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    Real work performance difference between M.2 PCIE and M.2 Sata drives ?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by aBs0lut3z33r0, Feb 4, 2017.

  1. aBs0lut3z33r0

    aBs0lut3z33r0 Notebook Consultant

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    Usage : Internet browsing chrome with a lot of extensions + Light VM use occasional + Occasional Gaming

    Option1 : $250 500Gb Samsung 960 EVO Endutance-300TB
    Option2: $250 1TB Crucial MX300 ; Endurance-360TB

    Is there any real work performance difference i could notice between the two drives under general use? I dont need the extra storage for now but the additional capacity with crucial could come in handy later

    Any other options i should consider under $250?
     
    Last edited: Feb 4, 2017
    aBs0lut3z33r0, Feb 4, 2017
    #1
  2. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    My Precision 5510 came with a 256GB NVMe which gave impressive benchmark results but was quickly replaced by a 1TB Sandisk X400 (which I already had) as I needed the capacity. I haven't noticed the performance difference in everyday usage. The benefit of NVMe SSDs will be most noticeable when reading / writing large quantities (gigabytes) of data but, under normal usage, the speed improvement is in fractions of a second and not the performance transformation provided when changing from HDD to any SSD (largely achieved through the near zero access times of SSDs).

    Some other considerations are:
    (i) SSDs benefit from empty space to help with garbage management and a full SSD may slow down noticeably. Opinions vary (10% to 30%) about how much empty space but 100GB is probably a reasonable target for good long term performance.
    (ii) The higher performance of NVMe SSDs mean higher peak temperatures and without adequate cooling they can throttle.
    (iii) I like to have an adapter to be able to get at the files on my SSD should the computer have a problem. So far, I haven't come across an affordable adapter to take an NVMe SSD.

    In conclusion, I would vote for the 1TB SSD.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Feb 4, 2017
    #2
    tilleroftheearth, Jared_T, alexhawker and 2 others like this.