Question Compatibility of 970 Evo SSD with GA-Z97-D3H

[TLTH]

Hello! My computer built in 2014 has the Gigabyte GA-Z97-D3H motherboard. I didn't put a graphics card in it and currently the storage is only some 1TB HDD (probably WD, I don't remember exactly).
I've been thinking of adding an SSD for music production, as some instrument libraries are many GB in size and it's often recommended to put them on an SSD to speed loading times.

I've been reading around and it's not clear whether this motherboard should support the full speed of the 970 Evo by standard. It says the M.2 connection of the card requires PICe Gen 3.0 x4. What I've gathered is that either the motherboard doesn't have this connection at all, or that it's also required for modern graphics cards and then you can either used the one available connection for an SSD or for a graphics card. As I don't use a graphics card at the moment and don't think I'll be adding one to this computer, the second possibility is fine.

So what's the actual situation? Thanks in advance.

 

[jay32267]

They are compatible.
The deal is.....if you use and M2 drive.....SATA 4 and 5 connectors become unavailable.
You're MB has an M2 slot.
This is from your manual>>>

1. 1 x M.2 PCIe connector
   (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe SSD support)
2. 1 x SATA Express connector
3. 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
   (M.2, SATA Express, and SATA3 4/5 connectors can only be used one at a time. The SATA3 4/5 connectors will become unavailable when an M.2 SSD is installed.)
4. Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

 

[TLTH]

They are compatible.
The deal is.....if you use and M2 drive.....SATA 4 and 5 connectors become unavailable.
You're MB has an M2 slot.
This is from your manual>>>

1. 1 x M.2 PCIe connector
   (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe SSD support)
2. 1 x SATA Express connector
3. 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
   (M.2, SATA Express, and SATA3 4/5 connectors can only be used one at a time. The SATA3 4/5 connectors will become unavailable when an M.2 SSD is installed.)
4. Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

Yeah, I read this but it wasn't clear to me whether citing "M.2 PCIe connector" could refer to more than one standard. So what additional usages could be missing when the SATA3 4/5 connector becomes unavailable?

 

[jay32267]

"So what additional usages could be missing when the SATA3 4/5 connector becomes unavailable? "
You just can't use those two ports.
You can use all the other ones.


"M.2 PCIe connector" <<<<<This refers to the M2 slot.

 

[TLTH]

"So what additional usages could be missing when the SATA3 4/5 connector becomes unavailable? "
You just can't use those two ports.
You can use all the other ones.


"M.2 PCIe connector" <<<<<This refers to the M2 slot.

Yeah, but functionality what do those two ports in particular provide? Not being able to use them would prevent me from connecting something which can't go into ports 3-4?

And I meant I thought this M.2 connection just refers to the form factor and not necessarily to the bandwidth standard.

 

[jay32267]

"Yeah, but functionality what do those two ports in particular provide? "
They are mainly used for SATA drives.
....and yes....I believe M2 is just a form factor.....but it is specified as PCIe.....which is what you use for an M2 SSD.

 

[jay32267]

You have 6 SATA ports total.
You will lose 2 if you run an M2 SSD.

 

[TLTH]

"Yeah, but functionality what do those two ports in particular provide? "
They are mainly used for SATA drives.
....and yes....I believe M2 is just a form factor.....but it is specified as PCIe.....which is what you use for an M2 SSD.

OK, but it if is just a form factor, and the PCIe type for that port isn't specified in the motherboard's specs sheet from what I see, can't it be the port isn't actually gen 3.0 x4 as required to fully utilize to SSD?

You have 6 SATA ports total.
You will lose 2 if you run an M2 SSD.

I forgot what usually uses these. My PC just has 2 RAM DDR3 cards (4GB each), an i5 processor, the HDD and od course the power supply. Let's say I'll have 4 remaining SATA ports and I want to add 2 more RAM cards. Will it be possible?

 

[jay32267]

OK, but it if is just a form factor, and the PCIe type for that port isn't specified in the motherboard's specs sheet from what I see, can't it be the port isn't actually gen 3.0 x4 as required to fully utilize to SSD?
I forgot what usually uses these. My PC just has 2 RAM DDR3 cards (4GB each), an i5 processor, the HDD and od course the power supply. Let's say I'll have 4 remaining SATA ports and I want to add 2 more RAM cards. Will it be possible?

The SATA ports are not the same as memory slots.
The SATA ports are mainly for SATA drives.
The memory slots are for the memory.
These are two totally different things.

As far as how many lanes the M2 will provide. I'm not sure. But I am sure you can use either a SATA or a PCIe M2 style drive in that port.

 

[Calvin7]

how many lanes the M2 will provide

Two lanes at PCIe 2.0 for up to 10 Gb/sec data transfer is what the motherboard M.2 connector is capable of.

"it's not clear whether this motherboard should support the full speed of the 970 Evo by standard. It says the M.2 connection of the card requires PICe Gen 3.0 x4. "

PCIe Gen 3.0 x4 is capable of up to 32 Gb/sec which is found on newer model motherboards.

 

[TLTH]

The SATA ports are not the same as memory slots.
The SATA ports are mainly for SATA drives.
The memory slots are for the memory.
These are two totally different things.

As far as how many lanes the M2 will provide. I'm not sure. But I am sure you can use either a SATA or a PCIe M2 style drive in that port.

OK. I don't know why would you need to connect up to 6 sata drives, but again my question remains about what specific PCIe bandwidth is provided through the M.2 port. The citations I've found weren't clear, it sometimes said it's gen 2.0 x4, or maybe gen 3.0 x2. As I said, the Evo 970 needs 3.0 x4 to work at peak speeds. I'm sure someone here knows the exact specs (and why isn't it clearer in the official specs sheet).

 

[TLTH]

Up.

 

[TLTH]

how many lanes the M2 will provide

Two lanes at PCIe 2.0 for up to 10 Gb/sec data transfer is what the motherboard M.2 connector is capable of.

"it's not clear whether this motherboard should support the full speed of the 970 Evo by standard. It says the M.2 connection of the card requires PICe Gen 3.0 x4. "

PCIe Gen 3.0 x4 is capable of up to 32 Gb/sec which is found on newer model motherboards.

I didn't see your reply earlier. So these are in gigaBITS, yes? If the benchmarks I've seen are correct, the 970 Evo should allow up to 2,500 megabytes/ps of reading and 10 gigabits will of course bottlebeck that.

But why is this the case for a 2014 motherboard if the Gen 3.0 standard is said to have been released in 2010?

EDIT: Are you sure this data is correct? I read on Wikipedia that:
"M.2, formerly known as the Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF), uses a M.2 NVMe Solid State Drive Computer bus. Interfaces provided through the M.2 connector are PCI Express 3.0 (up to four lanes)"

So it shouldn't be Gen 2.0. Maybe it's 3.0 at 2 lanes? It does say on Gigabyte's specs that the M.2 connection provides up to 10 Gb/ps, but what specification does that match to? About the PCIe connection itself, it says:
"Now that 1GB/s speed is for a single PCI-Express lane. It is possible to use multiple lanes and under the M.2 SSD specification, up to four lanes can be used. Using two lanes would provide 2.0GB/s while four lanes can provide up to 4.0GB/s."


10 gigabits are only 1.25 gigabytes. Even if those maximal speeds are only theoretical, I don't think 2 lanes @2GB would actually lose 37.5% of that speed, while if it was just one lane it shouldn't be over 1GB/8Gb.

Either way, on the "expansion slots" spec part, it says this board has "1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)". That should theoretically provide 16GB/ps. Is there any way to connect an SSD to that?

 

[TLTH]

I'll update with the reply I received from Gigabyte support:

M.2 port on the motherboard supports the connection of NVMe SSD via 2 PCIe 2.0 lanes.
10Gb/s means gigabit (~1.3 Gigabyte/s). Yes, you can connect it to PCIe x16 (x4) slot via m.2-PCIe adapter.

It's pretty read considering I read the M.2 SSD standard dictates PCIe gen 3.0, and either way it also said each lane in gen 2.0 should only allow for up to 500MBps, so it should only be 8Gbps.

 

[USAFRet]

The M.2 port on that motherboard will only drive that 970 EVO at about half its actual speed.

What do you plan on using this drive for?
Do NOT expect the same performance as you'd get with a more recent motherboard with a x4 port.

 

[TLTH]

The M.2 port on that motherboard will only drive that 970 EVO at about half its actual speed.

What do you plan on using this drive for?
Do NOT expect the same performance as you'd get with a more recent motherboard with a x4 port.

Read my last comment.

I occasionally record music at home, and some VST instrument libraries take many gigabytes and could thus take a great amount of time for each time you load a different instrument.

 

[USAFRet]

Read my last comment.

I occasionally record music at home, and some VST instrument libraries take many gigabytes and could thus take a great amount of time for each time you load a different instrument.

If you put this in a PCIe adapter in one of the PCIe slots on the motherboard, then you will get (in theory) the full speed of that 970 EVO.
In the M.2 port, it will be not a lot faster than a traditional SATA III SSD.


What other drives are currently in this system?

 

[TLTH]

If you put this in a PCIe adapter in one of the PCIe slots on the motherboard, then you will get (in theory) the full speed of that 970 EVO.
In the M.2 port, it will be not a lot faster than a traditional SATA III SSD.


What other drives are currently in this system?

Just and HDD. It would be much faster either way, but if I'll buy it I'll put the Evo using a PCIe adapter. Do you know of any good M.2 to PCIe adapter? And if I understand this correctly, the X16 port is physically larger than an X4 port, so if I only need X4 for this SSD perhaps an X4 adapter would be more exconomic.

 

[USAFRet]

If all you have currently is an HDD, any SSD will be a huge improvement.

And ideally, this is the time to do a whole refresh on your storage situation.

A good quality SATA III SSD for the OS and applications, and this 970 EVO for all your music data.

SATA III Samsung 860 EVO or Crucial MX500, 500 GB or 1TB, for the OS and applications.
This 970 EVO in a PCIe adapter for all that other stuff.

I have one of these adapters for my Intel 660p, in a Intel based Z97 motherboard:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GFDVXVJ

 

[TLTH]

If all you have currently is an HDD, any SSD will be a huge improvement.

And ideally, this is the time to do a whole refresh on your storage situation.

A good quality SATA III SSD for the OS and applications, and this 970 EVO for all your music data.

SATA III Samsung 860 EVO or Crucial MX500, 500 GB or 1TB, for the OS and applications.
This 970 EVO in a PCIe adapter for all that other stuff.

I have one of these adapters for my Intel 660p, in a Intel based Z97 motherboard:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GFDVXVJ

Thanks, it sounds good from the reviews. I saw something for just $5, but I'm not sure it had a heat sink or anything (is the M.2 connection on the motherboard supposed to have a heat sink, which will be missing if I connect it using a PCIe adapter with not heat sink?).

I might be planning on getting an SSD for the OS and applications later on, but I think the HDD is reasonable for these so far. I'd say it takes less than 20 seconds to start up Windows 7 currently (and I think Windows 7 doesn't support boot from SSD, or something like that?).

 

[USAFRet]

Windows 7 absolutely supports booting from a 2.5" SATA III SSD.
It is no different than your HDD, just way faster.

And the SSD for the OS drive is much more than just boot up time. The whole system is faster.
Every interaction with the OS or your applications is faster.

 

[TLTH]

Windows 7 absolutely supports booting from a 2.5" SATA III SSD.
It is no different than your HDD, just way faster.

And the SSD for the OS drive is much more than just boot up time. The whole system is faster.
Every interaction with the OS or your applications is faster.

Maybe it was in regards to NVMe.
And I'll think about it. Though from what I gather SSD doesn't hold up for forever (which might be true for HDD too, but I don't know the relative endurance). Better, more expensive SSD are rated for more complete write-over cycles.

 

[USAFRet]

In normal consumer use, an SSD wearing out from over use is absolutely not a consideration.
(assuming you buy non-crappy drives)

Even going back as far as a Samsung 840 EVO, these been endurance tested to last into the several hundred, or even petabyte range.
Not manufacturer numbers, independent testing.

The SSD Endurance Experiment: They're all dead

I never thought this whole tech journalism gig would turn me into a mass murderer. Yet here I am, with the blood of six SSDs on my hands, and that’s...

techreport.com

They will last long beyond the warranty number, even the non-Pro drives.

My systems in the house here are all SSD only. I fully expect these to last far beyond what an HDD would do, and absolutely last beyond the point where they are obsolete due to size.


Of course, as with any electronics, they can die.
A good backup situation is your friend.

 

[TLTH]

In normal consumer use, an SSD wearing out from over use is absolutely not a consideration.
(assuming you buy non-crappy drives)

Even going back as far as a Samsung 840 EVO, these been endurance tested to last into the several hundred, or even petabyte range.
Not manufacturer numbers, independent testing.

The SSD Endurance Experiment: They're all dead

I never thought this whole tech journalism gig would turn me into a mass murderer. Yet here I am, with the blood of six SSDs on my hands, and that’s...

techreport.com

They will last long beyond the warranty number, even the non-Pro drives.

My systems in the house here are all SSD only. I fully expect these to last far beyond what an HDD would do, and absolutely last beyond the point where they are obsolete due to size.


Of course, as with any electronics, they can die.
A good backup situation is your friend.

Hm... Interesting. I need to think about it. I still don't want to put too much money for an overhaul. Will a SATA SSD be able to go into the M.2 port?

Also, do you have an answer about this adapter? Is it crucial I'll get one with a heatsink?

 

[USAFRet]

Hm... Interesting. I need to think about it. I still don't want to put too much money for an overhaul. Will a SATA SSD be able to go into the M.2 port?

Also, do you have an answer about this adapter? Is it crucial I'll get one with a heatsink?

Your Z97-D3H can use a SATA based M.2 drive in that slot.
It would run at exactly the same speed as a 2.5" SATA III drive.
Same drive, just in a different package.

For instance, these two 1TB Samsung drives:
860 EVO 2.5"
https://www.newegg.com/samsung-860-evo-series-1tb/p/N82E16820147673

860 EVO M.2
https://www.newegg.com/samsung-860-evo-series-1tb/p/N82E16820147678


Exact same performance, just plugs in differently.