[SOLVED] m.2 Sata III versus 2.5" Sata SSD?

[justinbower]

I need an expansion drive for my system, mostly for games. (I will follow that by saying I am a casual gamer, not someone trying to eke out every last ounce of gigajuice out of every component. )

My mobo is an AsRock B450M Pro 4 which has 2 m.2 slot. One is an NVME PCIE3 slot currently filled with my primary boot drive (512g Crucial P2). The other is a m.2 SataIII slot.

If I were to get a 1tb SSD for games, is there any benefit to getting it in m.2 format versus standard old 2.5 SSD? I have ample space in my case for the latter, while the former is currently inaccessible (but usable) behind my video card, so I'd have to tkae the card out, install the drive, then put it back in. Unless there's a tangible benefit to the m.2 format, I will probably just tuck a 2.5 somewhere out of sight.

ANy advice?

 

[USAFRet]

SATA III is SATA III.
M.2 is just the way it connects.

Exact same performance.

 

[justinbower]

Great, thanks!