[SOLVED] is NVMe worth the upgrade?

navybrandt

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Sep 19, 2008
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I'm upgrading my system with a new MB, CPU, RAM, and video card. My question is whether or not it's worth upgrading to an NVMe SSD that plugs directly into an M.2 slot. I know they are better. The question is will I actually notice a difference for gaming.

I'm running Windows 10.

My new system will have the following:
  • Intel Core i5-9600K
  • Corsair H100i AIO CPU Cooler
  • Asus Maximus XI Hero (Wi-Fi) (got a great deal on a refurbished one)
  • Corsair Vengeance LPX 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) 3000 Memory (CL15)
  • MSI GeForce RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio
Leftover from my old system, what I'm keeping is:
  • Thermaltake Level 10 GT case
  • Thermaltake Toughpower TP-1350M (1350W PS)
  • A couple old LG optical drives
  • Samsung 850 PRO 2.5" 256GB SATA III <-- This is my system drive and would be replaced with the M.2 drive if I get one.
  • Western Digital RE4 2TB 7200 RPM SATA hard drive
 
Solution
You won't notice a difference in gaming.

Now, it's probably nice to have an SSD that's of larger capacity than your current 256GB model, so, if you were looking to get a larger SSD, I'd likely go NVMe.

An additional benefit is that it plugs right into the motherboard. No drive slots to worry about, and no SATA data or power cable. So, slightly less clutter.

But, aside from that, you won't notice any performance difference. The added speed of NVMe SSDs are only really seen in benchmarks, and in some very specific types of use-cases.

King_V

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You won't notice a difference in gaming.

Now, it's probably nice to have an SSD that's of larger capacity than your current 256GB model, so, if you were looking to get a larger SSD, I'd likely go NVMe.

An additional benefit is that it plugs right into the motherboard. No drive slots to worry about, and no SATA data or power cable. So, slightly less clutter.

But, aside from that, you won't notice any performance difference. The added speed of NVMe SSDs are only really seen in benchmarks, and in some very specific types of use-cases.
 
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Solution
Ah, thanks. I'm not willing to spend a couple of hundred bucks just to save a few seconds. If it won't make a big difference for gaming, it's not worth it. Thanks.

When it's time to upgrade to a larger SSD, I'll probably go that route.
Not a massive fan of the NVME price. They’re good for people working with large files but for a 3 second boot time instead of a 7 I’ll stick with a 2TB SATA over a 1TB NVME. You can get SATA m.2 drives which aren’t as expensive and have the benefits listed above relating to the form factor
 

King_V

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You can get SATA m.2 drives which aren’t as expensive and have the benefits listed above relating to the form factor

Something I'd forgotten to consider, as my instinct is to usually "not waste the M.2 slot on a SATA-limited-bandwidth drive" but the clutter/space-savings is definitely nice.

That said, there are some NVMe drives coming down to around the SATA drive prices....

However, if the clutter/wiring is NOT an issue, and you don't need a larger capacity than you have, then there's no point spending the money on an M.2 form factor drive.

Side note: some motherboards support only NVMe protocol for their M.2 slot, some only support SATA protocol for their M.2 slot, and some will support both.
 
I'm upgrading my system with a new MB, CPU, RAM, and video card. My question is whether or not it's worth upgrading to an NVMe SSD that plugs directly into an M.2 slot. I know they are better. The question is will I actually notice a difference for gaming.

NVME drives are great for the impressive sequential read numbers in CrystalDiskMark, and are certainly snappy in general. But, for gaming (when compared to a Crucial MX500, for example), the 3/4 of a second shaved from a typical 27 second gaming level load time is not overly significant.

One good compromise is the Intel 660P, where it's 1 TB cost is essentially the same as the price of the Crucial MX500 in 1 TB guise...; even the 2 TB model is but $215 or so. (Compare this to $470 for a 2 TB 970 EVO Plus....)
 
Something I'd forgotten to consider, as my instinct is to usually "not waste the M.2 slot on a SATA-limited-bandwidth drive" but the clutter/space-savings is definitely nice.

That said, there are some NVMe drives coming down to around the SATA drive prices....

However, if the clutter/wiring is NOT an issue, and you don't need a larger capacity than you have, then there's no point spending the money on an M.2 form factor drive.

Side note: some motherboards support only NVMe protocol for their M.2 slot, some only support SATA protocol for their M.2 slot, and some will support both.
I’d shove an M.2 in mine but I cba removing either the whole board or my GPU go get at it. I’ll just add another SATA power cable and deal with the extra wire for another 2.5”

(ITX build so the M.2 slots are on the back and sandwiched between the CPU cooler and GPU)
 
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