Need help deciding on buying another M.2 or a SSD for Steam library

[arenaundead]

Hey guys,

So I just bought a new PC and bought a Samsung 960 EVO NVMe M.2 250GB for the OS and Games. I also bought a 2TB Seagate ST2000DM006 for mass storage crap. However, I was going through my games and noticed that most of them are 10gb+ and I will never be able to fit all of them on the 250gb. So I am wondering whether is it better to buy another 250gb NVMe because my motherboard has two M.2 slots or should I just buy a 500gb SATA III 850 Evo for the rest of my steam library? What would be the best solution?

Edit: Should note that I have a Z370-A motherboard.

Thanks, guys.

 

[kanewolf]

Many motherboards treat a second M.2 slot as a SATA interface. If a 2.5 inch is cheaper, you may get the same performance.

 

[arenaundead]

Many motherboards treat a second M.2 slot as a SATA interface. If a 2.5 inch is cheaper, you may get the same performance.

I have an ASUS Z370-A which apparently has two M.2 32GB/s M.2 x4 slots. Would it still be value to get an NVMe or is it just a waste of money for strictly gaming?

 

[Major_Trouble]

I am sure you're not playing your complete game library every week. Why not have a second Steam install directory on your HDD and move your current game to the m.2 if you need the faster load times the SSD provides.

If you must have your games installed on SSD then getting a SATA drive instead of a m.2 would be the better option as it's cheaper and you're not going to notice much difference performance wise.

 

[Karadjgne]

Install Steam to C on the NVMe with the saved game files. Keep the library on the hdd. Because Steam is loaded by the NVMe, when you start the game anything relevant is loaded through C cache, so runs at the NVMe speeds. Even multiple load games like skyrim that see map loads every time you change rooms benefit.