H81 Gamer NVMe ssd compatibility question

[ghost80808]

Hi all,

I have an h81 gamer MB and I'm looking at expanding my PC's storage and speed with a PCIe NVMe SSD, something like a Samsung 960 EVO.

I want to go with the faster version, not the SATA version. The problem is, I can't really see a space to put it. I know I don't have a slot directly on the MB, so I would have to use an adapter to plug it into a PCIe slot. It's just a case of finding a slot!

I'm not all that hot on hardware, so I don't really know what slots it requires. I have 3 empty PCI slots and 1 empty PCIex1 (the little ones) but not sure if either of these are any use.

Can anyone help? Thanks

 

[JohnnyLucky]

You have an older Intel 4th generation motherboard that does not support modern M.2 3.0x4 NVMe solid state drives like the Samsung 960 EVO. I checked the specifications of your Asus motherboard. There is no M.2 3.0x4 header/connector and no PCIe 3.0x4 slot.

The best you would be able to do is install a standard 2.5 inch SATA 3, 6Gb/s solid state drive. Performance will be restricted a little bit because your motherboard was designed for older SATA 2, 3Gb/s ssd's. Luckily the newer SATA 3 ssd's are backward compatible with SATA 2. You probably won't notice much of a performance hit.

Good Luck!