Additional M.2 upgrade - compatibility with MB

[gus.juhler]

Looking into installing an additional M.2 harddrive.

Current build:
MB: ASUS STRIX Z270E
CPU: i7 7700K 4.2GB
HDD: Crucial MX300 M.2 2280 SATA 6Gb/s

My MB has two M.2 slots, I have installed my current M.2 in the M.2_1 slot (bottom one), since it does not work in the other slot. To my understanding, this is because my M.2 drive is SATA and not PCIe.

If I were to buy e.g. the Samsung 970 EVO M.2 SSD, would that be able to be installed in the other M.2 slot? (M.2_2, side slot)?

And are there any compatibility issues with having these two different HDDs in my build simultaneously?

 

[raisonjohn]

Your Z270E motherboard has its two M.2 slots configured to work as:

M2_1 (bottom slot) --> either SATA or PCIe
M2_2 (top slot) --> PCIe only

Your current M.2 SSD (the Crucial MX300) is a SATA-based device. This is the reason why it does not work when plugged on the top slot (M2_2), since M2_2 only supports PCIe-based device.

The new M.2 SSD you are planning to get (the Samsung 970 EVO) is a PCIe-based device. So, it will work on either the M2_1 or the M2_2.

Take note though that some SATA ports will be disabled:

Using a SATA-based device on the M2_1 slot (which you are currently using now), disables one SATA port (the SATA_1 port).

Using a PCIe-based device on the M2_2 slot (the one at the top that will only work with PCIe-based M.2 SSDs), disables two SATA ports (the SATA_5 and SATA_6 ports) - when the SSD is run at full x4 speeds.

So, this means that using both M.2 slots (Crucial MX300 on M2_1 and Samsung 970 EVO on M2_2 at full x4 speeds) will disable a total of three out of six SATA ports in the Z270E motherboard (you are left to use only the SATA_2, SATA_3, and SATA_4 for your typical HDDs and/or ODDs).

Reference: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/STRIX_Z270E_GAMING/E12192_STRIX_Z270E_GAMING_UM_V2_WEB.pdf

 

[gus.juhler]

Thank you @raisonjohn, this was a very elaborate answer. I dont currently use any other HDDs, so I dont presume that I will be needing my SATA ports anyways. I think I will go ahead and buy the new M.2 drive.

/ juhlers

Your Z270E motherboard has its two M.2 slots configured to work as:

M2_1 (bottom slot) --> either SATA or PCIe
M2_2 (top slot) --> PCIe only

Your current M.2 SSD (the Crucial MX300) is a SATA-based device. This is the reason why it does not work when plugged on the top slot (M2_2), since M2_2 only supports PCIe-based device.

The new M.2 SSD you are planning to get (the Samsung 970 EVO) is a PCIe-based device. So, it will work on either the M2_1 or the M2_2.

Take note though that some SATA ports will be disabled:

Using a SATA-based device on the M2_1 slot (which you are currently using now), disables one SATA port (the SATA_1 port).

Using a PCIe-based device on the M2_2 slot (the one at the top that will only work with PCIe-based M.2 SSDs), disables two SATA ports (the SATA_5 and SATA_6 ports) - when the SSD is run at full x4 speeds.

So, this means that using both M.2 slots (Crucial MX300 on M2_1 and Samsung 970 EVO on M2_2 at full x4 speeds) will disable a total of three out of six SATA ports in the Z270E motherboard (you are left to use only the SATA_2, SATA_3, and SATA_4 for your typical HDDs and/or ODDs).

Reference: http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/STRIX_Z270E_GAMING/E12192_STRIX_Z270E_GAMING_UM_V2_WEB.pdf