HOW TO CHOOSE SSD AN

Considering how far prices of SSDs have fallen and the bene ts of SSDs over HDDs, there has never been a better time to get an SSD. Here is a handy guide on how to pick and buy the correct SSD for your system.

FORM FACTOR

SSDs come in various shapes and sizes and it is important to pick the right form factor for your system. For instance, if you are upgrading your notebook, some notebooks will only accept M.2 SSDs, while others will only accommodate an mSATA drive or maybe only a 2.5-inch drive. SSDs come in four main form factors and they are:

2.5-inch

This is the most common form factor for SSDs. They look like small hard disk drives and typically support the SATA 6Gbps interface.

mSATA

Mostly defunct, mSATA drives were commonly found in notebookss and were favored for their compactct size. Like 2.5-inch SSDs, these also support the SATA 6Gbps interface.

PCIe Add-in-Card

These are typically high-performance rmance drives and they go directly intoo your PCIe slot and support the much h faster PCIe interface. Be sure to check which PCIe version they supportort and make sure it is compatible withh your motherboard.

M.2

M.2 is the newest and most compact ompact form factor for SSDs and is usedd bby modern systems. They are typically about the size of a stick of chewing gum. They can support either PCIe or SATA 6Gbps interfaces so be sure to pick the correct one for your system.

TYPES OF INTERFACES

Form factors are just one part of the story. When deciding on which SSD to purchase, it is also important to consider the interface that they support. This is crucial because it affects performance and compatibility with your system.

SATA 6Gbps

SATA 6Gbps is the most commonly supported drive interface, but it is also the slowest. 6Gbps translates to a theoretical maximum data transfer rate of 750MB/s. But because of bandwidth overheads, expect to see around 500 to 550MB/s in the real world. As a result, there are little performance gains to be had when getting a high-end SATA-based SSD over an entry-level one.

PCIe

The alternative to SATA is PCIe. PCIe is favored because of its much higher bandwidth, allowing SSDs to perform to their full potential. However, be wary as not PCIe SSDs are the same. Pay attention to the PCIe version and also the number of lanes that the drive supports.

The fastest consumer SSDs support the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. A single PCIe 3.0 lane offers a maximum data transfer rate of 8Gbps or 1GB/s. So a PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD supports a maximum theoretical data transfer rate of about 4GB/s.

In comparison, consider a PCIe SSD that supports the slower PCIe 2.0 standard. A single PCIe 2.0 lane has a maximum bandwidth of 500MB/s, this gives a PCIe 2.0 x4 SSD a maximum theoretical data transfer rate of 2GB/s - half that of a PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD..