# The Z97 question: go M2 or not?



## erixx (Jul 21, 2014)

After placing my order, I am still going to and fro this question: Having a good and new SSD for the O.S. that I will transfer to this Z97 build, is it worth the money and efford to change to a M2 SSD, to install O.S. of course?

I think most people buying M2 enabled mobos these days will have this question... And it is better to clarify this dilemma before doing the build!

For those curious: I ordered a Maximus VII Gene with a devilish canyon or something similar


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## Jetster (Jul 21, 2014)

Sure but very little is available at this time. M.2 will have faster theoretical speeds when its here
Or I should say there will be faster drives eventually


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 21, 2014)

Jetster said:


> Sure but very little is available at this time. M.2 will have faster theoretical speeds when its here
> Or I should say there will be faster drives eventually


well yet there is still some SATA III SSD in that form factor and they are not too expensive ... the main point is like a mSATA for now (and also true PCIeX M.2 SSD will be a bit more expensive later for a while after launch)

i think i saw some real M.2 PCIeX (700/800mbps~)  yep already avaiable for example:
Plextor PX-G256M6e
256GB, M.2 (PCI-E Gen.2 x2), MLC, lesen 770MB/s, schreiben 580MB/s, IOPS: 105'000/100'000, 80x22x3.8 mm, Marvell Controller, Shock 1500G, 5 Jahre Garantie
price 255.11$~

mmmh in the end they are not so much more expensive than SATA III M.2 SSD but a bit more rarer...
tho my etailer have more than 50 piece of each type in stock ... hum i might, too, get tempted since i am tied between a ASRock 990FX who also as M.2 or going full upgrade a bit later instead...

conclusion : if you find them and the price is not too much more than a normal SATA III M.2 version, go for it.



erixx said:


> For those curious: I ordered a Maximus VII Gene with a devilish canyon or something similar


4690K or 4790K ? (as only the K type are Devil's Canyon and need Z97 board, tho the Z97 is supposed to be "broadwell compatible")


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## erixx (Jul 21, 2014)

1. I was unaware of these 2 kinds of M.2 (Sata and PciE). Online retailers like Alternate.de have a ton, but most "Sata" (500 read/500 write), but also some Plextors (750 read/350 write).
2. The VII Gene M.2 slot is PCI-E based.
3. I got a 4790K on order, was the only on stock, and 4400mhz out of the box sounds very sweet! (that's my 3770K summer overclock!)

A guide --with a grain of publicity-- about M.2, etc: http://rog.asus.com/308552014/label...a-and-sata-express-the-differences-explained/


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 21, 2014)

erixx said:


> 1. I was unaware of these 2 kinds of M.2 (Sata and PciE). Online retailers like Alternate.de have a ton, but most "Sata" (500 read/500 write), but also some Plextors (750 read/350 write).
> 2. The VII Gene M.2 slot is PCI-E based.



nope the M.2 is PCI-E and SATA III based (read compatible) meaning it can handle both type of drive (afaik and of what i read about it) untill 600 read it's a SATA type indeed and above its PCI-E X2 type both can use the M.2 slot

well the article of ASUS seems to say the opposite but i've read the contrary quite often ... need to confirm ... but for me either of the bus is fine ... i mean : having the SSD on board is a gain of place for storage HDD's


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## Sinzia (Jul 21, 2014)

GreiverBlade said:


> nope the M.2 is PCI-E and SATA III based (read compatible) meaning it can handle both type of drive (afaik and of what i read about it) untill 600 read it's a SATA type indeed and above its PCI-E X2 type both can use the M.2 slot
> 
> well the article of ASUS seems to say the opposite but i've read the contrary quite often ... need to confirm ... but for me either of the bus is fine ... i mean : having the SSD on board is a gain of place for storage HDD's



M.2 does not have to have both pcie and sata, it can be either/or. That Asus board assumes you want the fastest, with would be pcie. JJ from Asus states that in a Newegg video about the z97 boards they came out with.

My view: wait a bit longer for other pcie M.2 drives to come out. From what I've seen, it's only the one plextor line that's available in retail markets.


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## CJCerny (Jul 21, 2014)

Many M2 drives do not currently have firmware that will support booting to a legacy OS (i.e. Win 7). If you plan on installing Win 8.1, you should not have any problems.


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## Hood (Jul 21, 2014)

I just ordered a Plextor M6e 256GB M.2 drive (the stand-alone sku, not the one on a PCIe bracket).  I was so ready to try the new faster interface, I didn't do the research before ordering.  If you're considering buying one of these, I strongly recommend reading this review first - http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/plextor-m6e.html - it basically concludes that "summing it up, the Plextor M6e is not a high-speed premium-class desktop SSD as expected but a rather mediocre mobile new-generation M.2 drive adapted for desktop PCs. It may be more or less interesting until Plextor’s competitors use the same trick. And it will lose its originality as soon as there appear a lot of M.2 drives and PCIe->M.2 adapters".  "that's the weak spot of the M6e. Its Marvell 88SS9183 controller has rather low computing performance, so the M6e turns out to be slower than flagship SATA 6 Gbit/s products at random-address reading and writing".  I should have waited, soon there will be many, faster options...


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## GreiverBlade (Jul 21, 2014)

Sinzia said:


> M.2 does not have to have both pcie and sata, it can be either/or. That Asus board assumes you want the fastest, with would be pcie. JJ from Asus states that in a Newegg video about the z97 boards they came out with.
> 
> My view: wait a bit longer for other pcie M.2 drives to come out. From what I've seen, it's only the one plextor line that's available in retail markets.


awww too bad so sad ... the mini PCI-E was also mSATA compatible on the same slot (IE: Intel DQ77MK motherboard) and they couldn't do this with the M.2? drat and double drat... 

oh well i will take a M.2 SATA III drive instead ... and need to check which mobo i want has the one i need xD (also cm'on having a M.2 PCI-E that does 770mbps or having a SATA III who do 550mbps there is not a big difference in the end.)

woops... M.2 handle both : (taken from ASRock spec sheet from the Z97 Killer and from the 990FX killer)
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Fatal1ty Z97 Killer/
1 M.2 (*PCIe Gen2 x2 & SATA,* Supports 30mm, 42mm, 60mm, 80mm, 110mm M.2 devices),
http://www.asrock.com/microsite/Fatal1tyKiller/Fatal1ty 990FX Killer.html
ASRock’s motherboard _*supports M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s modules and M.2 PCI Express modules*_ up to Gen2 x2 10 Gb/s, which is 2X faster compared to other M.2 Gen2 x1 solutions that are limited to 5 Gb/s. It pushes your NGFF SSDs to their limits while reducing tons of load time and boosting overall performance.


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