Question PCIe adapter for M.2 drives

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Titanion

Titanion

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Dec 8, 2002
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Just got a motherboard with only one M.2 slot (MSI Z390-A Pro) and was wondering how efficient those cards that hold M.2 SSDs were for storage and gaming. Setting it up for my daughter. I like to have two M.2 drives these days, a 500gb or so for the OS and an extra one for games 1TB to 2 TB. Then maybe a large SATA as well. I know there will be a lot of sales next week.

Should I just drop the idea of a 500GB OS drive for this build and just put everything on a single 2TB M.2, the best deal I can find on Prime Day? I think the answer is yes. Thanks.

But are those pcie cards any good?
 
Good point. It is easy to get caught up on the M.2 technology and forget about the SATA SSDs. Finding a quality 500GB M.2 will be a lot easier, I bet.
 
But managing one drive will be easier for her as well. How low will the Samsung 970s go, 500GB, 1TB and 2TB, I wonder? And what will be also very good alternative options that are cheaper?
 
I have used various PCIe M.2 adapters and have had no outstanding issues most of the time. I really do tend to agree with the above comment about a 2.5" drive for the games. They are often less expensive and may get a larger one for less. If you go through the installer setup such as Steam, for instance, if you do the first install and direct the installer to put the games on "D" (or whatever that second drive is) then it will be an out of mind issue to your daughter as she won't have to pick so long as you do for each launcher. I do this exact thing with my two gaming machines.

I will say that a recent build I did was only using M.2 where the OS is on a Gen 4 and the "other stuff" is on a Gen 3 and it really is faster and aside from that it looks amazing without all the cabling.

This is good dad kind of stuff. Kudos
 
punkncat said:
I will say that a recent build I did was only using M.2 where the OS is on a Gen 4 and the "other stuff" is on a Gen 3 and it really is faster and aside from that it looks amazing without all the cabling.
Click to expand...
Yep, having to route another SATA cable and extra power line is one downside to the 2.5” SSD. But not a big deal if your daughter doesn’t care about such things.
 
I have 5 NVMe drives 3 on MB and 2 in two in one of PCIe to M.2 adapter. Those adapters are nothing special, just wire to wire physical conversion of PCIe x1, x4, x8 or x16 bus to M.2 with M notch form. Any NVMe SSD would work same as if in dedicated M.2 port on the MB. Best part vs, SATA 2.5" is speed and no bloody cables.
 
Thanks for all the good advice. I bet Tom's will have articles about the best SSD deals when they go public.

Any thoughts on the PCIe adapter cards? There are so many brands I have never heard of, and some with multiple combinations for different types of drives. Does a dual one make sense, having the ability to attach two M.2 drives in one PCIe slot. Or is it only one NVME and one SATA because of the nature of the slot?

And the obvious is finding the right 4X slot to not interfere with the 16x GPU. Not too many seem to be 1X cards.
 
Titanion said:
Any thoughts on the PCIe adapter cards? There are so many brands I have never heard of
Click to expand...
Those are very simple cards.
Basically - traces from M.2 drive mapped directly to PCIE slot.
Titanion said:
Does a dual one make sense, having the ability to attach two M.2 drives in one PCIe slot. Or is it only one NVME and one SATA because of the nature of the slot?
Click to expand...
Dual M.2 adapters usually support single NVME and single SATA M.2 drive.
Usage of sata M.2 drive on such adapter also requires sata cable from adapter to motherboard.
Titanion said:
And the obvious is finding the right 4X slot to not interfere with the 16x GPU. Not too many seem to be 1X cards.
Click to expand...
There are also x1 adapter cards. But those will limit M.2 drive to PCIE x1 bandwidth (instead of normal PCIE x4 bandwidth) .
 
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I bought two of them: one dual and the other a single Sabrent, a brand I recognized. Both had the same problem. The mounting nut that the tiny screw screws into to hold the M.2 in place required screws on both ends, one in the back to secure it into the card, and one in the front to hold the M.2 down. I have a box of M.2 screws, but even the smallest ones were too long. They meet in the middle and it remains loose. I was able to get one to work using several motherboard washers to create thickness. Unless you have encountered this, my description might be confusing. I might just send them back. Did I miss something.
 
Thanks. I see it now and can never not see it. 🙄 Super easy, and they both work that way.

The picture from the Sabrent website was better than what was in both instructions. The visuals were lacking.
At the stage we are talking about, this is what was said:

MHQJRH: Insert the M.2 SSD and secure it with the screw.

Sabrent: Screw in the retainer screw to hold the SSD in place.

And of course I was coming from the bias of only having installed them in motherboards where the screw goes into the "retainer screw", but I bet most people are.

Thanks again.
 
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