SDD only for OS.. worth it?

[Joe C]

I've read reports that M.2 isn't quite ready for prime time yet so I'll hold off on that

 

[PP Mguire]

Where at? Each review I look at shows it's a good step in the right direction for SSD tech.

 

[Joe C]

I think it was in Maximum PC magazine but I'll have to look again
It is a right step in that direction but currently you do lose a sata port on the mobo

 

[PP Mguire]

I think it was in Maximum PC magazine but I'll have to look again
It is a right step in that direction but currently you do lose a sata port on the mobo

That is for the SATA based Crucial devices. The PCI-E based M.2 units like the new Samsung X4's, X2's and the Plextor units all use strictly PCI-E lanes.

Personally I only want to move to M.2 for 2 reasons. More IOPS, and less clutter in my machine. If I went M.2 now I wouldn't have any extra power cables or a SATA cable being used.

 

[Joe C]

It's not the M.2 cards, it's the sata controller on the motherboard(s). Near as I can tell, all mobo manufactures are using a sata port when you plug in a M.2 card and the sata port goes doa (until you remove the M.2 card)

 

[PP Mguire]

From what I'm to understand an M.2 PCI-E (1 or 2 notch) SSD links directly to the PCI-E bus and does not utilize a SATA slot in the bios. It's simply recognized like any other PCI-E based SSD. Think about it this way, the Plextor M6e is an M.2 based PCI-E SSD put on a PCI-E card for more system compatibility. It doesn't utilize a SATA port in the bios because it doesn't hit the SATA controller. So why would it when it's put in an M.2 slot directly on the board? The card based solution and M.2 slot on the motherboard are both linked directly to the PCI-E bus for the speed.

Now, SATA 6Gb based M.2 SSDs like the Crucial M500 ones you can see for cheap should link to the SATA controller and utilize SATA 3 speeds and a slot in the bios. It doesn't go through the PCI-E bus like the PCI-E controller SSDs.

Another way to think about it is, M.2 is there for more than just SSD tech. You can put wifi, SSD, GPS, Bluetooth, NFC ect in there. Should they utilize a SATA slot in the bios? No.

 

[Joe C]

Maybe it's the confusion that makes M.2 not ready for prime time yet,....
This is from a MSI X99 board manual

The SATA Express port or SATA5~6 ports will be unavailable when installing the
M.2 SATA interface module in the M.2 port.
• Intel RST does not support PCIe M.2 SSD with Legacy ROM.
• M.2 PCIe interface does not support RAID 0, RAID1, RAID 5 and RAID 10.
• Always turn off the power supply and unplug the power cord from the power outlet
before installing or removing the M.2 module.

MSI Global - Computer, Laptop, Notebook, Desktop, Motherboard, Graphics and more

And this is from an Asus X99 board manual:

The PCIE_X8_4 slot shares bandwidth with M.2 x4. When PCIE_X8_4 is occupied, the M.2 will be disabled

Motherboards - RAMPAGE V EXTREME - ASUS

Peeps have a hard time just trying to figure out what processor they need, this can led to much confusion...Which M.2 card do I need??? and pc won't boot when I plug into the PCIE X8 slot!!

 

[PP Mguire]

Actually, that's all rather simple.

SATA Express is PCI-E and SATA. The M.2 slot shares the allotted bandwidth with that particular SATA Express port. As to the Asus board, again, easy, the 4th PCI-E slot usually always gets the short end of the stick in PCI-E lanes and in this case so does the M.2. They probably shared the same lines going to the CPU to cut costs to the bottom PCI-E slot and M.2 because most will use one or the other.

Like I said, M.2 is tied directly to the PCI-E lanes just like a PCI-E slot and SATA Express port. If you think of it like a shrunk down PCI-E slot that has SATA capability then it makes it real easy.

As to what card you need, there are several guides out there. NCIX has a pretty decent video that explains M.2.

 

[Joe C]

That's fine for yourself and the regulars that post here that have some knowledge about these things....but not for the wide masses out there, they will get hopelessly confused. A lot of peeps can't figure out what the right processor is for their mother board. How are they going to do the M.2 thing?

Either way, you'll lose a sata port(s) or a pcie slot the way it's currently set up. I'll give it some more time for the manufactures to work things out a bit better before I make that jump. Personally...I'd rather lose a couple sata ports over a pcie slot

 

[PP Mguire]

Well tbh it's not really for mainstream or beginners either. It's still kind of a new enthusiast piece of kit for bandwagoners who like to hop on the newest thing, myself included.