Best M.2 SDD for my motherboard

[cvw777]

Hello guys.

Insurance will replace my damaged motherboard with an Asus TUF Z390 Pro Gaming mATX Motherboard. As I've never had a motherboard with an M.2 slot, I figured I'd invest in an M.2 SDD HDD, but was cautioned that there are many varieties, ports, etc.

In my ineptness and in search of some edification, can someone please point me at a decent one that will be compatible with the motherboard? I'm looking at roughly R1,500.

Thanks in advance.

 

[SYNERGY]

Hello guys.

Insurance will replace my damaged motherboard with an Asus TUF Z390 Pro Gaming mATX Motherboard. As I've never had a motherboard with an M.2 slot, I figured I'd invest in an M.2 SDD HDD, but was cautioned that there are many varieties, ports, etc.

In my ineptness and in search of some edification, can someone please point me at a decent one that will be compatible with the motherboard? I'm looking at roughly R1,500.

Thanks in advance.

Sabrent SB-RKTQ-500 ROCKET Q 500GB M.2 (2280) NVMe PCI-E 3.0 Solid State Drive - Wootware

Buy Sabrent SB-RKTQ-500 ROCKET Q 500GB M.2 (2280) NVMe PCI-E 3.0 Solid State Drive at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

 

[Choppie81]

Hello guys.

Insurance will replace my damaged motherboard with an Asus TUF Z390 Pro Gaming mATX Motherboard. As I've never had a motherboard with an M.2 slot, I figured I'd invest in an M.2 SDD HDD, but was cautioned that there are many varieties, ports, etc.

In my ineptness and in search of some edification, can someone please point me at a decent one that will be compatible with the motherboard? I'm looking at roughly R1,500.

Thanks in advance.

I've been looking as well and you could find a decent 512gb M.2 for R1500.

I just haven't understood the M.2 vs NVME ports yet. Not sure if they're the same or not and whether my motherboard supports NVME... but I haven't looked it up yet...

 

[Hamster]

I've got this one, works great....I mean it's fast, runs my OS and...does storage drive stuff.

Hikvision E2000 256GB NVMe SSD - Best Deals - South Africa

www.evetech.co.za

 

[NR7]

Sabrent SB-RKTQ-500 ROCKET Q 500GB M.2 (2280) NVMe PCI-E 3.0 Solid State Drive - Wootware

Buy Sabrent SB-RKTQ-500 ROCKET Q 500GB M.2 (2280) NVMe PCI-E 3.0 Solid State Drive at Wootware with fast shipping & superb service.

www.wootware.co.za

That looks like a very good option, but for only R269 more (closer to R200 more since Wootware charges for shipping unlike Takealot) I would suggest stretching the budget just a tiny bit and going for this which has substancially better read/write :

WD Black SN750 500Gb NVME PCIe 3.0 M.2 2280 (R1969)

Takealot

www.takealot.com

Seq Read 3430MB/s, Sequential Write 2600MB/s vs the Sabrent's 2000MB/s & 1000MB/s)

M.2 describes the form factor.
You get an M.2 drive which uses either the SATA interface (same speeds as a SATA SSD) or the faster PCIe interface("NVME").

The Z390 motherboard you posted supports both M.2 SATA & PCIE drives just fine.
One slot on the motherboard supports a single M.2 SSD with a form factor (size) of 2242/2260/2280/22110 and allows it to use SATA or PCIe.
The other just supports a single M.2 SSD with a 2242/2260/2280 form factor using PCIe only.

 

[cvw777]

Thanks everyone. This is some great feedback and suggestions.
Thanks also @Nyt Ryda for the clarification. It helps a great deal!

 

[Rickster]

I got a Hikvision E2000 1TB for R1999 from eve now they are R2999.


Still worth every penny.

 

[Johnatan56]

That looks like a very good option, but for only R269 more (closer to R200 more since Wootware charges for shipping unlike Takealot) I would suggest stretching the budget just a tiny bit and going for this which has substancially better read/write :

WD Black SN750 500Gb NVME PCIe 3.0 M.2 2280 (R1969)

Takealot

www.takealot.com

Seq Read 3430MB/s, Sequential Write 2600MB/s vs the Sabrent's 2000MB/s & 1000MB/s)

M.2 describes the form factor.
You get an M.2 drive which uses either the SATA interface (same speeds as a SATA SSD) or the faster PCIe interface("NVME").

The Z390 motherboard you posted supports both M.2 SATA & PCIE drives just fine.
One slot on the motherboard supports a single M.2 SSD with a form factor (size) of 2242/2260/2280/22110 and allows it to use SATA or PCIe.
The other just supports a single M.2 SSD with a 2242/2260/2280 form factor using PCIe only.

It's not worth spending the extra, you're very rarely limited by the sequential read/write, at 1GB+ you're more worried about the random and 4k read/write, and for both they're good enough that you shouldn't care/you're getting it for the bragging rights (for things like games, I don't except the average game to have more than a 5% difference in load time, and that would be rare cases).

The price difference between Nvme and SATA is enough that you should care, as SATA is serial, you can only read or only write, while with Nvme it can do both at the same time, which can help if you're e.g. copying off the drive onto another one while doing another task, but it doesn't make that much difference as you are already substantially faster than on a normal HDD.

If you still want wootware, this is the equivalent to the wd black in IOPS/performance: https://www.wootware.co.za/sabrent-...-2-2280-nvme-pci-e-3-0-solid-state-drive.html

 

[cvw777]

So I'm contemplating upping my budget for a 1Tb. I'm looking at the Hikvision SSD on Takealot (Just not sure about the heatsync on it; if the heatsync on the mobo will clash).

Thoughts or alternatives?

As always, thanks guys!

 

[ponder]

I just haven't understood the M.2 vs NVME ports yet. Not sure if they're the same or not and whether my motherboard supports NVME... but I haven't looked it up yet...

M.2 is the physical port defined by the size, number of pins etc. nvme, sata etc is the logical interface and a m.2 port can support one of them or both.

Which MB model do you have?

 

[ponder]

So I'm contemplating upping my budget for a 1Tb. I'm looking at the Hikvision SSD on Takealot (Just not sure about the heatsync on it; if the heatsync on the mobo will clash).

Thoughts or alternatives?

As always, thanks guys!

You could always remove one of the heatsinks.

The link is dead but many people are buying the hikivisions.

 

[NR7]

So I'm contemplating upping my budget for a 1Tb. I'm looking at the Hikvision SSD on Takealot (Just not sure about the heatsync on it; if the heatsync on the mobo will clash).

Thoughts or alternatives?

As always, thanks guys!

The motherboard heatsink over the first M.2 socket is removable. It's optional but it is useful if your NVME doesn't have a heatsink of its own.

Or you can just use the second M.2 slot (that doesn't have a motherboard heatsink) which would work fine.
Might even run a bit cooler as the first slot looks to be right under where a graphics card would be so the airflow would be more limited.

 

[Choppie81]

M.2 is the physical port defined by the size, number of pins etc. nvme, sata etc is the logical interface and a m.2 port can support one of them or both.

Which MB model do you have?

Thanks... I have the Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus.

The techie at the shop said it takes M.2 so won't support NVME... then added that the M.2 SSD is slightly different than the NVME.

This is what it states under Storage:
3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Processors :
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280/22110(PCIE 4.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support
2nd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Processors :
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280/22110(PCIE 3.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support
AMD X570 chipset :
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280/22110(PCIE 4.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support
8 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s)
Support Raid 0, 1, 10

I'm running a Ryzen 7 3800x CPU.

 

[ponder]

Thanks... I have the Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus.

The techie at the shop said it takes M.2 so won't support NVME... then added that the M.2 SSD slot is about 1mm different than the NVME.

This is what it states under Storage:
3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Processors :
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280/22110(PCIE 4.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support
2nd Gen AMD Ryzen™ Processors :
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280/22110(PCIE 3.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support
AMD X570 chipset :
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280/22110(PCIE 4.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support
8 x SATA 6Gb/s port(s)
Support Raid 0, 1, 10

I'm running a Ryzen 7 3800x CPU.

Techie is talking kuk.

1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, Type 2242/2260/2280/22110(PCIE 4.0 x4 and SATA modes) storage devices support

PCIE 4.0 x4 = That's the latest & greatest, supports NVMe. When buying an NVMe ssd it will say if it's pcie3 or pci4, pcie4 ones are the fastest of the lot.
SATA = well it's sata

So your MB supports both nvme or sata ssds, your choice.

 

[Choppie81]

Thanks!

 

[Lupus]

Nand price went up, apparently due to a shortage.