New to SSD

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Northender

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Greetings

I am pricing a new desktop for 3d cad work. I am looking at motherboards that can support a min. of 32 Gig of RAM, so I can run off it for a few years. I want to go with an SSD, which is new to me. It looks like the newest M/B's have a M2 SSD slot, which as I can tell allows you to plug your SSD directly into the slot.

I can't Google any definitive answers on if there are different SSDs available that plug in differently, ie via SATA or M2 and if I can still plug a GPU in at the same time. Does anyone have experience in this?

http://http://raru.co.za/product/1229527-gigabyte-z97-d3h-intel-z97-chipset-socket-lga1150-atx-motherboard
 
I'm not exactly sure what your question is, but I'll try explain as best I can. SSD's can be used in multiple ways. You get the normal drives that work via SATA, then you get M.2 "data chips" as I like to call them, which plug directly into your motherboard, and then you get PCIe SSD's which as the name suggests, plugs into your PCIe port. AFAIK when using M.2 SSD's you sacrifice 2 SATA ports on your motherboard which become disabled when you plug in a M.2 SSD.

As for speeds. There isn't a SSD with fast enough speeds to fully saturate a sata3 connection. So I think it's safe to say M.2 SSD's are way faster. (Not sure about PCIe SSD's, think they're around the same speeds as M.2. But you can google this). If you plan to add a PCIe SSD or M.2 SSD, you will still be able to plug in a GPU. Hope this clarifies some of what you were asking. :D
 
Thank-you sir, now we're getting somewhere. I see for example Raru lists solid state drives and solid state disks. I don't know what the speeds are, I shall investigate.
In the Nvidia line-up for 32Gig capable M/Bs there is about R800 I think between the series 9 with M2 and the next cheapest one without. Nor sure if it is worth it, but I am looking for as long a lifespan as possible, so I guess I know the answer.

Now just to decide which SSD type to order...
 
I would get a normal sata SSD - you won't be constricted when you upgrade.
 
Northender said:
Now just to decide which SSD type to order...
Click to expand...

I'd say if you're looking to future proof your build, then go with M.2. They're around the same price as normal SATA SSD drives. However, remember that M.2 will be quite a lot faster than a normal SATA SSD
 
And here comes the m.2 drives to confuse the **** out of everyone.

I have not spent too much time trying the figure out M.2, will list the little that I know.
1. M.2 drives are available in either SATA or PCI-E, this info you can find on the motherboard information
M.2 SATA allows for raid.
2. M.2 drives have different physical sizes. widths are the same but lengths vary, you will see in the descriptions for the M.2 drives that
they refer to numbers like 2242, 2260, 2280 not sure what that corresponds in mm. check with motherboard info as to what is
supported, this will matter because the M.2 drive needs to be fastened with a screw to the motherboard.
3. M.2 drives have three different socket types, they are called "B Key", "M Key" and "B & M Key"
not sure if a "B & M" M.2 drive is compatable with a motherboard that is keyed for either B type or M Type, or only for one that is "B & M"

maybe someone else can give more detail as I gave up,
will give it another try when I decide to upgrade my desktop in the future...
 
Colsuldel said:
And here comes the m.2 drives to confuse the **** out of everyone.

I have not spent too much time trying the figure out M.2, will list the little that I know.
1. M.2 drives are available in either SATA or PCI-E, this info you can find on the motherboard information
M.2 SATA allows for raid.
2. M.2 drives have different physical sizes. widths are the same but lengths vary, you will see in the descriptions for the M.2 drives that
they refer to numbers like 2242, 2260, 2280 not sure what that corresponds in mm. check with motherboard info as to what is
supported, this will matter because the M.2 drive needs to be fastened with a screw to the motherboard.
3. M.2 drives have three different socket types, they are called "B Key", "M Key" and "B & M Key"
not sure if a "B & M" M.2 drive is compatable with a motherboard that is keyed for either B type or M Type, or only for one that is "B & M"

maybe someone else can give more detail as I gave up,
will give it another try when I decide to upgrade my desktop in the future...
Click to expand...

Yeah I have to agree that when I got my Z97 mobo I was confused AF with M.2. All the sizes and socket types kinda drew me away from it:( But I think I can clear some things up. Maybe this will help...

m.2-connectors.jpg

2000px-M2_Edge_Connector_Keying.svg.jpg


As you can see above it illustrates the difference in the socket types.
The numbers that Colsuldel mentioned correspond to the width-length. For example. See the following numbers:

● 2230
● 2242
● 2260
● 2280
● 22110

The numbers are decoded as width-length, so for 2242, this is 22mm wide and 42mm long. The most common supported form factors are 2242 and 2280 (42mm and 80mm long). For example, the Asus Maximus VI series with mPCIe Combo II card can support up to 2242 M.2 SSDs.

m.2-length-595x135.jpg


Hope this helps!
 
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