How much faster is M.2 than normal SSD?

johnstac

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Feb 23, 2007
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I am trying to configure an Asus Deluxe vs an Asus Maximus Hero VII. Only the Deluxe will accept the M.2 internal SSD and because of this, I feel like my hands are tied to buying the more expensive board. What I would really like to know is if this M.2 pictured below (between the other two on that page:

http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/storage-ssd-m500

Is it any faster than a standard SSD internal drive? It's $265 for 500gb which I guess is about the same but it's small form factor and 10 gb/s transfer rate makes it very attractive. I am just not happy that the SATA M.2 is only is offered on the Deluxe and Pro. Anyway if the M.2 SATA is the same as a regular SATA III drive, I may just hold on and go with traditional drives for now. Anyone know?
 
Solution
See this website: http://rog.asus.com/308552014/labels/guides/ssd-guide-pci-express-m-2-msata-and-sata-express-the-differences-explained/
This guide will be a lot useful.
There is also a theoretical improvement in latency (delay time on each communication between CPU and the drive) though at least for current drives it doesn't appear significant. That will improve further when the NVMe standard replaces AHCI though that may require newer motherboards/BIOSes.