Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H+Samsung M.2 SSD 950 PRO

[technikok]

Hello
I'm using Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H which has a M.2 slot and supports PCIe x 2.It also supports NVMe
I wanna buy a Samsung M.2 950 PRO which is PCIe 3 x 4 and NVMe
Will i get full speed of the drive or there is a limit of PCIe x 2 of the MOBO??

 

[The Original Ralph]

no - you'll need to use a M.2 > expansion card in a PCIe 3.0 x4 expansion slot.

with my xp941, which was PCIe 2.0 x4, installed in my M.2 slot (also x2) i only saw about 2/3 of the rated transfer speed, about 770 MB/s read, 580 MB/s write.

Another user here that installed his 950 in a x2 M.2 slot only saw 825 MB/s read.

You need 3.0 and all 4 lanes to see full speed

Asus offers the highest quality M.2 expansion card http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-HYPER-M-2-X4-ACCESSORY-FOR-ASUS-X99-DELUXE-SSD-bracket-/181961887565?hash=item2a5dc60f4d:g:dyUAAOSwAKxWasDr
ignore the descript "for X99" - it runs in all, Z97, X99 & Z170 mobos

or the adddonics expansion card http://www.addonics.com/products/adm2px4.php

 

[technikok]

Without using a PCIe expansion which is the right m.2 SSD so i can take full advantage of m.2 slot on my mobo and don't loose speed?

 

[The Original Ralph]

Without using a PCIe expansion which is the right m.2 SSD so i can take full advantage of m.2 slot on my mobo and don't loose speed?

IF I understood your question, you're asking which PCIe SSD won't be limited by your M.2 socket - even the xp941, 1st gen, which was PCIe 2.0 x4, was limited in my M.2 socket - when in the M.2 socket, max speed i saw was 770 MB/s read & 580 MB/s write. Moved to a PCIe 2.0 x4 expansion slot, i saw full speed, 1180 MB/s read & 870 MB/s write. There's not a terrible lot of economy, price wise, buying a xp941. You could check pricing on a 850 M.2 SSD (but it's sata, not PCIe), but don't expect anything above sata speeds, maybe 560 MB/s read - not sure what write speeds to expect