Hi, just looking for some advice on an SSD purchase. I had an 80GB SSD from years ago but it died so I've been using a 500GB Seagate Barracuda HDD and looking to replace it with an SSD.

I'd prefer to spend as little as possible, but will spend more if it's enormously important. Would like to stay under ~$100 if possible.

My mobo is an ASUS ROG STRIX B350-F Gaming.

Here are the main ones that I'm looking at:

250GB SATA: Crucial MX500 250GB: $55
500GB SATA: Crucial MX500 500GB: $105 or Samsung 860 EVO 500GB: $118 or SanDisk SSD PLUS 480GB: $80
250GB PCIe: Samsung 970 EVO 250GB: $107
500GB PCIe: Samsung 960 EVO 500GB: $160 (probably a bit out of my price range right now but I figured I'd include them in case the value is too good)

Thoughts on the value for each of these? I'm kind of leaning towards getting the cheap $55 250GB MX500, using my current 500GB HDD for any additional storage I need, and then going for the currently out of my budget 500GB Samsung 970 PCIe later when I have the money to blow.

If I wanted to go with 500GB, is there a significant difference between the MX500 and the Samsung 860 to justify the extra $13 (and likewise for the SanDisk vs MX500?)?

Is the performance impact of the 970 PCIe noticeable enough for general web use, software development, gaming, etc. to justify the doubled cost?

Thanks in advance.

And one more question. Is there any performance or otherwise meaningful difference between a SATA and M.2 SSD if I go with the less expensive SATA drive? MX500 and 860 come in both options for similar prices.

Also appreciate any deals I may have missed.

This post was edited by Voyaging on Jul 16 2018 10:24pm

I would get a Samsung 250 or 500GB 850 or 860 EVO

Crucial MX500 500GB: $105
SanDisk SSD PLUS 480GB: $80

These are your two best options price wise. I personally love SanDisk and for 80 bucks it's a great deal. I d thinking of getting another SSD myself. I might have to look into that. I haven't realized how affordable SSDs have gotten! hahaha

Thanks for the advice. So you'd say the extra performance from a PCIe SSD doesn't justify the cost?

And also, is there any reason to get the M.2 over the SATA or vice versa? I believe both are compatible with my mobo.

Both are, but unless you're doing some serious productivity work on your comp, I don't think the M.2 speed is really necessary.

get m2 no need to run cables

But they're the same price and same speed from what I understand?



Was thinking the same thing. With 2 SATA hard drives it's kind of annoying to keep them both connected with the way my SATA cable is designed. Idk if they're all like this but mines like 1 single cable with a bunch of SATA power connectors and it's a pain in the ass to connect it to multiple hard drives.

If you don't actually do anything that does a lot of reading from hard drive (rendering, modeling, etc), you'll hardly notice a difference between any of the SSD. Just get a nice 500gb one so it doesn't fill up too fast, then get a 1tb HDD down the road for file storage. I have a 960 EVO (older 970), and I honestly can't tell the difference between that and an mx500 in day to day use.

Awesome appreciate it, I'll definitely stick with the cheaper SATA then for now. Probably either the $50 250gb MX500 or the $80 SanDisk 500gb.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Quick update: there was an Amazon Prime deal on the 500GB Crucial MX500 for $88 so I went ahead and grabbed it. Seems like a great deal. (Make sure you choose "standard packaging" rather than "frustration-free" or else it will be $105.

In case anyone is interested, there's also a deal on the Kingston Digital SA1000M8 PCIe 240GB for only $70. Was tempted to get it but I figured I'd rather have the extra storage to minimize my reliance on an extra HDD.

I believe the Prime deals end at the end of today so check it out if you're interested. Thanks again for everyone's help.

This post was edited by Voyaging on Jul 17 2018 06:15pm