{"id":917,"date":"2020-07-10T18:14:02","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T10:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcstationcn.com\/blog\/?p=917"},"modified":"2020-07-10T18:14:02","modified_gmt":"2020-07-10T10:14:02","slug":"nvme-vs-m-2-vs-sata-whats-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcstationcn.com\/blog\/?p=917","title":{"rendered":"NVMe vs. M.2 vs. SATA \u2013 What\u2019s the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

First, a quick note about\nSSDs \u2013 they\u2019re fast. So fast in fact, their limiting factor is not their own\nhardware, but rather the SATA III connection that hard drives have\ntraditionally used. Enter NVMe. Standing for \u201cNon-Volatile Memory Express,\u201d\nNVMe is an open standard developed to allow modern SSDs to operate at the\nread\/write speeds their flash memory is capable of. Essentially, it allows\nflash memory to operate as an SSD directly through the PCIe interface rather\nthan going through SATA and being limited by the slower SATA speeds.  Put\nanother way, it\u2019s a description of the bus the component uses to communicate\nwith the PC, not a new type of flash memory. It is also unrelated to the form\nfactor, which is why NVMe drives can come in both M.2 or PCIe card form\nfactors. With both form factors, the component is connecting electrically<\/em> to\nthe PC via PCIe rather than SATA. Yes, it\u2019s confusing, but stick with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you buy a new SSD, it uses either the\u00a0SATA<\/a>\u00a0or NVMe interface to connect to your computer. Traditional SATA SSDs use the 2.5″ form factor, as seen in the picture below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is M.2?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

M.2 is a form factor that spells out the physical size and shape\nof the card that can be plugged into an M.2 slot<\/strong>. This\nform factor has been designed to maximize space while minimizing the footprint.\nThe M.2 slot is rectangular, with possible widths of 12, 16, 22, or 30\nmillimeters. Most M.2 solid-state drives are 22 millimeters wide. Lengths can\nalso vary: 16, 26, 30, 38, 42, 60, 80, or 110 millimeters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most computer motherboards accommodate a variety of lengths for M.2 slots. At the same time, the width tends to be fixed on each motherboard, usually 22 millimeters wide. The M.2 slots on a motherboard can communicate with the rest of the PC using different interfaces\/standards, including PCI Express (used by NVMe) or SATA, used by traditional SSDs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Each motherboard has a\ndifferent number of M.2 slots with different specifications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First, a quick note about SSDs \u2013 they\u2019re fast. So fast in fact, their limiting factor is not their own hardware, but rather the SATA III connection that hard drives have traditionally used. Enter NVMe. Standing for \u201cNon-Volatile Memory Express,\u201d NVMe is an open standard developed to allow modern SSDs to operate at the read\/write … Continue reading “NVMe vs. M.2 vs. SATA \u2013 What\u2019s the Difference?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcstationcn.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcstationcn.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcstationcn.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcstationcn.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcstationcn.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=917"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcstationcn.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":922,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcstationcn.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917\/revisions\/922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcstationcn.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcstationcn.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcstationcn.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}