Upgrading to nvme from ssd, which kind of nvme should get? Need some help, I am SO confused

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#1

Hi. I’ve been living under a rock apparently on this topic

I’ve never used an nvme in a pc, I’m just not sure if I am buying the correct type of nvme? My motherboard is this micro atx Gigabyte B450M DS3H. On the website it says this:

Ultra-Fast PCIe Gen3 x4 M.2 with PCIe NVMe & SATA mode support

So this “Gen4” SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2 2280 1TB PCI-Express Gen 4.0 x4, NVMe won’t even work with my motherboard? Or it does… but I won’t get the highest speeds? Also if it does, would this still be faster than those regular nvme drives - or about the same?

Strange that pcpartpicker told me this drive is Samsung drive is compatible with my motherboard, it’s so confusing.

I did look this stuff up, still confusing (especially all those terms, which I list below lol). And I heard Gen4 requires also compatible CPUs, and I have an AMD Ryzen 3 1200 Quad-Core - probably gotta research this part more.

Also I got overly confused about my local eshops search terms, it exhausted me completely xD things like these:

PCIe NVMe Gen4 x 4
4 x PCIe NVMe 4.0 ← can this work, and can it work faster than my “Gen3” typical drives?
4 x PCIe NVMe 3.1 ← And this, maybe it works?
4 x PCIe NVMe 3.0 ← is this the correct one?
4 x PCIe NVMe 1.3
4 x PCIe Gen3 ← What on earth is this? Compared to “4 x PCIe NVMe 3.0”. Or is this the correct xD?

One of these says Gen3, some say NVMe 3.0, 3.1, 4.0. Is this all the same thing, and the numbers literally mean the Gen?

SMH :slight_smile: motherboard manufacturer says “PCIe Gen3 x4” and now that I read it backwards what my random eshop says, it must be the literal only thing which I can put inside here? Still… confused xD because if this “4 x PCIe NVMe 4.0” also works and with a bit better speed, then I’d just get that instead.

Such a stupid post :frowning: please give me some hint what to do here. I don’t like ditching the motherboard and getting a new one, I’m just trying to figure here what is the fastest drive I can put ArchLabs on and maybe it revives my pc libido as I benchmark some games and stuff again xD

Thanks!

#2

PCIe NVMe 4.0 is backwards compatible with PCIe NVMe 3.0.

Western Digital is having a sale.

8bit

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#3

if you’re after a 1T drive get this

no point getting the more expensive gen4 because you won’t get the benefit of the extra speed.

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#4

^ That’s a good deal; go for it.

8bit

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#5

Thank you for the help & guidance! I got this sorted out

I really appreciate the links and that gave me right idea! So “PCI-Express 3.0 x4” is technically what I should look for for this “Gen3” motherboard - it’s what I learned xD I went for the highest r/w speed I could get from a local eshop and trying to act like I’m being extra budget here lol, it’s this specific samsung nvme the price is about the same :slight_smile:

It will arrive in upcoming week. If I will not be blown away by booting speeds (and I know systemd is not a fast booter), then hopefully I will be blown away by some game loading screen speeds xD

From what I gathered around the web, not all things depend on the ssd speed - but also the cpu could be the next bottleneck which is keeping booting speed slow. And an nvme can only do “so much”. But I’ll take whatever it is, as I needed more space pretty badly :). Currently running 2x 500gb regular ssds, it feels like living in an small/tight apartment lol

#6

PCI4.0 would give you forward compatibility; but by the time you upgrade your mobo, it will be PCI 5 or 6 anyway. :wink:

8bit

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