[SOLVED] M.2 SSD Upgrade in Older ASRock Mobo?

[Giants_1]

This is my first venture into M.2 NVMe drives, so I need your help.

I just acquired a desktop with an ASRock Fata1ty Z97 Killer motherboard which has an M.2 slot that I believe is Gen2 x 2.

ASRock > Fatal1ty Z97 Killer

I benchmarked it:
userbenchmark.com/UserRun/39642562

For faster speed, I would like to upgrade the SATA-iii SSD to an M.2, like the Samsung 980 Pro:

https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-980-...g=p00935-20&ascsubtag=01O6hgmAx9VmVcxv3XQQJGy

I'm new to M.2/NVME drives and don't want to waste money. At the same time, I realize that the 980 Pro is Gen4, which is faster than Gen2, and will downgrade to Gen2 speed, but I'm not sure of much else.

Will the motherboard work with that Samsung drive? If so, will it be faster than my SATA-iii SSD hard drive? If so, what might the speed be?

My current system's CPU is an i5-3570K with an ASUS P8Z77-M motherboard. The ASRock has an i5-4690K.

I'm installing Windows updates to the ASRock, but wanted to get a heads-up on any performance improvements.

https://browser.geekbench.com/processor-benchmarks

rates the i5-4690K at 987, about 18% faster than my current i5-3570K at 838.

All other things equal, should I expect faster performance (non-gaming) with the ASRock, with or without the Samsung 980 Pro upgrade?

I really like Samsung because of the Magician and and data transfer software, though I'm open to other brands.

Thanks!

 

[Dj0gany]

Just buy a 860EVO and call it a day.
A normal user wont notice a difference between a good sata ssd and a m.2.
Unless you are constantly extracting 2tb of storage,you wont see the difference between a good sata ssd and a m.2
Choose capacity depending on what you want to do with the ssd.

 

[USAFRet]

For faster speed, I would like to upgrade the SATA-iii SSD to an M.2, like the Samsung 980 Pro:

Absolutely not.

That Z97 does not speak PCIe 4.0 in the PCIe slots, and it certainly does not speak 4.0 in the M.2 port.

I'm new to M.2/NVME drives and don't want to waste money.

That drive would be a HUGE waste of money on that motherboard.

Even a Gen 3.0 x4 is a waste of money.

 

[Newtonius]

Unfortunately, you can't use NVMe M.2 SSD's on this board. It's only compatible with SATA M.2 SSD's. There is a major difference between the two as depicted in the pic below:

While it does look like it will fit, the interface will not read the NVMe SSD on that board. Though in your case a good SATA M.2 SSD like WD Blue or the 860evo will work just fine for normal day use/gaming/storage.

 

[USAFRet]

Unfortunately, you can't use NVMe M.2 SSD's on this board. It's only compatible with SATA M.2 SSD's.

From the spec sheet:
"and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen2 x2 "


A 980 is STILL a huge waste of money. Indeed, any NVMe drive would be.

 

[Zerk2012]

This is my first venture into M.2 NVMe drives, so I need your help.

I just acquired a desktop with an ASRock Fata1ty Z97 Killer motherboard which has an M.2 slot that I believe is Gen2 x 2.

ASRock > Fatal1ty Z97 Killer

I benchmarked it:
userbenchmark.com/UserRun/39642562

For faster speed, I would like to upgrade the SATA-iii SSD to an M.2, like the Samsung 980 Pro:

https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-980-...g=p00935-20&ascsubtag=01O6hgmAx9VmVcxv3XQQJGy

I'm new to M.2/NVME drives and don't want to waste money. At the same time, I realize that the 980 Pro is Gen4, which is faster than Gen2, and will downgrade to Gen2 speed, but I'm not sure of much else.

Will the motherboard work with that Samsung drive? If so, will it be faster than my SATA-iii SSD hard drive? If so, what might the speed be?

My current system's CPU is an i5-3570K with an ASUS P8Z77-M motherboard. The ASRock has an i5-4690K.

I'm installing Windows updates to the ASRock, but wanted to get a heads-up on any performance improvements.

https://browser.geekbench.com/processor-benchmarks

rates the i5-4690K at 987, about 18% faster than my current i5-3570K at 838.

All other things equal, should I expect faster performance (non-gaming) with the ASRock, with or without the Samsung 980 Pro upgrade?

I really like Samsung because of the Magician and and data transfer software, though I'm open to other brands.

Thanks!

Faster doing what?
Unless your using it just for transferring a bunch of files you will probably see no difference than a regular SSD.

Their a few exceptions like using it as a scratch drive.

 

[popatim]

While a 980 would be a waste I'm thinking a budget NVME drive wouldn't be out of the question if the OP was going to get another SSD anyways. Something like the Intel 660p/665p
The 665p is currently ~$100 on Newegg for 1TB.

 

[USAFRet]

While a 980 would be a waste I'm thinking a budget NVME drive wouldn't be out of the question if the OP was going to get another SSD anyways. Something like the Intel 660p/665p
The 665p is currently ~$100 on Newegg for 1TB.

Yeah, maybe.

In my Z97 system, I literally can't tell the difference between the 660p and the other SATA III SSDs.