The FASTEST SSD Technology Explained - M.2, U.2, and MORE
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2017-05-06
·
1,304 words · ~6 min read
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everybody's heard of m.2 ssds these
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little tiny doodads that manage to be many times smaller and many times faster
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than traditional computer hard drives or even regular SATA ssds but there is
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understandably a ton of confusion that exists around how to choose one and
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install it in your existing system so let's figure that out shall we
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if you haven't seen nerd Sports yet check it out all the episodes are
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available now for free over at youtube.com/ channelsuperfun
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before we get started though we need to differentiate between physical standards
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and protocol standards this right here
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is a mini DisplayPort cable and this right here is a Thunderbolt cable but
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they look the same this USB type-c port is running at
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USB 2.0 speeds this one is USB 3 which
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can be 10 or even 20 times the speed and
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this one is Thunderbolt 3 which is
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faster still and comes with a host of
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other capabilities so backing up then
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because most cables are just a physical
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electrically conductive wire connecting point A to point B nothing would prevent
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a you know piece of cod hanger from connecting between a receiver and a home
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theater speaker or let's say an Ethernet
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cable from being used to carry an HDMI
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digital video signal in fact that product exists okay but back to computer
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drives again m.2 is one of several
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physical connector standards that allows an SSD to be attached
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internally to your computer this motherboard right here conveniently
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gives us a great example of all of them
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so what you're looking at right now is SATA or Serial ATA this connector
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suffers from more latency because of its indirect connection to the
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CPU right here is the basically dead
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SATA Express standard that uses two PCI
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E Lanes which are better because they're connected more directly to the CPU but
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has a very bulky connector and no drive
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support to speak of this one right here
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is u.2 which uses four PCI El Lanes
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twice as many as SATA Express but has all but disappeared outside the
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Enterprise space and finally this one
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right here is m.2 which has basically
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one out versus the other NextGen connectors at this point thanks to its
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performance it also uses a maximum of four PCI Lanes as well as its compact
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form factor that allows it to be used not just for desktops but also for ultra
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thin notebooks but and getting back to
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the whole lesson on protocol versus physical standards most of these
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physical connections support multiple
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protocols that is to say more than one way for the computer to communicate with
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the drive's controller over the physical wires and if you aren't using an NVMe
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protocol Drive in your m.2 slot you
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might not be getting the full experience so if your computer has a PCIe m.2 slot
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and you can see the difference here between an NVMe capable one and an ahci
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only one here they're usually labeled then it's simple you just plug it in
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maybe configure a couple settings in the BIOS and poof it's Off to the
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Races but then what if you don't have a
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PCI Express m.2 slot on your motherboard okay well step one make sure you don't
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have one some motherboards even hide
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this connector on the back and it's small enough that it can be pretty easy
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to miss then step two ensure that your
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motherboard actually supports booting to
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an NVMe Drive in general anything z97 or
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x99 chipset and newer will have that
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support and if it does and you still want to use a drive then you want to
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pick up one of these little guys these
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cards plug into a PCI E slot on your motherboard just like a video card sound
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card Etc consult your motherboard's manual to find out how many lanes each
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slot has and what speeds they operate at
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more is better and I've got a couple different versions here Silverstone has
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an NVMe only one and one that supports
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both an NVMe and ahci remember that's
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the same protocol as SATA over a slightly different m.2 connector that
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are reasonably priced then there are more premium options like the wings from
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angelbird that looks a little cooler and includes a thermal shield and pad to
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keep the drive from overheating we're going to use this sp500 fisen controller
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based NVMe SSD from Corsair for our demo
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here once everything is hooked up you can move the mounting screw around
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depending on the length of your NVMe drive and then you just need to make
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sure you're running the latest ufi BIOS on your board and go through the same
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steps as our previous board that supported it natively going back further
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than the last couple generations of boards things get a little dicey
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theoretically all the way back to p67 days you can install an NVMe SSD in one
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of these PCI Express cards just like this but you won't get the full benefit
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unless it's a newer one because you won't actually be able to boot from the
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drive and right now NVMe drives are a little bit too expensive for most people
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to want to use them as a steam library
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and there is yet another wrench to throw
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in the spokes of this whole ordeal while
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the connector on the motherboard may be
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capable of both NVMe and ahci operation
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I'm not aware of any NVMe m.2 drives
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that will work across either protocol so
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if you have an NVMe board you want to get an mvme drive or maybe you could run
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an ahci one and if you have an ahci only
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m.2 slot then you will need an ahci so
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more protocol overhead SSD just like
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this one and don't expect to get Earth shattering performance out of it we are
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working with rockat look at that it's like a spin move or whatever to give
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away their cross headsets designed for
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multiplatform multi-use multi-purpose use on
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multi-platforms some of its features include include large 50mm neodymium
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magnet drivers it comes with dual microphones one designated for PC and
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one designated for mobile the mics are detachable and plug into a port on the
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underside of the left ear cup and they've got quick access volume controls
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memory foam ear pads a light 185 G
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profile and to enter all you need to do is watch this video and enter through
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the link in the video description the giveaway will run for 7 days from today
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7 days so move fast so I hope that
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clears things up and you guys have a better understanding of m.2 now I sure
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do cuz I had to do all this research to make this
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video so thanks for watching guys if you disliked this video hit that dislike
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button but if you liked it hit the like button get subscribed maybe even
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consider checking out where to buy the drives or accessories we featured at
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Amazon at the link in the video description also down there is our merch
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store where you can buy cool shirts like this one wo like that or our community
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form which you should totally join now that you're done doing all those things you're probably wondering what to watch
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next so check out our latest video right there over on Channel Super Fun I think
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it's like RC car bowling or some nonsense like that pretty fun