a cache size between 5 to 50GB, where it can write up to 950MB/s but after 50GB max file transfer, it slows down to <150MB/s.

2: yes, and the M.2 SATA type wouldn´t be cooled as good as a 2.5" SATA SSD

3: lite vs. pro

lite	pro

read

1800MB/s

2100MB/s

write	1200MB/s	1400MB/s
IOPS 4K read/write	180k/200k	250k/240k
memory type	3D-NAND TLC	3D-NAND TLC, 64 Layer
TBW	240TB	300TB
	1.8 Mio. hours (MTBF)	2 Mio. hours (MTBF)

4: versions of nvme 1.2, 1.3 or the latest 1.4 are on the market, but that´s not that important

5:the non nvme M.2 SSDs are connected by AHCI, which is the same as the common SATA interface. The price tag of nvme is really high in my eyes. If you have much more to transfer or writing to a SSD, than nvme is your choice, but if not, in real life performance you won´t see a difference between SATA and NVME SSDs.

My recommendation would be the Crucial MX500 or the 860 evo in a 2.5" SATA case

or a M.2 samsung 970 evo