Question Need a new m.2 drive, any good tips?

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maraxion

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Feb 17, 2013
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So im looking into getting my first m.2 drive and would be happy with some tips.
My system runs only pcie 3.0 so speed isent that imporetant beyong 4000, and Im happy with 1 tb, but could go 2.

These drives are about the same priced where I live:
Samsung 980 Pro (with and withouth heatsink)
Samsung 990 Pro
Kingston KC3000
Samsung 980
PNY XLRX CS 3030

Corsair mp600 XT (2tb)
WD blue SN570 (2tb)

There is also the standard kingston NV2s with 3500/2100 speds that are dirt cheap.


I was first thinking on the kingstons, men there seems to be a lot of people complaining that their drives dies fast, and even several drives in a year. Is this both the cheap ones and kc3000?
As said my max speeds are limited to a 3.0 system, and reliability is key for me. In my country most of these products wil also be covered with a 5 year warranty, but I dont want to loose files.
 
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USAFRet said:
No matter which drive, loss of data is fixed by a good backup routine.
All drives die, eventually.


But...Samsung 970 EVO would seem to fit the bill.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Does m.2 disks just die btw, or its more corrupted data?
As of the 970 its a good one, ironically its 30% more pricey then the 980 and 990 here.
 
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maraxion said:
I see. But it seems to me both the 980 pro and 990 pro has dram? The tech sheets seem to show the 980 pro with 512mb and 990 pro with 1gb dram. The online excel sheet for m.2 drives also says they have dram, while the non pros have not.
Click to expand...
Despite the name, the 980 Pro is different than the 980.
And the 980 is PCIe 3.0 anyway.

But, in a PCIe 3.0 port, apart from artificial benchmark numbers, you can't tell the difference vs a standard PCIe 3.0 drive, such as the 970 EVO/EVO Plus.
 
USAFRet, yea I get that.
What Im kinda confused about is that the 980 pro and 990 pro is cheaper here then the 970 evo plus for the same size. If they indeed have dram like my links, wouldent those be a better buy? Or is there something else with the 970 thats very special since you mentioned that one?
As far as I can see the 1tb 970 has 512mb ram, same as the 1tb 980 pro. And the 1tb 990 pro has 1gb.
Even if they are pci 4.0, they should be back compatible and run at high speeds at pci 3.0 id expect?
Just trying to see if im missing anything here :)
 
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maraxion said:
USAFRet, yea I get that.
What Im kinda confused about is that the 980 pro and 990 pro is cheaper here then the 970 evo plus for the same size. If they indeed have dram like my links, wouldent those be a better buy? Or is there something else with the 970 thats very special since you mentioned that one?
As far as I can see the 1tb 970 has 512mb ram, same as the 1tb 980 pro. And the 1tb 990 pro has 1gb.
Even if they are pci 4.0, they should be back compatible and run at high speeds at pci 3.0 id expect?
Just trying to see if im missing anything here :)
Click to expand...
Local prices are often not tied to "performance".

A PCIe 4.0 drive in a PCIe 3.0 slot will absolutely work. But again, you'll see zero user facing difference.
 
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SkyNetRising said:
970 Evo Plus 1TB - €90 - €100
980 Pro 1TB ~ €105 - €115 (€120 with heatsink)
990 Pro 1TB ~115€ - €125 (€130 with heatsink)

Note PCIE 4.0 drives run hotter than PCIE 3.0 drives and require a heatsink.
Click to expand...
Yep, prices here are inverted doh.

I bought a 980 pro with heatsink. I think it wil cover my needs, and hopefully last.
 
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USAFRet said:
Regarding the changing specs, Samsung DID inform the public.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/samsung-is-swapping-ssd-parts-too

Kingston is the one that changed after the initial reviews, and kept the same part number, etc.

Unless, of course, you have some other writeup on Samsung...
Click to expand...

lol it may have even been your article where I found out about it before I started hanging out here.

HOWEVER, and I only skimmed it, I don't see a mention of Samsungs statement, only that a YouTuber discovered this. That said, the fact that the article even mentions the YouTuber, it means that Samsung did NOT in good faith issue a statement (if they ever did issue one), but rather as damage control in response to aforementioned YouTubers discovery and whistle blow.
Either way it's sneaky and deceptive. They knew damn well they were running out or wouldn't have enough controllers to satisfy the market need.
 
SyCoREAPER said:
lol it may have even been your article where I found out about it before I started hanging out here.

HOWEVER, and I only skimmed it, I don't see a mention of Samsungs statement, only that a YouTuber discovered this. That said, the fact that the article even mentions the YouTuber, it means that Samsung did NOT in good faith issue a statement (if they ever did issue one), but rather as damage control in response to aforementioned YouTubers discovery and whistle blow.
Either way it's sneaky and deceptive. They knew damn well they were running out or wouldn't have enough controllers to satisfy the market need.
Click to expand...
"The part numbers are also different and will help customers differentiate one revision from the other. The new version is labeled with the MZVL21T0HBLU part number and the old version sports the MZVLB1T0HBLR part number."

Unlike Kingston and ADATA, that kept the same part number and SKU.
 
USAFRet said:
"The part numbers are also different and will help customers differentiate one revision from the other. The new version is labeled with the MZVL21T0HBLU part number and the old version sports the MZVLB1T0HBLR part number."

Unlike Kingston and ADATA, that kept the same part number and SKU.
Click to expand...
Still that only means something if you know to look. When this change happened and you were considering buying one, you'd look at the specs and YouTube videos. Neither are likely to have up to date or even ever update that changes were made.
Yes it's one step better tan Kingston and ADATA, neither of which I'd ever consider but they should have renamed it to SN971 Evo Plus.
A revision keeping the same product name is not unheard of and thus only changing the label model would be acceptable but this was a major downgrade and essentially turned it into an entirely different drive since the NAND and Controller were changed. That's not a revision at that point.

Not trying to argue or say you're wrong, I just don't think they went about it the right way.

Perfect Example actually. Samsung sells phones in US with Snapdragon, Europe gets Exynos (98% of the time). The phone community generally agrees they are different phones, Realistically thru should be differentiated in the model name.
If Samsung decided to just randomly swap to Exynos in the US without telling anyone and only changed the label, people would get slow phones with worse cameras and battery life.

It's a totally different product. It's exactly what they did with the drive.
 
SyCoREAPER said:
Still that only means something if you know to look. When this change happened and you were considering buying one, you'd look at the specs and YouTube videos. Neither are likely to have up to date or even ever update that changes were made.
Yes it's one step better tan Kingston and ADATA, neither of which I'd ever consider but they should have renamed it to SN971 Evo Plus.
A revision keeping the same product name is not unheard of and thus only changing the label model would be acceptable but this was a major downgrade and essentially turned it into an entirely different drive since the NAND and Controller were changed. That's not a revision at that point.

Not trying to argue or say you're wrong, I just don't think they went about it the right way.

Perfect Example actually. Samsung sells phones in US with Snapdragon, Europe gets Exynos (98% of the time). The phone community generally agrees they are different phones, Realistically thru should be differentiated in the model name.
If Samsung decided to just randomly swap to Exynos in the US without telling anyone and only changed the label, people would get slow phones with worse cameras and battery life.

It's a totally different product. It's exactly what they did with the drive.
Click to expand...
Right.
But parts can change during a product lifespan.

One of the more idiot things Samsung did was the 980 and 980 Pro.
PCIe 3.0 and 4.0, and sort of the same line. Unlike the previous 960 to 970 change.

But, it IS better than the other idiots like ADATA and Kingston.
 
USAFRet said:
Right.
But parts can change during a product lifespan.

One of the more idiot things Samsung did was the 980 and 980 Pro.
PCIe 3.0 and 4.0, and sort of the same line. Unlike the previous 960 to 970 change.

But, it IS better than the other idiots like ADATA and Kingston.
Click to expand...
I'm not disputing that but a NVMe/SSD is basically NAND and a CONTROLLER on a circuit board, that's it. When you change (essentially) everything, it's no longer the same part.

Agreed on the other two though completely. Not only are they idiots, they are treating their customers like idiots.

My choice would be Western Digital followed by Corsair. WD for performance, Corsair for longevity. I have nothing to back that up other than my personal thoughts on the two.
 
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