[SOLVED] Socket identification on Gigabyte GA-Z270-GAMING K3

[rob-081]

Have this motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z270-GAMING K3 for many years. Over the past few months, I attempted to identify one of the sockets, thinking it was ESATA Express from the manual but to no avail. It's best to provide picture as opposed to providing description
For reference here's the mobo: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z270-Gaming-K3-rev-10/sp#sp

And recently I thought this Sata to Esta cable was designed for it... but I was wrong.
https://www.amazon.sa/-/en/Crest-SY-CAB40019-eSATA-Transition-Cable/dp/B003BYRO7Y

Can anyone identify the yellow circled socket, and the type of cable needed. Thank you.

 

[Colif]

They are Sata Express - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA_Express

As per the manual for the motherboard

Chipset:
- 1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and
PCIe x4/x2 SSD support)

• 2 x SATA Express connectors
• 6 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors
• Support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10

* Refer to "1-7 Internal Connectors," for the installation notices for the M.2 and SATA
connectors.

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileL...g-k3_e.pdf?v=abda4efa9ea76a27701de80c778b1f07

https://www.anandtech.com/show/7843/testing-sata-express-with-asus/2

it says what they are on motherboard if you look, right next to the sockets.

I don't think the idea took off, there aren't many pcie ssd out there really. I have the same sockets on my old Z97 board and just ignored them. M.2 was easier option really. You lose 2 sata slots just for a slightly faster drive. As the cable uses the entire row, not just that one socket.

SATA Express has been an official standard since the end of 2013. It didn't make its way into computer systems until the release of the Intel H97/Z97 chipsets in the spring of 2014. Even though motherboards featured the new interface, no drives at the time of launch used it.

The reason the interface didn't catch on quickly is the M.2 interface. It's used exclusively for solid-state drives that use a smaller form factor. Magnetic-platter drives have a hard time exceeding the SATA standards. M.2 has more flexibility because it doesn't rely on the larger drives. It can also use four PCI Express lanes, which means faster drives than the two lanes of SATA Express.

https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-sata-express-833454

 

[rob-081]

Thank you Colif. I greatly appreciate your time and effort into looking into my query and as well as providing backgrounders. It's too bad as I was really hoping to add (max out) even if slower SSD. Thank you, best regards.