I am looking at doing a new PC build. It has been a while since I have built a new PC. I always try to research as much as I can in advance of the purchase of hardware. I want a M.2 SSD for my new build. When I looked at the motherboard vendor hardware compatibility list, older Samsung M.2 models are listed. Essentially all of them are no longer manufactured. What has been your experience with a motherboard recognizing a M.2 SSD? The M.2 SSD that I am considering is the following: SAMSUNG 850 EVO M.2 2280 120GB SATA III 3-D Vertical Internal SSD Single Unit Version MZ-N5E120BW https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=9SIA24G2NU4413 The motherboard that I am considering: ASUS PRIME B250M-C/CSM LGA 1151 Intel B250 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Motherboards - Intel https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132946 I looked on Crucial's website and they show a 1TB M.2 SSD as being compatible for the above motherboard. However, this is a much larger capacity than needed and more money than I want to spend. The plan is to use the M.2 SSD ONLY for the Operating System. I plan to have as many as four (4) internal SATA3 hard drives, each being at least 1 TB, probably 2 TB in size. Thanks in Advance.
TheKid7, I think that M.2 is no faster than a standard SSD. Check out a M.2 that supports PCIe NVMe. On paper they are four times faster than standard SSDs.
And not just on paper. Also the price for a SAMSUNG 960 EVO M.2 250GB NVMe is comparable to your choice. I know that a 250Gb is larger than you think you need but don't forget that you should leave 10% - 20% free space on an SSD [depending on which school you go to]. Your board selection allows this - "1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280 storage devices support (both SATA & PCIE mode)".
They are faster - whether you will notice it or not is another matter. Unfortunately, it seems motherboard makers do not put as much effort into keeping SSD QVLs current as they do the CPU and RAM QVLs. I have heard of compatibility issues but never seen it personally. You might contact Samsung and ASUS tech support and ask. No promises you won't get a canned response that doesn't answer your question but it might still be worth a try.
