Mobo Recommendation for AM3+/M.2 SSD

[chrisgoerss]

So I currently have a asus SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 w/ AMD 8350 FX and 32GB RAM with a few SATA based SSD's in it and it works pretty good for the most part. From what I gather it does not support Booting an M.2 SSD.

Im looking at getting a EVO 960 or 970 M.2 and am looking for a mobo that will support the same CPU/RAM I currently have while supporting a OS bootable M.2 SSD while getting the full speed potential speed of the EVO 960/970. Im not a gamer so I don't care much for gaming options im just looking for the OS (Windows 10) to be as quick as I can get for my $$$$.

Im on somewhat of a budget and cant really afford building a new rig from the ground up. I can go upto about $150'ish for a motherboard.

Does such a mobo exist?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[Calvin7]

ASRock 970A-G/3.1
https://www.amazon.com/ASRock-970A-G-Socket-CrossFireX-Motherboard/dp/B01AIZXZHQ
Support M.2 PCI-Express 2.0 x4

As no AM3+ motherboards have PCIe 3.0, there are no models with "full speed potential speed of the EVO 960/970". You would want to get AM4 for that.

 

[geofelt]

I would not spend a dime more on the fx platform.

If you must, buy a conventional sata based ssd, you will get just as much benefit out of it.

 

[tteksystems]

The Sabertooth 990FX v2.0 supports NVMe. Download BIOS 2901 from the ASUS website @ the following link

SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 BIOS & FIRMWARE | Motherboards | ASUS USA

The SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 is imbued with the TUF spirit and aims to be used with the new Windows 8 operating system. A dedicated button called DirectKey allows direct access to the BIOS, reducing frustrating boot ups and saving time. Also onboard is CeraMIX!, Thermal Radar and TUF Components...

www.asus.com

You can Google what others have used successfully, but here is one of the more often recommended PCIe adapter cards:

Ableconn PEXM2-SSD M.2 NGFF PCIe SSD to PCI Express 3.0 x4 Host Adapter Card - Support M.2 PCIe (NVMe or AHCI) Type 2280, 2260, 2242[/SIZE]

This card is realtively inexpensive @ about $20 last I checked. And with it, along with BIOS 2901, others have gotten some of their NVME SSD drives to also function as Boot Drives so contrary to popular belief this does appear to be a solid upgrade

FWIW, the Sabertooth 990FX v2.0 has one of the best PCI slot configurations to get the most out of an SSD across PCIe 2.0. Granted this isn't an up-to-date motherboard supporting PCIe 3.0 but here's the comparison we're actually looking at

PCIe 3.0 is rated @ 985MB/s per lane which equates to (3.94GB/s) over a PCIe 3.0 x4 connection
PCIe 2.0 is rated at 500MB/s per lane which equates to (2.GB/s) over a PCIe 2.0 x4 connection

The Sabertooth has incredible versatility with the simultaneous use of multiple PCI slots, even using higher bandwidth. Here's how they are supported:

3 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (Dual at x16/x16, triple at x16/x8/x8 mode)*
1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot [black] (supports x4 mode)
1 x PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot
1 x PCI slot

PCIe supports 1x, 4x, 8x, or 16x lanes, so potential transfer speeds for a PCIe 3.0 board can theoretically support up to 15.76GB/s while PCIe 2.0 would reach respectable speeds of 8GB/s, blowing every SATA3 SSD known to mankind, out of the water. Even PCI 3.0 video cards don't always max out a PCI 2.0 x 16 slot and how many PCIe 3.0 SSDs reach the respective bandwidth limits of a PCI 3.0 x 3 slot? I know of a few, such as Samsung, but if an adapter supporting PCIe x 8 ever hits the market, PCI 2.0 will support 4GB/s and that more than covers an EVO 960/970. Kind of justifies why we should still appreciate PCIe 2.0 on some AM3+ FX motherboards. We don't need PCIe 3.0 in order to reach high performance goals. The Sabertooth 990FX 2.0, still offers some great performance potential. You just need the right ingredients.

I know some people still think it isn't worth it but when looking at what you actually get, what's not to like? The cost of these drives have come down considerably and are indeed an "UPGRADE" over SATA III. Outside of the extreme super FX processors, getting an NVMe M.2 SSD with a good solid adapter isn't gonna set you back alot of money compared to a full on Motherboard, CPU, Memory Upgrade, which will likely mean a new Video Card too. All to get PCIe 3.0? If you are someone, like me, who still uses an ASUS Sabertooth 990FX 2.0 motherboard, you still have alot of potential given the NVMe drive support in the new BIOS update.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

SABERTOOTH 990FX/GEN3 R2.0 - Support

www.asus.com

This board had 3.0 PCIE ^