Asus Z170s and Samsung 960 Pro - M.2 NVMe SSD

[justrightlizard]

So I recently purchased the Samsung 960 Pro (512gb) - M.2 NVMe SSD for my Asus Z170s and I am currently waiting for the screw I had to order to hold it into place once I realized that Asus never gave me one... So I have done some more research on M.2 ssds and have found that you can run the M.2 drives on SATA and PCIe mode.

What is the difference, from what I have seen, running the drive on SATA will disable 2 of the 6 SATA ports and running it on PCIe will not disturb the SATA ports. Is that correct?

Also what is the speed difference from running SATA vs PCIe? What repercussions are there for running one or the other?

Also, how does one go about changing the setting for either running SATA or PCIe on the M.2 drive in the bios?

I think that is all the questions I have about this. If there is anything else you think I need to know then please do not hesitate to let me know. Thanks for the help!

 

[jimthenagual]

The 960 Pro is a NVMe M.2, not a SATA M.2. Kind of confusing. When you plug it in, your motherboard will use the PCI-e lanes automatically. No SATA ports will be disabled, as you are using an NVMe M.2.

You can not 'switch' it to SATA mode, as it is not an SATA M.2. Your motherboard, however, can 'switch' to SATA mode if you were to plug in a SATA M.2 drive.

 

[justrightlizard]

Thanks for clarifying that for me! Have a great day!