[SOLVED] MSI B450 Tomahawk: ''When the M.2 slot is populated, two SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports are disabled.''

[appie50]

I was on pcpartpicker making a build for my brother when i ran into a potential problem after adding the MSI b450 TomaHawk.

It says below the compatibility notes: ''When the M.2 slot is populated, two SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports are disabled''.

Does this mean that once i add a M.2 SSD on the M.2 slot, that i won't be able to add one of those portable SSD slots in the future in case he runs out of space? or can i maybe still add HDDs but no SSDs?


Build so far without GPU:


CPU:

AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor

MOTHERBOARD: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard
RAM: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
STORAGE: Western Digital - Blue 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
CASE: Corsair - 270R ATX Mid Tower Case
PSU:

Cooler Master - MasterWatt 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

here's the perma link in case whats above is not readable: https://be.pcpartpicker.com/list/fHgGCb

 

[TJ Hooker]

Does this mean that once i add a M.2 SSD on the M.2 slot, that i won't be able to add one of those portable SSD slots in the future in case he runs out of space?

I don't know what a "portable SSD slot" is, but if you install an m.2 drive you'll still have 4 SATA ports that can be used to connect regular 2.5" SSDs, HDDs, or optical drives.

 

[Chasingfaith]

Yes, when you install a M.2 ssd in this specific motherboard 2 sata ports will be disabled. However, the motherboard has 6 sata ports so you'll still be able to add 4 extra drives in the future.

 

[appie50]

I don't know what a "portable SSD slot" is, but if you install an m.2 drive you'll still have 4 SATA ports that can be used to connect regular 2.5" SSDs, HDDs, or optical drives.

Yes, when you install a M.2 ssd in this specific motherboard 2 sata ports will be disabled. However, the motherboard has 6 sata ports so you'll still be able to add 4 extra drives in the future.

Oh i meant a non-m.2 normal ssd. Also is there a way to know which specific 2 ports get disabled or do i have to test them one by one to find out which one it is?

Also, does it disable 2 slots in order to not lower the speed of the other ports or is there another reason why the 2 ports get disabled?

And TJ Hooker said 2.5'' ssd, hdd, optical drives. But would it also be able to support the 3.5'' WD Blue 1TB HDD or does the size not matter in this case?

Thanks for the quick replies i didn't expect it

 

[TJ Hooker]

The M.2 slot shares bandwidth with two of the SATA ports, so they cannot all be used at the same time. Think of it like a switch that can either be connected to the M.2 slot or the SATA ports.

SATA5 and SATA6 are the ones that get disabled. They will be labelled in a diagram in the manual, and possibly on the board itself.

When I said 2.5" I was just referring to 'normal SSDs', which are typically 2.5" form factor. The SATA ports can be used for any physical drive size that uses a SATA connector, i.e. 3.5" HDD.

 

[appie50]

The M.2 slot shares bandwidth with two of the SATA ports, so they cannot all be used at the same time. Think of it like a switch that can either be connected to the M.2 slot or the SATA ports.

SATA5 and SATA6 are the ones that get disabled. They will be labelled in a diagram in the manual, and possibly on the board itself.

When I said 2.5" I was just referring to 'normal SSDs', which are typically 2.5" form factor. The SATA ports can be used for any physical drive size that uses a SATA connector, i.e. 3.5" HDD.

Got it, thanks for the answers and quick replies. Problem solved

 

[Doomed1986]

The M.2 slot shares bandwidth with two of the SATA ports, so they cannot all be used at the same time. Think of it like a switch that can either be connected to the M.2 slot or the SATA ports.

SATA5 and SATA6 are the ones that get disabled. They will be labelled in a diagram in the manual, and possibly on the board itself.

When I said 2.5" I was just referring to 'normal SSDs', which are typically 2.5" form factor. The SATA ports can be used for any physical drive size that uses a SATA connector, i.e. 3.5" HDD.

Hi, I was wondering about this too whilst planning a similar build for myself.
I've got an add on question...
Good to know which sata ports would be disabled and keeping in mind the whole switch/bandwidth thing...

Would I be better off forgetting using a m2 and just stick to 2.5 ssd's instead?
Would the fact it's shared bandwidth negate any benifit to using a m2?
I was planning on having OS and vital programs on the m2 and storing files & other programs on ssd..so would there be conflict there between the OS on m2 and accessing data on ssd?

 

[TJ Hooker]

M.2 is just a form factor (size) of drive. M.2 drives can be SATA or NVMe. If they're SATA, they're no faster than a regular 2.5" SATA drive.

The fact that an M.2 slot might share bandwidth with a couple SATA ports has no impact unless you want to use those specific SATA ports. So unless you need to connect a lot of SATA devices you can just avoid the ones that share bandwidth with the M.2 slot and you'll be fine.

For future reference, it's recommended that you start a new thread when you have a question rather than piggy back onto someone else's (especially when the thread is half a year old like this one).

 

[Doomed1986]

M.2 is just a form factor (size) of drive. M.2 drives can be SATA or NVMe. If they're SATA, they're no faster than a regular 2.5" SATA drive.

The fact that an M.2 slot might share bandwidth with a couple SATA ports has no impact unless you want to use those specific SATA ports. So unless you need to connect a lot of SATA devices you can just avoid the ones that share bandwidth with the M.2 slot and you'll be fine.

For future reference, it's recommended that you start a new thread when you have a question rather than piggy back onto someone else's (especially when the thread is half a year old like this one).

I wasn thinking about doing a new thread dammit! I figured seeing as my topic is near enuff identical i should 'piggyback' on this one.
Thanks for your response anyhow and could I trouble you for further clarification?
This is my first build and I want to do it well, I'm sure you can appreciate.

So ...yes I plan on using a nvme m2 card pci-e gen3 x4 which should be roughly 3000mb/s data transfer Vs data ssd which is roughly 500/600 mb per second right.
And I'm still not clear on the bandwidth sharing (sorry!) So data slots 5&6 disabled and others share...any ideas which ones and again I must ask about potential conflict or bottle necking essentially. So with a m2 and one sata ssd if it's in a shared bandwidth slot and I'm using m2 for os (obviously running) and access data on the data ssd would it be slower than using only the m2 or only the ssd?
Should I then be testing each slot for transfer speed to identify shared bandwidth slots? Is it liked there would be a slot that's unimpeded?

As I say sorry and thanks!
(Any further unrelated issues with my build I'll be sure to start a new thread)

 

[TJ Hooker]

You need to look at the specs for the specific motherboard you want to get. This will tell you exactly which ports get disabled by using the M.2.

And I'm still not clear on the bandwidth sharing (sorry!) So data slots 5&6 disabled and others share

No, the M.2 slot only shares bandwidth with the ports that get disabled if the M.2 slot is used. So in that example SATA ports 5 and 6 get disabled by using the M.2, but the rest of the SATA ports are completely unaffected.

Maybe saying "shares bandwidth" is a bad way to put it. Hence my comparison of it to a switch, that can either connect to SATA5+6 or to the M.2 slot, but not both.

 

[Doomed1986]

Yeh I did look at all the specs etc on msi website but didn't see anything about it but then I was internet browsing with my phone.

But that's great man thanks, nicely cleared up.

 

[Glompie]

Jesus, that's why there is no DVD/CD showing in my device manager.

 

[OneStopShop]

I was on pcpartpicker making a build for my brother when i ran into a potential problem after adding the MSI b450 TomaHawk.

It says below the compatibility notes: ''When the M.2 slot is populated, two SATA 6.0 Gb/s ports are disabled''.

Does this mean that once i add a M.2 SSD on the M.2 slot, that i won't be able to add one of those portable SSD slots in the future in case he runs out of space? or can i maybe still add HDDs but no SSDs?


Build so far without GPU:


CPU:

AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor

MOTHERBOARD: MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard
RAM: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
STORAGE: Western Digital - Blue 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
CASE: Corsair - 270R ATX Mid Tower Case
PSU:

Cooler Master - MasterWatt 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply

here's the perma link in case whats above is not readable: https://be.pcpartpicker.com/list/fHgGCb

Bro just chill first and listen...
First if you using personal or small office use case then obviously you won't need above 2TB of storage space unless you store all trash things as well in your system. Even if we say you need more storage like 4TB then you have 4 sata ports available even after installing m2 drive which is practically impossible to fill unless we are professional worker or some sort of stupid who keeps everything relevant to irrelevant in their system.
But if you are in media creation then we can say you need more storage for that you can purchase 10TB HDD from seagate if your requirement is high it will give you total 40TB of space and if you aren't satisfied with it purchase server and connect with it and you are good to go.
Hope this will clear your doubt.
Even if you purchase god tier motherboard's they also come with limited sata ports.
You need to rethink and remap your system yourself.

 

[USAFRet]

Bro just chill first and listen...

Please don't dredge up ancient threads.