M.2 vs 2.5" SSD, Which is better?

ModMonster

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Hello! I am thinking about getting an SSD for Christmas to load my OS on and a few games that have a lot of loading involved. I went on Newegg looking for an SSD and Samsung and Intel make the most reliable. I came across two SSDs with the same storage from Samsung. One was 2.5" and the other was M.2 for the same exact price. Which is better? Which is Faster? What are the pros and cons of each? My Asus Z97-AR does Support M.2 as well. Thanks for the help I really appreciate it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=-1&IsNodeId=1&Description=samsung%20SSD&bop=And&CompareItemList=636%7C9SIA3FA2RE0490%5E9SIA3FA2RE0490%2C9SIA3FA2EV1108%5E9SIA3FA2EV1108&percm=9SIA3FA2RE0490%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B9SIA3FA2EV1108%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24
 
Every board supports a 2.5" drive. They all use SATA. The benefit to a M.2 is that it supports much faster connection speeds. This is just a lower end version.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147425

That one is a M.2 that runs on the PCIe standard and supports up to a 32GB/s connection interface. As you can see the read and write are much higher than a standard SATA SSD.

If anything most people get a 2.5" drive because M.2 is not common on board yet, this is changing though.
 

ModMonster

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Its not a high end m.2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=-1&IsNodeId=1&Description=samsung%20SSD&bop=And&CompareItemList=636%7C9SIA3FA2RE0490%5E9SIA3FA2RE0490%2C9SIA3FA2EV1108%5E9SIA3FA2EV1108&percm=9SIA3FA2RE0490%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24%3B9SIA3FA2EV1108%3A%24%24%24%24%24%24%24

And according to the specs, the 2.5 seems faster.
 

ModMonster

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This last post didn't make much sense to me. I can see why m.2 CAN be faster, but I ain't really wanting to spend $260 on a 256GB Thats over a $1 a GB :D
 


Then ether one you pick will be the same. They have very similar performance, look at reviews, within a few MB/s of each other.

If you want better performance then you would have to wait till the M.2 PCIe parts come down in $/GB.
 

ModMonster

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So as of right now, the m.2 is better for the price?
 

ModMonster

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I want a fast boot, but more importantly my games. So you think I should get the 2.5?