[SOLVED] Since when do desktop Intel motherboards support NVMe SSDs?

[Nickolai]

Since which generation do desktop Intel motherboards support NVMe SSDs? (and how many NVMe connectors does a typical desktop motherboard have?)

I would like to buy a used motherboard that supports NVMe SSD.

 

[JWNoctis]

Brief research gave Skylake and above, LGA 1151 and later, except low-end models.

Pardon me for asking, but what's your use case? A 2000MB/s value M.2 NVMe SSD does not give all that much of an improvement over a 500MB/s SATA SSD by itself.

 

[Nickolai]

Pardon me for asking, but what's your use case? A 2000MB/s value M.2 NVMe SSD does not give all that much of an improvement over a 500MB/s SATA SSD by itself.

General PC performance.

Looking at the Wirecutter, they've been recommending SATA SSDs only for "older computers" for a while now. Which is what I have now (Core 2 Duo E7600 + 8 GB RAM + Samsung SSD 860 EVO), but maybe it's finally time to upgrade.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I have now (Core 2 Duo E7600 + 8 GB RAM + Samsung SSD 860 EVO), but maybe it's finally time to upgrade.

Nvme alone isn't enough reason to upgrade.
Do it only, if there's some other significant reason - performance, more cpu cores, more ram, additional features, Win11 support or other.

 

[JWNoctis]

Almost any SSD, including the one you've got, are still better than even state-of-the-art HDD in terms of responsiveness and user experience.

Which is what I have now (Core 2 Duo E7600 + 8 GB RAM + Samsung SSD 860 EVO), but maybe it's finally time to upgrade.

Nvme alone isn't enough reason to upgrade.
Do it only, if there's some other significant reason - performance, more cpu cores, more ram, additional features, Win11 support or other.

Any such upgrade would also be so involved that it would by necessity replace almost everything inside your case, including the power supply if it is of similar vintage as the CPU.

 

[Nickolai]

Nvme alone isn't enough reason to upgrade.

Oh, I wasn't clear. NVMe is definitely not the reason to upgrade. I will need more CPU power (cores+single-core performance) as well as RAM to run a modern game, and on Linux to boot. NVMe is just a nice to-have for a new drive.

 

[TerryLaze]

General PC performance.

Looking at the Wirecutter, they've been recommending SATA SSDs only for "older computers" for a while now. Which is what I have now (Core 2 Duo E7600 + 8 GB RAM + Samsung SSD 860 EVO), but maybe it's finally time to upgrade.

That's not "older" ,that's ancient.
I bought the cheapest mobo for the g5460 kabylake that I could find and it had an M.2 slot.
General performance will not change that much just from having the drive, also there are slow nvme drives that are "only as fast" as normal ssd.

 

[Eximo]

As for your question about how many NVMe slots motherboards come with, up to the manufacturer.

Typical entry level boards will have one. Higher end boards will have between 2 and 5 (with 5 generally being only on boards that have a plug in card specifically to have more M.2 slots)

High end Mini-ITX boards will often have one on top the board, but several on the back.

DRAMless M.2 SSDs perform on par with most SATA SSDs, and there are SATA M.2 SSDs as well.

2.5" SATA drives aren't obsolete, still a great option for bulk storage. You can typically get about double the capacity out of one compared to M.2 and still get around 500MB/s

 

[USAFRet]

I would like to buy a used motherboard that supports NVMe SSD.

That depends on what CPU is going on it.

As everyone said above, temper your expectations of NVMe SSD vs SATA III SSD.
In a LOT of use cases, you cannot tell the difference.