Whats the fastest SSD for use on ASUS Z87-A mobo?

Spon · 15 Jul 2016 at 07:52

Hi all,

Im looking to get a fast 512GB SSD drive (either SATA or M.2) but i only have an older ASUS Z87-A motherboard and im not sure whats best to go for or if id need an adaptor card etc?
I think the mobo only has SATA 2 (The spec page was unclear). I would not be using this to boot from only as a gaming drive for steam etc... I found the Samsung 850 EVO but thats SATA 3 and as i say im not sure what i can do.

What could you advise?

Borealis · 15 Jul 2016 at 08:35

All the SATA ports on that board are SATA 3 6GB/s. SATA 2 is 3 GB/s. Either way, any SATA 3 drive is backwards compatible with SATA 2 anyway.

The 850 Evo is an excellent drive, so I'd stick with that. I have a 512GB SanDisk as my Steam/Games drive. I wouldn't bother messing around with M.2 drives and adapters for this purpose as you won't be able to notice a meaningful difference. A SATA drive will be literally plug and play.

Even as a boot drive, I can't really tell the difference in speed between my M.2 drive and my games drive.

Spon · 15 Jul 2016 at 11:38

Ah thats fantastic thank you so much.

HACO · 15 Jul 2016 at 13:22

OS on M2 (SM951) makes a noticeable difference from my previous drive (Samsung 840 Pro). Right now best OS SSD is SM961. I use a SATA SSD for games.