Internal SSD vs External M.2 nvme?

[Nap1985]

I was planning on adding a 2tb internal 2.5 inch SSD, when I saw a comparison to an external NVMe hard drive by the same manufacturer. It claimed the read speeds were 2x-4x faster depending on the model, and I'm wondering if anyone uses these for gaming? The external one was only $30 more, and twice as fast. Am I missing something or misunderstanding something? My pc does have USB 3.0 ports, I'm not even sure if those are the fastest ports anymore or if it will bottleneck the external drive and not be any better than the internal drive.

[HeyYou]

That is a very good question... In my experience. an internal drive has always been faster than usb.... even though the numbers suggest otherwise.

[Nap1985]

I suppose I'll just stick with the internal. Worst case scenario my load times are slightly longer than they could have been. (This is primarily for a heavily modded Skyrim) I would love to add another nvme drive, but I'm already running one as my boot drive and from what I read I can't just add a second drive, it would have to be in raid or an extension of the boot drive?

[xrayy]

old usb 3.0 interface will definitely bottleneck your external nvme ssd. only the newest higher rated USB.3.1/3.2 ports will not bottleneck theoretically, but only if all involved components support the high rate usb 3.1/3.2

 

 

USB 3.2. 3.1. Gen 1, USB 3.0 Transfer Speed 5Gbps
Gen 1x1

 

USB 3.2 Transfer Speed 10Gbps
Gen 1x2

 

USB 3.2 Transfer Speed 10Gbps
Gen 2x1

 

USB 3.2 Transfer Speed 20Gbps
Gen 2x2

 

this the theory, practically i would go with the heyyou recommendation to use internal nvme interface and to circumvent the usb 3.x chaos just to be sure

[Nap1985]

Turns out I do have 3.1 usb ports, and the usb controller lists 3.2. So...maybe this would have been the way to go, but I already ordered an internal drive. Guess I know for next time. Thanks!

[HeyYou]

Have read here. Which supports my argument for internal drives.... Why the internal drive is faster, even though the theoretical speed numbers would suggest otherwise.... I really don't have an answer for that. Would likely need to have an engineering degree to figger that one out. In the end, an internal drive will be faster than an external.

[greekrage]

nothing compares to a drive directly connected to the motherboard.... Ive seen great performance boosts since i started using M.2 drives.... Anything connected via cable cant compare...

[Jisbis]

If you choose between these two SSD interfaces, it is better to choose M2. Although I am modernizing several old notebooks in the office, replacing the HDD with mSATA SSD also gives a good increase in performance. But this does not compare to the speed of NVME SSD operation.

Edited April 3, 2023 by Jisbis

[rudy4edie]

I was planning on adding a 2tb internal 2.5 inch SSD, when I saw a comparison to an external NVMe hard drive by the same manufacturer. It claimed the read speeds were 2x-4x faster depending on the model, and I'm wondering if anyone uses these for gaming? The external one was only $30 more, and twice as fast. Am I missing something or misunderstanding something? My pc does have USB 3.0 ports, I'm not even sure if those are the fastest ports anymore or if it will bottleneck the external drive and not be any better than the internal drive.

 

 

if its raid 0 enabled and both drives are 7200 you wont believe its a a hard drive based on how fast it is