Question pci-e x16 slot for an SSD. Good idea?

[hondoman]

Right then. Have a three year old PC. The mainboard is a MSI A320M Pro Max. There are two PCIe slots: x1 and an x16, Gen3.

The x1 slot is used for my Wifi / Bluetooth card. I am in need of my storage space and had the idea of adding a SSD card into the x16 slot.

Good or bad idea? Things to consider on which SSD card type and storage size?

Cheers!

 

[Lutfij]

For context, what are you currently working with? Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
CPU cooler:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
include the age of the PSU apart from it's make and model. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time.

 

[COLGeek]

Why add the expense and complexity of a PCIe adapter for the NVME SSD? Just use a SATA SSD.

From a user perspective, you'll see no difference in performance. Yes, when benchmarking, but not in normal use.

 

[kanewolf]

Right then. Have a three year old PC. The mainboard is a MSI A320M Pro Max. There are two PCIe slots: x1 and an x16, Gen3.

The x1 slot is used for my Wifi / Bluetooth card. I am in need of my storage space and had the idea of adding a SSD card into the x16 slot.

Good or bad idea? Things to consider on which SSD card type and storage size?

Cheers!

I believe MOST would say no. Why? The x16 slot is typically for graphics. An NVMe SSD uses only x4 so you have 12 unsuable PCIe lanes. Obviously they make four NVMe disk x16 cards. If you had a storage only host, then that might be worthwhile. BUT having 4+ NVMe SSDs in a storage only device, would require a 10GE minimum to take advantage of that storage.
An x1 slot with an NVMe is no worse than a SATA SSD. For most things you would be unable to identify performance differences between an x4 NVMe and a SATA SSD.

 

[USAFRet]

Right then. Have a three year old PC. The mainboard is a MSI A320M Pro Max. There are two PCIe slots: x1 and an x16, Gen3.

The x1 slot is used for my Wifi / Bluetooth card. I am in need of my storage space and had the idea of adding a SSD card into the x16 slot.

Good or bad idea? Things to consider on which SSD card type and storage size?

Cheers!

This motherboard?
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/A320M-A-PRO-MAX/Specification

There are 4x SATA ports, and 1x M.2 port.

What drives do you have in this now?

 

[evermorex76]

I assume you're using the current m.2 slot. Is it a fast drive, or would it be better to just get a bigger, better drive and clone to the new drive? You only have PCIe 3.0 to work with, of course.

As far as performance and functionality, a PCIe to NVME adapter will work perfectly fine, and in that slot, will be the same as an m.2 connector on the mainboard. You can even get a card that would take multiple m.2 drives, because you have x16 lanes and each drive only needs x4 for full performance (though you have to check whether the slot does bifurcation which it probably doesn't, so you need a card that does if you want multiple drives). But of course, you no longer have the use of the x16 slot for a video card.

You would not want to use the x1 slot even if it was free, because you'd be cutting the drive bandwidth to one-quarter of maximum. Most adapter cards won't fit in an x1 slot anyway because they're made for x4 or higher.

Get an adapter card rated for PCIe4.0 or 5.0, so that you have the option to use it for the future, even though your board is only PCIe 3.0. You can get a 4.0 drive for basically the same price as a 3.0, so that you could move it to a new machine and gain that performance without buying a new drive.

SATA would also work fine if you're just using it for mass storage. It will take much longer to copy big files, but it's up to you whether that will result in too much extra time spent on tasks. An adapter for an m.2 drive isn't expensive, and the NVMe drives aren't much different from SATA drives either.

SSD type and size depends on what you're using it for and how much space you need. Are you trying to make it last a really long time or would cost be a bigger thing and you just want to get by for a while longer? Are you looking to store a LOT of stuff on it? Are they many large files, or many many small files? Is it going to have applications or games running from it, or just be data files?