Question SSD Upgrade

[Naeeldar]

So I‘ve recently replaced one of my pcs with a Ryzen 7 3800x Alienware system since i could not find a decent GPU. I also have second pc I use that has a semi decent motherboard that supports M.2 slots but that does not have an SSD but a Hitachi. I don’t need a huge drive 500 gig would work just fine for most of my games and os boot and 1tb would be more than enough for my regular use but would I see benefit in upgrading to a SSD? I see different variable of M.2 slots but I have no idea what the different numbers mean or impact or if all M.2 drives would work with my motherboard. SSD world is new to me given when I last built.

The motherboard i have is this MSI: https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813130988?Item=N82E16813130988

 

[SamMaster]

Important things to note from here: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B250-PC-MATE/Specification

* The PCI_E4 slot will be unavailable when an M.2 PCIe SSD module has been installed in the M.2_2 slot.
** The PCI_E2/ PCI_E5 slot will be unavailable when an expansion card has been installed in the PCI_E3/ PCI1 slot.

So the top M.2 port (between CPU and Graphics card slot) won't affect your PCIE slots, but if you install it in the other M.2 port under the second graphics card slot, it will disable that slot.

As for benefits, your system will feel snappier, your OS will boot up much faster, and even some software will feel a bit faster too. Basically anything that has to load from the drive and write to it will be faster. How fast depends on the speed of the NVME drive. Some M.2 drives are actually SATA drives and will have a speed cap of aroud 500 MB/s read or write, while, for example, PCIE Gen3 NVME like WD black SN750 have a read/write of 3000/1600 MB/s.

I went from a relatively fast WD black HDD to a SN750 myself (gotta change sig) and my system goes from minutes to seconds fully loaded in my user after a reboot.

 

[Shmee]

I would definitely recommend using an SSD in any computer, if at all possible. Much faster and snappier than a HDD. HDD's have a place IMO, but not as boot drives. Even older systems benefit, as long as there is a SATA port available.

To give you an idea, I have an old AMD s939 system with the dual core Athlon 64 4400+ and only 3GB of DDR, and it is running Lubuntu on an old Crucial 128GB SSD. Hint: for older systems like this, you may benefit from setting SATA operation to RAID mode in BIOS if AHCI is not available.

 

[aigomorla]

I don’t need a huge drive 500 gig would work just fine for most of my games and os boot and 1tb would be more than enough for my regular use but would I see benefit in upgrading to a SSD?

500 gig for OS + Games? no way....
That 500 gig drive at best will only allow you to install 3 AAA title games.
500 gigs is way too small, i would not even recommend a gaming SSD less then 2TB IMO unless your playing games like rimworld, and starbound.
Even minecraft with mods can take a lot storage space.

Here is a good video on load time differences.

SSD is considered the Sweet spot in gaming, where you really do not need a nVME like sony claims you do.
Also going Raid 0 in SSD's can get pretty close to a nVME in game performance load times.

Also SATA SSD won't use up that precious PCI-E lane a nVME requires.

My Advice is always go with at least a SSD unless your really tight on budget.
And it is better to RAID-0 SSD's for a dedicated gaming drive.


I always make sure i build a system with 1 x nVME (boot/OS drive) then SSD in Raid-0 (if budget allows) for dedicated gaming drive.

 

[nosurprises]

Get a 500GB SSD. It's a must for computers today. SATA and nvme doesn't matter much in this case, but nvme is a little faster and more expensive though you won't notice much difference in OS load time or game loads.