M.2 SSD PCIe recommendation/compatibility with motherboard?

[nickg123]

I was just wondering whether the following M.2 SSD is compatible with my motherboard?

Samsung 960 EVO Series - 500GB NVMe Interface: PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.2

GA-Z97X-Gaming 3 - 1 x M.2 PCIe connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe SSD support)

Ideally, I'd like an M.2 SSD that can leverage the PCIe bus - i.e. 10Gb/s (most M.2 SSD's I've seen use the Sata bus - i.e. 6Gb/s).

If this SSD isn't a "good fit", can you recommend an SSD?

 

[N3rdR4ge]

Since the motherboard manual and specifications do not state this, there is something very important you need to find out.

call gigabyte, ask them if the m.2 is using pcie x2 or x4 and if one of their bios updates support the use of nvme. you will not get good speeds off of x2. you can use the pcie bus. z97 came out right around when they were staring to update boards with x4. my z97 oc formula unfortunately has x2..

 

[nickg123]

Just reading the below forums, and it would appear the motherboard is using PCIe x2.

- https://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?topic=16833.0
- http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3448717/gigabyte-z97x-gaming-ssd.html

This guy actually includes some interesting benchmarks, might be worth investing in a "ASUS HYPER M.2 X4 MINI CARD" to better utilise the M.2 SSD.

I've sent off a message to Gigabyte Tech Support.

Any recommendations in the meantime are warmly welcomed!