Hey there Eggheads, Juan Carlos Bagnell here, continuing our look at lightweight tech throughout
the month of July.
We’ve covered small form-factor PC cases, we’ve covered the best wireless mice on
Newegg, now it’s time to turn our attention to one of the lightest, smallest components
of a full PC build: an M.2 SSD.
Seriously, look at how tiny that is!
And to think that you can now fit terabytes of storage on something this small, for really
not much more money than a traditional hard drive or larger Solid State Drive!
Now if you’ve been PC building for a while, you’ll remember what a big deal it was when
Solid State Drives started replacing traditional hard drives in build list recommendations.
The improved performance of SSDs became impossible to ignore once the price started to come down.
Well, we’re basically getting there with M.2 drives now.
If you’re starting a build from scratch in 2020, there’s a very good chance that
something like this could be the only storage you need, period.
Now, one thing we see a lot of online is confusion over terms like M.2 and NVMe, and how they
relate to form factor and performance - so let’s try to clear that up a little.
First, to be very clear, M.2 and NVMe are not interchangeable terms, but they are closely linked.
M.2 is a form factor, which refers to the size and shape of the drive.
Technically a lot of different devices could use the M.2 expansion slot, but SSDs are by
far the most common right now.
Unlike standard hard drives and Solid State Drives, M.2 drives aren’t connected to a motherboard
via a cable.
Instead they’re plugged directly into the motherboard using a dedicated M.2 connector slot.
Depending on its type and functionality, an M.2 drive can make use of either the standard
SATA interface or the faster PCIe interface to transfer data, but in both cases it plugs
directly into the motherboard.
Since they fold down and lie flush with the motherboard once they’re connected, rather
than jutting out like a graphics card or RAM module, M.2 drives allow for a cleaner, less
cluttered PC interior with fewer cables to manage and better airflow.
It’s important to note that M.2 SSDs which use the older SATA interface aren’t really
faster than standard 2.5” SSDs, they just take up less space and look cleaner.
If you want faster speeds, you’ll have to make sure your M.2 drive is utilizing PCIe
- and the NVMe interface protocol.
NVMe stands for Non-Volatile Memory Express, and it refers to the way in which data is
moved, rather than the shape of the drive itself.
The main way in which it differs from the existing SATA standard is that it draws on
your motherboard’s PCIe interface to obtain notably faster data transfer speeds than what
you can get from SATA.
Depending on your NVMe drive’s manufacturer, you can see speeds as much as five or six
times faster than a SATA-based equivalent - and if you want the very fastest options
available, you’ll want a drive and a system that can take advantage of the latest PCIe
standard, PCIe 4.0.
If you’re planning on going with an M.2 drive while building or upgrading your gaming
PC, it’s important to note whether you’re getting a SATA-based drive or an PCIe, NVMe-based
drive.
Your motherboard might not have the appropriate M.2 slots for both types, because SATA and
NVMe M.2 drives are often keyed slightly differently, and even if it does, you don’t want to waste
money on a pricier NVMe drive if the motherboard you’ve chosen can only access data using
the SATA protocol (as not every motherboard allows for PCIe data transfers).
As always, read your specs closely before you make your purchase.
So, one more time, to recap: M.2 is a form factor for SSDs.
NVMe refers to the way data is moved to and from the SSD.
NOT all M.2 drives use NVMe, but the fastest ones do.
By contrast, most drives that use NVMe are in the M.2 form factor, with few rare exceptions.
At this point it’s pretty much inevitable that M.2, NVMe drives are going to continue
to grow in popularity and replace traditional hard drives and larger solid state drives.
If you'd like more info you can hit the links in the description below this video
to check out M.2 SSDs on Newegg.
PC storage has come a long way over the past decade - in the comments below this video,
share some thoughts. What are your predictions for what PC storage will look like
by the year 2030 - and beyond.
It's gotta be crystals right? Like, some kind of magic crystal?
As always, thanks so much for watching, sharing and subscribing.
For Newegg Studios I'm Juan Carlos Bagnell, and I'll catch you all on the next video.
And now I'm going to put this back in my NUC so I'm not sitting here waving around
and gesturing with an M.2 SSD.