NVMe SSD Question on MSI Gaming 7 Z97

[Delirious133]

Hello Everyone,

I am looking into upgrading my current SSD because of storage space issues. I am currently working with a SSD as my main boot drive and my unit for running everyday software and then using a HDD for storage and steam games.

Current Setup:

Mobo: MSI Gaming 7 Z97
SSD: OCZ Deneva 2 240GB
HDD: WD 320GB

I am looking into the new Samsung 960 EVO's that were launched since I have an M.2 slot on my mobo. But, it is a x2 slot instead of a x4 slot when I looked on MSI's website to confirm. I know the performance of the NVMe drives far surpass the other M.2 options out there on benchmark testing.

But will the M.2 x2 slot bottleneck the 960 EVO? Trying to determine what SSD would be a good option since I am looking to get a 500-512GB SSD with a 1GB+ HDD for storage.

 

[Multipack]

Yeah it's PCIE 2.0 x2, and the 960 evo runs full speed at PCIE 3.0 x4 which is four times the speed (4gbps v 1gpbs) so any read/write speed above 1000mb/s on your board will be impossible, and it'll limit IOPS throughput too. Considering the 960 evo 500gb is 3200MB/s Read, 1800MB/s you would only get about 30% max of its true read speed.

 

[Delirious133]

Yeah it's PCIE 2.0 x2, and the 960 evo runs full speed at PCIE 3.0 x4 which is four times the speed (4gbps v 1gpbs) so any read/write speed above 1000mb/s on your board will be impossible, and it'll limit IOPS throughput too. Considering the 960 evo 500gb is 3200MB/s Read, 1800MB/s you would only get about 30% max of its true read speed.

So based on that an NVMe SSD wouldn't be worth the money since it would be bottle necked in my current M.2 slot. Don't think I will be upgrading my motherboard anytime soon either to address that issue.

So if I am limited to speed is using the M.2 slot even worth the additional cost over your typical SSD on a sata 6/gb connection? I know most of these drive benchmark slower than a M.2 drive but in real world use would it even be worth it?

 

[Multipack]

No not really worth it, although SATA III has a 600mb/s read rate so it is almost twice as fast. There are issues with NVME drives overheating which cause throttling and freezes, especially the top end fast ones like the 900 series Samsungs. In real world times you wouldnt see much difference. At most I'd go for an Intel 600p NVME or try to find a PCIE2.0 x2 one, but they can be hard to find new.

One option you do have is an M2 to PCIE adapter. Then you can connect it via PCIE, but bootng from it is usually not possible.

 

[Delirious133]

No not really worth it, although SATA III has a 600mb/s read rate so it is almost twice as fast. There are issues with NVME drives overheating which cause throttling and freezes, especially the top end fast ones like the 900 series Samsungs. In real world times you wouldnt see much difference. At most I'd go for an Intel 600p NVME or try to find a PCIE2.0 x2 one, but they can be hard to find new.

One option you do have is an M2 to PCIE adapter. Then you can connect it via PCIE, but bootng from it is usually not possible.

So it sounds like an M.2 drive is out of the question and an M.2 drive hooked up via PCIe is not either since this would be my main boot drive. It looks like either going back to an 850 EVO or 850 Pro will be my best option then. Ideally I am trying to get the best performing drive I can that my system won't bottleneck since I tend to upgrade my system every 3-4 years.

 

[Multipack]

Yeah a SATA 2.5" SSD will be about the best you could hope for as a boot drive as your board's chipset really wouldn't handle anything much faster than that. Saying that, nothing needs faster than that. SATA SSD's are still able to boot a system in less than 5 seconds and there aren't many tasks that require the speed and latency of an NVME.