Sorry for the noob question but really need advice on storage. I have all the...

[Peter Clelford]

Sorry for the noob question but really need advice on storage. I have all the components for my build apart from the storage and am a little confused as to which type to buy. I have the motherboard in the picture with 3 x m.2 slots. I've been reading that m.2 is a good choice. When putting the m.2 in my part list on pcpicker I get the note in the pic. Should I have more than one m.2 to separate my OS and my games or just one large m.2. Also could someone explain what the notes mean as I'm a complete beginner and not sure what it's telling me..

 

[Florian Denis]

Buy a big hdd and an ssd,hdd are still the better option as is cheaper and holds a lot more,ssd is fast but not that cheap so its good for the os,its gonna cut the starting time by a lot

 

[Timothy Johnson]

It's telling you that if you use any of the M.2 ports, the SATA ports that they share bandwidth with will be unavailable, the motherboard manual would tell you exactly which SATA ports are shared with which M.2 port, you can usually find the manual on the manufacturers website as a PDF

 

[Steve Connors]

the first two notes mean that if you decide to use slot one or two, two sata connector ports for ssd's or hdd's can no longer be used. meaning if you have 6 sata conectors you will only be able to use 4 of them if you decide to use 2 m.2 cards or one in either slot 1 or 2. Now note three means that if you use an m.2 card in slot three only one sata port will be disabled. If I were you I would get an m.2 card for your o.s and use slot 3, and buy a seperate sata ssd for your games. Buy 256gb or over for your m.2 so you have room for programs aswell as the o.s and it will give you some headroom. I would go with a 500gb ssd or bigger for games as most are downloaded now and are pretty big files and the install file are big aswell. Make sure to check and dbl check your motherboards QVL to make sure your m.2 cards will be compatible. And make sure you get a NVME pcie m.2 card not a sata 3 m.2 card. I hope this all helps a little bit.

 

[Steve Connors]

this is the drive I'm getting through advice from others on this page. It's a lil expensive but worth it. It will work for you aswell.

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[Peter Clelford]

Ive just found that one. Can u store games on a m.2 as I see a lot of people say use ssd. As I have 3 m.2 slots I was thinking of using 2 m.2. One for games and one for OS and programmes

 

[Steve Connors]

that's my plan too. You can use it for games but most don't due to their price. But yes it can be done. I'm getting two samsung pro nvme and 2 muskin reactor ssd's for overflow.

 

[Steve Connors]

keep in mind though, if you use 2 m.2 cards you won't be able to use 3 of your sata ports due to the bandwidth shareing.