[SOLVED] Need help on NVME for my MOBO !!

Nov 18, 2018
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Hi,
Currently I am using Asus H97 pro gamer mobo.

Can I know if my mother can support m.2 NVME SSD?

I have a GTX 1060 Graphic Card installed on my PCI slot, Will it affect my speed ssd speed if I get NVME?

Another question, which SSD will be the best option for durability and price-wise?

Thanks in advance.
 
Solution
You could use a PCIe add in card to mount a Gen3 x4 NVMe drive, sure. That would allow you to utilize the full (theoretical) bandwidth available.

However, outside of a few select use-cases, you're not likely to 'feel' any difference between a Gen3 x4, Gen3 x2 or decent SATA3 drive...
Nov 18, 2018
4
0
10
But if I really want to get NVME to my MOBO, can it be done without sacrificing the speed?

Anyway can be done? Do not want to upgrade my PC just yet. hope someone can help me. Thanks.
 

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
You could use a PCIe add in card to mount a Gen3 x4 NVMe drive, sure. That would allow you to utilize the full (theoretical) bandwidth available.

However, outside of a few select use-cases, you're not likely to 'feel' any difference between a Gen3 x4, Gen3 x2 or decent SATA3 drive...
 
Solution

TJ Hooker

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Unless you remove your graphics card, the best speed you can get for your NVMe drive would be PCIe 2.0 x4. Most NVMe SSDs have a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface, which offers twice the bandwidth of PCIe 2.0. You could still use a PCIe 3.0 SSD, but it would be limited to 2.0 speeds.

As said above, SATA SSDs are fine for most people. I went from SATA to NVMe SSD and frankly I don't think I can notice the difference.
 
Last edited:

Endre

Reputable
Hi,
Currently I am using Asus H97 pro gamer mobo.

Can I know if my mother can support m.2 NVME SSD?

I have a GTX 1060 Graphic Card installed on my PCI slot, Will it affect my speed ssd speed if I get NVME?

Another question, which SSD will be the best option for durability and price-wise?

Thanks in advance.

If your motherboard has M.2 slots, you can add NVMe SSDs.
They won’t compete with your graphics card, because your graphics card is being controlled directly by the CPU (16 lanes assigned by the CPU).
The rest of the PCIe lanes will run through the chipset at DMI3 speed, which is equal to PCIe 3.0 x4.
However, if you’ll add more than 1 NVMe SSD, than they will compete with each other for bandwidth through the DMI3 connection.

Beware to introduce your graphics card into PCIEX16 slot.

Also beware that some M.2 slots might compete with some SATA ports for bandwidth.
Read the manual to know which are the optimal ports.
 

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
The rest of the PCIe lanes will run through the chipset at DMI3 speed, which is equal to PCIe 3.0 x4.
However, if you’ll add more than 1 NVMe SSD, than they will compete with each other for bandwidth through the DMI3 connection.

I don't believe I've ever seen a pre-Skylake Intel board supporting 3.0 x4 for native* M.2 slots, with DMI 3.0 from Skylake onwards.
You'll either see Gen2 x4 or Gen3 x2, (DMI 2.0) which has the same bandwidth available.

Interestingly, this specific boards' page doesn't explicitly state, unlikely most ASUS boards of the era.

*Of course, with PCIe to M.2 adapters, x4 Gen3 is available.
 

Endre

Reputable
Unless you remove your graphics card, the best speed you can get for your NVMe drive would be PCIe 2.0 x4. Most NVMe SSDs have a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface, which offers twice the bandwidth of PCIe 2.0. You could still use a PCIe 3.0 SSD, but it would be limited to 2.0 speeds.

As said above, SATA SSDs are fine for most people. I went from SATA to NVMe SSD and frankly I don't think I can notice the difference.

I don’t know what kind of drive are you using!
When I upgraded from my Kingston HyperX Savage 240GB (SATA3) to Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB (M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4) I felt a huge difference!
 

TJ Hooker

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I don’t know what kind of drive are you using!
When I upgraded from my Kingston HyperX Savage 240GB (SATA3) to Samsung 970 EVO Plus 250GB (M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4) I felt a huge difference!
Are you sure it isn't placebo? What exactly is faster, and by how much?

Boot time is probably a few seconds faster, and it may be a bit more responsive when I first hit the desktop immediately after signing in. But that's a pretty small proportion of my time using the PC.
 

Endre

Reputable
Are you sure it isn't placebo? What exactly is faster, and by how much?

Boot time is probably a few seconds faster, and it may be a bit more responsive when I first hit the desktop immediately after signing in. But that's a pretty small proportion of my time using the PC.

Rendering projects is faster.
Copying large files is very visibly faster.
Loading programs is faster.
Boot time is faster.

If you cannot see these differences, maybe your NVMe SSD is competing for bandwidth with other drives.
Or, maybe your SSD isn’t running at PCIe 3.0 x4 speed.
Or, maybe it’s a cheap M.2 NVMe SSD.
 

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
Rendering projects is faster.
Copying large files is very visibly faster.

Those would be:
outside of a few select use-cases

Occasional large file transfers aren't worth the outlay.

Loading programs is faster.
Boot time is faster.

Maybe negligibly. You're not halving boot or loading times. Sure, it might be measurable (1/10th of a second could be measured), but it certainly doesn't "feel" significantly faster.
 
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TJ Hooker

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Most people aren't rendering. They're also not copying large files often, and if they are it's probably to/from a different device in which case speed will still be limited by that device and/or the interface.

Difference in application load times are typically small to imperceptible.
 

Endre

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Most people aren't rendering. They're also not copying large files often, and if they are it's probably to/from a different device in which case speed will still be limited by that device and/or the interface.

Difference in application load times are typically small to imperceptible.

“Most people aren’t rendering”?
“Differences are small...”
Well, most people on the planet live in poor countries and they don’t have a modern PC anyway!
So what?
Should we take them as our example?
 

Barty1884

Retired Moderator
“Most people aren’t rendering”?
“Differences are small...”
Well, most people on the planet live in poor countries and they don’t have a modern PC anyway!
So what?
Should we take them as our example?

In this situation, the OP would be limited to Gen3 x2 speeds.
In this situation, the OP has not made reference to rendering or bulk large transfers of any scale
In this situation, the OP has a fairly modern system

So, as far as being relevant to this specific topic..... Yes, I would take those out of any 'example'.
 
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