[SOLVED] SSD drives (M.2)

[SkyRock1986]

I am currently building a new rig using a X470-Pro Asus motherboard. This will be my first time using what they call a M.2 drive. I guess it is faster than your typical SATA SSD?

I have decided I want to use a fast SSD for Windows 10. I went ahead and purchased a 240GB Western Digital with a sequential read speed up to 545 (MB/s). I sorta did this impulsively, now worry if I just bought a slow M.2? I will have a separate 7200RPM HDD for writing to. Besides Win 10, and fast boot, I might want to throw a couple programs here and there on the drive as well. I know 240GB was sufficient for what I want to use it for primarily. But is my speed something I will regret?

 

[kanewolf]

You bought a SATA M.2 drive. It is no faster than a conventional SATA SSD. M.2 is just a form factor. There are two types of interfaces used on M.2 drives. A direct PCIe interface which uses a transfer protocol called NVMe. SATA is the other protocol used.
Some M.2 slots will support both protocols, some will only support one or the other.

Will you regret the SATA choice instead of the NVMe choice? Probably not. NVMe drives do have up to 6X the max transfer speed of a SATA drive. It might shave a few seconds off. But the change from HDD to SSD is the 100X change.

 

[Barty1884]

M.2, strictly speaking, is a form factor.

M.2 drives can use either SATA or NVMe protocols. SATA M.2 = SATA 2.5", minus some very, very minimal overhead. NVMe is theoretically orders of magnitude faster.
The WD Blue is SATA...

Ultimately, it depends on the use-case. For the vast majority of users (outside of benchmarks), the difference between a SATA SSD (M.2 or 2.5") would be indiscernible vs an NVMe drive. You might be 10 seconds boot vs 9 etc.

If your typical use-case is day-to-day browsing, basic productivity tasks &/or gaming then no, you're not going to regret the purchase.... At least not on speed alone.
However, SSDs have come down in price substantially in the last months.....
A 240GB WD Blue is ~$50? ..... A 500GB capacity drive could've been had for <$70.

Storage Comparison

pcpartpicker.com

 

[SkyRock1986]

I purchased WD green? just means lower power consumption I assume?

 

[Barty1884]

It's slightly slower, vs the Blue - but nothing I would expect to be noticeable really.

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

Vs

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

 

[CountMike]

I am currently building a new rig using a X470-Pro Asus motherboard. This will be my first time using what they call a M.2 drive. I guess it is faster than your typical SATA SSD?

I have decided I want to use a fast SSD for Windows 10. I went ahead and purchased a 240GB Western Digital with a sequential read speed up to 545 (MB/s). I sorta did this impulsively, now worry if I just bought a slow M.2? I will have a separate 7200RPM HDD for writing to. Besides Win 10, and fast boot, I might want to throw a couple programs here and there on the drive as well. I know 240GB was sufficient for what I want to use it for primarily. But is my speed something I will regret?

Yes SATA mode M.2 SSD are slower than NVMe mode. You have two M.2 slots on your MB, top one has NVMe mode and bottom one has only SATA mode. If you want to upgrade to faster SSD you need something like Samsung 960/970 SSD in top M.2 slot.
BTW, on that MB you don't loose any SATA connectors by using M.2 drives in either slot.

 

[Barty1884]

Yes SATA mode M.2 SSD are slower than NVMe mode. You have two M.2 slots on your MB, top one has NVMe mode and bottom one has only SATA mode.

Both M.2 slots support NVMe and SATA on that board - provided you use a 1st or 2nd Gen Ryzen chip and not an Athlon or A-series APU.
The chipset M.2 is limited to PCIE 3.0 x2 though.

AMD Ryzen™ 2nd Generation/ Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics/ Ryzen™ 1st Generation Processors :
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)
AMD Athlon™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics/ 7th Generation A-Series/ Athlon™ X4Processors :
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (SATA mode)
AMD X470 chipset :
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, type 2242/2260/2280 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 2 mode)*2

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[CountMike]

Both M.2 slots support NVMe and SATA on that board - provided you use a 1st or 2nd Gen Ryzen chip and not an Athlon or A-series APU.
The chipset M.2 is limited to PCIE 3.0 x2 though.

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Which lets second M.2 run at SATA speeds even if NVMe SSD is used.

 

[Barty1884]

Which lets second M.2 run at SATA speeds even if NVMe SSD is used.

That's when the PCIe x1 slot(s) are used, not the other M.2