Question Upgrading to an M2 NVME SSD - helped needed

[Curlew70]

I'd like to replace my Samsung 1TB SSD drive with a NVME M2 solid state drive.
My motherboard is a Asus ROG Strix B450-F gaming. Running AMD Ryzen 7.

My motherboard manual states it can can take an M Type, 2242/2260/2280 (PCIE 3.0 x 4 and SATA)

If i were to buy a M2 NVME SSD would it be easy to install?
I also have concerns that a M2 NVME drive which runs on the PCI-E bus will degrade the performance of my graphics card. Is there any truth to this?

The manual states there's two M2 NVME slots. One underneath processor and another under my graphics card. Which slot should I use? the top one appears to be more accessible. Should the M2 NVME drive I buy have a heatsink built into it? would be great if someone could recommend me a suitable M2 NVME SSD which will be compatible with my PC

photos attached of the slots. Thanks!
https://drive.proton.me/urls/YN3WGPNB1W#l58B8cAohFy2

 

[evermorex76]

If you can install RAM and use a small screwdriver, you can install an M.2 drive. Just make sure you have a small Philipp's screwdriver (about the size you'd use for an eyeglass kit) and that the standoff on the motherboard has the screw already in it, and you can find videos online to guide you.

The slot above the GPU is the primary slot which connects directly to the CPU, and is the best performance. The M.2 slot and the GPU slot do not share bandwidth on this motherboard. (But PCIe slots 2 and 3 share with the GPU slot, if you ever had reason to install anything there.)

You can use a drive without a heatsink if you're just doing normal usage like web browsing, office suite, gaming, etc., but a heatsink will help prevent throttling if you do much in the way of heavy data transfers (like moving hundreds of gigs around regularly). Since you'll likely be getting a PCIe4 model of SSD, but it will be running at PCIe3 speed, it will actually be running cooler than it was designed for anyway. If you've got two drives you're considering and a heatsink adds like $5 to the cost, go ahead and get it, otherwise there's no need.

As to specific models, there are hundreds of possible ones. What's your budget, what is your usage, etc?

 

[Bob.B]

I'd like to replace my Samsung 1TB SSD drive with a NVME M2 solid state drive.
My motherboard is a Asus ROG Strix B450-F gaming. Running AMD Ryzen 7.

My motherboard manual states it can can take an M Type, 2242/2260/2280 (PCIE 3.0 x 4 and SATA)

If i were to buy a M2 NVME SSD would it be easy to install?
I also have concerns that a M2 NVME drive which runs on the PCI-E bus will degrade the performance of my graphics card. Is there any truth to this?

The manual states there's two M2 NVME slots. One underneath processor and another under my graphics card. Which slot should I use? the top one appears to be more accessible. Should the M2 NVME drive I buy have a heatsink built into it? would be great if someone could recommend me a suitable M2 NVME SSD which will be compatible with my PC

photos attached of the slots. Thanks!
https://drive.proton.me/urls/YN3WGPNB1W#l58B8cAohFy2

If your reason for doing this is to get some big bump in perf you might be disappointed.

 

[USAFRet]

I'd like to replace my Samsung 1TB SSD drive with a NVME M2 solid state drive.

Specific model of your current SSD?

 

[SkyNetRising]

If i were to buy a M2 NVME SSD would it be easy to install?

Quite easy (if you have steady hands and are proficient with a small size screwdriver and you have the necessary screwdriver already).

I also have concerns that a M2 NVME drive which runs on the PCI-E bus will degrade the performance of my graphics card.
Is there any truth to this?

Well - yes, there is.
1. Your graphics card is installed in wrong PCIE slot. It should be placed in upper PCIE x16 slot for full PCIE x16 connectivity.
When graphics card is placed in 2nd PCIE x16 slot it works in x4 mode (instead of x16 mode).

TLDR your graphics card already is working in degraded mode.

2. If you install NVME M.2 drive in second M.2 slot (M.2_2), then upper PCIE x16 slot switches into x8 operation mode.

The manual states there's two M2 NVME slots. One underneath processor and another under my graphics card.
Which slot should I use? the top one appears to be more accessible.

Use top M.2 slot (M.2_1).
If you install NVME M.2 drive in second M.2 slot (M.2_2), then upper PCIE x16 slot switches into x8 operation mode.
But we don't know model of your graphics card. It might not be able to work at higher than x8 mode anyway.

Should the M2 NVME drive I buy have a heatsink built into it?

Heatsink is preferred.
PCIE 3.0 M.3 drives are fine without it.
PCIE 4.0 and 5.0 drives basically require it.

would be great if someone could recommend me a suitable M2 NVME SSD which will be compatible with my PC

Samsung 970 evo would be a good choice for your system.

 

[Curlew70]

If you can install RAM and use a small screwdriver, you can install an M.2 drive. Just make sure you have a small Philipp's screwdriver (about the size you'd use for an eyeglass kit) and that the standoff on the motherboard has the screw already in it, and you can find videos online to guide you.

The slot above the GPU is the primary slot which connects directly to the CPU, and is the best performance. The M.2 slot and the GPU slot do not share bandwidth on this motherboard. (But PCIe slots 2 and 3 share with the GPU slot, if you ever had reason to install anything there.)

You can use a drive without a heatsink if you're just doing normal usage like web browsing, office suite, gaming, etc., but a heatsink will help prevent throttling if you do much in the way of heavy data transfers (like moving hundreds of gigs around regularly). Since you'll likely be getting a PCIe4 model of SSD, but it will be running at PCIe3 speed, it will actually be running cooler than it was designed for anyway. If you've got two drives you're considering and a heatsink adds like $5 to the cost, go ahead and get it, otherwise there's no need.

As to specific models, there are hundreds of possible ones. What's your budget, what is your usage, etc?

Thanks that's great advice thank you. I do mostly video and audio editing. I don't play games. My budget is £150 or $200USD. Do you think these would work?

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb...d-7300mb-s-read-6800mb-s-write-ps5-compatible

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/1tb...sd-mlc-3d-v-nand-7450mb-s-read-6900mb-s-write

 

[Curlew70]

Specific model of your current SSD?

Hi, my current model is a Samsung 840 EVO 1TB, Sata III

 

[evermorex76]

1. Your graphics card is installed in wrong PCIE slot. It should be placed in upper PCIE x16 slot for full PCIE x16 connectivity.
When graphics card is placed in 2nd PCIE x16 slot it works in x4 mode (instead of x16 mode).

TLDR your graphics card already is working in degraded mode.

Oh God I didn't even look at the picture because I couldn't have imagined someone would have done that. They don't need a new SSD they just need to move the video card.

PCIE 4.0 and 5.0 drives basically require it.

PCIe4 is fine without it under normal usage, and especially if it's only going to run in PCIe3 mode. No need to spend an extra 20 bucks/pounds to get one but if it's just a few dollars, yeah sure go ahead and future-proof it.

 

[Curlew70]

Quite easy (if you have steady hands and are proficient with a small size screwdriver and you have the necessary screwdriver already).

Well - yes, there is.
1. Your graphics card is installed in wrong PCIE slot. It should be placed in upper PCIE x16 slot for full PCIE x16 connectivity.
When graphics card is placed in 2nd PCIE x16 slot it works in x4 mode (instead of x16 mode).

TLDR your graphics card already is working in degraded mode.

2. If you install NVME M.2 drive in second M.2 slot (M.2_2), then upper PCIE x16 slot switches into x8 operation mode.


Use top M.2 slot (M.2_1).
If you install NVME M.2 drive in second M.2 slot (M.2_2), then upper PCIE x16 slot switches into x8 operation mode.
But we don't know model of your graphics card. It might not be able to work at higher than x8 mode anyway.

Heatsink is preferred.
PCIE 3.0 M.3 drives are fine without it.
PCIE 4.0 and 5.0 drives basically require it.

Samsung 970 evo would be a good choice for your system.

Very helpful thank you! I had no idea my graphics card which is a Geforce GTX 1050i 4GB was not in the optimum slot. haha! Thanks

 

[USAFRet]

So, if you're still going to witch to an NVMEe:

Samsung 970, as indicated above.

To transfer everything from the 840 to the 970, this:

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Magician (which includes Data Migration), if a Samsung target SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specify the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

 

[SkyNetRising]

I had no idea my graphics card which is a Geforce GTX 1050i 4GB was not in the optimum slot.

GTX 1050ti is a very weak card (by modern standards).
It doesn't really matter, if it works in x4 or in x16 mode.

 

[Curlew70]

GTX 1050ti is a very weak card (by modern standards).
It doesn't really matter, if it works in x4 or in x16 mode.

Yes I am sure it is these days but works well for my video editing. and hopefully i'll get life out of it yet. Thanks

 

[Curlew70]

So, if you're still going to witch to an NVMEe:

Samsung 970, as indicated above.

To transfer everything from the 840 to the 970, this:

-----------------------------
Specific steps for a successful clone operation:
-----------------------------
Verify the actual used space on the current drive is significantly below the size of the new SSD
Both drives must be the same partitioning scheme, either MBR or GPT
Download and install Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Magician (which includes Data Migration), if a Samsung target SSD)
If you are cloning from a SATA drive to PCIe/NVMe, you may need to install the relevant driver for this new NVMe/PCIe drive.
Power off
Disconnect ALL drives except the current C and the new SSD
Power up

Verify the system boots with ONLY the current "C drive" connected.
If not, we have to fix that first.

Run the Macrium Reflect (or Samsung Data Migration)
Select ALL the partitions on the existing C drive

[Ignore this section if using the SDM. It does this automatically]
If you are going from a smaller drive to a larger, by default, the target partition size will be the same as the Source. You probably don't want that
You can manipulate the size of the partitions on the target (larger)drive
Click on "Cloned Partition Properties", and you can specify the resulting partition size, to even include the whole thing
[/end ignore]

Click the 'Clone' button
Wait until it is done
When it finishes, power off
Disconnect ALL drives except for the new SSD. This is not optional.
This is to allow the system to try to boot from ONLY the SSD

(swapping cables is irrelevant with NVMe drives, but DO disconnect the old drive for this next part)
Swap the SATA cables around so that the new drive is connected to the same SATA port as the old drive
Power up, and verify the BIOS boot order
If good, continue the power up

It should boot from the new drive, just like the old drive.
Maybe reboot a time or two, just to make sure.

If it works, and it should, all is good.

Later, reconnect the old drive and wipe all partitions on it.
This will probably require the commandline diskpart function, and the clean command.

Ask questions if anything is unclear.
-----------------------------

Very helpful instructions. I'll follow it Thanks very much

 

[SkyNetRising]

Very helpful instructions.

BTW - it seems your motherboard doesn't have M.2 standoff and M.2 screw preinstalled.
You'll have to find those first. They are provided with motherboard package.

 

[evermorex76]

Could be a set in the other slot. That picture isn't clear enough and the GPU blocks the view.