Question Which m.2 slot should i use?

[1stTimeBuildr]

Hey guys! Im currently building my first pc and I'm having trouble figuring out what slot i should use for my Samsung Evo Plus m.2 2tb.

I dont know what the difference is if i run it either in sata mode or pcie x4 mode and i cant find the answer im looking for in my motherboard's manual.

Im using an ASUS Maximus Hero XII z490 which has 3 m.2 slots. I only have 1 m.2 as my storage, no other hard drives, just the samsung evo 970 2tb for now which will be storage + os drive
I want to run the Samsung Evo 970 m.2 in x4 mode but i dont want it to share any lanes with my x16 gpu slot if that makes any sense.

It says in my motherboard manual:
M.2_1 and M.2_3 slots support PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA mode Key M design and type
2242 / 2260/ 2280 / 22110 storage devices.
• M.2_2 slot supports PCIe 3.0 x4 mode Key M design and type 2242 / 2260 / 2280
PCIe storage devices.
• When M.2_1 is operating in SATA mode, SATA6G_2 will be disabled.
• M.2_2 shares bandwidth with PCIEX16_3. When M.2_2 runs x4 mode, PCIEX16_3
will be disabled. When M.2_2 runs x2 mode, PCIEX16_3 runs x1 mode.
• M.2_3 shares bandwidth with SATA6G_56. When M.2_3 is populated SATA6G_56
will be disabled.
• M.2 slots supports IRST (Intel® Rapid Storage Technology).

Link to my motherboard manual:

ROG MAXIMUS XII HERO (WI-FI) | Motherboards | ROG Global

ROG MAXIMUS XII HERO (WI-FI)

www.asus.com

Thanks guys!

 

[USAFRet]

Which specific Samsung EVO?
860 or 970?
What other drives are you planning on?

 

[1stTimeBuildr]

Which specific Samsung EVO?
860 or 970?
What other drives are you planning on?

I just have the 1 m.2 Samsung Evo Plus 970 m.2 nvme 2tb storage, i have no other hard drives or any other storage. I am going to be using the 970 evo as my OS and my storage for now

 

[USAFRet]

I just have the 1 m.2 Samsung Evo Plus 970 m.2 nvme 2tb storage, i have no other hard drives or any other storage. I am going to be using the 970 evo as my OS and my storage for now

M2_1.

 

[1stTimeBuildr]

M2_1.

Thanks for replying so fast, im literally losing sleep over this build because i have no idea of what im looking at haha. So i can run the samsung evo in m.2_1 as pcie x4 mode and not have any impact on my gpu lanes? And is there any difference in pcie x4 and SATA mode? Im not sure how to even change between the two. Im yet to install windows because the 970 evo just got shipped today but thats the last part i need to complete the build.
Thanks!