The most concise and easy to understand comparison I've seen yet. Had me going back to check my new-build part bin to ensure that I had, indeed, purchased the correct components. Thanks, I can breathe easy now.
Just sharing, when it comes to SSD, 3 criteria u guys should know: 1. Form factor : 2.5" and M.2 2. Interface/slot/port : SATA and PCIe 3. Protocol : SATA and NVME
@@gottabepablo If you see an M.2 drive with two notches in the connector instead of one, I think that means it's either a SATA drive, or a PCIe drive with only two lanes. I think it's physically the same connection? There are M.2 slots that support both or only one, anyway. But the same drive can't do both.
@@whyjay9959 I thought SATA is not only just a physical interface but also a protocol implemented in software that has to do with the drive controllers. So although an M.2 drives connector is etched for the PCIe interface, can't it not be configured to use either the NVMe protocol or the SATA protocol? (not the physical connection/interface)
I have a M.2 SSD 500Gb for the OS and I am very satisfied with it... not expensive, very fast and reliable. With HDD my PC took between 1 or 2 minutes to fully restart, but with M.2, it only takes 17 seconds and it´s ready to go.
@@dharmendra34061 it depends on what kind of motherboard you have and the type of PCIe slots it has. Older motherboards generally have a PCIe Gen 3 slot, newer ones (and the more expensive ones) have Gen 4 (which is twice as fast as 3 but in all honesty you don't need it unless you do heavy work on your PC like editing or gaming).
Great video. Building a new computer after 10 years (current one is still fine, but trying to get ahead of expected end of life limits of hardware). Coming from a "SSDs should only be for the OS" mentality, so very helpful.
Well, for gaming too, especially in raid, but expand memory to like 32GB if you have 16GB, and use a virtual memory drive to create a 'storage' for the virtual memory, that way, the OS can support virtual memory, which is to me pretty much obsolete, and yet required for most games or apps, while only using 16Gb of the ram for that. Yes, sounds non-logical, but virtual memory is still a widely used function, upon non present games and apps may either quit or run badly, exiting to desktop "memory full" message. (It makes no sense, that with 32 GB you'd get a message memory full, or simply app quit, and yet it happens.) (It's better to have 16GB memory and 16GB virtual, than 32 GB real with no virtual, which makes no sense.) (also, instead of using SSD as virtual memory, using the virtual drive (in memory) as virtual memory saves a whole bunch of SSD life, while still allowing for near maximum performance, but is less prone to SSD degradation by virtual memory.) It also prevents the OS from using up all the memory for 'better' performance, while the slow release usually kills the game.
M.2, 2.5" = type of form factor PCIe, SATA = type of bus connector (i.e. speed) NVME, AHCI = Protocols (i.e. bandwidth) SATA, regardless of form factor, uses the AHCI protocols. PCIe uses the NVME protocols.
I had found M. 2 back in 2015 when I purchased Asus Rog laptop. But that time it was only sata. So I bought sata m. 2 & it is still working like a charm
There are some 2-lane nvme drives ("PCI-e X2") that have two notches just like SATA so you can't always tell what it is just by looking at the notches.
I always thought M.2 drives were either PCIe or PCIe NVMe, where NVMe was just some kind of special version. Didn't realize it was SATA or PCIe (which IS just NVMe)! This video clears it up so much! Thank you! 😅
Great content but 4 years too late. Those PCIe blades (AHCI) have been outstanding, but you can not get them any more. Samsung 951 and the predecessor 941 hypetrain left the station in 2017.
Hello @robxlove We're hoping this helps you out! NVMe SSDs use the M.2 slot with a single notch (M key) or the PCIe slot for higher speeds. At the same time, SATA SSDs typically have a dual-notch (B+M key) connector for the M.2 slot, supporting older, slower technology. SATA M.2 SSDs do not use the PCIe interface; they use the SATA interface despite having the M.2 form factor. The dual-notch (B+M key) connector is designed to fit into M.2 slots that support SATA. Some M.2 slots support both PCIe (NVMe) and SATA SSDs. These slots can accept drives with either the single-notch (M key) for NVMe or the dual-notch (B+M key) for SATA. Kingston Is With You
I'm here from the future. All you guys still in 2022 watching this, know that NVMe has become more ubiquitous and M.2 Sata is barely a blip on the radar. Buy your next device with M.2 PCIe interface.
Great video. A little addition to your explanation : The 2 Notch Sata M.2 use's what's called the B-Key. The 1 notch PCIE [ NVME ) m.2 use's the M-Key. The M.2 socket's on the devices motherboard can be ; A B-key socket , A M-key socket or a combined socket that you can use either type of M.2 in that single socket.
Sitting here with a Macbook Pro from 2011, i'm talking about the ones with CD Drives and Hard Drives for storage. Thinking of a day when i can finally upgrade and be productive again without so much lag and incompatibility with everything. Sigh
I think the only place I've seen an M.2 SATA slot is in a slighty older laptop. Too old and it would only support a 2.5 inch SSD, newer may finally have PCIe/NVMe capability. Don't think I've ever seen a desktop motherboard with M.2 SATA, but I wouldn't put it past certain vendors to shave a few pennies off.
There are tons of mobos that support M.2 SATA especially in the low and mid range mainboard chipset series... Mid range series boards also support both SATA and NVMe, so look more closely, please.
I have PCIe M.2 in two of muh rigs, and a SATA SSD in muh main rig. All access your operating system (Windows or Linux) faster than mechanical drives, run programs very fast, and fetch files super fast.
Next video suggestion: educate viewers of the nvme ssd drive's MASSIVE Achille's Heel - the 'slc cache write hole'. So many nvme drives, even the latest pcie gen5, will drop their write speeds to WAAAAAAAY below even an hdd's speed when that cache runs out !!!!!
The lack of compatibility between M.2 SATA and M.2 PCIe is frustrating. For those of us that still have (perfectly useful) M.2 SATA laptops, the drives are getting harder to find.
@@twoshedsjackson6478 Huh. I kinda enjoy her voice! But I guess I could be a bit biased since I've come to associate it with content I enjoy over the years...
In practice on a typical PC the speed difference between SATA and NVMe doesn't tend to be very noticeable, at least to me, and only a few specialist applications, like heavyweight video editing might perform significantly better. However, for a desktop I would go for the NVMe option anyway as the use of a SATA m.2 card generally steals one of the SATA interfaces.
It's an order of magnitude faster than sata in games that constantly stream in assets as you play (on a slow drive, the game will have micro freezes minutes after the level is loaded while you play). Their best use case are in these games.
Something I have noticed with alot of sata ssd's is after some games have finished a loading screen the screen will be almost completely white for a split second then the colors revert back to normal a second later. I have never known a pcie ssd to do this.
i do about every 2 weeks 1st after cleaning temp folders etc then reboot pc goes faster again i use the free Revo uninstaller app deleting /cleaning out removing apps old files cleans any traces left behind so never any Conflicts with old files take your time to learn worth it pc runs like cloak work
It's such a huge difference between a SSD Sata m2 and a NVME m2 that by cloning with whatever program in Windows or Linux, from the first one, to the second one, you won't be able to boot from the second/cloned one! Try it if it sounds implausible!
@@toobskuiks116 Since I've already trryied it with a plenty of programs, and got the the evident results and you don't, go ahead and keep barking! How can ANYONE listen to you?! Besides that, other than that both can be acommodated in the same motherbords's slot, nothing I mean nothing else is the same one SSD to the other SSD's standards! So, get the heck outta here!
2.5" Sata SSD's are the best. Affordable and you do not have to worry about the thermals. You will not really notice the difference in Read/write speed (sata ssd vs m.2 nvme) if you're just playing games or browsing in your computer.
For a long time, I thought that the mid-2012 MacBook Pros were the last MacBooks to use SATA hard-drives. While they ARE the last MacBooks to use 2.5-inch SATA hard-drives, the early 2013 MacBook Pros (and mid-2012 MacBook Airs) were the last MacBooks to use SATA of any kind (a form of mSATA).
I was that guy sweating bullets. Guess, if you want the scoop on memory the Kingston memory experts are your guide. Excellent summary! Just wish you'd also discussed real world differences. I have a 2019 Dell 5060 desktop with only a long-in-tooth a HDD. It has an M.2 PCI 3 x4 and a couple SATA ports. In reality, how much faster would a M.2 PCI.3 x4 be over a SATA SSD for typical consumer/business use?
Thank you for the compliment! As for the difference The PCIe interface is generally faster, as the SATA 3.0 spec is limited to ~600MB/s maximum speed, while Gen 3 x4 lanes of up to 4000MB/s (depending on the host device). For more information please consult us via our Tech Support page: kings.tn/3DakQWz
1st! That out of the way, one thing this video did not address was which to use if you were making a USB bus powered external storage device. Use SATA, not NVMe. The USB port does not put out enough power for NVMe devices, but does for SATA.
These tests are always load times which m.2 and regular ssd load games the same. The biggest difference comes from stutter reduction/loading textures using a m2.
My 1TB Samsung SATA SSD can still boot my PC in 10-12 seconds, compared to the 2-4 minutes it takes a 5400rpm HDD to finish booting and readying programs to use. If you're using M.2, you wanna make sure you have a PCIe connection, as SATA is limited to 600mb/sec.
I've read many of these fast NVMe M.2 SSDs' self limit themselves on speed based on temperature - they overheat unless you add an internal cooling fan ?
Let's start by saying that in December 2022 we shipped out the last of our SATA M.2 SSDs, the A400 M.2. We no longer make SATA based M.2 SSDs and going forward all our M.2 SSDs are NVMe. But at the time, SATA M.2 SSDs used the SATA interface with a maximum data transfer rate of 6Gbps. If you want to check it out, visit our site here: kings.tn/4bAOjJ1
while we talk about performances for gaming always wil be in option to chose the better one who are in domain with speed so even if is not easy affordable ppl always at most gamer will patiently collect money for the best option for any component even if that is related to the disk.
Great presentation! Although, I still don't understand what my Asus Z170M-plus board mean by "M.2 X4" and "M.2 Socket 3", which you did mention in your presentation at 1:57. The manual states that the M.2 slot is an "M-key". Wikipedia says that M.2 SATA is an "M & B Key". Now, I know my board is old (PCIe x3) and it's very easy to get an M-key NVMe PCIe x3 SSD, but the mystery to me is...... Will the NVMe work on my mobo with the mysterious "M.2 X4 Socket 3" information?
@@ivanteo1973 Assuming you are even addressing my statement, perhaps you missed the part/failed to comprehend where I addressed *M.2 SATA* slots on mainboards...and not 'SATA' standards as a whole.
One question I had that I don't think was discussed was whether there is a difference between M.2 NVMe (which I guess is the same as PCIe? not sure) on a motherboard vs. M.2 NVMe on a PCIe expansion slot via an adapter card and if there are any issues like what kind of slot the adapter card is in or any other specs re: the card itself. I just bought an old computer with an M.2 slot but found out it's only for a PCI adapter assembly (Lenovo M900 tower computer) so I'm getting an M.2 adapter card for PCI Express card slot (physical link width x16; negotiable link width x4, x1) so I can use an M.2 NVMe SSD. The card is supposed to fit in PCIe X4 or X8 or X16 slots.
Hello there the NVMe SSD is the Bus interface while the PCIe would be the physical/logical interface. If you are going to use an adapter make sure you check the specifications of the manufacture to make sure it can accommodate an M.2 NVMe 2280 SSD. Also we found a posting pertaining to using an NVMe SSD and adapter on your system: kings.tn/3KP5eLq
4:00 well the script could have added that the SATA protocol still exists because NVMe is only impressive with large file transfers, not on loading games, system updates, or app installation where the SATA can keep up.
@@wstritt you are referring to a SATA HDD. I'm referring to an SSD with SATA interface vs NVME. Only few second difference in game loads and it has more to do with the newer SSDs vs old ones....check yourself in old articles/benchmarks.
Gaming: NVMe M.2 - lays flat on the board. Some will be located on the back of the main board (motherboard) some will be located on the front. To simplify - it's all about moving information quickly from point a to point b. Think of it as a highway - more lanes fit more information - where will you notice it most? Gaming - high amounts of data transfer. When there's a lot going on, you need fast read and write times, which equals speed and efficiency. Hope this helps explain the process a bit.
So even though, I am familiar with some of the facts, I didn't know about the two notches for the SATA M.2 drives, so kudos for teaching me something new! I am using three KC3000 1TB drives as a RAID0 device on both my computers. At peak levels, those drives reach up to 22.000MB/s read and 17.000MB/s write speed. If I had a bigger budget, I would have chosen the RENEGADE drives instead. Before I forget, can you please bring back OPAL 2.0 encryption for the KC3000 series of drives please?
Greetings from Sweden! You, Ma'am, just got yourself a new subscriber and a like 🎉 Very useful info now that I'm into pc building again after 10 years of not being into it 😅
my old wd blue sn520 512GB NVMe drive had two notches (also known as ngff form factor). And it worked with my old Asrock Fatality 990fx Killer Motherboard.
@@wayland7150 SATA/AHCI maxes out @560MB/s, while PCIe/NVMe ...well, 2 years ago was Gen3@3600, today Gen4@7400 and new Gen5 already announced with 13000/12000 read/write speeds. (14500 theoretically possible with future Gen5 SSDs) and in 2-3 years Gen6 will max out at ~29 GB/s.
Hi sister, I got hp15-da0030ni, i5-8250u notebook laptop. I'm asking which one is compatible SSD or NVMe to replace HDD on my notebook and improve speed?
TLDR : - if you are using old mobo that has only pcie 2.0 , save all the trouble and only get 2.5 sata ssd because the speed will still gated at 600MB/s no matter how fast your nvme ssd works. theres a risk your nvme wont be useable without casing in the old system - old mobo with pcie 2.0 cannot boot from nvme drive, you can only use nvme ssd as storage alone. unless you have newer, modified mobo that able to do it. lately there are many modified mobo capable for mounting several gen of intel cpu, some has modified bios capable to read nvme drive using older cpu - you can try use pcie switch and it will cost more than just upgrading your mobo to newer version
Hi there if your computer only has one PCIE connector check to see if it has a dedicated M.2 NVMe port for an SSD, then you could be able to add your graphics card and SSD without an M.2 Adapter for PCIE. If you have more questions, please visit our Support Page: kings.tn/3LrQYsi Thank you
This looks like the motherboard has stated what type of M.2 SSD is supported on that board. If you are looking for more specifics like which one we recommend, please visit our site here: kings.tn/4f0RDyc
Thank you for your question, your laptop will only be able to use a M.2 NVMe drive if it explicitly states it has a native port to accommodate it. You can check with the manufacture for specific details on this, or you can check our part selector here to see what we have available for your system: kings.tn/3Ug1Zk4
I've got a slot for an M.2 2242 SATA SSD (B Key) and a slot for a 2.5" SATA SSD, which of these drives is faster, and which one could be recommended to install Windows on? (PS: I want to install Windows on the faster one)
Thank you for your consideration on your next upgrade. Now since we only offer M.2 2280 NVMe drives for post-purchase options, your best bet would be our KC600 2.5" SATA drive for your current model. Please visit our site here for ore info: kings.tn/3w2LCQb
Since you were asking about which drive is faster and the M.2 2242 NVMe was not an option, for SATA drives, the KC600 offers slightly better baseline performance compared to the A400 or Q500. If you have further questions, please visit our site here and chat with our Tech Support: kings.tn/3we3rfq Thank you
We suggest you first check to see if your motherboard supports both m.2 SATA and NVMe in that slot or any other M.2 slot. If it does not, then you would have to upgrade your motherboard to a newer model that does have a native m.2 NVMe port.
Thank you for your inquiry and there is a lot of information about that so if you need supplemental info to this video, please visit our site here to learn more: kings.tn/3flntfs
PCIe is a standard bus interface that works with many things, video cards, audio cards, ethernet cards, RAID cards, and solid state drives (SSDs). NVMe, is an interface specification for communication with next generation form factor (NGFF) and solid state drives, and functionally, a PCIe bus. More inf here on 'M.2 SSDs explained': kings.tn/3flntfs
@@kingston You should rename that page you linked to “M.2 SSDs explained, except for NVME” because NVME is not mentioned at all. And again thank you for the reply, but it didn’t answer my question. When I see an M.2 SSD labeled as PCI-e and the next M.2 SSD is labeled NVME PCI-e, what is the difference between those two drives?
Ok it sounds like you are requesting further details, so please contact our Tech Support Team where we can discuss with you more. You can chat or email us here kings.tn/3y3V6c6 Thank you
Does Kingston Technologies @kingston sell a PCI-ex1 to PCIe M.2 or PCI-ex16 to PCIe M.2 adapter? My computer is old and did not come with either a SATA M.2 SSD or PCIe M.2, but I would still like to upgrade to get some more speed affordably out of my old desktop.
Very clear and helpful video. I have a rather strange question, hope it makes sense. I have a 7 year old desktop with a 2TB HDD. I am thinking about upgrading to an all new desktop, but not immediately. Could I transfer the 2TB HDD to an M.2 NVMe and use in the old system (at reduced performance of course) with an adaptor, and then move to the new system once I purchase / build it? Thank you.
Hello Bruce, if you are trying to upgrade your HDD to an SSD you can essentially clone your old drive to your new one. Granted the actual used space on your current HDD will not surpass the capacity or your new one. For example your 2TB HDD only has about ~700GB of actual storage used, and your new SSD is 1.92TB you should be ok. If you have further questions please feel free to reach out to us here: kings.tn/3AyDqY4
Nice video, I am still unsure though, I have a sata m.2 ssd (Sandisk SSD X400 M.2 2280) that is 6-pin (2 notches) would an enclosure that supports both m&b 6 pin PCIE and M-key PCIE work for it even if the drive is not PCIE or i need to get an enclosure that is not for pcie? I am asking because if PCIE supports it i would rather get that as i may use it again for another drive that is PCIE in the future.
When I got my motherboard (Asus Prime B350 Plus) I almost threw out the little screw. Hopefully I did in fact save it. I have not evolved out of my 2 SATA hard discs yet. One used to give me errors, but I moved it to a cpu SATA port and it stopped. Apparently those you can only have the m2 in or the drive, not both.
I took my card out and it has the 2 notches as shown in your video. Does that mean my driver will not accept the one notch card (PCIe) ? I just checked my laptop's specs and for hard drive it says: PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD Form Factor 2280. So now I'm really confused because it has 2 notches!
The B+M keys on an M.2 SSD allow for cross-compatibility on various motherboards if the appropriate SSDs protocol is supported (SATA or PCIe). For more information refer back to your motherboard manufacturer's website.
I have a samsung nvme 980 and a 980 pro. Samsung magician app does not "see" them. In "drive health" all i get is "N/A. As i understand it, it's bios related. If someone is kind enough to tell me what setting, i think in "NVMe configuration" must i change so that samsung magician displays all data related to both ssd's? Thanks a bunch in advance.
Hi there thank you for your comment on our video. We would suggest you reach out to the manufacturer of the SSD to get further assistance on their program. If you would like to check out our SSD selection, you can also visit us here: kings.tn/3HZnqkz
Hi Geo if you verified the drive already and are having issues with it, we suggest you reach out to the manufacturer's support team for further assistance on this.
The most concise and easy to understand comparison I've seen yet. Had me going back to check my new-build part bin to ensure that I had, indeed, purchased the correct components. Thanks, I can breathe easy now.
I just did the same thing 🤭😂
Just sharing, when it comes to SSD, 3 criteria u guys should know:
1. Form factor : 2.5" and M.2
2. Interface/slot/port : SATA and PCIe
3. Protocol : SATA and NVME
So is it possible to have an M.2 PCIe SSD using the SATA protocol ?
@@gottabepablo wouldnt you need the connection of the m2 to be sata (physically speaking) in order to use its protocol?
Thank you!
@@gottabepablo If you see an M.2 drive with two notches in the connector instead of one, I think that means it's either a SATA drive, or a PCIe drive with only two lanes. I think it's physically the same connection? There are M.2 slots that support both or only one, anyway. But the same drive can't do both.
@@whyjay9959 I thought SATA is not only just a physical interface but also a protocol implemented in software that has to do with the drive controllers. So although an M.2 drives connector is etched for the PCIe interface, can't it not be configured to use either the NVMe protocol or the SATA protocol? (not the physical connection/interface)
I have a M.2 SSD 500Gb for the OS and I am very satisfied with it... not expensive, very fast and reliable. With HDD my PC took between 1 or 2 minutes to fully restart, but with M.2, it only takes 17 seconds and it´s ready to go.
What pci version is required for the same..
@@dharmendra34061 it depends on what kind of motherboard you have and the type of PCIe slots it has. Older motherboards generally have a PCIe Gen 3 slot, newer ones (and the more expensive ones) have Gen 4 (which is twice as fast as 3 but in all honesty you don't need it unless you do heavy work on your PC like editing or gaming).
Mine boots to only 3 seconds...which is insane
Great video. Building a new computer after 10 years (current one is still fine, but trying to get ahead of expected end of life limits of hardware). Coming from a "SSDs should only be for the OS" mentality, so very helpful.
Well, for gaming too, especially in raid, but expand memory to like 32GB if you have 16GB, and use a virtual memory drive to create a 'storage' for the virtual memory, that way, the OS can support virtual memory, which is to me pretty much obsolete, and yet required for most games or apps, while only using 16Gb of the ram for that.
Yes, sounds non-logical, but virtual memory is still a widely used function, upon non present games and apps may either quit or run badly, exiting to desktop "memory full" message.
(It makes no sense, that with 32 GB you'd get a message memory full, or simply app quit, and yet it happens.)
(It's better to have 16GB memory and 16GB virtual, than 32 GB real with no virtual, which makes no sense.)
(also, instead of using SSD as virtual memory, using the virtual drive (in memory) as virtual memory saves a whole bunch of SSD life, while still allowing for near maximum performance, but is less prone to SSD degradation by virtual memory.) It also prevents the OS from using up all the memory for 'better' performance, while the slow release usually kills the game.
The stick of gum SLAYED me, thank you! :D
I thought I was chewing on the right thing, guess not.
Really ??🤔
This is the best video explaining it easily I've come across on TH-cam. Well done.
agree.
Answered my questions 🙂
Plus she's hot, so that's nice
with one contradiction
@@mikeymcmikeface5599 Man, you shouldn't say that and don't elaborate, it looks random.
M.2, 2.5" = type of form factor
PCIe, SATA = type of bus connector (i.e. speed)
NVME, AHCI = Protocols (i.e. bandwidth)
SATA, regardless of form factor, uses the AHCI protocols. PCIe uses the NVME protocols.
I had found M. 2 back in 2015 when I purchased Asus Rog laptop.
But that time it was only sata.
So I bought sata m. 2 & it is still working like a charm
There are some 2-lane nvme drives ("PCI-e X2") that have two notches just like SATA so you can't always tell what it is just by looking at the notches.
I happen to have one. 😀😀😀
Just to confuse matters, there are also NVMe drives with both B Key and M Key (Two notches), but they use two PCIe lanes and not four. 🤷♂
The infamous BM
I always thought M.2 drives were either PCIe or PCIe NVMe, where NVMe was just some kind of special version. Didn't realize it was SATA or PCIe (which IS just NVMe)!
This video clears it up so much! Thank you! 😅
Great content but 4 years too late. Those PCIe blades (AHCI) have been outstanding, but you can not get them any more. Samsung 951 and the predecessor 941 hypetrain left the station in 2017.
Thank you for explaining the differences in interface, with two holes vs one hole for NVMe vs PCIe
Hello @robxlove
We're hoping this helps you out!
NVMe SSDs use the M.2 slot with a single notch (M key) or the PCIe slot for higher speeds. At the same time, SATA SSDs typically have a dual-notch (B+M key) connector for the M.2 slot, supporting older, slower technology.
SATA M.2 SSDs do not use the PCIe interface; they use the SATA interface despite having the M.2 form factor. The dual-notch (B+M key) connector is designed to fit into M.2 slots that support SATA.
Some M.2 slots support both PCIe (NVMe) and SATA SSDs. These slots can accept drives with either the single-notch (M key) for NVMe or the dual-notch (B+M key) for SATA.
Kingston Is With You
I'm here from the future. All you guys still in 2022 watching this, know that NVMe has become more ubiquitous and M.2 Sata is barely a blip on the radar. Buy your next device with M.2 PCIe interface.
Great video. A little addition to your explanation : The 2 Notch Sata M.2 use's what's called the B-Key. The 1 notch PCIE [ NVME ) m.2 use's the M-Key. The M.2 socket's on the devices motherboard can be ; A B-key socket , A M-key socket or a combined socket that you can use either type of M.2 in that single socket.
Thanks for your comment, and we have more information like this available here: kings.tn/3Io874P
Sitting here with a Macbook Pro from 2011, i'm talking about the ones with CD Drives and Hard Drives for storage. Thinking of a day when i can finally upgrade and be productive again without so much lag and incompatibility with everything. Sigh
I think the only place I've seen an M.2 SATA slot is in a slighty older laptop. Too old and it would only support a 2.5 inch SSD, newer may finally have PCIe/NVMe capability.
Don't think I've ever seen a desktop motherboard with M.2 SATA, but I wouldn't put it past certain vendors to shave a few pennies off.
I have a gigabyte mobo that supports Sata m.2 - use it for mining with hiveos, I also have a USB enclosure for reformatting the sata m.2 drive
2021 modern of asus and msi, Acer still have M.2 SATA
There are tons of mobos that support M.2 SATA especially in the low and mid range mainboard chipset series... Mid range series boards also support both SATA and NVMe, so look more closely, please.
I have a fairly recent MSI motherboard that has one pci m.2 and one sata m.2.
I have PCIe M.2 in two of muh rigs, and a SATA SSD in muh main rig. All access your operating system (Windows or Linux) faster than mechanical drives, run programs very fast, and fetch files super fast.
Thanks a bunch, this is what I needed. While I had found another video explaining it. This one was much easier for me to understand.
Next video suggestion: educate viewers of the nvme ssd drive's MASSIVE Achille's Heel - the 'slc cache write hole'. So many nvme drives, even the latest pcie gen5, will drop their write speeds to WAAAAAAAY below even an hdd's speed when that cache runs out !!!!!
Finally 🥰 A video with the facts, Two versus One slot narrows it down in 3 words. Thanks
The lack of compatibility between M.2 SATA and M.2 PCIe is frustrating. For those of us that still have (perfectly useful) M.2 SATA laptops, the drives are getting harder to find.
If you are looking for an M.2 SATA SSD we have the A400 M.2 here: kings.tn/3NR35z6
Wow! Trisha really is perfect for videos like these!
No she's not, her voice is the most annoying grating sound on Earth.
@@twoshedsjackson6478 Huh. I kinda enjoy her voice! But I guess I could be a bit biased since I've come to associate it with content I enjoy over the years...
A2000 (1TB) & KC2500 (2TB) owner here. PCIe all the way baby!
In practice on a typical PC the speed difference between SATA and NVMe doesn't tend to be very noticeable, at least to me, and only a few specialist applications, like heavyweight video editing might perform significantly better. However, for a desktop I would go for the NVMe option anyway as the use of a SATA m.2 card generally steals one of the SATA interfaces.
It's an order of magnitude faster than sata in games that constantly stream in assets as you play (on a slow drive, the game will have micro freezes minutes after the level is loaded while you play). Their best use case are in these games.
GREAT VIDEO. MY DOUBT WAS CLEARED.
Something I have noticed with alot of sata ssd's is after some games have finished a loading screen the screen will be almost completely white for a split second then the colors revert back to normal a second later. I have never known a pcie ssd to do this.
She sounds like Velma from that one live-action Scooby-Doo movie 😗
Hey, she was from sourcefednerd. She and Meg Turney were so awesome on sourcefednerd.
I wonder what Meg is doing now?
I have the same 2,5' SSD, and it's very cool for my PC, and me.
Easy way to optimise your M2 ssd - Win10 > file explorer >C: folder > properties > tools > optimize your M2 5 secs done no apps needed
i do about every 2 weeks 1st after cleaning temp folders etc then reboot pc goes faster again
i use the free Revo uninstaller app deleting /cleaning out removing apps old files
cleans any traces left behind so never any Conflicts with old files
take your time to learn worth it pc runs like cloak work
It's such a huge difference between a SSD Sata m2 and a NVME m2 that by cloning with whatever program in Windows or Linux, from the first one, to the second one, you won't be able to boot from the second/cloned one! Try it if it sounds implausible!
False.
@@toobskuiks116 Since I've already trryied it with a plenty of programs, and got the the evident results and you don't, go ahead and keep barking! How can ANYONE listen to you?! Besides that, other than that both can be acommodated in the same motherbords's slot, nothing I mean nothing else is the same one SSD to the other SSD's standards! So, get the heck outta here!
@@toobskuiks116 False?! Which is falser YOU or what I am saying that can prove of?!
2.5" Sata SSD's are the best. Affordable and you do not have to worry about the thermals.
You will not really notice the difference in Read/write speed (sata ssd vs m.2 nvme) if you're just playing games or browsing in your computer.
For a long time, I thought that the mid-2012 MacBook Pros were the last MacBooks to use SATA hard-drives. While they ARE the last MacBooks to use 2.5-inch SATA hard-drives, the early 2013 MacBook Pros (and mid-2012 MacBook Airs) were the last MacBooks to use SATA of any kind (a form of mSATA).
thanks, i was so lost about this topic and this video really helped me
Great video. The pin-slot connector really through me off once when I bought an adapter that could only do SATA M.2.
threw*
There actually are some NVMe M.2 drives that have two notches like the SATA M.2 drives commonly do; they're rare, but do exist.
What are these for?
There's just something soothingly more pleasing about watching a woman review tech than listening to some gruff fella, no offense to gruff fellas! 😅
I was that guy sweating bullets. Guess, if you want the scoop on memory the Kingston memory experts are your guide. Excellent summary! Just wish you'd also discussed real world differences. I have a 2019 Dell 5060 desktop with only a long-in-tooth a HDD. It has an M.2 PCI 3 x4 and a couple SATA ports. In reality, how much faster would a M.2 PCI.3 x4 be over a SATA SSD for typical consumer/business use?
Thank you for the compliment! As for the difference The PCIe interface is generally faster, as the SATA 3.0 spec is limited to ~600MB/s maximum speed, while Gen 3 x4 lanes of up to 4000MB/s (depending on the host device). For more information please consult us via our Tech Support page: kings.tn/3DakQWz
This presenter speaks so fast I have to repeatedly rewind. This is a very respectful comment.
1st!
That out of the way, one thing this video did not address was which to use if you were making a USB bus powered external storage device. Use SATA, not NVMe. The USB port does not put out enough power for NVMe devices, but does for SATA.
I have a bunch of external SSDs, SATA@USB3.0, NVMe @USB3.2 Gen2/Gen2x2,USB4.0... all of them have no issues.
@@Wlad1 I should have clarified. I was meaning NVMe via USB 2.0 and 3.0 buses.
I have a small usb enclosure that can run nvme m.2 Gen 3 drives
@@xlr555usa bus powered or self powered? If bus powered, can you run it on USB 2.0 or 3.0 buses? That was what I was referring to in my original post.
@@baddmatt9588 it works on usb 3.0 or higher
These tests are always load times which m.2 and regular ssd load games the same. The biggest difference comes from stutter reduction/loading textures using a m2.
Nice and concise. I wish I have checked out this video before buying the wrong ssd :))
My 1TB Samsung SATA SSD can still boot my PC in 10-12 seconds, compared to the 2-4 minutes it takes a 5400rpm HDD to finish booting and readying programs to use. If you're using M.2, you wanna make sure you have a PCIe connection, as SATA is limited to 600mb/sec.
I've read many of these fast NVMe M.2 SSDs' self limit themselves on speed based on temperature - they overheat unless you add an internal cooling fan ?
In most cases cheap thin cooling sink does the job. But almost all mainboards have already one pre-installed.
Have you ever rated what SATA M.2 SSD (2 notch) memory is the fastest and all-around best. I can't find really anything about it.
Let's start by saying that in December 2022 we shipped out the last of our SATA M.2 SSDs, the A400 M.2. We no longer make SATA based M.2 SSDs and going forward all our M.2 SSDs are NVMe. But at the time, SATA M.2 SSDs used the SATA interface with a maximum data transfer rate of 6Gbps. If you want to check it out, visit our site here: kings.tn/4bAOjJ1
while we talk about performances for gaming always wil be in option to chose the better one who are in domain with speed so even if is not easy affordable ppl always at most gamer will patiently collect money for the best option for any component even if that is related to the disk.
What camera are you using to film this? The quality is amazing!
Great presentation! Although, I still don't understand what my Asus Z170M-plus board mean by "M.2 X4" and "M.2 Socket 3", which you did mention in your presentation at 1:57. The manual states that the M.2 slot is an "M-key". Wikipedia says that M.2 SATA is an "M & B Key". Now, I know my board is old (PCIe x3) and it's very easy to get an M-key NVMe PCIe x3 SSD, but the mystery to me is...... Will the NVMe work on my mobo with the mysterious "M.2 X4 Socket 3" information?
M.2 SATA is just a complete wasted slot...; all slots should be dual NVME/SATA capable, or, NVME only...
Yes, it should be this way men 😅😂😂
Clearly you don’t understand why it SATA exist.
@@ivanteo1973 Assuming you are even addressing my statement, perhaps you missed the part/failed to comprehend where I addressed *M.2 SATA* slots on mainboards...and not 'SATA' standards as a whole.
@@mdd1963 then you really dont know why M.2 SATA exist
@@ivanteo1973
Why it exist?
It took me a while before i realised these arent her arms anymore.😅 1:06
I come for the info, stay for the eyecandy!
Best explanation and difference on those ssd.
One question I had that I don't think was discussed was whether there is a difference between M.2 NVMe (which I guess is the same as PCIe? not sure) on a motherboard vs. M.2 NVMe on a PCIe expansion slot via an adapter card and if there are any issues like what kind of slot the adapter card is in or any other specs re: the card itself. I just bought an old computer with an M.2 slot but found out it's only for a PCI adapter assembly (Lenovo M900 tower computer) so I'm getting an M.2 adapter card for PCI Express card slot (physical link width x16; negotiable link width x4, x1) so I can use an M.2 NVMe SSD. The card is supposed to fit in PCIe X4 or X8 or X16 slots.
Hello there the NVMe SSD is the Bus interface while the PCIe would be the physical/logical interface. If you are going to use an adapter make sure you check the specifications of the manufacture to make sure it can accommodate an M.2 NVMe 2280 SSD. Also we found a posting pertaining to using an NVMe SSD and adapter on your system: kings.tn/3KP5eLq
4:00 well the script could have added that the SATA protocol still exists because NVMe is only impressive with large file transfers, not on loading games, system updates, or app installation where the SATA can keep up.
that's... not true?
@@afriendofafriend5766 just read any SSD review on Toms hardware
try to load 4K ms flight sim textures on SATA and on nvme pcie and ull see if the game is loading faster
Don’t listen to this guy, he has no clue what he’s saying. Play a game with a huge file and you’ll notice a difference between SATA and NVME
@@wstritt you are referring to a SATA HDD. I'm referring to an SSD with SATA interface vs NVME. Only few second difference in game loads and it has more to do with the newer SSDs vs old ones....check yourself in old articles/benchmarks.
Connection matters for quality products. Might as well take advantage of the faster connection of PCIe
Gaming: NVMe M.2 - lays flat on the board.
Some will be located on the back of the main board (motherboard) some will be located on the front.
To simplify - it's all about moving information quickly from point a to point b.
Think of it as a highway - more lanes fit more information - where will you notice it most?
Gaming - high amounts of data transfer.
When there's a lot going on, you need fast read and write times, which equals speed and efficiency.
Hope this helps explain the process a bit.
The difference is simply “speed”. M.2 Sata is the same speed as SSD’s.
Once I installed an Envy ME card, things sped up significantly.
So even though, I am familiar with some of the facts, I didn't know about the two notches for the SATA M.2 drives, so kudos for teaching me something new!
I am using three KC3000 1TB drives as a RAID0 device on both my computers. At peak levels, those drives reach up to 22.000MB/s read and 17.000MB/s write speed. If I had a bigger budget, I would have chosen the RENEGADE drives instead.
Before I forget, can you please bring back OPAL 2.0 encryption for the KC3000 series of drives please?
the thing is is that its hard to find motherboard with the 5 so i can reach my true potential of my t700 crucial 4tb 12k read drive
This clears up alot of confusion
Greetings from Sweden!
You, Ma'am, just got yourself a new subscriber and a like 🎉
Very useful info now that I'm into pc building again after 10 years of not being into it 😅
my old wd blue sn520 512GB NVMe drive had two notches (also known as ngff form factor). And it worked with my old Asrock Fatality 990fx Killer Motherboard.
I like how she slipped in NVMe as a descriptive after defining PCIe and SATA but didn’t bother to define or explain it lol
She got the important point across; SATA M.2 500MB/s and NVMe 7000MB/s
@@wayland7150 SATA/AHCI maxes out @560MB/s, while PCIe/NVMe ...well, 2 years ago was Gen3@3600, today Gen4@7400 and new Gen5 already announced with 13000/12000 read/write speeds. (14500 theoretically possible with future Gen5 SSDs) and in 2-3 years Gen6 will max out at ~29 GB/s.
Transfer speeds are measured in Megabits per second (Mbps) - not Megabytes per second (MB/s)
Gen 4, go for bigger than 500GB you'll get more performance.
Hi sister, I got hp15-da0030ni, i5-8250u notebook laptop. I'm asking which one is compatible SSD or NVMe to replace HDD on my notebook and improve speed?
Hello and thank you for your inquiry. You can visit our site here to check out the available SSD upgrades for your model here: kings.tn/48Y126N
Very clear concise explanation. And very cute you! Thank you.
Will you be wearing this same librarian outfit for Hallowee?
TLDR :
- if you are using old mobo that has only pcie 2.0 , save all the trouble and only get 2.5 sata ssd because the speed will still gated at 600MB/s no matter how fast your nvme ssd works. theres a risk your nvme wont be useable without casing in the old system
- old mobo with pcie 2.0 cannot boot from nvme drive, you can only use nvme ssd as storage alone. unless you have newer, modified mobo that able to do it. lately there are many modified mobo capable for mounting several gen of intel cpu, some has modified bios capable to read nvme drive using older cpu
- you can try use pcie switch and it will cost more than just upgrading your mobo to newer version
so if I have nvme m2, I can't use my graphic card if I have only one PCIE?
Hi there if your computer only has one PCIE connector check to see if it has a dedicated M.2 NVMe port for an SSD, then you could be able to add your graphics card and SSD without an M.2 Adapter for PCIE. If you have more questions, please visit our Support Page: kings.tn/3LrQYsi
Thank you
Can you please tell me what does this mean - 1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe x4/x2* SSD support)
This looks like the motherboard has stated what type of M.2 SSD is supported on that board. If you are looking for more specifics like which one we recommend, please visit our site here: kings.tn/4f0RDyc
I have a laptop that's from 2017 and has a sata m.2 ssd but how do I know if I can upgrade to a PCIe m.2 ssd?
Thank you for your question, your laptop will only be able to use a M.2 NVMe drive if it explicitly states it has a native port to accommodate it. You can check with the manufacture for specific details on this, or you can check our part selector here to see what we have available for your system: kings.tn/3Ug1Zk4
Excellent video. Clear and consise.
Q. I have a 2TB SSD PCIe drive. Should I create 1 partition? 1+1 TB.
Any benefits on doing so?
Thank you!
Man I'm hungry for a berger all of a sudden
If I buy this new m2 memory and have a decade old motherboard with pcie slot, will it work in there?
I've got a slot for an M.2 2242 SATA SSD (B Key) and a slot for a 2.5" SATA SSD, which of these drives is faster, and which one could be recommended to install Windows on? (PS: I want to install Windows on the faster one)
Thank you for your consideration on your next upgrade. Now since we only offer M.2 2280 NVMe drives for post-purchase options, your best bet would be our KC600 2.5" SATA drive for your current model. Please visit our site here for ore info: kings.tn/3w2LCQb
@@kingston Thanks, but why the KC600 though? Why not the A400 or Q500
Since you were asking about which drive is faster and the M.2 2242 NVMe was not an option, for SATA drives, the KC600 offers slightly better baseline performance compared to the A400 or Q500. If you have further questions, please visit our site here and chat with our Tech Support: kings.tn/3we3rfq
Thank you
well that cleared that up for me , nice n simple . thanks
How about my slot is SATA M.2 but i want NVME? What should i do?
Change motherboard.
We suggest you first check to see if your motherboard supports both m.2 SATA and NVMe in that slot or any other M.2 slot. If it does not, then you would have to upgrade your motherboard to a newer model that does have a native m.2 NVMe port.
What’s the difference between PCI-e and NVME PCI-e?
Thank you for your inquiry and there is a lot of information about that so if you need supplemental info to this video, please visit our site here to learn more: kings.tn/3flntfs
@@kingston Thanks for the reply, but that really didn't help.
PCIe is a standard bus interface that works with many things, video cards, audio cards, ethernet cards, RAID cards, and solid state drives (SSDs). NVMe, is an interface specification for communication with next generation form factor (NGFF) and solid state drives, and functionally, a PCIe bus. More inf here on 'M.2 SSDs explained': kings.tn/3flntfs
@@kingston You should rename that page you linked to “M.2 SSDs explained, except for NVME” because NVME is not mentioned at all.
And again thank you for the reply, but it didn’t answer my question. When I see an M.2 SSD labeled as PCI-e and the next M.2 SSD is labeled NVME PCI-e, what is the difference between those two drives?
Ok it sounds like you are requesting further details, so please contact our Tech Support Team where we can discuss with you more. You can chat or email us here kings.tn/3y3V6c6
Thank you
i have an extra m.2 slot in my mini pc, if i want to use a 2.5 ssd what adapter should i use?
We don't test adapters for compatibility, however you can search online for a M.2 to SATA connector with good ratings and try it out on your system.
Does Kingston Technologies @kingston sell a PCI-ex1 to PCIe M.2 or PCI-ex16 to PCIe M.2 adapter?
My computer is old and did not come with either a SATA M.2 SSD or PCIe M.2, but I would still like to upgrade to get some more speed affordably out of my old desktop.
Hello Justin,
We do not sell any PCIe M.2 adapters.
Very clear and helpful video. I have a rather strange question, hope it makes sense. I have a 7 year old desktop with a 2TB HDD. I am thinking about upgrading to an all new desktop, but not immediately. Could I transfer the 2TB HDD to an M.2 NVMe and use in the old system (at reduced performance of course) with an adaptor, and then move to the new system once I purchase / build it?
Thank you.
Just put 2tb in the new computer , 2tb nvme are expensive , back it up first
There are external USB adapters that are easy to use.
Hello Bruce, if you are trying to upgrade your HDD to an SSD you can essentially clone your old drive to your new one. Granted the actual used space on your current HDD will not surpass the capacity or your new one. For example your 2TB HDD only has about ~700GB of actual storage used, and your new SSD is 1.92TB you should be ok. If you have further questions please feel free to reach out to us here: kings.tn/3AyDqY4
Nice video, I am still unsure though, I have a sata m.2 ssd (Sandisk SSD X400 M.2 2280) that is 6-pin (2 notches) would an enclosure that supports both m&b 6 pin PCIE and M-key PCIE work for it even if the drive is not PCIE or i need to get an enclosure that is not for pcie? I am asking because if PCIE supports it i would rather get that as i may use it again for another drive that is PCIE in the future.
When I got my motherboard (Asus Prime B350 Plus) I almost threw out the little screw. Hopefully I did in fact save it. I have not evolved out of my 2 SATA hard discs yet. One used to give me errors, but I moved it to a cpu SATA port and it stopped. Apparently those you can only have the m2 in or the drive, not both.
I took my card out and it has the 2 notches as shown in your video. Does that mean my driver will not accept the one notch card (PCIe) ?
I just checked my laptop's specs and for hard drive it says: PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD Form Factor 2280. So now I'm really confused because it has 2 notches!
The B+M keys on an M.2 SSD allow for cross-compatibility on various motherboards if the appropriate SSDs protocol is supported (SATA or PCIe). For more information refer back to your motherboard manufacturer's website.
I have a samsung nvme 980 and a 980 pro. Samsung magician app does not "see" them. In "drive health" all i get is "N/A. As i understand it, it's bios related. If someone is kind enough to tell me what setting, i think in "NVMe configuration" must i change so that samsung magician displays all data related to both ssd's? Thanks a bunch in advance.
Hi there thank you for your comment on our video. We would suggest you reach out to the manufacturer of the SSD to get further assistance on their program. If you would like to check out our SSD selection, you can also visit us here: kings.tn/3HZnqkz
Thank you so much for easy explanation spent last 30 min trying to figure this out on Google couldn't get a clear answer until I saw this, thank you
Happy to help!
Question, which one would taste better? pcie or SATA flavored gum?
i bought a crucial m.2 pcie and cant get it to activate or format but the disk manager sees it but fails to activate…need some setting?
Hi Geo if you verified the drive already and are having issues with it, we suggest you reach out to the manufacturer's support team for further assistance on this.
Didnt you used to work for a differnt channel? Or you were on that d and d show on pluto?
danke danke !!! excellent info for those beginners !!!
Great info. Are there any considerations for connecting to a Samsung Tablet?
Hi there if you need to connect a Type-C External drive we have the XS2000 on our website here: kings.tn/3AUg0Lv
And i have a seagate barracuda 1tb hdd (yes it has platters in it lol) that works amazing today along side my crucial ssd.
Pero no vienen con el sujetador. Compre una y no hayo sujetador para atornillarlo a la placa base.
Thank you. I know what I'm looking at now.
4 tb m.2 internal and 4 tb external ssd life is great.
Excelente la información, precisa y detallada.
why was Gen 5 not mentioned?
Bacause there is no Gen5-SSD from Kingston yet :))