I would but it was such a pain fresh installing Windows and MSFS to the 2nd M.2, finding out it was worse and then having to do it all again to put it back as it was.
We are talking ssd to m.2 gen 3…there is no real difference and you may want to try your timing again for msfs because what you say is physically impossible…you may gain 2-4 secs thats not significant enough to pay for…no software can take advantage of m.2 pcie3 speeds let alone pcie4…those speeds advertised is for transfer rates not software operations
It was considerably more than 2-4 seconds, more like 20 which sounds not a lot but with the 980ProEVO I was in the menu in less than 90 seconds
I run both. I haven’t had any problems with either. NVME definitely loads this sim faster but did nothing about performance for me. Ino the numbers tell a different story but in reality, there are too many other variables that effect performance than just what kind of drive its stored on. Pick what preference is good for you. Power, heat or pocketbook. This sim runs better than all the rest no matter what kind of drive I store it on. just my personal opinion, for what its worth…
I installed MSFS on my SSD D Drive and configured the rolling cache on my NVME C Drive. I can see a slight improvement; the image does not pause as often
If you have 32 or more GB of ram I thoroughly recommend a ramdrive rolling cache, loading in freezes then become imperceptible. It need not be large, even if you only have 16GB of ram it’s great outside of huge photogrammetry (I think a 3 GB cache is the lower limit). Some folk turn off the cache entirely but I don’t recommend it unless you actually live on top of the MS servers.
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On the subject of compatibility between different M2 form factor devices, the other thing to watch out for is the number of PCIe lanes supported by your motherboard M2 socket.
Some motherboards have multiple M2 slots but careful examination of the specs in the manual indicates they are not all equal.
Some slots support 4 PCIe lanes whilst others may only be 2 lanes (therefore operate at half the others speed.) Also some M2 slots PCIe lanes may connect direct to the CPU whilst others connect to the I/O chipset.
It can be confusing as to which is the best to use so experimentation may the the order of the day. In the end, the higher lane count sockets are usually the way to go.
I appreciate all your inputs. But “performance” wasn’t my actual (or nr.1) concern here.
I just wanted an insight on a pure technical and physical point of view.
When writing this thread I was torn between a Samsung 870 Evo and Samsung 970 Evo Plus (both 2TB). With the Samsung 970 evo Plus being (weirdly enough) ca. €10 cheaper.
Normally anyone would grab the 970 without hesitation, not only for the high performance, but also for the space efficiency. But I remember reading posts that from a pure physical point of view that 870 runs let’s say “safer”. And that’s the only thing I wanted to clarify. I already have a 970 installed for the system and had no issues. But I didn’t know what’s the story when simming and gaming is done on such a drive during long periods of time. But if there isn’t much to worry about I will get the 970.
Unless of course there is a chance I may bottleneck the 970 on a specific slot to performance’s below the 870’s then I may reconsider. Both my M.2 slots are NVMe capable. One of them NVMe only, the other I can choose (via BIOS).
Your system drive will be getting written to much more often than your separate gaming drive for MSFS. If that is working fine then I would have no concerns over the new drive for gaming.
I’m sure you will appreciate the extra speed if nothing else just for load times. And honestly heat is not an issue but if you are really worried adding a heatsink with thermal silicon or a pad is a simple fix and they cost little (although I never throw out old hardware without first stripping it of anything that might be remotely useful 
)
One thing to note when looking at temperatures of m2 drives is where they are located. I’ve seen several that are squashed under the GPU and as we all know you can heat your room with a chunky GPU.
Unless it’s full sized atx there is usually so little space for a second M.2 drive. On my MSI B550 pro vdh wifi micro sized board it would also be stuck under the heatsink of a larger gpu than my 3060 has and believe me MSI are the last makers you would expect that from unless they had to.
My Nitro 5 Mid level gaming laptop, that I use for MSFS, came with one 500GB M.2 drive installed, and a slot for a 2nd one, as well as a bay for a 2.5" Drive.
I fitted a 2nd 1T M.2 and it is more than adequate for MSFS GA flying on and bigger HDMI1080P monitor.
I am guessing, by the time MSFS gets to a point where it can take advantage of a PC with more resources than an X-Box X, the cost of PC parts will have come back down to a sensible level, as well as being more advanced than today’s Hardware.
Call me old fashioned but I would never buy a gaming or any laptop. I have memories of my wife’s normal one that I’m sure you could fry an egg on
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It’s quite some juggling act fitting everything on a mobo.
It certainly must be. … I read an article years ago that explained that most audio problems were caused by the illogical placing of components and the interference they produced, and basically that’s why sound cards were almost seen as essential. Things have improved since then.
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I picked this same drive up for £61 the other day, to act as a storage drive, though I wonder what it might do if I threw the rolling cache at it? Only Gen 3 and the other two drives will be faster, but who knows?
In theory not as good but it’s not good to have it on the system/MSFS drive either … let us know how you get on.
Will do. I have yet to press the trigger and am at the excited, but nervous, slightly guilty stage 
I did test an early Xmas present tonight though. A Corsair k70 tkl keyboard and harpoon mouse and that bit feels good. Card might not in a few days though…