M.2 PCI-e Same Price as SATA SSD - What to get?!

[Andrew Macpherson]

Hi All

So I'm about to build my first system that will be used for AAA games and photoshoping. I've read as much as possible on the difference between M.2 and SATA storage but I can work out if there is a motherboard conflict ('eating up PCIs lanes?) with the GPU as Part Picker suggested?

As far as I understand it, I can get a M.2 PCIe for the same price as a Sata option:

£130 Samsung PM951 512GB M.2 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 NVMe Solid State Drive (MZVLV512HCJH-00000)

or

£115 Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB 2.5 inch Solid State Drive

So my question is will there be a conflict and is either easier to install the OS on for a Noob like me?

 

[mcnumpty23]

partpicker always says something along the lines of m2 and sata express blah blah

depends on your motherboard

but with 1 m2 and 1 gpu shouldnt be an issue

havent seen that pm951 before--guess its a cheaper slower version of an sm951

i just put my sm951 in and installed windows just the same as always no problem

though the m2 doesnt show in my bios doesnt seem to matter

 

[Andrew Macpherson]

Thanks Mcnumpty and nice to hear from a fellow Scot!

The difference does seem to be write speeds for an extra £100:

pm951 - NVMe, Read 1050MB/s, Write 560MB/s, 250k/144k IOPS

sm951 - AHCI, Read 2150MB/s, Write 1500MB/s, 140k/85k IOPS


So it sounds like the cheaper model is worth it as I can't afford the sm951.

Would you (or anyone else) be able to tell me if this will work with the Asus Z170 Pro Gaming MB and Asus GTX 970 DirectCU II Strix 4GB GPU?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-z170-pro-gaming-gtx-970-directcu-ii-strix-4gb-bundle-20-pounds-saving-and-free-far-cry-primal-bu-051-as.html

Thanks!!!

 

[mcnumpty23]

hey andrew also nice to see a fellow scot on here

see no reason it shouldnt

and that board is pci-e x4 so should give you the full speed from the m2