I'm currently putting together a new gaming PC and have all the components sorted out except for the storage and RAM, mainly due to the rising costs. I've never tried using an M.2 before, as my previous builds in 2009 and 2017 only used SATA SSDs. I'm considering just reformatting my three SATA SSDs and using them while I wait for M.2 prices to go down. Does anyone have thoughts on this?
4 Answers
Why not just give it a shot? You have nothing to lose by testing it out! Could be a good way to save some money until M.2 prices are more reasonable.
Using SATA SSDs is perfectly fine! For regular use and gaming, you likely won't even notice the speed difference. Unless you find an M.2 at a similar price point or you're doing heavy tasks like video editing or 3D modeling, there's really no rush to switch.
Starting with your SATA SSDs is totally fine! You might want to compare their speeds to the most affordable 1TB NVMe. If you can snag a cheap NVMe for around $100, consider that for the speed-sensitive tasks while keeping the SATA drives for everything else that doesn't need lightning-fast access.
Absolutely, if your SATA SSDs are still in good condition, go ahead and use them! If any are older or have health issues, maybe set the healthiest one as your OS drive and use the others for games. You'll find the loading times with your SATA drives are quite comparable to the latest M.2 models for most games nowadays.
Exactly! After you've got your games loaded onto an SSD, launching them feels pretty much the same no matter if it's SATA or M.2. I have an M.2 for my main drive, but I also use a couple of SATA SSDs from older laptops, and their performance is quite close.