M.2 SSD functionality

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arcon

174 posts

Master Geek

#271894 31-May-2020 11:33

Hi all - I need more space in my system, currently have 3 x 2.5" SSDs. I'm confused about M.2 SSD's as I've heard they don't run at full speed (or at all) depending on mobo support, will the following work properly in my system?

Samsung 970 Pro M.2 SSD

Motherbaord: Asus Z97-A USB3.1

Thanks for any info.

JaseNZ

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#2495617 31-May-2020 11:55

Yes that would work in that motherboard. But its only rated for standard ssd speed and not nvme speeds.

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nzkc

872 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2495623 31-May-2020 12:06

I think, guessing a bit, that your confusion comes from the fact that M2 comes as NVMe and SATA types. NVMe runs directly against the PCI lanes so runs at the "full speed" I believe you are referring to. These can go at up to 3500MB/sec! The other M.2 SSD types use the SATA inteface and run like SATA drives do (so typically up to 500MB/sec ish).

If your motherboard supports the NVMe type definitely go for it. Its blinding how fast things become!

I'm not sure if your motherboard supports NVMe. Tried some googling and got confused. People were talking about "with an adapter". Not sure if they mean a PCIe card or not.

arcon

174 posts

Master Geek

#2495637 31-May-2020 12:52

nzkc:

I think, guessing a bit, that your confusion comes from the fact that M2 comes as NVMe and SATA types. NVMe runs directly against the PCI lanes so runs at the "full speed" I believe you are referring to. These can go at up to 3500MB/sec! The other M.2 SSD types use the SATA inteface and run like SATA drives do (so typically up to 500MB/sec ish).

If your motherboard supports the NVMe type definitely go for it. Its blinding how fast things become!

I'm not sure if your motherboard supports NVMe. Tried some googling and got confused. People were talking about "with an adapter". Not sure if they mean a PCIe card or not.

From the spec page I listed my motherboard supports only M.2 in PCIe (NVMe) and not SATA mode. It says bandwidth is shared with x1_1/2 slots (not in use). I since confirmed out all Asus Z97 boards support NVMe:

Z97-A techpowerup article

However as JaseNZ mentioned there is a question on the speed its rated for... I'm still not sure exactly what this is, but if its faster than 2.5" SSD I might as well get it, pretty much the same price as an 860Pro.

Lias

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#2495675 31-May-2020 14:06

arcon:

However as JaseNZ mentioned there is a question on the speed its rated for... I'm still not sure exactly what this is, but if its faster than 2.5" SSD I might as well get it, pretty much the same price as an 860Pro.

I've got a Z97 motherboard (not the same as yours however), my NVME M2 SSD works fine and ~ 5x faster than SATA

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JaseNZ

1828 posts

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#2495702 31-May-2020 14:57

It has a throughput of 10gb/s which is at least twice as fast as an ssd so by all means drop the nvme in 😀

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Apsattv

1676 posts

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#2495797 31-May-2020 17:05

Sata SSD get about 550 MB/s read speed max

NVME drives can peak at around 3400+

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#2495937 31-May-2020 20:55

I have three M2 SSDs on my desktop - two using a SATA interface and one using a PCIe card. The PCIe is used for boot (if your motherboard supports it) and I just tested this speed today because I am thinking of running some virtual machines. The PCIe M2 reached 1332 MB/s, the SATA ones were doing ⅓ of that.

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