Question Nvme compatability with with Gigabyte GA-B75M-D3H

[febisfebi]

I am looking at installing an SSD in my machine. I am looking at Nvme.m2 storage in a PCIe card. Can you boot off this setup without, or would I need a sata 6 ssd to boot off and at least load the os. If that's the case, maybe just keep the Nvme for certain game storage, and possibly some OS files.

particularly Samsung Evo 9 pro 250 or 500gb because of their 3500mb/s speed. I can't find anything else that compares.

But if there are cheaper options that are faster or fast enough, let me know!

Can anyone help me to see if this will even work on my current motherboard: https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/GA-B75M-D3H-rev-11#sp


Even if it cannot use Nvme as boot, can I still run it? according to manual PCIe status is as follows:

1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
(The PCIEX16 slot conforms to PCI Express 3.0 standard.) This one for video card of course.
* For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.
* Whether PCI Express 3.0 is supported depends on CPU and graphics card compatibility.
1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
(The PCIEX4 slot conforms to PCI Express 2.0) Nvme would have to go in this slot.
standard.)
2 x PCI slots

The Nvme modules say they run PCI-Express 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3

So does that mean Nvme modules will not even work on my motherboard unless I use the PCIeX16 slot which will be used for video card?
Or does it mean that the Nvme will run slower on PCIe 2.0? How much slower. Should I just stick with a Sata III ssd for now?

Thank you!

 

[USAFRet]

Just get a regular SATA III SSD

1. You can't boot from an NVMe
2. Unless you remove the GPU, you'd be stuck with the x2 port and 1/2 the speed of the NVMe
3. Depending on what you use this system for, it is very likely you wouldn't see a difference anyway.

Samsung 860 EVO or Crucial MX500, 2.5" format, in whatever size meets your space needs and budget.

 

[febisfebi]

Just get a regular SATA III SSD

1. You can't boot from an NVMe
2. Unless you remove the GPU, you'd be stuck with the x2 port and 1/2 the speed of the NVMe
3. Depending on what you use this system for, it is very likely you wouldn't see a difference anyway.

Samsung 860 EVO or Crucial MX500, 2.5" format, in whatever size meets your space needs and budget.

how much slower? the Nvme modules are way more than twice as fast as the sata ones and are around the same price as the ones you mentioned. pcie card is only $10 or so. Maybe you cant have your bootloader on it but there may be a way to load the os off of it, depending on the os of course. Plus if I upgrade motherboard/cpu/ram some day it might be nice to have. Maybe get a 120gb sata ssd to boot off of in the mean time. Nvme for games and such

 

[PC Tailor]

the Nvme modules are way more than twice as fast as the sata ones and are around the same price as the ones you mentioned

In benchmarks yes, in real world application. Not so much.
Whilst it theoretically uses a bus that allows for greater than 6Gb/s - you also need the application to require that faster transfer speed. Which in most normal applications, don't really benefit from - for example in games, you'll probably notice less than a seconds difference in load times if that.

If you're talking lots of rapid individual requests say in servers / databases etc, then maybe it's a bit different.

 

[USAFRet]

how much slower? the Nvme modules are way more than twice as fast as the sata ones and are around the same price as the ones you mentioned. pcie card is only $10 or so. Maybe you cant have your bootloader on it but there may be a way to load the os off of it, depending on the os of course. Plus if I upgrade motherboard/cpu/ram some day it might be nice to have. Maybe get a 120gb sata ssd to boot off of in the mean time. Nvme for games and such

No, there isn't a way to have your OS boot off that drive, in that motherboard.
The board does not know how to speak to it.

As a secondary drive? Throttled down to not much more than a SATA III drive.
Don't be misled by the large number on the spc sheet...compare the small numbers.
Random data access, not sequential.

Unless you are copying to and from a similar speed drive, it is just hanging around waiting.

 

[popatim]

Maybe get a 120gb sata ssd to boot off of in the mean time. Nvme for games and such

That's not a bad plan IMO.

 

[USAFRet]

A 500GB or 1TB SATA III drive would, IMHO, be a better option.

Games on an NVMe would be indistuingshable vs being an a SATA III drive.

 

[febisfebi]

No, there isn't a way to have your OS boot off that drive, in that motherboard.
The board does not know how to speak to it.

As a secondary drive? Throttled down to not much more than a SATA III drive.
Don't be misled by the large number on the spc sheet...compare the small numbers.
Random data access, not sequential.

Unless you are copying to and from a similar speed drive, it is just hanging around waiting.

That is exactly the issue, is the .95k/s random write speeds. Would Nvme allow for write just as fast as the pcie 2.0 bus could handle ie. same as read potentially right? Way more than the sata ssd's.
Are there faster ssd's than samsung or crucial for sata III? .95k/s sounds like a number that will need to be improved on in the future as random data transfers increase in speed and frequency in the near future.
I see that the newest fastest Nvme modules are on a pcie 4.0 standard now. How much can we get through a pcie 2.0 haha

For example, this nvme can do 1024mb/s random write so were up to a gig a sec in 4kb random blocks, for roughly the same price. I would think you could get at least that through the pice2.0
https://www.newegg.com/hp-ex920-1tb...7232&cjevent=846485208f5c11e982cb005b0a1c0e13

 

[USAFRet]

I'm just saying...
In that older system, for that use case (games), you won't see any magical "OMG Faster" vs a regular SATA III SSD.

The main speed enhancer vs an HDD is the near zero access time. Which is both SATA and NVMe SSD's.
The NVMe is faster when doing large data transfers to another NVMe.

HDD->SATA III = huge boost
SATA III -> NVMe = not so huge
We've had many people come in here with 'meh' when changing from a SATA SSD to a NVMe drive, in the same system

If you can get a reliable NVMe + adapter for similar price to a similar size SATA III drive, go for it.
But don't skimp out on the size of the C drive to do it. As in...don't get a 120GB SSD for that.
Hence my recommendation for just a 1TB SATA drive.