I've been looking at a lot of the new options around the many new and upcoming pci ssd's (purely enthusiast based (just game, but I like good beer and fast components lol)... can we talk a bit about the revo drive y'all picked up... maybe the new NVMe and Intel $600 ssd, M.2 (can I raid them on an Asrock Extreme9 for example). What about Asus and their M.2 x2 raid enclosure that'll pipe them back over sata express.
Bottom line I guess - what should I do as a gamer... I guess the only benefits are boot time and map loads right? Should I wait for more M.2 solutions? (I'm on Z87 so that'd have to change), or.is something like the revo drive or the intel P2500? something to look at?
Thanks,
John
Ps, logan/pistol... you guys should go to freshgrass out at MassMoca... it's awesome fun! http://www.massmoca.org/event_details.php?id=871
Todays SSD's above the lowest budget alternatives are about as fast as you'll get for loading up games. PCIe SSD's don't change things a whole lot, but are more for database servers and such with their extreme IOPS. Loading up even todays most demanding games remains largely a sequential reading task.
Both SATA Express and M.2(NVMe mode) based solutions might not show up much until next year. See how for instance even the brand new Samsung 850Pro does not have a SATA Express variant even though the memory is fast enough for it to have been able to take advantage of the faster interface. SSD manufacturers are yet to pledge support for consumer products within the immediate future.
Personally I would not be surprised if M.2(NVMe) drives end up coming out in numbers before SATA Express. The reason being that the M.2 standard fits with portables as well. The last thing that laptop OEM's want is an even bigger SATA connector. Even so though, I'm not sure if there are any laptops out today that supports NVMe mode M.2 drives. I hope there are, since I want to see the manufacturers release some drives. ;-)