Looking for a m.2 for my Z97-K Motherboard

Forums › Desktop computing › Looking for a m.2 for my Z97-K Motherboard

Savageone

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#271835 28-May-2020 17:41

The motherboard specifies it supports m.2 and I am looking at getting one. The problem I'm having is knowing what's compatible with this motherboard since it's fairly old now and I have no idea what I'm looking at when it comes to m.2. So any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Z97K/specifications/

sqishy

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#2493836 28-May-2020 18:10

Its the type 2260/2280 code you need to look for when buying

Jase2985

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#2493854 28-May-2020 18:55

M.2 Socket 3, with M Key, type 2260/2280 storage devices support

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/asus/z97-k#ssd

example of whats out there and works

concordnz

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EMT (R)

#2493871 28-May-2020 19:19

This might help you more.....

That motherboard can take either
a SATA M.2 drive
Or a NMVE M.2 drive.

If you are running Win 7 - get a SATA M.2 drive
(Max speed 550MB/s]
(unless you are technically savvy - & happy to waste hours slipstreaming drivers into a win7 install.)

If you are running Win10 - Get NMVE M.2
(Max speed up to 3500MB/s = up to 7 x faster)
& these are now cheaper than the SATA M.2's

Note - Changing to an M2 drive - will require a clean install - backup your data.....

concordnz

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EMT (R)

#2493874 28-May-2020 19:26

512GB SSD's are best 'bang for buck' sweet spot at the moment.
And pricing is going up as we speak

Going smaller will reduce speed/performance.
(Just trust me - it's complicated - )
.....SSD'S write to multiple chips at once - when you go to a small drive - you have less chips so you have less 'channels' to write through at the same time = less read/write speed.

Savageone

44 posts

Geek

#2493891 28-May-2020 20:13

Awesome. I'm running Win 10 so I guess I'll look out for a NVME M.2. Any specific brands more reliable than others or are all pretty much the same in reliability? I see a lot of people love Samsung 900 series

richms

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#2493926 28-May-2020 21:39

Search out that you dont get a dram-less one. The dram makes them work fast, the ones without it become crap after some time. In the case of the kingspec ones I got for the junker computers, they got so slow that the OS would give up on them. NVMe doesnt have the absurdly long timeouts that sata drives do so even when slightly laggy, errors will happen.

There was a 3rd type of drive that was common for a bit but seems all but gone now - AHCI - it looked like a sata controller to the computer but performed somewhat faster. NVMe has rightly made it totally redundant but there were a few around when I was looking for sale just selling as PCIe drives.

Richard rich.ms

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Shop now at Mighty Ape (affiliate link).

concordnz

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#2493937 28-May-2020 22:16

WD (Western Digital), Samsung, Adata, Gigabyte, are all good.
Intel was ok - but they have exited Consumer SSD's to focusing on Enterprise customers who don't care about price.

Savageone

44 posts

Geek

#2493941 28-May-2020 22:28

Sweet cheers guys. I'll probably pick up one of these in couple weeks n do a clean install of windows (been too long). Possibly even the 1TB version

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/HDDSAM971501/Samsung-970-EVO-Plus-500GB-M2-2280NVMe-SSD-RWMax-3?qr=product_option

michaelmurfy

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#2493945 28-May-2020 22:37

Instead of the Samsung - save a little bit of money and pick up the AData:

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/HDDADA82020/ADATA-SX8200-Pro-512GB-M2-NVMe-SSD-ultra-fast-PCIe

This is what I personally run in my build and they're quick, and cheaper.

Michael Murphy | https://murfy.nz
Referral Links: Quic Broadband (use R122101E7CV7Q for free setup)

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