Question Using M.2 slots on Motherboard

[sargan]

Probably pretty basic questions to those that know.

Not had M.2 support before so new to me.
Thinking of new build using AS Rock B650 Taichi Lite
This has its seems 1 x PCIe 5.0, and 4 x PCIe 4.0 x4

Does this mean that I should put a large capacity PCIE 5 M2 card as my main 'storage' OS/Applications
Would the PCIE4 then be used for saved files / archive etc.

Similar to the way in current PC I have C:/ as OS/ Apps and D:/ for videos, pictures, music etc.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Thinking of new build using AS Rock B650 Taichi Lite

Did you mean ASRock B650E Taichi Lite ?
https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B650E Taichi Lite/Specification.asp#Specification

This has its seems 1 x PCIe 5.0, and 4 x PCIe 4.0 x4

ASRock B650E Taichi Lite has one PCIE 5.0 M.2 slot and two PCIE 4.0 M.2 slots.

Does this mean that I should put a large capacity PCIE 5 M2 card as my main 'storage' OS/Applications
Would the PCIE4 then be used for saved files / archive etc.
Similar ot way in current PC I have C:/ as OS/ Apps and D:/ for videos, pictures, music etc.

It means - you can use multiple M.2 drives on this board.
How you divide your data between drives is entirely up to you.
There is no single correct way.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Probably pretty basic questions to those that know.

Not had M.2 support before so new to me.
Thinking of new build using AS Rock B650 Taichi Lite
This has its seems 1 x PCIe 5.0, and 4 x PCIe 4.0 x4

Does this mean that I should put a large capacity PCIE 5 M2 card as my main 'storage' OS/Applications
Would the PCIE4 then be used for saved files / archive etc.

Similar ot way in current PC I have C:/ as OS/ Apps and D:/ for videos, pictures, music etc.

You can put any size drive in either of the sockets but there are a few considerations to optimize your choices and system setup with considerations to cost.

I suggest to put the OS on a smaller but very, very fast (TLC flash, DRAM buffer, PCIe 5, for instance) drive and install that in the M.2 socket connected directly to the CPU. That optimizes both speed for the OS to include system drivers and primary application programs (which is most important for overall system speed) and cost since smaller drives (512Gb to 1Tb) are cheaper than the largest (2Tb to 4Tb).

Then use the secondary M.2 sockets for data drives and game storage drives. Drives that use a slower technology (like QLC flash, HBM buffer, PCIe 4) can be found in very large sizes (2Tb-4Tb) at much lower cost. Write speed is usually the most compromised with these drives but data here is (usually) written only once (at installation). Any compromise on sustained random access speed is not relevant in use since overall system speed is far more dependent on OS access speed which is stored on the super fast primary drive.

Obviously, if you have an application that does sustained writing and reading of large amounts of data (data base application) you'll probably benefit from a high speed data drive. But most people use these for game storage which hardly cares.

 

[sargan]

You can put any size drive in either of the sockets but there are a few considerations to optimize your choices and system setup with considerations to cost.

I suggest to put the OS on a smaller but very, very fast (TLC flash, DRAM buffer, PCIe 5, for instance) drive and install that in the M.2 socket connected directly to the CPU. That optimizes both speed for the OS to include system drivers and primary application programs (which is most important for overall system speed) and cost since smaller drives (512Gb to 1Tb) are cheaper than the largest (2Tb to 4Tb).

Then use the secondary M.2 sockets for data drives and game storage drives. Drives that use a slower technology (like QLC flash, HBM buffer, PCIe 4) can be found in very large sizes (2Tb-4Tb) at much lower cost. Write speed is usually the most compromised with these drives but data here is (usually) written only once (at installation). Any compromise on sustained random access speed is not relevant in use since overall system speed is far more dependent on OS access speed which is stored on the super fast primary drive.

Obviously, if you have an application that does sustained writing and reading of large amounts of data (data base application) you'll probably benefit from a high speed data drive. But most people use these for game storage which hardly cares.

Thank you, just M.2 is new to me.

 

[sargan]

Did you mean ASRock B650E Taichi Lite ?
https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/B650E Taichi Lite/Specification.asp#Specification

ASRock B650E Taichi Lite has one PCIE 5.0 M.2 slot and two PCIE 4.0 M.2 slots.

It means - you can use multiple M.2 drives on this board.
How you divide your data between drives is entirely up to you.
There is no single correct way.

OK I had misunderstood terminology ... so it's 1 x PCIE 5.0 and two PCIE 4.0.
Appreciate you say I can data wherever I want, but as the PCIE 5 is much faster than PCIE 4 is it best practice to put the OS & Apps on the PCIE5 ?

 

[Eximo]

You have 1 PCIe 5.0 4x M.2 slot via the CPU and two PCIe 4.0 4x M.2 slots via the chipset, yes. 1 x PCIe 5.0 can be confusing as 2x and 1x M.2 slots do exist.

Smaller M.2 drives are usually slower because they have less NAND chips. 1TB minimum. But you also only have 3 M.2 slots. So bigger drives are more slot efficient. If you can afford a 2TB PCIe 5.0 SSD, just get that. You can add in additional drives as needed.

 

[USAFRet]

but as the PCIE 5 is much faster than PCIE 4 is it best practice to put the OS & Apps on the PCIE5 ?

On paper, yes.
Don't expect any magical increase in user facing operations.