In need of SSD for storage but I have no idea!

[isaacuakari]

Hello, I am currently in a problem where my PC is running out of storage and I want to get an SSD for my PC but am not sure which SSD is compatible and is cheap but worth it because all I want it for is storage. My motherboard is the

ASRock B450M/ac​

I tried looking on my own but I see a bunch of talk of threads people with my same motherboard saying how it was rare for it to not support a SATA M.2. SSD. And I dont want the mistake of purchasing the wrong one and possible messing up my PC.

Thank you



This page might help I just found in a reddit thread which would be the best for my situation?

ASRock > B450M/ac

Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 2000, 3000, 4000 G-Series, 5000 and 5000 G-Series Desktop Processors; Supports DDR4 3200+ (OC); 1 PCIe 3.0 x16, 1 PCIe 2.0 x16; AMD Quad CrossFireX™; Graphics Output: HDMI; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC892 Audio Codec), ELNA Audio Caps; 4 SATA3, 1 Ultra M.2 (PCIe...

www.asrock.com

Budget 50-100

 

[P4-630]

Just look for a PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 SSD.

 

[bonehead123]

Just look for a PCIe 3.0 NVMe M.2 SSD.

^^THIS^^

However, the linked page clearly states that it has both SATA & an nvme m.2 slot, so either one would work.

how it was rare for it to not support a SATA M.2. SSD

Nah, that's really not that unusual, as SATA m.2's are few & far between, and were never really adopted as a standard anyways, as opposed to the now standard nvme m.2's... the biggest difference, other than performance, is the way the connector that plugs into the m.2 slot is keyed, and they are not interchangeable !

And with storage prices dropping like rocks ATM, a decent quality 2TB drive of either variety will definitely fit the OP's budget

 

[Deleted member 229121]

$50 for 1TB and $95 for 2TB Samsung 970 EVO

You don't have to get a 3.0 drive though (they're backwards compatible)
There are 4.0 drives about the same price - if you move them into another rig down road you might take full advantage of the speed then.

2TB WD SN-850 is $110 and the 1TB version is $60

 

[wNotyarD]

With a B450 you have no support to PCIe 4.0 (they'll work just fine saturating the 3.0 bus, not reaching their advertised speeds), so save some with 3.0 drives. If 4.0 goes for the same price, ain't nothing wrong opting for them.

Personal recommendations? WD SN570 (for a cost-effective, reliable drive) or Crucial P3 (for large storage on the cheap).

 

[iameatingjam]

Well my friend, its the perfect time to go ssd shopping. Prices have been rock bottom lately. Personally, I wouldn't go out of my way to find a gen 3 drive just because thats the connection you have. ime, if you want a good drive, you're not going to really save anything by looking for gen 3 as opposed to gen 4. On the other hand if you dont want a good drive and just want the cheapest thing you can get you hands on, then you might save a little. I do really recommend something with a dram cache though. Just my personal experience that dramless ssds... end up causing headaches.

The sn850x has been on sale recently (its like 75% off last years price). The p5 plus is always a good deal. I also recommend the Netac nv7000, its a chinese drive but you can find it for super cheap, yet its the fastest ssd I have and it comes with a heatsink ( not that you'd need it on a gen 3 connection). Or you could go sata and get the trusty mx500, its max speed may not be as high as the m.2s but it is very consistent and reliable. Don't know where you live but here its only $50 USD for the 1TB version. Look around your local area and see whats on sale.

Again, I recommend checking to make sure it has a dram cache. ( though some might disagree with me)

Personal recommendations? WD SN570 (for a cost-effective, reliable drive) or Crucial P3 (for large storage on the cheap).

I didn't like that drive. Only has a 12GB slc cache. Then falls down to like 1mb/sec after that, not even kidding. I'm sure its fine if you're mostly just reading data but I found installations take forever.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Personal recommendations? WD SN570 (for a cost-effective, reliable drive) or Crucial P3 (for large storage on the cheap).

It's been replaced by the SN580 which is much much better. Technically the SN580 is a gimped SN750.

WD Blue SN580 1 TB Review - Incredible Price/Performance

Western Digital's new WD Blue SN580 is the best budget M.2 SSD drive out there. Despite its impressive price point of $45 it comes with fantastic performance that easily matches most high-end drives. Compared to the SN570, the interface has been upgraded to PCIe 4.0, and the SLC cache is now...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[P4-630]

Well my friend, its the perfect time to go ssd shopping. Prices have been rock bottom lately. Personally, I wouldn't go out of my way to find a gen 3 drive just because thats the connection you have. ime, if you want a good drive, you're not going to really save anything by looking for gen 3 as opposed to gen 4. On the other hand if you dont want a good drive and just want the cheapest thing you can get you hands on, then you might save a little. I do really recommend something with a dram cache though. Just my personal experience that dramless ssds... end up causing headaches.

The sn850x has been on sale recently (its like 75% off last years price). The p5 plus is always a good deal. I also recommend the Netac nv7000, its a chinese drive but you can find it for super cheap, yet its the fastest ssd I have and it comes with a heatsink ( not that you'd need it on a gen 3 connection). Or you could go sata and get the trusty mx500, its max speed may not be as high as the m.2s but it is very consistent and reliable. Don't know where you live but here its only $50 USD for the 1TB version. Look around your local area and see whats on sale.

Again, I recommend checking to make sure it has a dram cache. ( though some might disagree with me)


I hated that drive. Only has a 12GB slc cache. Then falls down to like 1mb/sec after that, not even kidding. I mean sure if you're mostly reading data I'm sure it would be fine. But for installing things, takes forever.

OP said:

all I want it for is storage.

 

[Deleted member 232534]

what drives you run right now?

 

[wNotyarD]

It's been replaced by the SN580 which is much much better. Technically the SN580 is a gimped SN750.

WD Blue SN580 1 TB Review - Incredible Price/Performance

Western Digital's new WD Blue SN580 is the best budget M.2 SSD drive out there. Despite its impressive price point of $45 it comes with fantastic performance that easily matches most high-end drives. Compared to the SN570, the interface has been upgraded to PCIe 4.0, and the SLC cache is now...

www.techpowerup.com

I'm aware the SN580 was released but as I said, personal recommendations. The SN580 isn't available where I live. Not sure about where op lives, though.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I'm aware the SN580 was released but as I said, personal recommendations. The SN580 isn't available where I live. Not sure about where op lives, though.

Why recommend a discontinued product?

 

[wNotyarD]

Why recommend a discontinued product?

Why recommend something I can't find?

 

[iameatingjam]

Well, what else would you want an ssd for?

I gave a value option, the mx500. I just can't in good conscience recommend qlc no dram option drives when the top the line consumer drives are costing like, 20% more right now.

Why buy a 1tb sn580 for $50 or p3 plus for $50 when you can buy a sn850x for $60?

 

[P4-630]

Well, what else would you want an ssd for?

I mean he doesn't use it for the OS...

 

[iameatingjam]

I mean he doesn't use it for the OS...

And?

 

[P4-630]

And?

Really?..

 

[iameatingjam]

Really?..

I really don't understand your point, no. Please elaborate.

Really?..

I mean no matter what you are doing with that drive, you are really going to notice the difference between the p3 and the sn850x. And its only a $10 difference. Cheaper than its ever been. So I recommended it. Go ahead and recommend something else. That is what he asked for after all. And he didn't just say cheap he said

cheap but worth it

I'll admit I have a small pool of drives I have personally used. That is one of them. Its on sale. It performs well. I mean, makes sense to me.

 

[P4-630]

I really don't understand your point, no. Please elaborate.

Did you ever noticed the OS drive is always busy writing and reading all the time?.....

A "Storage" drive as OP meant to use it isn't doing this, unless you are copying/writing/reading files to/from it.

 

[Kapone33]

The NV2 from Kingston is inexpensive and would work but there may be other budget brands you can use. Don't forget SSDs are also fine. You could probably get 2 SSDs in the 2TB range stripe them in Disk Mgmt and have a huge 4 TB array for around $200 that has no cliff to fall off like NVME. You could check the Thread that I posted a month ago about storage.

 

[iameatingjam]

Did you ever noticed the OS drive is always busy writing and reading all the time?.....

"Storage" drives aren't doing this, unless you are copying/writing files to it.

Like I already said. He asked for a ' cheap but worth it ' storage solution. I have a limited pool of drives that I have tried. That is one of them, it performs well. Its on sale, cheaper than its ever been. $10 more than the budget drives. It made sense to me. If it doesn't make sense to you, go ahead and suggest something else. Not everybody is going to agree here. I even said as much in my original post.

I mean I wouldn't buy a QLC drive for the OS but it would be fine as a game/music/movie library.

Well go ahead and suggest one then. I personally wouldn't. But I can totally understand that position, if there were substantial savings to be had. There's not now, where I live, but you know, prices are constantly changing over regions and time so yeah, I can see where you're coming from. Do you see, where I'm coming from?