SSD in a NUC

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MurrayM

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#242955 21-Nov-2018 11:49

I'm new to SSDs and NUCs and looking for some advice.

I'm thinking of getting a NUC model NUC8i5BEK and I need to pick an SSD for it. But I see that there's a couple of different connections/interfaces available (M.2, SATA3, etc) and I'm not sure which type of SSD I should be looking at.

The specs for the NUC8i5BEK say it's got M.2 card slot 22x42/80.

Looking at Samsung SSDs on PB Tech I see the Samsung 860 EVO 250GB has a SATA3 interface and the Samsung 970 Evo 250GB has a M.2 interface. The physical connection is different between the two.

Which of these two SSDs can I use in the NUC?

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geocom

582 posts

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#2131016 21-Nov-2018 11:59

You will want the 970 it is NVMe which allows for higher speeds.

m.2 is the connector and can support either SATA(2 notches cut out) or NVMe(1 notch cut out). The NUC you have shows the m.2 as able to support NVMe and SATA. NVMe and is much more common and much much faster.

Geoff E

dt

1079 posts

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#2131018 21-Nov-2018 12:00

the m.2 will fit that one and I would definitely recommend it

the 860 you linked is m.2 as well, go for 970 if you can afford the extra :)

wellygary

6634 posts

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#2131022 21-Nov-2018 12:06

If the NUC says its got a M2 connection, then get an M2 Drive,

M2 is not just the connection, by also the physical shape of the card...

if its built for a M2 drive then stick one in it...

MurrayM

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#2131045 21-Nov-2018 12:51

Thanks guys, I'll go the the 970 then.

wellygary:

If the NUC says its got a M2 connection, then get an M2 Drive,

M2 is not just the connection, by also the physical shape of the card...

if its built for a M2 drive then stick one in it...

Both of these SSDs say that they're M.2, hence my confusion.

TwoSeven

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#2131120 21-Nov-2018 14:06

When I got my NUC a while ago, the M.2 standard hadn’t been around long.

I ended up with a Samsung 240Gb unit in - I now see that they show the form factor these days. M.2 2240 (the digits are the size).

As pointed out I think the NUC supports NVMe which is a kind of memory host controller for flash memory.

From memory, the Samsung M.2 card I got supports M.2 key-m which uses PCI Express x 4 and I think sits around 70k IOPS performance wise.

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