M.2 SSD for skyrim

[ZandaThebigbluePanda]

hey guys right now I have skyrim on a external 7200rpm drive and I just want to know if I should bite the bullet and get this drive for skyrim: Intel 600P Series 256GB M.2 SSD (SSDPEKKW256G7X1)

I play alot of skyrim(600 hours on steam), and If this will give my better loading times I feel it should be worth it considering how cheap it is.

 

[USAFRet]

Recommending an m.2 SSD requires knowing what the rest of your system is.

In general, though...for a game, an m.2 is no better or worse than a regular SATA SSD.
Either would be better than playing it from an external USB drive.

 

[ZandaThebigbluePanda]

Recommending an m.2 SSD requires knowing what the rest of your system is.

In general, though...for a game, an m.2 is no better or worse than a regular SATA SSD.
Either would be better than playing it from an external USB drive.

my current system is in my sig.
upgrading to this soon(like next week):
Gigabyte GA-X99P-SLI Intel X99, DDR4, ATX, LGA2011-3 Motherboard
Corsair CMK32GX4M2A2400C14 Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4-2400 CL14
Intel Broadwell-E Core i7 6800K 6 Core 3.4Ghz 15MB Cache LGA2011-v3
Noctua NH-U9S CPU Cooler w/NF-A9 PWM

 

[USAFRet]

I wouldn't bother with an m.2 drive over a regular SATA drive for that function.

 

[ZandaThebigbluePanda]

I wouldn't bother with an m.2 drive over a regular SATA drive for that function.

would there be a reason?
the cheapest 256gb sata ssd is $25 more than the m.2 drive I picked.

 

[USAFRet]

I wouldn't bother with an m.2 drive over a regular SATA drive for that function.

would there be a reason?
the cheapest 256gb sata ssd is $25 more than the m.2 drive I picked.

Where are you seeing these prices, and what specific SATA drive were also looking at?

 

[ZandaThebigbluePanda]

I wouldn't bother with an m.2 drive over a regular SATA drive for that function.

would there be a reason?
the cheapest 256gb sata ssd is $25 more than the m.2 drive I picked.

Where are you seeing these prices, and what specific SATA drive were also looking at?

Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB SATA3 SSD (MZ-7KE256BW) from a store called justlaptops (local)

 

[USAFRet]

I wouldn't bother with an m.2 drive over a regular SATA drive for that function.

would there be a reason?
the cheapest 256gb sata ssd is $25 more than the m.2 drive I picked.

Where are you seeing these prices, and what specific SATA drive were also looking at?

Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB SATA3 SSD (MZ-7KE256BW) from a store called justlaptops (local)

Well, yeah. If you're comparing a 850 Pro to a regular m.2, you will see a big price diff.
What is their price for a 850 EVO in that size?

 

[ZandaThebigbluePanda]

I wouldn't bother with an m.2 drive over a regular SATA drive for that function.

would there be a reason?
the cheapest 256gb sata ssd is $25 more than the m.2 drive I picked.

Where are you seeing these prices, and what specific SATA drive were also looking at?

Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB SATA3 SSD (MZ-7KE256BW) from a store called justlaptops (local)

Well, yeah. If you're comparing a 850 Pro to a regular m.2, you will see a big price diff.
What is their price for a 850 EVO in that size?

exactly the same as the m.2

 

[USAFRet]

exactly the same as the m.2

Then either will work, and give the same performance.

A SATA interface m.2 SSD is the same performance as a regular SATA SSD

 

[ZandaThebigbluePanda]

Then either will work, and give the same performance.

A SATA interface m.2 SSD is the same performance as a regular SATA SSD

really The website says the m.2 has a speed of 1,570MB/s Read / 540MB/s Write
while the sata ssd has a speed of 540MB/s Read / 520MB/s Write

while I'm not expert on flash based storage i can see a large difference in those numbers

 

[USAFRet]

Then either will work, and give the same performance.

A SATA interface m.2 SSD is the same performance as a regular SATA SSD

really The website says the m.2 has a speed of 1,570MB/s Read / 540MB/s Write
while the sata ssd has a speed of 540MB/s Read / 520MB/s Write

while I'm not expert on flash based storage i can see a large difference in those numbers

OK, yes. That's a PCI-E based interface, rather than a SATA interface.
Faster read, same write.

 

[ZandaThebigbluePanda]

Then either will work, and give the same performance.

A SATA interface m.2 SSD is the same performance as a regular SATA SSD

really The website says the m.2 has a speed of 1,570MB/s Read / 540MB/s Write
while the sata ssd has a speed of 540MB/s Read / 520MB/s Write

while I'm not expert on flash based storage i can see a large difference in those numbers

OK, yes. That's a PCI-E based interface, rather than a SATA interface.
Faster read, same write.

so the read speed should masively help with skyrim loading right?

 

[USAFRet]

Then either will work, and give the same performance.

A SATA interface m.2 SSD is the same performance as a regular SATA SSD

really The website says the m.2 has a speed of 1,570MB/s Read / 540MB/s Write
while the sata ssd has a speed of 540MB/s Read / 520MB/s Write

while I'm not expert on flash based storage i can see a large difference in those numbers

OK, yes. That's a PCI-E based interface, rather than a SATA interface.
Faster read, same write.

so the read speed should masively help with skyrim loading right?

1.0 (SATA) sec vs 0.8 (PCI-E) sec. vs 3.0 sec for your current external drive.
(numbers not accurate, but just to show the difference)


Those numbers from the manufacturer are optimal testbed results. Not necessarily what you see in the real world.