M.2 advice

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theplaidfad

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Good morning,

I'm looking to move from the 2.5 sata SSD to the M.2 form factor.

My question... would I really notice any difference between a Samsung 960 evo and a cheaper option such as the Crucial MX300? I'm not sure I want to drop the cash on the best of the best.

What's my best options for bang for the buck? My PC is strictly gaming, Web browsing and streaming (Netflix hulu, etc)

Thanks
 
I think it ought to depend on the price difference, and your intended usage. Most guys are using M.2 as boot drives, and a SATA (SSD or platter) as storage. Thus, a 256GB or even a 128GB is fine for the operating system on the M.2, and everything else goes on the SATA. In that scenario, you ought be to be able to afford the most trustworthy drive for your M.2.
 
I plan on ditching the 2.5 all together and using only one drive, the m.2.

I currently (and have been for quite some time) am only using one 2.5 sata SSD

I'll be coming from a 1tb and will be purchasing a 1tb
 
Keep in mind, M.2 is purely the form factor, it say nothing about the speed. SATA based M.2 drives are cheap and no faster than 2.5" SATA SSD's.

The real jump in performance is the more expensive PCI-e based M.2 drives. However, in day to day usage, you probably wouldn't notice a difference.
 
I use all PCIE/NVME drives now for my OS's. For my usage I can really tell the difference. If it were my only drive or my boot drive, I'd pony up for the NVME drive if your mobo supports it. Just because it supports M.2 does not mean it supports NVME.
 
The Crucial MX300 is a SATA M.2 drive And won't work in your M.2 slot. I have been struggling with the same question. When searching for a M.2 drive, look for PCIe NVMe.
 
LaAaZ said:
The Crucial MX300 is a SATA M.2 drive And won't work in your M.2 slot. I have been struggling with the same question. When searching for a M.2 drive, look for PCIe NVMe.
Click to expand...

SATA m.2 drives will absolutely work on the Asus Z170i.
 
From reading the thread, I thought that he was looking to a faster PCIe NVMe drive. For my MSI Z170A SLI Plus the The Crucial MX300 is a SATA M.2 drive will not work.

thanks for the correction and updated info.
 
LaAaZ said:
The Crucial MX300 is a SATA M.2 drive And won't work in your M.2 slot. I have been struggling with the same question. When searching for a M.2 drive, look for PCIe NVMe.
Click to expand...
It will work just fine in a m. 2 slot as long as it is keyed properly, and for a z170 it will be keyed right.
 
That will be a nice drive. If I had the money, i would pick it up as well, but I am going to buy the Crucial MX300 1tb sata 2.5 drive.

After this thread, I am now wondering if the Crucial MX300 m.2 would work in my motherboard as well. The manufacturer replying the questions from amazon said that it wouldn't work, but they gave the same response for your motherboard: https://www.amazon.com/forum/-/Tx1957QBGG4HQ7H/ref=ask_ql_ql_al_hza?asin=B01L80DH1Y

Looks like customers know more than the manufacturers.
 
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I don't know... I simply went to the Asus site for the Z170i and it clearly says it supports SATA and PCI-e/NVME m.2 drives.
 
LaAaZ said:
That will be a nice drive. If I had the money, i would pick it up as well, but I am going to buy the Crucial MX300 1tb sata 2.5 drive.

After this thread, I am now wondering if the Crucial MX300 m.2 would work in my motherboard as well. The manufacturer replying the questions from amazon said that it wouldn't work, but they gave the same response for your motherboard: https://www.amazon.com/forum/-/Tx1957QBGG4HQ7H/ref=ask_ql_ql_al_hza?asin=B01L80DH1Y

Looks like customers know more than the manufacturers.
Click to expand...
Read the response. It says you can get faster speeds with a pcie/NVMe drive. It does not say a SATA m. 2 drive will not work.

I suggest you do some more research so you know what is compatible and what you are looking for.
 
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The first response was from a customer, Which said:
The Asus Z170i Motherboard says its compatible with M.2 SATA or PCIE mode and type 2242,2260 or 2280. The Crucial is M.2 SATA type 2280 it will work. However your motherboards M.2 is compatible with PCIE 3.0. You can get faster speeds if you get a PCIE M.2 instead of a SATA M.2. Example Samsung 950 PRO M.2 PCIE is double speed of a Crucial MX300.​

The second response from the MANUFACTURER stated:
Thank you for contacting us today. No, this SSD is not compatible with your system.​

I thanked you for correcting me and I provided the source of for my mistake which came from the manufacturer
 
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