I'm confused, send help.

[Yajnaji]

When I was starting to understand this "new" (for me anyway) SSD thing, I realise there's a "new" (for me anyway) thing called NVMe SSD which the internet keeps telling me is even better than a SATA(?) SSD. But then there's the NVMe M.2 thing and I'm confused now... are all NMVe's M.2 or is it an option?

Just answer me this because I can't for the life of me understand (after hours browsing the internet, watching videos and so on): my mobo is a ASROCK H110M-HDS... it says it "Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks" but I can't see the M.2 slot anywhere. Does my mobo really supports it? And if yes which NVMe SSD card?

I don't understand anything about this business, please enlighten me, I'm lost.

 

[rgd1101]

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H110M-HDS/
Slots
- 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slot (PCIE2: x16 mode)*
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot

*Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks

only if you get a pcie adapter card. just get a sata ssd

 

[USAFRet]

OK....

http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H110M-HDS/#Specification

1. That board does NOT have a dedicated m.2 port.

2. - 1 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slot (PCIE2: x16 mode)*
- 1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 Slot
*Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks

This means you can get a PCIe NVMe drive, and boot from it.
However, that sucks up that PCIe slot which would otherwise be used for a GPU.


3. "m.2" is just the physical port type. That can, depending on the motherboard, take either a SATA m.2 drive OR an NVMe m.2 drive.
But your board doesn't have one anyway, so don't worry about it.


If you already have an SSD, the gains you might see with an NVMe drive would be minimal.

 

[Yajnaji]

Yes, I understand finally: M.2 is a format, NVMe is an interface. And yes, the PCI-e slot already has a GPU so...

I have to go with a 2.5 then, which is weird because the pricing between 2.5's and M.2's are not that different for such a, allegedly, difference in performance.

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, I understand finally: M.2 is a format, NVMe is an interface. And yes, the PCI-e slot already has a GPU so...

I have to go with a 2.5 then, which is weird because the pricing between 2.5's and M.2's are not that different for such a, allegedly, difference in performance.

No, that is incorrect.
SATA based drives, either 2.5" or m.2, are pretty much the same price.
NVMe m.2 is (a little) more expensive in the same size.

For instance:
250GB range, prices at Amazon.
Samsung 960 EVO (m.2 NVMe) - $120
Samsung 850 EVO (m.2 SATA) - $105
Samsung 850 EVO (2.5" SATA) - $105

You have to look at the specifics of the actual drives, and look past "m.2".