[SOLVED] How many M.2 SSD Storage?

[whitefurr]

Hello good day. I would like to ask since I did read how the M.2 drives work but not sure on how many. I have this model: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450M-MORTAR-TITANIUM
I have 3 SATA slots occupied that are Kingston SSD driver, 2 HDD. I just need to know if I could put a storage M.2 SSD 1TB 2280 on the motherboard.

May I still install more into all the M.2 slots even if all my SATA slots are occupied? This board have four it seems.

 

[USAFRet]

As always, go to the manufacturers spec sheet:
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450M-MORTAR-TITANIUM/Specification

AMD® B450 Chipset

• 4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports
• 1 x M.2 slot (M2_2, Key M)1
  • Supports PCIe 2.0 x4 2242/ 2260 /2280 storage devices

AMD® CPU

• 1 x M.2 slot (M2_1, Key M)1
  • Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 (1st, 2nd and 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™/ Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics and 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Graphics) or PCIe 3.0 x2 (Athlon™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics) and SATA 6Gb/s 2242/ 2260 /2280 storage devices

1. PCI_E4 slot will be unavailable when an M.2 SSD is installed in the M2_2 slot.

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So, from that, it seems you can have 2x M.2 NVMe. The M2_2, however, will only run at partial speed (PCIe 2.0). And 4x SATA drives connected to the motherboard SATA ports.

 

[alceryes]

This board has two M.2 slots. You'll need to read the instruction manual to see if you can populate both M.2s AND use all the standard SATA ports.

Edit: Or see @USAFRet's answer above. 😉

 

[whitefurr]

As always, go to the manufacturers spec sheet:
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450M-MORTAR-TITANIUM/Specification

AMD® B450 Chipset

• 4 x SATA 6Gb/s ports
• 1 x M.2 slot (M2_2, Key M)1
  • Supports PCIe 2.0 x4 2242/ 2260 /2280 storage devices

AMD® CPU

• 1 x M.2 slot (M2_1, Key M)1
  • Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 (1st, 2nd and 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™/ Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics and 2nd Gen AMD Ryzen™ with Radeon™ Graphics) or PCIe 3.0 x2 (Athlon™ with Radeon™ Vega Graphics) and SATA 6Gb/s 2242/ 2260 /2280 storage devices

1. PCI_E4 slot will be unavailable when an M.2 SSD is installed in the M2_2 slot.

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So, from that, it seems you can have 2x M.2 NVMe. The M2_2, however, will only run at partial speed (PCIe 2.0). And 4x SATA drives connected to the motherboard SATA ports.

Does that mean if you have all four SATA ports occupied. The 2nd M2_2 will run at a slow pace? How slow exactly? can you still use it as a normal storage? I'm not that techy when it comes to these things.

I am planning to get the M.2 WD 1TB 2280 and plug it on the M2_1 port.

 

[USAFRet]

Does that mean if you have all four SATA ports occupied. The 2nd M2_2 will run at a slow pace? How slow exactly? can you still use it as a normal storage? I'm not that techy when it comes to these things.

I am planning to get the M.2 WD 1TB 2280 and plug it on the M2_1 port.

The M2_2 port is "PCIe 2.0 x4 ", no matter what is in the SATA ports. It will be somewhat slower than the theoretical best performance of a good NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4 drive.
Yes, you can use it as storage or whatever.

The M2_1 port will provide that drive with its full speed. PCIe 3.0 x4 .