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Time To Upgrade - SATA SSD or NVME M.2?

SlackROG
Level 10
Well I need to get a bigger drive, and at present I have a Samsung 840 Pro & 850 Pro.

I've been doing a bit of reading online, and the benchmarks look impressive for the NVME M.2, but then I read real world usage, people aren't seeing a lot. Then there's the heat issues, throttling, lack of OS stability/compatibility, etc... Makes me wonder are NVME really ready for primetime... hmm

The 2 drives I've been considering;

SATA 850 Evo - 500GB
960 Evo NVME M.2 - 500GB

So far for the NVME, I've only been considering the 960 Evo, because from what I've read, compared to the Pro, it's a better deal...

Also I use Win7, but I've read, install the drivers with the OS running SATA, then backup/clone, shutdown, install NVME, install clone/backup, and boot into new system. Anyone know if this works smooth?

Last thought, is Samsung still the King for SSD, or any others I should consider?

THANKS
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av3nger
Level 7
i cant really speak from personal experience, but a buddy got himself a M.2 drive on his new build. He is like me, just games wants things to be pretty and load quickly. He hasn't noticed any substantial difference between his old SSD. Which has caused me too look at pricing over anything else, and for $ to space ratio, i just went with a new 1TB SSD for the same price to a M.2 256gb

If you do a lot of file transfers it may be beneficial to get a M.2, but for gaming, not so much

Hope that helps
i5 7600k 5.0Ghz--3200Mhz Corsair Dominator Platinum ROG Edition 16 GB-- Asus Maximus IX Formula--
Asus GTX 1080 TI ROG--Samsung 840 pro Boot-- Samsung 840 pro game-- Seagate 2TB--
Phantom 820 case-- Kraken x62 CPU cooler-- EKWB Res/pump/rad for Formula VRM cooler.

SlackROG
Level 10
Yes the gaming aspects I know aren't much..

I guess I didn't ask, if anyone might know for compiling software there will be a difference?

I compile a lot in Linux and was considering the M.2, hoping it might improve compile times?

av3nger
Level 7
In that scenario a M.2 will indeed be the better option
i5 7600k 5.0Ghz--3200Mhz Corsair Dominator Platinum ROG Edition 16 GB-- Asus Maximus IX Formula--
Asus GTX 1080 TI ROG--Samsung 840 pro Boot-- Samsung 840 pro game-- Seagate 2TB--
Phantom 820 case-- Kraken x62 CPU cooler-- EKWB Res/pump/rad for Formula VRM cooler.

SlackROG
Level 10
I guess the thing is, order the bloody thing and try and see...

Now, I'm concerned about heat, also as I mentioned I use Win7, and I've read install the drivers with the OS running SATA, then backup/clone, shutdown, install NVME, install clone/backup, and boot into new system, and this is suppose to work... So I need to make sure on this as well...

SlackROG wrote:
I guess the thing is, order the bloody thing and try and see...

Now, I'm concerned about heat, also as I mentioned I use Win7, and I've read install the drivers with the OS running SATA, then backup/clone, shutdown, install NVME, install clone/backup, and boot into new system, and this is suppose to work... So I need to make sure on this as well...


Hi SlackROG,
How's Tux 😄
My wife's old laptop has a 1TB Crucial MX200 SSD and my R5E has a Samsung 960 Pro 1TB, both Win10, and I don't see any difference in boot times. For copying large files, however, the NVME really screams or so it appears to me (see Samsung brochure attached). As far as temps, in Samsung Magician you can see the S.M.A.R.T. data and it shows the NVME temp at 28C whether idle or reading/writing (maybe it is a long-term average?). On the R5E it is behind the video card, but I have an HAF932 high airflow case. You probably won't regret getting an NVME boot drive, and if you don't you will lie awake at night wondering if you should have:( The Samsung firmware and drivers can be found here http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/
Good luck!

kkn
Level 14
just have a fan blow over it and it will be cool.
its like comparing to a CPU, the more load = the more heat.
i my self have a fan blowing across it.

SlackROG
Level 10
@kkn I have 2x 140mm in the front of the case, so hopefully that's enough air flow...

@R5Eandme Tux is Rocking as always! You might have to change that Nick to --> Tuxandme 😉

Yeah I better go for a 960 Evo and see how it goes, I'm sure compile times will be faster...

Thanks