Question How many HDD/SSD ports my Z270 has?

[db2517]

Hi all,

How are you? I hope you're all doing well.

My motherboard is MSI Z270 Gaming M3. For now, I only have an HDD plugged in. A few minutes ago, I bought two SSDs,

1- Arktek 480 GB 2.5" 519MB/469MB SATA III SSD
2- Adata SU650 480GB SSD

However, I have no idea about how many ports my motherboard has. Here is the official page of it: MSI Z270 Gaming M3
Can you please tell me that how many disk ports my motherboard has? Do I need to know any other thing about these SSD which I bought, or my motherboard? Sorry for my bad English, thanks for your help.

 

[USAFRet]

The Specifications page lists what you have.
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z270-GAMING-M3/Specification

6x SATA ports (this is what your drives use)
2x M.2 ports

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums!

Doing good, thanks for asking. Your motherboard has 2xM.2 slots and 6x SATA 3 ports for 2.5" and 3.5" form factor drives. We already know one of your SSD's are 2.5" in form factor meaning it'll need a SATA port but what is the form factor for your Adata SSD? M.2?

As for which ports are shared and/or disabled when one or the other is in, refer to page 32-33 on your motherboard manual.

 

[boju]

If your case doesn't have mounting bays for 2.5" drives, can get cradles for them converting 3.5" bay to 2.5". Or if you prefer to be a hobo 😁, sticking them somewhere in reach of those sata ports will work too. Ive used stick on velcro to place my ssd.

 

[db2517]

The Specifications page lists what you have.
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z270-GAMING-M3/Specification

6x SATA ports (this is what your drives use)
2x M.2 ports

Thanks for the reply. I thought that 6 means " 6Gb/s ", not the number of ports.

Welcome to the forums!

Doing good, thanks for asking. Your motherboard has 2xM.2 slots and 6x SATA 3 ports for 2.5" and 3.5" form factor drives. We already know one of your SSD's are 2.5" in form factor meaning it'll need a SATA port but what is the form factor for your Adata SSD? M.2?

As for which ports are shared and/or disabled when one or the other is in, refer to page 32-33 on your motherboard manual.

Adata is also 2.5" and a SATA like the other product I bought.

I looked for the manual, Here it is , in the page 32-33, I saw the table. I have no idea about what " PCIe " means. Some of them has "-" and some of them has "check" symbol on it. I think that means, if I plug in some amount of SSDs, I won't be able to use my second graphic card input. I am using one graphic card anyway and it won't change in future.

If your case doesn't have mounting bays for 2.5" drives, can get cradles for them converting 3.5" bay to 2.5". Or if you prefer to be a hobo 😁, sticking them somewhere in reach of those sata ports will work too. Ive used stick on velcro to place my ssd.

Do I need to stick the SSDs to a flat and firm place? If I don't have enough cradles, I want to stick the SSDs into my case with using silicone I don't think that will melt or hurt the SSDs insaide or its case, and it will be fixed to somewhere. https://www.gigabyte.com/Chassis/IF-133/sp#sp Here is my case's specs. I think it has 5 internal drive bays for 3.5" and 2.5" in total, am I wrong?

 

[boju]

Looking at the manual for your case, there are provisions for ssds but not sure how they are secured or how many you can have, diagram and specs is confusing for me. Im guessing they slot in and possibly up to five ssds. Have a look at the online manual and check your case.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Chassis/IF-133/support#support-manual

I think you'll be alright. Ssds don't have moving parts anyway so if didn't have provisions for them they can be stuck anywhere.

 

[db2517]

Looking at the manual for your case, there are provisions for ssds but not sure how they are secured or how many you can have, diagram and specs is confusing for me. Im guessing they slot in and possibly up to five ssds. Have a look at the online manual and check your case.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Chassis/IF-133/support#support-manual

I think you'll be alright. Ssds don't have moving parts anyway so if didn't have provisions for them they can be stuck anywhere.

Okay, thanks for your time.

 

[boju]

Regarding your other questions, all sata ports will work normally if M2 pcie/sata ssds aren't used. M2 ssds look like ram and are placed flat on the motherboard connecting to M2 ports. Using M2 can disable some sata ports to combine bandwidth for these particular ssds, the manual explains which ones are disabled if use these. Since you're not, nothing will change.

 

[db2517]

Regarding your other questions, all sata ports will work normally if M2 pcie/sata ssds aren't used. M2 ssds look like ram and are placed flat on the motherboard connecting to M2 ports. Using M2 can disable some sata ports to combine bandwidth for these particular ssds, the manual explains which ones are disabled if use these. Since you're not, nothing will change.

Thanks. Yeah, I am not using two graphic cards and M2 anyway.

 

[boju]

Oh, na the pcie 2 slot wont be affected by M2, only if 3rd pcie slot is used. Connecting M2's second slot disables the 4th pcie slot though.

See specs at Msi and click details and see slots.