Experience of SSD Sata vs PCI-E SSD?

[arc@css]

Hi,

Soon, I'm looking to upgrade from the SSD in my sig to a new one with more storage space, though I'm not sure whether it's worth jumping straight up to a pci-e drive instead. For the time being, I will be using the new drive for everything, OS + games, etc.

Does anyone have experience of both, and would you say it was worth it or not?

TIA.

 

[FrankJH]

Hi,

Soon, I'm looking to upgrade from the SSD in my sig to a new drive, though I'm not sure whether it's worth jumping straight up to a pci-e drive instead. For the time being, I will be using the new drive for everything, OS + games, etc.

Does anyone have experience of both, and would you say it was worth it or not?

TIA.

I got the 1st generation (or I believe it was) of PCIE SSD - if my memory is correct it was an OCZ device, and at that time it was definitely worth it.

As SSD's themselves have got faster (and SATA interface also) maybe less so.

If you do go for it, possibly look for an M.2 device, which shares PCIE lines but has its own specific interface slot on newer boards

 

[Joe!]

SM951s are quite good value for what they are, I believe a 256gb one sets you back around £120 at the moment.

The NVMe version is currently being released, slowly but surely, you can find a review here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/9396/samsung-sm951-nvme-256gb-pcie-ssd-review/

Part numbers are as follows:
128GB AHCI MZHPV128HDGM-00000
256GB AHCI MZHPV256HDGL-00000
512GB AHCI MZHPV512HDGL-00000
128GB NVMe MZVPV128HDGM-00000
256GB NVMe MZVPV256HDGL-00000
512GB NVMe MZVPV512HDGL-00000

 

[arc@css]

Would my motherboard and cpu be a suitable match for these newer drives?

 

[Faffer]

Interested in getting the SM951 512gb. Anyone able to confirm whether it would work and be bootable in my motherboard? Asus P6T WS Pro.

Thanks

 

[arc@css]

Would my Z77-D3H mobo be compatible with a PCIE SSD?

I can't see any mention of M.2 on the spec list.

 

[ossieclap]

Would my Z77-D3H mobo be compatible with a PCIE SSD?

I can't see any mention of M.2 on the spec list.

I'm in a very similar boat as you. I would like an M.2 SSD and own a Z77 motherboard.

As far as I can gather no Z77 board has an m.2 slot. You would have to buy a PCI-e adaptor card like this:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lycom-dt-120-m.2-pci-e-ssd-to-pci-e-adapter-card-hd-000-lm.html

You would also need to ensure that your mb has an available PCI-E ver3 with x4 lanes to take full advantage of the bandwidth. This has been lifted from Gigabyte's spec sheet of the Z77-D3H

"1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
* The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_2/3 slots. The PCIEX1_2/3 slots will become unavailable when a PCIe x4 expansion card is installed."

Make sure that you buy an AHCI-type as you won't be able to boot from a NVMe SSD with your motherboard. Even then you may need to update the bios to latest firmware before the AHCI drive is recognised within the UEFI.

 

[arc@css]

I'm in a very similar boat as you. I would like an M.2 SSD and own a Z77 motherboard.

As far as I can gather no Z77 board has an m.2 slot. You would have to buy a PCI-e adaptor card like this:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lycom-dt-120-m.2-pci-e-ssd-to-pci-e-adapter-card-hd-000-lm.html

You would also need to ensure that your mb has an available PCI-E ver3 with x4 lanes to take full advantage of the bandwidth. This has been lifted from Gigabyte's spec sheet of the Z77-D3H

"1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
* The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_2/3 slots. The PCIEX1_2/3 slots will become unavailable when a PCIe x4 expansion card is installed."

Make sure that you buy an AHCI-type as you won't be able to boot from a NVMe SSD with your motherboard. Even then you may need to update the bios to latest firmware before the AHCI drive is recognised within the UEFI.

Thanks for the reply & info.

I contacted the shop CS and they said the same thing, so after weighing it up I decided to stick with a SATA SSD, which after all is still blisteringly quick. I went for the Samsung 500gb 850 EVO. I'll probably leave the PCI-E SSD until I upgrade the core of the system, which won't be anytime soon, I think / hope.

 

[DragonQ]

Would one of those adapters work in a PCIe 2.0 x4/x8/x16 slot? Surely you can still get up to 2 GB/s out of it?

 

[arc@css]

I was also told that you wouldn't be able to boot from it, so a SSD (or some other drive) would still be required anyway.

 

[ossieclap]

Thanks for the reply & info.

I contacted the shop CS and they said the same thing, so after weighing it up I decided to stick with a SATA SSD, which after all is still blisteringly quick. I went for the Samsung 500gb 850 EVO. I'll probably leave the PCI-E SSD until I upgrade the core of the system, which won't be anytime soon, I think / hope.

Yeah I think I'm leaning towards a 500gb 850 evo. I have an asrock z77 extreme 4 matx board. Their tech support have emailed me today to inform that an Intel 750 ssd should be bootable. They've emailed me a modded firmware but the damn thing costs 300 quid! Lol

 

[bledd]

I'm holding out until I have a motherboard that 100% supports m.2 drives without any fuss.

 

[matja]

I think it depends how fussy your BIOS is, everything which supports SATA should (technically, reality - perhaps not) boot from an AHCI device also. I have an ASUS Rampage 2 (X58, no UEFI, no SATA 6Gbps) with a Plextor M6E (M.2 on an adaptor card) in AHCI which boots fine.

 

[Rofflay]

Would one of those adapters work in a PCIe 2.0 x4/x8/x16 slot? Surely you can still get up to 2 GB/s out of it?

I too am measuring up Gen 2.0 x4 versus Gen 3.0 x8. Gen 2.0 has 500mb per lane so 2GB on a x4 should be ok? Gen 3 is the one with 1GB per lane so it becomes easier to remember and count your lanes that way.

16 lanes = 16gb.

 

[arc@css]

I'm holding out until I have a motherboard that 100% supports m.2 drives without any fuss.

+1