How Important is an M.2 Hard Drive?

[Jen5064]

How important is the M.2 SSD? I am configuring a Dell 8930 tower.  These are the options I’m considering:

M.2 512GB PCIe x4 SSD + 2TB 7200 rpm Hard Drive

1TB PCIe x4 SSD + 1TB 7200RPM HDD

 

Where does the M.2 SSD fit into my decision?

 

[Brian]

How important? Depends on if your Motherboard has a slot for it. Personally, I prefer a 1TB for a main drive. After partitioning / formatting the main drive, then Windows 10 taking a chunk, you really don't have a lot to play with in terms of space with a 512GB HD. I don't care how fast a M.2 Drive is, it won't do you a damn bit of good if it's full.

I configured a Dell 8930 Tower. Here are my choices:
 

• 9th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-9700K 8-Core Processor (12M Cache, up to 4.9 GHz)
• Windows 10 Home 64bit English (If you plan on connecting this computer to your work, upgrade to Windows 10 Pro.)
• 16GB, DDR4, 2666MHz
• 1TB M.2 PCIe SSD x4
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 with 6GB GDDR5 Graphics Memory
• Tray Load BDRE Drive (Reads and Writes to Blu-Ray disks) - Why get the Blu-Ray Drive? If you ever think about creating a Home Media Server and want to import your Blu-Ray DVDs, you'll need something to read them. Otherwise, you can stick with the standard DVD for $50 less.

You can add a second hard drive yourself at a later time, and install a high-quality one. I love Western Digital Caviar Black Drives.

[Jen5064]

I ordered my new computer.  Your help is greatly appreciated, Brian!  Thank you