Chris Szewczyk, Socket man
This week I’ve been largely enjoying No Man’s Sky.
When it first launched I cherished the sport’s ambiance. It actually felt such as you have been alone on some bleak planet. It nonetheless seems like that, however now there’s a lot extra to do! Full credit score to Whats up Video games for persevering with to deliver updates through the years.
This month I’ve been largely testing a little bit of the whole lot! There’s the standard stuff, like a Thermaltake case, and re-benchmarking some older gen GPUs. However there’s some barely uncommon issues too, like G.Ability 24GB RAM sticks and liquid SSD cooling. Yep, AIO cooling to your SSD. Bizzarro.
As considered one of PC Gamer’s {hardware} writers and reviewers, I deal with plenty of totally different PC elements. However there’s one half particularly that manages to irk me each time I take advantage of one. I am referring to M.2 SSDs. The truth is, I hate them. They’ve so many pointless drawbacks. I will admit the shape issue is properly suited to laptops, however for a desktop PC? Nope.
What’s actually irritating is that there is a ready-made different with all of M.2’s benefits, and primarily none of its drawbacks. It is referred to as U.2 (With U.3 ready within the wings). Sadly, regardless of fleeting inclusions on some boards a few generations in the past, U.2 by no means caught on within the client area. And I need it again.
When the primary SSDs launched, it grew to become obvious that the getting older SATA and mSATA interfaces have been inadequate to deal with the rising speeds of those flashy new flash drives. A brand new commonplace was required. NVM Specific was developed particularly for non-volatile reminiscence (NVM), however NVMe is not a connector, it is a specification or protocol. NVMe units are available a wide range of kind elements with totally different connections. These embody PCI Specific add-in playing cards or they’ve SATA Specific, M.2, or U.2 connectors.
SATA Specific by no means caught on. Some high-end Intel Z97 and X99 motherboards got here with SATA Specific ports however I by no means examined every one help disappeared after a short while.
U.2—my champion—briefly made appearances on some high-end client motherboards just a few years in the past, however it’s at all times been extra of an enterprise-oriented resolution. It lives on, and lots of workstation motherboards nonetheless embody U.2 ports.
M.2’s elevation
For some bono-headed motive, any person determined that attaching an SSD on to the motherboard was the very best path ahead. M.2 quickly grew to become probably the most extensively adopted connection and to at the present time, nearly each performance-based client SSD is a 2280 kind issue NVMe M.2 drive.
So, why do I believe M.2 SSDs suck? The place do I start? A typical 2280 dimension drive is simply too small, each bodily and capability clever. They run sizzling and are susceptible to throttling. They usually sit proper subsequent to (if indirectly beneath) a warmth dumping graphics card. Coincidentally, this week I reviewed a Teamgroup Siren Duo360 AIO cooler (opens in new tab) which additionally comes with an built-in SSD water block. Sadly, it highlights a rising downside with SSDs. The truth that PCIe 5.0 SSDs require chunky motherboard mounted heatsinks, not to mention water cooling, is a fairly unhappy state of affairs.
PCIe 4.0 and significantly PCIe 5.0 M.2 slots add complexity to motherboards making them dearer. They take up plenty of PCB area. They’re tough and fiddly to put in, generally requiring the elimination of the GPU and the elimination of a half dozen tiny screws—which I too usually drop and lose to the seventh circle of case hell. Then you have to put all of it again collectively, and hope {that a} weak, flimsy, or crumbling thermal pad aligns and the drive is definitely securely fitted within the M.2 slot. There is a handful of causes to start out with.
Why U.2 rocks
U.2 drives get rid of all of those issues whereas holding all the advantages. A U.2 drive can kind of be thought-about a modernized 2.5-inch SATA drive with help for an NVMe PCIe connection. For my part, they’re superior to M.2 drives in principally each approach. Right here’s why:
A U.2 drive may be remoted from different warmth producing parts, significantly the graphics card. A bodily separate drive is less complicated to chill. Most PC circumstances retain 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drive bays, and plonking three or 4 U.2 drives into an area cooled by a 120mm consumption fan will hold them cool always. That’ll forestall them from throttling, resulting in an extended life and therefore hold your knowledge safer. The latter level can usually be missed.
A 2.5-inch kind issue drive can simply incorporate a large heatsink, both internally or kind a part of the drive’s housing (as seen in instance above). On high of that, SSD producers aren’t restricted by the M.2 2280 kind issue PCB. Meaning there’s extra PCB area accessible for extra dies and bigger capacities, or bodily bigger controllers with improved warmth dissipation properties. They may even use cheaper manufacturing nodes.
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And naturally, eliminating a bunch of M.2 slots frees up motherboard PCB area and eliminates the necessity to cowl half the motherboard with slabs of steel to maintain the drives cool.
It is simpler to route alerts from stacked connectors quite than have electrically delicate traces operating each which approach throughout the motherboard. I am sure {that a} motherboard with one M.2 slot and 4 stacked U.2 ports can be cheaper to fabricate. Is it any marvel {that a} high-end motherboard can price properly over $500?
A lesser identified however vital reality is that U.2 drives use 12V energy, whereas M.2 makes use of 3.3V solely. There’s some trade momentum in direction of shifting PCs to 12V solely designs. Intel launched the ATX12VO commonplace in 2019 however it hasn’t caught on. A 12V solely PC is extra environment friendly, less complicated in design, and hopefully cheaper to fabricate. There’s one other level in U.2’s favor.
Do I care about seeing an inch of cable protruding the facet of my motherboard earlier than it disappears by way of a gap and out of sight? Not. One. Bit.
A 2.5-inch U.2 SSD is straightforward to put in and it is sizzling swappable. It may be put in in one of many million circumstances with toolless 2.5-inch drive bays. Plug the cable and energy connector in and also you’re good to go. Maybe some tiny methods can be deprived, however it’s not like a 2.5-inch drive bay or three requires a monster sized case. Solely the smallest NUC kind methods can be deprived, they usually’re extra doubtless to make use of customized motherboards and will nonetheless embody M.2 slots anyway.
Are there drawbacks to utilizing U.2 over M.2? Effectively, it is advisable to use a cable to attach them. Some would say that M.2 drives are a extra elegant resolution. No cables means a cleaner construct. However do I care about seeing an inch of cable protruding the facet of my motherboard earlier than it disappears by way of a gap and out of sight? Not. One. Bit. Somebody might make an RGB U.2 cable.
Oh, I can’t imagine I went there.
Sorry, however I am unable to fall in love with M.2 SSDs. They’re small, fiddly, sizzling, harder to put in, add price and complexity to motherboards they usually’re capability restricted. U.2 addresses all of those weaknesses at the price of requiring slightly extra case area and the usage of cables. Large deal. These are trade-offs I am greater than keen to simply accept.
U.2 drives clearly have the sting. Give me the choice and I’ll observe. However, no matter occurs, with or with out you, the insatiable want for quick flash storage is not going to go away. I simply hope that the longer term is not all lemon M.2 drives. If U.2 makes a comeback, it’s going to be an attractive day.
