Looking for advice on a solid state drive

tone12 · 22 Jul 2023 at 12:08

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice on buying my 1st ever ssd. i know next to zero about these things so any advice would be great. My MB is from 2017 so i'm hoping that wont be an issue as i don't plan on upgrading the MB for at least another year at the earliest.

I'm a pc gaming enthusiast if that makes a difference on what ssd to go for.

My motherboard is a GA-Z270X-Gaming 7 (rev. 1.0)

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z270X-Gaming-7-rev-10#kf

Any help would be much appreciated.

mi9tchy · 22 Jul 2023 at 19:55

if its your first ssd anything you get will be massively faster than any HDD.

SSD prices have dropped quite a bit recently so worth looking for a bargin and stay to brand names unless you dont mind losing the data.

keep in mind the board you have is limited to PCI-e Gen 3.0 speeds but will still work with PCI-e 4.0 drives.

at the top end which will be limited on your motherboard are the Samsung 990Pro, Western Digistal SN850X, Corsair MP600 Pro.

Middle - Western Digital BLACK SN770, Crucial P3 Plus

Low - WD Green SN350, Samsung 970 EVO

Tetras · 22 Jul 2023 at 20:47

At the moment, most of the deals are on larger capacities, but do you have the budget?

Is this going to be a boot/OS drive, or only extra storage for games?

If it is only storage for games, then I'd get the 1TB SN570; in the datasheet it is TLC at all capacities and the 1TB version is rated for 600 TBW. If we compare to the Kingston NV2, it has 2 year shorter warranty (3 vs 5), is only rated for 320 TBW (1TB) and may use QLC.

Snapshot · 23 Jul 2023 at 09:04

You need to understand that there are two basic types of SSD. There's the 2.5" SATA version which is a direct replacement for your current HDD and M.2 NVMe (looks like a stick of chewing gum) which plugs directly into the motherboard. Your mobo will take two of the latter which are, in theory, much faster than SATA and this is what m19tchy and Tetras have assumed you will use, given that you're a gamer.

Not all NVMe SSDs are equal as there are different type of chips used in the construction. The main ones at consumer level are TLC and QLC which can over-simplistically be characterised as TLC good, QLC bad. What you should go for depends on your answers to the questions already asked above.

Troezar · 24 Jul 2023 at 10:04

In my opinion, for general, use the SN770 is cheap and fast.

tone12 · 3 Aug 2023 at 17:57

Brilliant stuff cheers for the info guys.

Yeah it would just be for game storage, i reckon 1 TB would be enough. I assume there is no difference in gaming performance having the OS on an ssd as well?

Snapshot · 3 Aug 2023 at 20:18

Once you start using SSDs you'll kick yourself for hanging onto HDDs for so long......

Troezar · 4 Aug 2023 at 05:37

Snapshot said:
Once you start using SSDs you'll kick yourself for hanging onto HDDs for so long......

I didn't realise people still used them, at least for gaming. I think I started to move over about 15 years ago...

bob9oc · 4 Aug 2023 at 12:58

tone12 said:
Brilliant stuff cheers for the info guys.

Yeah it would just be for game storage, i reckon 1 TB would be enough. I assume there is no difference in gaming performance having the OS on an ssd as well?

The OS is generally where you see the most benefit with an SSD, massively faster boot times, generally feels much snappier in use, So you will definitely want to but the OS on an SSD, i would say its more important than just games. Storage is really cheap now as well.

ryu · 6 Aug 2023 at 21:11

You most definitely want to install the OS to SSD, to me this was the most significant change in my history of computing.

In terms of gaming performance it is generally only quicker load times and less chance of stuttering, oh and don't forget the silence, no more grinding mechanical spindles.

Not sure what games you play but AAA are only growing in disk space requirements so may be worth going 2TB NVME now you can pick a decent one up for ~£100

embalse · 7 Aug 2023 at 11:04

tone12 said:
Brilliant stuff cheers for the info guys.

Yeah it would just be for game storage, i reckon 1 TB would be enough. I assume there is no difference in gaming performance having the OS on an ssd as well?

Definitely have the O/S of the SSD and if finances stretch get a second for Storage. You won't be disappointed.
.

tone12 · 10 Aug 2023 at 18:38

Ok cheers fella's looks like a 2TB SSD plus another SSD for my OS has just went on my shopping list.

tone12 · 8 Sep 2023 at 14:44

So I purchased a wd_black sn850z 2tb m.2 2280 pcie gen 4 ssd but sadly it doesn't fit in my Z270X- gaming 7 MB.

I gathered from this thread that a gen 4 ssd would only run at gen 3 speeds but it would it still be compatible? My MB does have 2 nvme slots but the ssd wont fit in these.

Would I be right in saying that my MB only supports gen 3 ssd's?

adidan · 8 Sep 2023 at 15:05

tone12 said:
So I purchased a wd_black sn850z 2tb m.2 2280 pcie gen 4 ssd but sadly it doesn't fit in my Z270X- gaming 7 MB.

I gathered from this thread that a gen 4 ssd would only run at gen 3 speeds but it would it still be compatible? My MB does have 2 nvme slots but the ssd wont fit in these.

Would I be right in saying that my MB only supports gen 3 ssd's?

Gen 3 and Gen 4 just have different capabilities, they are physically the same (much like how a pcie4 GPU will work in a pcie3 slot).

Checking the gigabyte website you have an m.2 slot, I'm not sure why it wouldn't fit.

Troezar · 8 Sep 2023 at 15:08

tone12 said:
So I purchased a wd_black sn850z 2tb m.2 2280 pcie gen 4 ssd but sadly it doesn't fit in my Z270X- gaming 7 MB.

I gathered from this thread that a gen 4 ssd would only run at gen 3 speeds but it would it still be compatible? My MB does have 2 nvme slots but the ssd wont fit in these.

Would I be right in saying that my MB only supports gen 3 ssd's?

If you check the motherboard specs it supports up to 110mm nvme. They come in various lengths. The SN850X is 80mm so surprised it doesn't fit, too short?

Tetras · 8 Sep 2023 at 15:09

tone12 said:
My MB does have 2 nvme slots but the ssd wont fit in these

What exactly do you mean by "won't fit", what won't fit and how?

You may need to install, or move the standoff to the right position for the length of your drive.

Troezar · 8 Sep 2023 at 15:11

I have looked and the motherboard supports 2280 NVME so the drives should fit.

Snapshot · 8 Sep 2023 at 20:35

Try turning the drives over.....

tone12 · 9 Sep 2023 at 16:42

I'm really hoping it's something I'm wrong se here goes. The sockets on the MB look different to the socket on the ssd.

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demonix · 9 Sep 2023 at 16:58

tone12 said:
I'm really hoping it's something I'm wrong se here goes. The sockets on the MB look different to the socket on the ssd.

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You are wrong as you have to flip the drive over to get the correct orientation for it to fit.

Looking for advice on a solid state drive

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