M.2 vs. more traditional SSD: real world benefits?

[TheF34RChannel]

For a next gaming build I have been eying the Samsung 960 EVO M.2 to replace my current, traditional SSD as the main drive. Interesting to note is that the M.2 costs around 210 GBP (=237 Euro where I'm from) at the time of writing.

Reading various opinions about the real world differences and/or benefits of such a face-off has me wondering; is it [M.2] truly that much better and worth the costs in the opinion of the OC3D forum?

If it is I have no issue putting down the money for the drive, if it's not I can either save some or put it towards a future GPU upgrade.

 

[Dicehunter]

On an M.2 NVME for Windows I honestly haven't really noticed much of an improvement if any really over a standard SSD and for games the only difference I've noticed is things are slightly snappier, Things load in faster etc... but I'm talking very tiny amounts of time, Maybe a second or 2 here and there.

 

[Bartacus]

Agreed with Dice. That's kinda why I didn't go for the Samsungs, and went for the cheaper Intel 600p 1TB drive. MUCH better bang for the buck, and it's still 1700 read 600 write. Unless you're a benchmark freak, that'll do just fine for most folks.

 

[NeverBackDown]

You will only notice the massive speed increase from a NVMe drive when transferring between two NVMe drives. Other than that it's not much in it. Windows and games aren't I/O throughput bottlenecked(well back in the day on consoles to an extent due to limited ram), it basically all comes down to latency. Since as we know the latency on Sata 3 and NVMe drives are in the nanoseconds, this is why the difference is not noticeable.

Almost forgot, you'd probably notice a speed increase when dealing with massive raw video files, though I'm not 100% sure on that, these files are also CPU sensitive.

 

[TheF34RChannel]

Thanks guys, good read! I'll be just fine with my MX200 SSD then until things in storage land massively change. It's a good monetary save as well; having slightly snappier game experiences isn't worth the money.

 

[NeverBackDown]

Thanks guys, good read! I'll be just fine with my MX200 SSD then until things in storage land massively change. It's a good monetary save as well; having slightly snappier game experiences isn't worth the money.

Definitely isn't. Prices aren't as good as they used to be anyways.

 

[S_I_N]

bout the only real reason to use a m.2 is for sata slot saving lol. I run 2 in raid 0 just for s and giggles. Plus I went with the intel 600 series m.2's as well.

 

[TheF34RChannel]

bout the only real reason to use a m.2 is for sata slot saving lol. I run 2 in raid 0 just for s and giggles. Plus I went with the intel 600 series m.2's as well.

Makes sense - and nice to run them in RAID 0! I only have 2 SATA devices (SSD & HDD), so.

Definitely isn't. Prices aren't as good as they used to be anyways.

They have definitely gone up a fair bit over the last few months. So keeping my SSD then and switching to M.2 when it needs actual replacing. I'm glad I asked you guys

 

[Cbotha15]

One benefit for sure is cable management. One less SATA cable to run and doesn't need a external power connector

 

[Korreborg]

I sat next to a friend and his wildlands loaded maybe a second or two faster than mine. So in my world it's not worth the price difference.

So I agree with the rest but in a ncase m1 it definitely make sense