[SOLVED] A bit confused....SDD or not SDD

PB_1

Honorable
Jun 16, 2012
8
1
10,510
Alright here goes....I am thinking of redoing my AMD rig....currently I am running FX9370 CPU on a gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 R5 motherboard. The board is old and the AIO Corsair cooler needs replaced, so I wanted to upgrade or replace the board but this board isn't found new anywhere. So, looking around I found a ASROCK 970A-G/3.1 motherboard that'll support my CPU and the Ram I already have. It has a M.2 slot, so I figure the downgrade from 990FXA to the 970 chipset would even out. My concerns and confusion comes when researching the MOBO and its specs. The Websites Specs state:

  1. 1 x M.2_SSD (NGFF) Socket 3, supports M Key type 2230/2242/2260/2280/22110 M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen2 x4 (20 Gb/s)*

*If PCIE4 is occupied, M2_1 will be disabled.
The M.2 socket does not support SATA M.2 SSDs.

I understand that this slot would not handle PCI Express Gen3 x4 and upwards, being held to any module Gen2 x4 I can find to use. I also understand that shoult I try to SLI this rig by occuppying the PCIE4 slot then I'd disable the M.2 slot. BUT what I don't understand is the asterisk notation..."The M.2 socket does not support SATA M.2 SSDs". When the specs state: "1 x M.2_SSD (NGFF) Socket 3, supports M Key type 2230/2242/2260/2280/22110 M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen2 x4 (20 Gb/s)"...would this not be a SATA M.2 SSD ??? Could it be used as an OS drive and be boot-able ??? Thus allowing me to install either Windows 8.1 Pro (preferably) or Windows 10 Pro 64-bit ???

My current rig has 16GB ram, Nvidia GeForce GTX950, a 850Watt power supply and tons of TBs of storage both internal and external (via USB 3.1 connection)...so, I should be good on the power and stability of any swapping out of the motherboard.

Any feedback and observations for my better understanding will be greatly appreciated.

~PB1
 
Solution
You will have different interfaces for each M.2 - being: NVMe and SATA.

They are both M2 SSDs, but SATA uses a SATA bus, and NVME can use PCIe or SATA bus. So basically it's saying you need a NVMe / PCIe M2 - that is also Gen 2 or previous.

PC Tailor

Illustrious
Ambassador
You will have different interfaces for each M.2 - being: NVMe and SATA.

They are both M2 SSDs, but SATA uses a SATA bus, and NVME can use PCIe or SATA bus. So basically it's saying you need a NVMe / PCIe M2 - that is also Gen 2 or previous.
 
Solution

PB_1

Honorable
Jun 16, 2012
8
1
10,510
Ok, appreciate it. I have been looking around at many different forums thru out the day and your reply has been straight forward and most helpful. A tip of my hat to you, PC Tailor.

~PB1
 
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