M.2 storage compatability

[Andrew_263]

Hey I have no clue you what m.2 is besides that is like a ssd. Now a brief description of m.2 would be lovely and suggestions Weather I should use it over a regular ssd.
I have a gigabyte g1 series z170 mobo. And I don't know how to check compatability with
ASUS Hyper M.2 X4 MINI CARD M.2 to 32Gbit/s with PCIE slot flexibility.

I am also having trouble picking storage options. kinda leaning towards a hybrid drive. tho I'm just going to be gaming so a regular hdd would be cheeper. There is also the matter of m.2 storage that I know near nothing about. For a gamer what storage would you suggest.

 

[atomicWAR]

m.2 is just a very fast SSD that uses a new interface. If your budget is tight you better off getting a regular SSD and a HDD then just an m.2 drive. I would not get a hybrid drive (SSHD) and hope for SSD performance. while SSHD is better then a HDD in some cases it is never as good as an SSD.

 

[Solandri]

There are actually two types of M.2 devices - SATA and PCIe. Fortunately, your motherboard has a combo-type M.2 slot which can take both types, so there should be no compatibility issues. A M.2 SATA device is, as the name suggests, just a SATA connection using a M.2 socket. It is still limited to SATA speeds. A M.2 PCIe device has direct access to the PCIe bus and thus can deliver faster speeds. Most implementations are PCIe x4 (including the Gigabyte G1). Though there are a few PCIe x2 around.

The SSHDs do offer good read performance for small files. However, they suffer some implementation problems (especially the WD SSHDs). I only recommend them for laptops with a single 2.5" bay for storage, if you need bulk storage but would like something faster than a HDD. For desktops or multi-drive laptops, a SSD + HDD is always the better choice. SSDs work by reading/writing data to a bunch of small flash drives in parallel. The (typically) 8 GB of SSD cache on a SSHD doesn't allow for much parallelism, so ends up being a lot slower than a SSD (though it's still a lot faster than a HDD).

If you get a SSD + HDD, you can use Intel RST to use part of the SSD as a cache for the HDD - basically creating your own SSHD. If you want to do this, I'd recommend using an older second SSD as the cache. Intel RST isn't really set up to use your boot drive as a SSD cache, but there is a way to hack it so you can. Intel hasn't been updating their page on RST so I don't know how compatible it is with newer hardware.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1404323/guide-using-1-ssd-as-system-drive-os-and-acceleration-drive-raid-smart-response-technology-ssd-caching

 

[Andrew_263]

http://m.canadacomputers.com/mobile/itemid/097183 ok I heard that m.2 are pricy? If you know of Canada computers they are very reliable but as you will see in the link it's $29.99 cnd and that's dirt cheep... can you possibly tell me why?

 

[rgd1101]

http://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z170X-Gaming-G1-rev-10#ov already have a m.2 slot, don't need that 30 CAD adapter card