Should I choose SATA or PCIe SSD?

The article will help you distinguish SATA and PCIe SSDs and what you need to know when choosing to buy SSDs.

When buying a new SSD or laptop, you will find there are many prices. For example, when buying a MacBook Pro remake, the PCIe flash drive will be more expensive than a regular flash drive. There are two types of SATA and PCIe SSDs, one of which is more advanced but does not mean always necessary.

The article will help you distinguish SATA and PCIe SSDs and what you need to know when choosing to buy SSDs.

What is SATA SATA?

SATA (Serial ATA) is an SSD connection used to communicate data with the system, dating back to 2003 and is one of the most popular connection types today.

SATA SSD has better hardware compatibility , can work with multiple desktops and laptops, even old computers.

SATA SSD has relatively poorer performance. Currently, SATA 3.0 is the most popular SSD, the theoretical transfer rate is 6Gb / s (750MB / s). But due to some factors that occur when encrypting data, the actual speed is only 4.8Gb / s (600MB / s).

Although 600MB / s is quite fast, it is still far from equal to the speed of SSD PCIe. However, for the average user, SATA SSDs are also very fast, to imagine, imagine that this drive can transfer data of an entire CD every second.

SATA SSDs are usually cheaper, which is probably the most important thing for many users. The difference in price between these two SSDs is often very large, sometimes even the difference between SSD and HDD.

For example, Samsung 860 EVO 500GB SATA SSD and Samsung 970 EVO 500GB PCIe SSD, despite having the same amount of storage capacity, are almost half as fast as a PCIe.

Should I choose SATA or PCIe SSD? Picture 1 Should I choose SATA or PCIe SSD? Picture 1
Samsung's 970 EVO 500GB PCIe SSD

What is a PCIe SSD?

What makes PCIe SSD more expensive, more valuable, more people want it, mostly in performance. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCI) is a type of data that connects directly to the motherboard. It is often used in graphics cards, which need to connect very quickly. But PCIe is also very useful for data storage drives.

PCIe 3.0 has a storage speed of 985MB / s per line (lane) and because PCIe devices support 1x, 4x, 8x and 16x lanes, the speed can be up to 15.76GB / s. SATA is hard to beat.

Does this mean that PCIe 16x lane SSD is 25 times faster than SATA SSD? Theoretically that is, but you will not see SSDs for ordinary users with so many lanes. Usually it is 2x or 4x, which is about 3.94GB / s.

However, you only realize the difference between PCIe and SATA when transferring files very large. For example, if you play video games and want to download games when opening or changing maps faster, both PCIe and SATA feel the same fast.

PCIe SSD has a shorter life span. If you browse the web, work with Google Docs, send emails, or just use CPU and RAM, there won't be much difference between SATA and PCIe (such things don't transmit data). But if you regularly read and transfer data, you will find that PCIe needs more power and is faster.

AHCI and NVMe. If you have to choose between the two, choose NVMe. AHCI is the old standard, designed for HDD and SATA. If a PCIe SSD uses AHCI, it may not be as efficient as it could be. NVMe is designed specifically for PCIe so it will be better.

What are M.2 and U.2?

These are two form factors that determine the shape, size, and layout of the device. Both can be used with SATA and PCIe drives.

In the long run, M.2 is more popular so if you don't know what to choose, M.2 is a safer option. U.2 is usually used on Intel's SSD 750 series. Not many other SSDs support this standard.

When using M.2 for SATA SSDs, performance will be the same as the regular SATA form factor. When using M.2 for PCIe, you will be limited to 4x lane, very fast compared to normal users. X4 SSDs are more popular than x2 and are not much more expensive so you can choose.

Also, if you need to buy an adapter to convert M.2 to U.2 and vice versa.

Which SSD should I choose? PCIe or SATA?

If the budget is not much, just choose SATA. If you need maximum performance to regularly share data, you should choose PCIe. Best of all, use form factor M.2 for both of these drives, both speed faster than HDD.

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