The computer and electronics super geek thread

[David Hingtgen]

Been looking at SSD's, and am currently thinking:

The 2.5in SATA market is already almost dead, with few real options. The 870 Evo was the last new model Samsung made and that was years ago. I don't want to buy another again. The Crucial MX is sold out everywhere.  WD is just rebranded Sandisk.  

So thinking----M2 nvme on a pcie adapter card.  Then I can hopefully move it to my next new mobo (and mount it directly) whenever my big upgrade happens.  

Price-wise, M2+adapter is the same or cheaper than a 2.5in.  

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

So thinking----M2 nvme on a pcie adapter card.  Then I can hopefully move it to my next new mobo (and mount it directly) whenever my big upgrade happens.  

Price-wise, M2+adapter is the same or cheaper than a 2.5in.

I'd say that's definitely the way to go.  Not only could you mount it directly to a new mobo with more NVME slots, you could fill all the mobo's NVME slots and still stick the adapter into a free PCIe slot (which a future mobo will almost definitely have) and have even more NVME storage.

[David Hingtgen]

And I went ahead and ordered that combo---even though my board's 2nd pcie x16 slot is only PCIE 2.0 (vs the 1st slot being 3.0), and the adapter only uses x4 bandwidth---that should still be much faster than SATA.  And when it someday gets moved to a new board with multiple M2 slots, then it'll be faster still.  

One of my credit cards is doing 5% back this quarter with Amazon, and Amazon is offering 1 month free trial of Prime again, so free next-day shipping  plus 5% off.   So went with them instead of BestBuy or Newegg etc.  (yes, Newegg is a shell of its former self, but still better than Amazon much of the time IMHO for PC parts).  

Decided on another 990 Evo Plus, same as my (almost)new OS drive.  Everywhere still seems to say it's just about best thing ever.   

::edit:: Seriously, Best Buy dropped the price $10 within minutes of me ordering from Amazon?  :[

[TangledThorns]

8 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

Been looking at SSD's, and am currently thinking:

The 2.5in SATA market is already almost dead, with few real options. The 870 Evo was the last new model Samsung made and that was years ago. I don't want to buy another again. The Crucial MX is sold out everywhere.  WD is just rebranded Sandisk.  

So thinking----M2 nvme on a pcie adapter card.  Then I can hopefully move it to my next new mobo (and mount it directly) whenever my big upgrade happens.  

Price-wise, M2+adapter is the same or cheaper than a 2.5in.  

 

You don't have a SSD yet? Yes, 2.5in SSDs are dead and M.2 is the state of the art but it sounds like you need a new system.

On a side note I converted my old 250Gb Samsung SSD from 2014 into a USB drive with an adapter from Amazon. Works really well and is connected to my nVidia Shield to hold media files.   

[David Hingtgen]

I do, I was just looking to see what was available as a replacement for the dead one, which was a 2.5" SATA.  My only M.2 slot is already being used by my OS drive.

I didn't want to buy a new mobo solely to be able to have 2 direct-mount M.2's simultaneously.  And 2.5" seems pretty dead, if you want a name brand.  

[azrael]

2.5" drives aren't really dead. At least not the form factor, in the data center. It's just that we've hit the 6-Gbit/s bandwidth limit on SATA and with M.2 far outpacing that bandwidth (cuz it uses PCIE), there's no headroom left in the SATA protocol. Even SAS (SATA's datacenter cousin) can't keep up topping out at 22.5-Gbit/s. The 2.5" format are still used in NASs/SANs cuz as that format is easy to work with in large scale (the drive is a 2.5" drive but runs on the M.2 protocol/PCI-E bus, see Kioxia's CD-series datacenter drives). Once nice thing about old SATA 2.5" SSDs is that they don't suffer from heat issues like NVMe drives cuz the bandwidth limit is lower, generating less SSD controller heat vs NVMe.   

[David Hingtgen]

But at the consumer level, taking into price+quality+availability----it looked surprisingly dead.  I kept wondering why I couldn't really find much, until I realized, it looks like almost everyone jumped ship already to pure M.2.  And I don't doubt the PS5 is part of the reason.  A zillion M2's were sold because of it (I bought one!).  And so competition/development of that segment of the consumer market was and still is high.  

My now-dead 2.5in SATA was in the coolest spot in the PC and all alone in a suspended cage.

[David Hingtgen]

I "won the Amazon lottery" and not only got a legit, US-market drive (always a concern with Amazon PC parts), it's a very new one---April 2025 production.  

[TangledThorns]

Went high tech with new kitchen appliances as our new GE Profile microwave and range oven are App and WiFi connected. Don't see need for it with the microwave but being able to preheat my oven without having to get up from my desk or couch is convenient feature. 

[jenius]

I love being able to preheat the oven while I'm at the store getting the kids their corn dogs or whatever. My fridge has wifi but I never even bothered to set it up. The advantium microwave oven is set up but I've never used it. They should add a reset feature to the apps though because sometimes the microwave gets itself in a bizarre state and needs a reboot.

[TangledThorns]

15 minutes ago, jenius said:

I love being able to preheat the oven while I'm at the store getting the kids their corn dogs or whatever. My fridge has wifi but I never even bothered to set it up. The advantium microwave oven is set up but I've never used it. They should add a reset feature to the apps though because sometimes the microwave gets itself in a bizarre state and needs a reboot.

 

Yeah, agreed on the microwave on both points. Just use it for making popcorn or warming food up so I'm right there anyways. Also, cramming more tech in it probably causes issues I'm sure. My previous 22 year old GE Profile microwave was fine till it had mechanical issues so ended up replacing it. 

 

 

[Test_Pilot_2]

2 hours ago, David Hingtgen said:

I "won the Amazon lottery" and not only got a legit, US-market drive (always a concern with Amazon PC parts), it's a very new one---April 2025 production.  

Congratulations - you did dodge a bullet - people have been getting all kinds of madness from Amazon in recent times.

[mikeszekely]

My wife bought a new microwave and stove last month, I think they both do wifi.  I should figure out how that works...

[azrael]

All this talk of smart appliances reminds me of this meme:

[TangledThorns]

LOL, the amount of connected tech has increased significantly since we moved into our house almost 12 years ago. Quick list:

1. WiFi home mesh 

2. WiFi/App connected kitchen appliances

3. nVidia Shields (they replaced smart TVs that went dumb) 

4. RING doorbell and cameras

5. WiFi connected home lighting 

6. WiFi connected garage door opener with camera <- Nice to have in case I forgot to close the garage door, lol. 

7. More tablets because children, lol

8. WiFi connected soundbar with Alexa built-in

Edited 5 hours ago by TangledThorns