Choosing an SSD: review of technologies on the market and comparative tests. M.2 connector (NGFF) - what is it? Let's figure out what's what

The M.2 connector was introduced to the world several years ago as a standard that takes full advantage of SSDs, allowing them to be installed in small computers.

Cool drive on any computer

Just a few years ago, on every desktop you could find an HDD, cables, cords and jumpers - items known to everyone who independently modified or repaired a computer.

Hard drives of the time used an ATA connector and interface, which offered a throughput of 133 MB/sec. A few years later, the SATA interface debuted and changed the world of memory storage forever.

SATA has survived three generations, the latter of which is still in use today. The first, that is, SATA 1, provides throughput at the level of MB/sec, SATA 2 allows you to reach 300 MB/sec, and SATA 3 – 600 MB/sec.

New solutions in data storage

The beginning of the 21st century is the time of greatest popularity of HDDs - their prices were low, so everyone could afford several tens of gigabytes of memory, and a few years later - several terabytes.

At the same time, solid-state drives began to be produced, which were used in mobile devices, memory cards, portable USB drives, and also in computers as SSD (solid-state drive) drives.

The advantage of SSD is the incomparably higher speed of writing and reading data, as well as the absence of mechanical elements, which increases resistance to shocks and falls.

SSD drives may be small in size, but due to the popularity of the SATA interface, they began to be produced in the format of 2.5-inch disks, similar to HDDs.

Backward compatibility has its drawbacks

The SATA interface was created much earlier than SSD drives, so even the latest version is not able to use all the features. First of all, this is due to the limitation of 600 MB/sec, that is, the maximum throughput of the SATA 3 interface. This is a big problem because SSD performance can be much greater.

They tried to fix the problem of large media size by introducing the mSATA standard, which is a connector directly on the computer motherboard. The solution made it possible to install SSDs in netbooks and ultrabooks, saving space and reducing their weight.

Unfortunately, the mSATA standard was based on the SATA 3 interface, which means it is also limited to a throughput of 600 MB/sec.

M.2 connector - the future of solid state media

M.2 standard debuted as Next Generation Form Factor, that is, as a “new generation connector.” In 2013, officially renamed M.2.

The development is owed, first of all, to Intel, which first used it in motherboards with H97 and Z97 chipsets for the latest generation of Intel Core processors (Haswell Refresh).

M.2 is a connector for an expansion card installed directly on the motherboard. Designed with SSDs, Wi-Fi cards, Bluetooth, NFC and GPS in mind.

Depending on the function, there are several variants of M.2 cards on the market: 2230, 2242, 2260, 2280 and 22110. The first two numbers are the width (22 mm in any variant), and the remaining numbers are the length (30 mm, 42 mm, 80 mm or 110 mm). In the case of modern SSDs, the 2280 option is most often used.

M.2 standard uses the PCIe interface to communicate with the motherboard (the PCIe 3.0 version is currently being developed), which allows you to bypass the limitations of the SATA 3 interface. Depending on the number of supported PCI Express lanes, the throughput of M.2 drives for PCIe 3.0 x1 can reach 1 Gbit/ s, and for PCIe 3.0 x16 up to 15 Gbit/s.

The M.2 connector can support PCI Express, PCIe and SATA protocol. If an M.2 PCIe drive is connected to a motherboard that only supports the SATA standard, it will not be visible in the system and will not be usable. The same situation will occur when we connect an M.2 SATA drive to a computer that only supports the PCIe interface.

The M.2 media connector may have different locations. Cards with key B, M, B+M are available on the market. Buying an SSD, you should first make sure which connectors your motherboard supports in your computer.

Discs with key B will not fit into the socket with key M and vice versa. The solution to this problem is the B+M key. A motherboard with this socket provides compatibility with both types of drives. It should be kept in mind, however, that this is not the only factor indicating compliance.

NVMe technology is the new standard

Old HDDs and SSDs use the AHCI protocol to communicate between the controller and the operating system. Just like the SATA interface, it was created back in the days of hard disk drives (HDD) and is not able to use the maximum capabilities of modern SSDs.

This is why the NVMe protocol was created. This is a technology created from the ground up, developed with the fast semiconductor media of the future in mind. It has low latency and allows you to perform more operations per second with less CPU usage.

In order to use NVMe-enabled media, your motherboard must support the UEFI standard.

Which M.2 drive to choose

When purchasing an M.2 drive you should pay attention to:

Size of M.2 connector that the motherboard has (2230, 2242, 2260, 2280 and 22110)
The type of dongle that has an M.2 connector on the motherboard (M, B or B+M)
Interface support (PCIe or SATA)
Generation and number of PCIe lanes (for example, PCIe 3.0x4)
AHCI or NVMe protocol support

Currently, the best choice is an M.2 SSD using the PCIe 3.0x4 interface and NVMe technology. This solution will provide comfortable operation in games and programs that require very fast reading/writing and advanced graphics processing.

Some solid-state drives also come with a heatsink that reduces temperatures, thereby increasing performance and stability.

Read about the advantages and disadvantages of the M.2 form factor, which drives support the M.2 slot, what connectors M.2 drives use, what is needed to install an M.2 card, etc. M.2 is a new open format for high-performance computer systems, but is everything so clear? Manufacturers of solid-state SSD drives such as Samsung, Intel, Plextor, Corsair use this format to save space and energy costs. These are very important factors in the production of modern ultrabooks and tablets. However, purchasing an M.2 drive to upgrade your device requires some forethought.

M.2 is not just an evolutionary form factor. Potentially, it should completely replace the entire Serial ATA format. M.2 can interface with SATA 3.0 (all drives on modern desktop PCs are connected with such cables), PCI Express 3.0 (this interface is used by default for video cards and other devices) and even USB 3.0.

Potentially, any SSD or HDD drive, memory card or flash drive, GPU or any low-power USB gadget can be installed on a card with an M.2 connector. But it's not that simple. For example, there are only four PCI Express lanes in one M.2 slot, which is a quarter of the number that graphics cards need, but the flexibility in this tiny little slot is impressive.

By using the PCI bus instead of the SATA bus, M.2 devices can transfer data up to 6 times faster. The final speed depends on the capabilities of the motherboard and the M.2 card itself. An M.2 SSD drive will work much faster than a similar SATA drive if your motherboard supports PCI 3.

What drives support the M.2 slot?

Currently, M.2 is used as an interface for ultra-fast SSD drives on both laptops and workstations. If you go to a computer store and ask for an M.2 drive, they will almost certainly show you an SSD with an M.2 connector. But only if you can find a retail computer store that is still in business today.

Some laptop models also use the M.2 port as a means of wireless connectivity by installing tiny, low-power cards that combine Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radio. This is less common on desktops, where it's more convenient to use USB or PCIe 1x connectors (though there's no reason you couldn't do this on a compatible motherboard).

Computer hardware manufacturers are in no hurry to use this slot for other devices. No one has yet presented a video card on the M.2 connector, but Intel is already selling its ultra-fast Optane memory to customers.

Does my computer support an M.2 slot?

If your computer was manufactured and built in the last few years, then it almost certainly has an M.2 slot. Unfortunately, the flexibility of the format does not mean that the slot itself is as easy to use as any USB device. As a rule, cards with an M.2 slot are quite long. Before purchasing an M.2 SSD drive, check the board dimensions according to the specifications and make sure that your computer or laptop has room to install them. In addition, M.2 devices have different connectors. Let's look at these 2 factors in more detail.

What is the length of the M.2 card?

For desktop PCs, length is usually not an issue. Even a tiny Mini-ITX motherboard can easily accommodate an M.2 board, the length of which ranges from 30 to 110 millimeters. Typically, motherboards have a hole for a small screw that holds the board securely in place. The length of the supported M.2 chip is indicated next to the mount.

All M.2 drives use a fixed width of 22 millimeters, so the size difference is only expressed in length. Currently the following options are available:

M.2 2230: 30 mm;
M.2 2242: 42 mm;
M.2 2260: 60 mm;
M.2 2280: 80 mm;
M.2 2210: 110 mm.

Some motherboards offer the ability to attach a screw at any of these intervals.

What connectors do M.2 drives use?

Although the M.2 standard uses the same 22mm wide slot for all cards, it is not the same for all devices. Because M.2 is designed to be used with many different devices, it has some connectivity differences:

B Key: The gap on the right side of the card (to the left of the host controller) is used, with six pins to the right of the gap. This configuration supports PCIe x2 buses.
M Key: uses the gap on the left side of the card (right side of the main controller), with five pins to the left of the gap. This configuration supports PCIe x4 bus connections for double the data throughput.
B+M Key: uses both of the above gaps, with five pins on the left side of the card and six on the right. Such cards are limited to PCIe x2 speed.

What is needed to install an M.2 card?

Most M.2 cards are SSD drives and are automatically recognized by your operating system based on AHCI drivers. For Windows 10, most Wi-Fi and Bluetooth cards are also automatically recognized and standard drivers are installed for them. However, you may need to enable the M.2 slot through a setting in your computer's BIOS or UEFI. You will also need a screwdriver to secure the device with a screw to the motherboard.

Is it possible to add an M.2 card to a PC if it does not have a slot?

This is not possible for laptops as modern devices have a very compact design and do not allow any unplanned device inside the case. You're in luck if you're using a desktop PC. There are adapters on the market that use the PCIe x4 slot on your motherboard.

Remember, if your motherboard can't boot from PCIe, then you won't be able to use the M.2 drive as a boot drive, meaning you won't benefit from much speed. If you want to take full advantage of an M.2 drive, it's best to use a motherboard that supports the new standard.

Movement is life. But this very old saying has more than just a biological meaning. It also applies to soulless things. For example, in computer technology: the level of productivity is constantly growing, new interfaces appear that are oriented towards this growth.

The SATA interface recently turned eleven years old. During this time, it was updated twice while maintaining backward compatibility, while the transfer speed increased four times. About five years ago, a compact version of the interface appeared: the drive was installed in a special slot on the motherboard.

Let's start with a little background information, followed by the M6e family of drives and a review of the Plextor M6e.

A little history

Although the mSATA interface was positioned as a mobile interface, some manufacturers began to install it on regular motherboards. And Gigabyte was the most active in this direction, which not only placed mSATA connectors, but also installed SSDs themselves in them.

The Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD motherboard was equipped with an Intel 311 20 GB solid state drive.

Then other manufacturers gradually began to catch up. Now their aspirations have reached the point that two mSATA connectors began to appear on motherboards, as, for example, on the ASRock Z87 Extreme11/ac, a review of which will soon be published in the laboratory. A bit overkill from my point of view, but oh well...

In general, using mSATA is quite convenient: the solutions are compact, no cables are required, and nothing dangles in the case. However, due to a number of reasons (primarily the higher cost of models in the mSATA format), this format has not gained popularity in “desktop” systems. But he found it in his mobile phones.

However, for people striving for compactness, this format is a godsend: a mini-ITX motherboard, an IvyBridge or Haswell generation processor with a compact cooling system, an mSATA drive, an appropriate case - the result is completely complete and logical, and also very productive (with the appropriate CPU) working system.

However, as noted above, there is a need to increase speeds, and there is a limit to everything. And there was talk about SATA 6 Gb/s that it was “too slow”. mSATA also came under fire for the company. But now manufacturers have taken into account their past mistakes: a new data transfer interface was invented in two versions: mobile and desktop. In relation to the mobile version, the controller in the system logic set was not replaced with another (as was the case, say, with IDE and SATA), but simply thrown away altogether, at the same time saving on development and chip area. In general, we killed two birds with one stone here. And modified SATA controllers remained only in the desktop segment.

The new standard implies a change in size: mSATA comes in two sizes (Full Size, 51 x 30 mm, and Half Size, 26.8 x 30 mm), while M.2 suggests four, the smallest of which is 42 x 22 mm. But at the same time, M.2 is exactly a millimeter thinner, and the especially compact one is even thinner – exactly twice as thin as mSATA.

The company is by no means the first in the field of producing solid-state drives in M.2 format; its range has already been expanded by Super Talent (NGFF DX1 and NGFF ST1), Crucial (M500 NGFF), KingSpec (M.2 NGFF Ultrabook), MyDigitalSSD (Super Cache 2 M .2) and Intel (530 M.2). But Plextor was actually the first to popularize this format among the masses in a “desktop” version: everything that was released earlier was focused exclusively on industrial use - assembling mobile devices.

The M.2 interface was not developed for the “desktop”; its destiny is really compact mobile devices, and SATA Express is offered for ordinary systems. In fact, the relationship between them is the same as now between mSATA and SATA: the first is very compact and is installed in a small socket on the board, the second is much larger in size and requires a separate seat in the case and two supply cables (interface and power).

It’s worth noting right away: you don’t need to consider M.2 a connector purely for storage devices. M.2 is pure PCI-E, just in a different form factor. Accordingly, everything your heart desires will be produced under this standard: Wi-Fi, WWAN, GPS and other expansion cards. Manufacturers of these devices will not need to worry about developing new controllers; they will only need to change the printed circuit board and the device itself, bringing them to a new format.

Therefore, M.2 and SATA Express, although they can be used to install drives, have some differences. M.2 is universal. SATA Express is focused only on data storage devices. Although it also has some versatility, it’s not for nothing that the interface actually consists of three connectors – one for power and two for interface: two regular SATA devices can also be connected to SATA Express.

ASUS Z97-A motherboard: four SATA and one SATAe - in total you can connect up to six regular SATA drives.

The unpleasant thing is that models with the SATA Express interface are simply not on sale yet. It got to the point that ASUS was forced to order the development of a special device called ASUS Hyper Express from Kingston to test motherboards with the new interface. It looks like a regular 2.5” form factor drive, inside of which there is a board with a special controller and two mSATA connectors.

At the time of writing this material, this device does not yet officially exist, but by the time of publication, photographs of it should appear on the Internet. And M.2 is it. And it already appears on retail motherboards (for example, my colleague Ivan_FCB recently reviewed the ASUS Maximus VI Impact board with such a connector, and another colleague wildchaser the other day I reviewed the ASUS Z97-DELUXE, based on the Intel Z97), although so far it’s rare.

You don't need to be a visionary to understand the obvious truth: the familiar SATA and mSATA will very soon be written off and disappear from motherboards. And they will be replaced either by M.2 (more precisely, it is already beginning to displace mSATA) and SATA Express (SATAe), or something else will be invented: manufacturers need to continue to increase the numbers on the labels, and traditional SATA has already exhausted its potential in this direction.

New to Plextor: M6e Family of Drives

Plextor has been teasing its fans and simply interested potential buyers for a long time: back in early September last year, at the IFA2013 exhibition in Berlin, it demonstrated engineering samples of its new generation drives. Then they periodically appeared at various presentations, attracting the attention of lovers of all sorts of new products.

And so, on January 9 of this year, at CES 2014, Plextor made an official announcement. But the M6e did not go on sale then. Sales began a little less than a month ago - in early April. Finally, those who want to have the opportunity to purchase a new product. But “opportunity” does not mean “go and buy it.” In relation to Russian retail, even in Moscow you can only purchase a 256 GB modification, and even then not everywhere.

And the 128 and 512 GB versions have not yet reached retail. That's right: the Plextor M6e family of drives consists of only three models.

Specifications

Parameter	PX-AG128M6e	PX-AG256M6e	PX-AG512M6e
Capacity	128 GB	256 GB	512 GB
Controller	Marvell 88SS9183-BNP2	Marvell 88SS9183-BNP2	Marvell 88SS9183-BNP2
Controller buffer memory capacity	256 MB DDR3	512 MB DDR3	1 GB DDR3
Flash memory	19 nm MLC Toshiba ToggleNAND	19 nm MLC Toshiba ToggleNAND	19 nm MLC Toshiba ToggleNAND
Sequential Read Speed	770 MB/s	770 MB/s	770 MB/s
Sequential write speed	335 MB/s	580 MB/s	625 MB/s
Read random blocks (4 KB)	96,000 IOPS	105,000 IOPS	105,000 IOPS
Write random blocks (4 KB)	83,000 IOPS	100,000 IOPS	100,000 IOPS
Recommended retail price	$259	$401	$620

It should be noted that already now the retail cost of the 256 GB modification is much lower than the recommended one - price tags start at about 10 thousand rubles (or $280). However, even this price is too high for this volume: for this amount you can purchase a 512 GB solid-state drive in both the usual 2.5” form factor and mSATA. Novelty comes at a price.

Packaging, equipment, external inspection

The Plextor M6e model is offered in a rather large box in a rich red color that attracts attention.

On the back of the package, the general characteristics of the model are described and the speed parameters of the entire M6e family are given.

Yes, as has long been the case, the box is universal for the entire line and the individual features (in this case, the indication of the device’s volume on the front side of the package) are just an additional sticker. Separately, in more than two dozen languages (including Russian), it is emphasized that the drive is fully compatible with motherboards with both UEFI and the old AMI/AWARD BIOS. But this will be checked separately, since I have a supply of various motherboards (even Socket 7, if any of the readers still remember that).

The scope of delivery is very modest, although the Plextor product is packaged well.

The entire free volume of the box is occupied by foamed polyethylene. At the top there is a warranty service booklet and installation instructions, and under the divider is the Plextor M6e itself, packed in an antistatic bag.

That's all, actually. There is nothing else in the box. It would be nice, of course, if the manufacturer included a bar for installing the drive in low-profile system units. Yes, powerful gaming systems for which the M6e is positioned are usually housed in full-fledged cases, but not everyone who needs a high-speed SSD is a gamer with a couple of video cards in their PC.

Autopsy, hardware component

The Plextor M6e drive comes immediately assembled; moreover, the company protected itself from using the adapter in a separate form by installing a warranty seal.

That's right. What we have in front of us is not a single complete device, but two separate and completely independent ones, but united together by the company’s forces. And they can be used separately if you don’t mind breaking the seal and voiding the warranty on the drive.

But in this case there are no warranty obligations, so the sticker will not become a hindrance.

You can even delete everything altogether. By the way, you can glean a lot of interesting information about it from the sticker on the device itself.

The serial number, model name and volume, a sea of logos of various certificates and notifications are provided. The supply voltage and maximum current are indicated. There is also a mention of a company in fine print about LiteON, which is the actual manufacturer of the device that fulfills Plextor's orders. And Shinano Kenshi is the real owner of the company and the Plextor brand itself.

With the labels removed, the device will appear before us in all its glory. And thanks to a simple Phillips screwdriver, it can be disassembled.

Actually, the drive itself is a narrow, elongated board.

Once installed in the seat, it is turned with its back side towards the user. As a result, only half of the installed NAND memory chips and the controller’s buffer memory are visible. The controller itself, like the other half of the chips, is located on the invisible side of the board.

This is Marvell 88SS9183-BNP2 with hardware support for PCI-E versions 1.1 and 2.0 (it will work in 3.0 slots, but in 2.0 mode). Uses two PCI-E 2.0 lanes. That's right: although the adapter is designed as a PCI-E x4 device, the sample in question uses only two lines of this interface.

It should be noted that Marvell 88SS9183, firstly, is an AHCI controller (it does not require installation of additional drivers for its operation), and secondly, this controller is also compatible with the SATA interface, so it will probably be found as part of conventional drives of the form factor 2.5".

The controller uses a DDR3 chip labeled NT5CC256M16CP-D1 manufactured by Nanya with a capacity of 512 MB as a buffer memory, and eight chips labeled TH58TEG8DDJBA8C as storage devices. Each of them contains four MLC NAND crystals operating in Toggle Mode, with a capacity of 64 Gbit and manufactured by Toshiba using a 19 nm process technology.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find any meaningful information on this controller, so we can only assume that it is not too different from the popular Marvell 88SS9187, and, most likely, we are again looking at a dual-core ARM with eight-channel memory access.

The PCI-E-M.2 adapter is very simple and unpretentious.

That's all the element base that is present on it. The PCI-E interface is not converted or changed in any way. All those elements that can be seen are the accompanying power harness. For example, a chip labeled PS54326 is a Texas Instruments TPS54326 controller, which is responsible for powering the drive. As you know, there is no +5 V voltage in the PCI-E connector, there is only +12 V and +3.3 V. TPS54326 is responsible for converting the +12 V voltage into the +5 V voltage necessary for the device to operate.

The reverse side of the adapter board is empty:

Now let’s move from theory to practice, put our disassembled test subject back together and install it in a test bench. Fortunately, there are quite a lot of questions about its possible operation.

Samsung Electronics announced the launch of the first Samsung SSD 950 PRO series M.2 form factor with scalable NVM Express controller(Non – Volatile Memory Express). Let's figure out why Samsung is moving to a new form factor and controller, and why this is good for the user.

Today, it is the M.2 slots that seem to be the most promising for SSDs: they are capable of providing the highest throughput among all existing options for connecting solid-state drives.

What is NVMe?

The biggest challenge for SSDs today is the bandwidth limitation of the legacy Serial ATA and Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) buses. The throughput of the latest SATA-III is 600 MB/s, the data transfer rate of Serial Attached SCSI (SAS 12G) is 1.2 GB/s. Modern SSDs are capable of more.

The NVMe protocol speeds up I/O operations by eliminating the SAS (SCSI) command stack. NVMe SSDs connect directly to the PCIe bus. Applications receive dramatic performance gains from shifting I/O activity from SAS/SATA SSDs and HDDs to NVMe SSDs. Memory devices of the new type of storage are non-volatile and the latency when accessing them is significantly lower - at the level of latencies of RAM (volatile) memory.

The NVMe controller demonstrates all the advantages of an SSD: very low access latencies and a huge queue depth for read and write operations. The extremely low latency of storage devices significantly reduces the likelihood of data table locks during updates. This is critical for multi-user databases with complex and interconnected tables.

M.2 connector on the motherboard.

Today, NVM Express (NVMe) is supported by all ASUS motherboards based on Intel Z97 Express and X99 Express chipsets - to do this, you need to update the UEFI BIOS and use an ASUS Hyper Kit expansion card as an option.

The expansion card allows owners of boards based on the X99 chipset to connect 2.5" drives with an NVMe interface - for example Intel SSD 750, using the SFF-8639 connector (mini-SAS HD). The drive itself will also have an SFF-8639 connector, it looks like this:

If the motherboard does not have an M.2 connector or it is not possible to use it, there are adapter cards for PCIe:

Supermicro presented solutions optimized for NVMe:

According to the manufacturer, SuperServer with preparation for NVMe Virtual SAN provides industry-leading performance and density in a 1U Ultra 10x NVMe solution (SYS-1028U-VSNF series), easily scalable to meet the needs of enterprise environments, data centers and cloud applications.

The 2U Ultra 24x NVMe SuperServer (SYS-2028U-TN24RT+) increases hot-plug NVMe density and can be delivered in even higher-density configurations - up to 24x2.5″ hot-plug NVMe per 1U.

Two new 2U Virtual SAN Ready Node solutions exclusively based on SSD flash drives, in the Ultra (SYS-2028U-VSNF series) and TwinPro (SYS-2028TP-VSNF) architectures, support up to 480 virtual machines in 4 nodes.

In general, Supermicro has a whole line of servers for NVMe media; they are still rare on sale, as are the media themselves.

However, let's return to the Samsung 950 Pro.

Samsung 950 Pro Specification

Samsung 950 Pro
Manufacturer	Samsung
Series	950 Pro
Model number	MZVKV256	MZVKV512
Form factor	M.2 2280
Interface	PCI Express 3.0 x4 – NVMe
Capacity	256 GB	512 GB
Configuration
Memory chips: type, interface, process technology, manufacturer	Samsung 128Gb 32-layer MLC V-NAND
Memory chips: number/number of NAND devices per chip	2/8	2/16
Controller	Samsung UBX
DRAM buffer: type, volume	LPDDR3-1600, 512 MB
Performance
Max. sustained sequential read speed	2200 MB/s	2500 MB/s
Max. sustained sequential write speed	900 MB/s	1500 MB/s
Max. random read speed (4 KB blocks)	270000 IOPS	300000 IOPS
Max. random write speed (4 KB blocks)	85000 IOPS	110000 IOPS
physical characteristics
Power Consumption: Idle/Read-Write	1.7/6.4 W	1.7/7.0 W
MTBF (mean time between failures)	1.5 million hours
Record resource	200 TB	400 TB
Dimensions: L × H × D	80.15 × 22.15 × 2.38 mm
Weight	10 g
Guarantee period	5 years
recommended price	$200	$350

Unlike the OEM Samsung SM951-NVMe drive, the 950 Pro is based on advanced 3D MLC V-NAND. The SM951 uses conventional planar flash memory produced using a 16nm process technology.

Very important: The motherboard's UEFI BIOS must contain an NVMe driver to boot the OS from the 950 Pro.

The 950 Pro can get quite hot in some cases - at maximum load, this SSD is capable of delivering up to 6-7 W. However, notes anandtech.com, this is not a serious problem. The official position of the manufacturer on this matter is as follows: “ The 950 Pro's temperature rises to the upper limit only under continuous, long-term, and complex workloads, which is not typical for client SSDs. The performance degradation when sequentially writing about 100 GB of data to a drive once is unlikely to affect ordinary users in any way. That is, if the drive is used as part of a regular PC, the problem of overheating is unlikely».

In most anandtech.com tests, the 950 Pro performed very well:

Although solid state drives (SSDs) have been around for a while, I only recently started using them myself. It was stopped by the price and small capacity, although it was supported by significantly higher performance compared to conventional hard drives. Before delving into the types of SSDs, manufacturing technologies, types of memory and controllers used, you should dwell on the form factor (i.e., essentially, the physical dimensions) of these drives, i.e., how they differ in shape, what connectors have and how to use them. If SSDs of the 2.5-inch form factor do not raise questions (in size and location of interface connectors they are almost identical to hard drives), then another type raises questions. SSD M2 - what is it, where to connect it, is it better or worse than usual? Let's figure it out

Development of the SATA interface

This interface replaced PATA, becoming more compact, replacing the wide cable with a thinner and more convenient one. The desire for compactness is a normal trend. Even SATA needed a variant that would allow it to be used in mobile devices or where there are special requirements for the size of components. This is how the mSATA option appeared - the same SATA, but in a more compact package.

This connector did not live long, because it was quickly replaced by another - M.2, which has great capabilities. Please note that the abbreviation does not contain the letters “SATA”, and I did not say that this is a new version of this particular interface. Why - this will become clear a little later.

I will only say that both mSATA and M.2 allow you to do without cables and power cables, which increases convenience and allows you to make your computer more compact. Moreover, M.2 is even smaller than mSATA.

What does M.2 look like and what is it for?

This is a small connector located on the motherboard or expansion card that fits into the PCI-Express slot. You can use M.2 not only for SSDs, but also for installing Wi-fi, Bluetooth modules, etc. The scope of application can be quite large, which makes M.2 very useful. If you are planning to upgrade your computer, then I believe that having this connector on the motherboard, even if you do not plan to install anything in it yet, can be useful. Who knows what will happen in a few months, what new device you will want to buy...

An example of M.2 can be seen in the illustrations. He might be like this

or like that.

What is the difference? In a jumper (called a “key”) that is in the connector. In order to understand its purpose, let's delve a little deeper into computer interfaces.

M-key and B-key

Modern hard drives (including SSDs) are traditionally connected to the SATA bus. I have, but I’ll repeat it briefly here.
SATA III has a maximum throughput of 6 Gbps, approximately 550-600 MB/s. For ordinary hard drives such speeds are unattainable, but for SSD drives it is generally not difficult to achieve much higher speeds. But there is no point in this if the interface still cannot “pump” the data stream at a speed greater than that of which it is capable.

Therefore, it became possible to use the PCI-Express bus, which has greater bandwidth:

PCI Express 2.0 with two lanes (PCI-E 2.0 x2) provides throughput of 8 Gbps, or approximately 800 MB/s.
PCI Express 3.0 with four lanes (PCI-E 3.0 x4) gives 32 Gbps, which corresponds to approximately 3.2 GB/s.

Which interface is used to connect devices determines the position of the key (jumper).

SATA (M+B key):

PCI-Express (M key):

SSD drives can have the following key options:

For example, let's take the ASUS Z170-P motherboard. It has an M.2 connector with an M-key. This means that the PCIe ×4 bus is used. The question immediately arises: is it possible to install an SSD drive with a SATA interface there? But this is an interesting question.

You'll have to look into the motherboard's specifications and see if it supports M.2 SATA. According to the manufacturer's website, then yes. This means that if you buy an SSD drive, for example, Intel 600p Series, then it was originally designed for the PCIe ×4 bus and there should be no problems.

What if there is, for example, a Crucial MX300 running on a SATA bus? According to the manufacturer's specifications, such an SSD should also work.

You should pay special attention when purchasing a motherboard whether the SATA bus is supported in the M.2 interface.

Let's summarize what has been said.

M.2 is simply a different form factor (size and connector) of SSD drives. The SATA and/or PCI-Express bus is used. M.2 connectors installed on motherboards use the PCIe ×4 bus. The possibility of installing an SSD with a SATA interface must be indicated in the specifications for the motherboard.
The type of bus used by the SDD disk depends on the keys. SATA drives are usually available with M+B key formula, and PCIe x4 drives with M key formula.

2242, 2260, 2280 - what is it?

Looking at the characteristics of a motherboard or laptop that has an M.2 connector, you can see the following line in the description of this connector: “M key, type 2242/2260/2280.” Okay, with the “M key”, I hope it’s already clear, this is the location of the key in the connector (which indicates the use of the PCIe ×4 bus). But what does “type 2242/2260/2280” mean?

It's simple, these are the sizes of SSD drives that can be installed in this slot. Physical dimensions. The first 2 digits are the width, which is 22 mm. The second 2 digits are the length. It can vary and be 42, 60 or 80 mm. Therefore, if the selected SSD, for example, the same Crucial MX300, has a length of 80 mm, i.e., it is type 2280, then there will be no problems with its installation.

SSD Transcend MTS400 with a capacity of 64 GB has a length of 42 mm, i.e. type 2242. If support for such an SSD is declared, then installing it will also not be difficult. In reality, this indicates whether the motherboard or laptop case has drive-retaining screws that accommodate the different lengths of modules being installed. Here's what it looks like on the motherboard.

Conclusion

M.2 is a more compact form factor of SSD drives. Many models are available both in the traditional 2.5-inch format and in the form of a small board with an M.2 connector. If a laptop or motherboard has such a connector, then this is a good reason to place a drive in it. Whether to make it systemic or use it for other purposes is a separate question.

Personally, when upgrading my computer at home, as I mean, I plan to use M.2 to install a disk in it for the system. This will reduce the number of wires slightly, and it will work quickly.

Still have questions? Ask. Am I doing something wrong? Always ready for constructive criticism. Did you leave something out? Let's figure it out together.