Question M.2 drives

[abletudu]

I am thinking of using an M.2 drive because I heard that it can boost the performance of my PC. I currently have a z77x-D3H motherboard and don't know if it would be supported or how to connect it. can anyone advise me on this, please.

 

[Lafong]

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z77X-D3H-rev-10/sp#sp

I don't think that board supports M.2 drives.

It was introduced around 2012.

It should support an ordinary 2.5 inch SSD, which would be a big improvement over an HDD. Don't know what you have right now.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I am thinking of using an M.2 drive because I heard that it can boost the performance of my PC. I currently have a z77x-D3H motherboard and don't know if it would be supported or how to connect it. can anyone advise me on this, please.

Your motherboard doesn't support M.2 drives.
You could install M.2 drive with M.2 PCIE adapter. But do not expect to be able to boot from M.2 drive.
This requires BIOS support.

 

[35below0]

You do not have a M.2 slot on the motherboard. You have an mSATA slot.

To install a mSATA drive, follow the instructions in the manual. It's simply a matter of sticking the drive into it's slot, kinda like a USB stick.

You can search for mSATA drives on PCPartPicker: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/internal-hard-drive/#f=7&sort=price&page=1

2.5" SSD drives would be simpler to install and use, and you could have more of them. Plus they are cheaper
https://pcpartpicker.com/products/i...&sort=price&A=750000000000,24000000000000&t=0

 

[USAFRet]

Do you currently have a 2.5" SATA SSD?
If so, just keep using that.

If not, get one and use that as your main drive.

Don't worry about an M.2 drive in that system, PCIe adapter or otherwise.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Agreed if the board doesn’t have the slots, the sata connection is fine. Truthfully, real world day to day use you’d probably be hard pressed to see the difference as the sata ssds should go 400-500mbps(if I’m wrong, it’s just before 5 am here lol). But the one time you’d probably see a difference is if you were doing a file copy side by side. Compared to a spinning drive though a sata ssd will feel like a huge upgrade.

At work we still install the sata ssds in older systems that maybe we need to get a few more months to another year out of. Some of them 3rd and 4th gen CPUs. But you might be surprised how fast those old boxes feel when you install even cheaper ssds into them. They usually feel like a new pc again.

 

[abletudu]

Currently, I have an SSD 1 TB drive which is my main drive, and a 500GB Hard drive as a secondary. I do have 3 spare drive slots but am using the 2 SATA connections (1 for each drive) If I add another SSD would I be able to transfer the files that are on my HD to the new SSD without messing with the registry? One of yjr reasons I am asking is I heard SSD's speed up performance.

 

[USAFRet]

Currently, I have an SSD 1 TB drive which is my main drive, and a 500GB Hard drive as a secondary. I do have 3 spare drive slots but am using the 2 SATA connections (1 for each drive) If I add another SSD would I be able to transfer the files that are on my HD to the new SSD without messing with the registry? One of yjr reasons I am asking is I heard SSD's speed up performance.

What data is on the HDD?
If its not the OS, probably just a simple copy/paste.

Please show us a screencap of your Disk Management window.

 

[beyondlogic]

Currently, I have an SSD 1 TB drive which is my main drive, and a 500GB Hard drive as a secondary. I do have 3 spare drive slots but am using the 2 SATA connections (1 for each drive) If I add another SSD would I be able to transfer the files that are on my HD to the new SSD without messing with the registry? One of yjr reasons I am asking is I heard SSD's speed up performance.

what data are you hoping to transfer. and what type of performance are you hoping to get is the performance related to games ?.

 

[abletudu]

what data are you hoping to transfer. and what type of performance are you hoping to get is the performance related to games ?.

Mostly games, but I am currently working on writing a book as well. When playing games sometimes they momentarily freeze and my overall performance is slow at times in general.

 

[beyondlogic]

Mostly games, but I am currently working on writing a book as well. When playing games sometimes they momentarily freeze and my overall performance is slow at times in general.

what is full specs of your system.

but there may be a few cheap suggestions into making it a bit faster.

overall budget for improvements?.
country based in usa etc

 

[abletudu]

what is full specs of your system.

but there may be a few cheap suggestions into making it a bit faster.

overall budget for improvements?.
country based in usa etc

OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name DESKTOP-RQTTGDR
System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model To be filled by O.E.M.
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU To be filled by O.E.M.
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-3220 CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3300 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. F16, 10/24/2012
SMBIOS Version 2.7
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode UEFI
BaseBoard Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
BaseBoard Product Z77X-D3H
BaseBoard Version To be filled by O.E.M.
Platform Role Desktop
Secure Boot State Unsupported
PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume4
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.19041.3636"
User Name DESKTOP-RQTTGDR\john
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 16.0 GB
Available Physical Memory 8.42 GB
Total Virtual Memory 18.7 GB
Available Virtual Memory 8.44 GB
Page File Space 2.75 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Kernel DMA Protection Off
Virtualization-based security Not enabled
Device Encryption Support Reasons for failed automatic device encryption: TPM is not usable, PCR7 binding is not supported, Hardware Security Test Interface failed and device is not Modern Standby, Un-allowed DMA capable bus/device(s) detected, TPM is not usable
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes

 

[Lafong]

That's a 2012 platform with 16 GB RAM

I'd have VERY low gaming expectations.

It should be fine for writing a book.

I'd be reluctant to spend money on it beyond assuring that Windows and applications are on an SSD.

 

[beyondlogic]

OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name DESKTOP-RQTTGDR
System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model To be filled by O.E.M.
System Type x64-based PC
System SKU To be filled by O.E.M.
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-3220 CPU @ 3.30GHz, 3300 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. F16, 10/24/2012
SMBIOS Version 2.7
Embedded Controller Version 255.255
BIOS Mode UEFI
BaseBoard Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
BaseBoard Product Z77X-D3H
BaseBoard Version To be filled by O.E.M.
Platform Role Desktop
Secure Boot State Unsupported
PCR7 Configuration Binding Not Possible
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume4
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "10.0.19041.3636"
User Name DESKTOP-RQTTGDR\john
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 16.0 GB
Total Physical Memory 16.0 GB
Available Physical Memory 8.42 GB
Total Virtual Memory 18.7 GB
Available Virtual Memory 8.44 GB
Page File Space 2.75 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
Kernel DMA Protection Off
Virtualization-based security Not enabled
Device Encryption Support Reasons for failed automatic device encryption: TPM is not usable, PCR7 binding is not supported, Hardware Security Test Interface failed and device is not Modern Standby, Un-allowed DMA capable bus/device(s) detected, TPM is not usable
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware Yes
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection Yes

Sorry i ment was

what is the cpu/ ram/ and graphic card if any.
if unsure you can look up specs on hw monitor
https://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/hwmonitor_1.53.exe

also because of its age should be a fairly easy way to upgrade it on cheap

 

[abletudu]

Sorry i ment was

what is the cpu/ ram/ and graphic card if any.
if unsure you can look up specs on hw monitor
https://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/hwmonitor_1.53.exe

also because of its age should be a fairly easy way to upgrade it on cheap

CPU: i3-3220
GPU: Geforce GTX 960

 

[beyondlogic]

CPU: i3-3220
GPU: Geforce GTX 960

id recomend
Intel Core i7-3770 its fairly cheap on used market
( note update your bios before installing )
the new chip will make most games run easier.


what is your power supply ?

and case.


the 2 big things to spend on are the gpu and psu cause you can always swap them into a new system later.

you have enough ram for most games.

so one focus is

cpu upgrade first ( its the worst part)
then psu ( depends on what you have already.)
then gpu ( this is the big spend)

what resolution are you playing on ?

 

[abletudu]

PSU is 100W
Resolution: 1920 x 1080

 

[beyondlogic]

PSU is 100W
Resolution: 1920 x 1080

Psu can't be 100 watts it wouldn't run on a PSU that low

 

[USAFRet]

PSU is 100W

Please take a pic of the label on the PSU.
Upload the pic to imgur.com, post the link here.

 

[abletudu]

Thanks anyway, but I really don't want to open the PC up right now. Guess I'll try the CPU first. Can you recommend an inexpensive one since I am retired on Social Security?

 

[SkyNetRising]

I'll try the CPU first. Can you recommend an inexpensive one since I am retired on Social Security?

Any Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge i7 would give you upgrade from
2core/4thread to 4core/8thread configuration.
See, what is available in your area. All of those would be used parts.

Intel® Core™ i7-3770K
Intel® Core™ i7-3770S
Intel® Core™ i7-3770T
Intel® Core™ i7-2600
Intel® Core™ i7-2600K
Intel® Core™ i7-2600S

 

[abletudu]

thank you