Question Do they make PCIe Gen 2 M2 SSDs?

[NeoGunHero]

Here is my predicament:
I have a GIGABYTE AORUS Gaming 5 Wi-Fi motherboard. It’s a bit older, so it only has one a PCIe 2.0 slot and one 3.0 slot. My last SSD was a Crucial MX500 M2 SATA SSD. Only the PCIe 3.0 supports M2 SATA, which is bizarre as the 2.0 slot only supports SATA speeds. I recently got a WD Blue SN570, which is rated up to 3500mb/s, so it had to go into the 3.0 slot, where my last SSD was. Basically I had to sacrifice a whole 1TB drive for better speeds with the new drive. The old drive did not work in the PCIe 2.0 slot at all.

So where I’m at now is I got a fast drive in the fast slot but I got an empty PCIe 2.0 slot. Do they make PCIe 2.0 M2 SSDs? I don’t want to buy a drive rated at a faster speed then have to drop it down to 500mb/s. I can’t find any, and for some reason the 2.5inch SATA SSDs are more expensive than PCIe 3.0 M2 SSDs. I physically cannot use both of my drives together and that is incredibly infuriating, so I want to find something to place in the 2.0 slot. WHY ON EARTH DOES ONLY THE SLOT THAT SUPPORTS 3500MB/S SPEEDS SUPPORT M2 SATA?? That has been such a head scratcher for me. PCIe 2.0 and SATA have the same speeds, so why not put the M2 SATA support there???

 

[USAFRet]

To my recollection, there was not a PCIe 2.0 SSD.

But, they are forwards and backwards compatible.

A 3.0 drive will work in a 2.0 port.

 

[NeoGunHero]

To my recollection, there was not a PCIe 2.0 SSD.

But, they are forwards and backwards compatible.

A 3.0 drive will work in a 2.0 port.

That makes sense since I cannot find any online. I would hate to sacrifice speed to have more storage but since I absolutely cannot use my old SATA SSD in that slot, I might as well pick up a cheap 3.0 and stick it in there. Thanks!

 

[USAFRet]

That makes sense since I cannot find any online. I would hate to sacrifice speed to have more storage but since I absolutely cannot use my old SATA SSD in that slot, I might as well pick up a cheap 3.0 and stick it in there. Thanks!

Depending on what you have on this drive, you may not notice any "speed" issues.

 

[kanewolf]

Here is my predicament:
I have a GIGABYTE AORUS Gaming 5 Wi-Fi motherboard. It’s a bit older, so it only has one a PCIe 2.0 slot and one 3.0 slot. My last SSD was a Crucial MX500 M2 SATA SSD. Only the PCIe 3.0 supports M2 SATA, which is bizarre as the 2.0 slot only supports SATA speeds. I recently got a WD Blue SN570, which is rated up to 3500mb/s, so it had to go into the 3.0 slot, where my last SSD was. Basically I had to sacrifice a whole 1TB drive for better speeds with the new drive. The old drive did not work in the PCIe 2.0 slot at all.

So where I’m at now is I got a fast drive in the fast slot but I got an empty PCIe 2.0 slot. Do they make PCIe 2.0 M2 SSDs? I don’t want to buy a drive rated at a faster speed then have to drop it down to 500mb/s. I can’t find any, and for some reason the 2.5inch SATA SSDs are more expensive than PCIe 3.0 M2 SSDs. I physically cannot use both of my drives together and that is incredibly infuriating, so I want to find something to place in the 2.0 slot. WHY ON EARTH DOES ONLY THE SLOT THAT SUPPORTS 3500MB/S SPEEDS SUPPORT M2 SATA?? That has been such a head scratcher for me. PCIe 2.0 and SATA have the same speeds, so why not put the M2 SATA support there???

If I google "GIGABYTE AORUS Gaming 5 Wi-Fi" I am taken to an X470 page. That is not an old motherboard. Is that the motherboard you have ?
The specs for that motherboard -- https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X470-AORUS-GAMING-5-WIFI-rev-10/sp#sp show the second M.2 slot as NVMe compatible.
You will not see any practical difference between your old SSD and the new one.

 

[USAFRet]

If I google "GIGABYTE AORUS Gaming 5 Wi-Fi" I am taken to an X470 page. That is not an old motherboard. Is that the motherboard you have ?
The specs for that motherboard -- https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X470-AORUS-GAMING-5-WIFI-rev-10/sp#sp show the second M.2 slot as NVMe compatible.
You will not see any practical difference between your old SSD and the new one.

Not old, but the M2_B port is indeed PCIe 2.0.
The A is 3.0.

 

[NeoGunHero]

If I google "GIGABYTE AORUS Gaming 5 Wi-Fi" I am taken to an X470 page. That is not an old motherboard. Is that the motherboard you have ?
The specs for that motherboard -- https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X470-AORUS-GAMING-5-WIFI-rev-10/sp#sp show the second M.2 slot as NVMe compatible.
You will not see any practical difference between your old SSD and the new one.

yes that is it and asUSAFRet pointed out, B slot is PCIe 2.0 and NOT M2 SATA compatible which my old drive is, making me physically unable to use it since I had to put the new faster WD Blue in A slot. I see an 1TB Intel 670p for $35 which is NOT a SATA M2 meaning it will work in B slot. Pretty good deal for 1TB, and I don’t mind the speed. Since the slot will be locked at 500mb/s, I want a cheap drive for the storage than the speed.

Depending on what you have on this drive, you may not notice any "speed" issues.

Forgot I’m not in the PCGamer forums right now, the drive is full of games. I had Starfield installed on my old Crucial drive, then switched to the WD Blue a few days ago, did a full reinstall of Windows and load times are cut in half. That’s going from 500mb/s to 3500mb/s.

 

[USAFRet]

did a full reinstall of Windows and load times are cut in half. That’s going from 500mb/s to 3500mb/s.

That reduced boot time is almost certainly due to the new OS, not the drive speed.

 

[NeoGunHero]

That reduced boot time is almost certainly due to the new OS, not the drive speed.

What do you mean? Of course it got rid of a lot of bloatware and random crap that got piled on since my last reinstall a year ago, but the drive speed is 7x faster, I definitely notice speedier load times in games and windows seems a lot snappier.

 

[USAFRet]

What do you mean? Of course it got rid of a lot of bloatware and random crap that got piled on since my last reinstall a year ago, but the drive speed is 7x faster, I definitely notice speedier load times in games and windows seems a lot snappier.

Check these:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YoRKQy-UO4

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ9LyNXpsOo

 

[USAFRet]

What do you mean? Of course it got rid of a lot of bloatware and random crap that got piled on since my last reinstall a year ago, but the drive speed is 7x faster, I definitely notice speedier load times in games and windows seems a lot snappier.

The 500 and 3,500 numbers are for Sequential data.
Which is not what happens during the OS boot or game level loading.

 

[Bob.B]

yes that is it and asUSAFRet pointed out, B slot is PCIe 2.0 and NOT M2 SATA compatible which my old drive is, making me physically unable to use it since I had to put the new faster WD Blue in A slot. I see an 1TB Intel 670p for $35 which is NOT a SATA M2 meaning it will work in B slot. Pretty good deal for 1TB, and I don’t mind the speed. Since the slot will be locked at 500mb/s, I want a cheap drive for the storage than the speed.



Forgot I’m not in the PCGamer forums right now, the drive is full of games. I had Starfield installed on my old Crucial drive, then switched to the WD Blue a few days ago, did a full reinstall of Windows and load times are cut in half. That’s going from 500mb/s to 3500mb/s.

I think you will find that pcie2x4 is 2000MB/s not 500MB/s.

 

[Viking2121]

Yeah my Gen 4 m.2 in in a PCIE adaper I modified to work in a 1x lane, I get 800MB/s on Gen 3, Gen 2 will be faster if you use all 4 lanes.

 

[NeoGunHero]

I think you will find that pcie2x4 is 2000MB/s not 500MB/s.

So I could get a 2000mb/s M2 SSD and it would work full speed in that slot?

 

[USAFRet]

So I could get a 2000mb/s M2 SSD and it would work full speed in that slot?

In theory, yes.

But don't limit your search to devices that only reach to the Sequential of 2000mb/s.

Price, reliability, capacity.
Not necessarily in that order.

 

[Bob.B]

So I could get a 2000mb/s M2 SSD and it would work full speed in that slot?

Just get a quality gen 3 ssd and let it fly.