[SOLVED] Which M.2 Socked to install the Samsung M.2 Storage drive to on the Gigabyte Aorus Pro Motherboard

[irvinparrett]

AMD Ryzen 9 5950x 3.4 GHz 16 Core
Gigabyte x570 Aorus Pro Wifi
4x16 GB GSkill 3600 Ram
NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3070 - 8 GB GDDR6
Seagate 2 TB 2.5in SATA3 Barracuda SSD
CLX Quench 360 Closed Liquid Cooler
SET P400A Mid Tower Black Case
(4) CLX RGB Fan
750 Watt Gamdias Kratos M2 (RGB) Lights
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

I am purchasing this unit from CLX. I am receiving this unit in approx 2 - 3 weeks. Since the order i have also purchased the following M.2 storage drive.
Samsung 1 TB 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 7000 mmb/S
My question is which one of the M.2 slots should i install it too.
I also am wondering if it will be beneficial for me to purchase and install a secondary M.2 storage drive.
Also, i am looking at the picture of the Gigabyte Pro motherboard and it looks like covers need to be removed from the M.2 slots in order to install the storage drives in these slots or am i misguided in this issue.
P.S. I also am going to reinstall the Pro operating system in the M.2 drive as soon as i receive the pc.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

which one of the M.2 slots should i install it too?

download the motherboard user manual from the manufacturer product support page.
different motherboards require different settings for different M.2 setups.

some require a certain series CPU to access certain M.2 slots.
some need different BIOS settings to access more than one slot at a time.
some will disable certain SATA ports or PCIe lanes depending on where the M.2 drives are installed.

will be beneficial for me to purchase and install a secondary M.2 storage drive.

that really depends on the price of the drive,
the type of storage you will be using it for,
and other factors like available space for 2.5" or 3.5" drives.

if you can get a 4TB 2.5" SATA SSD for the same price as a 2TB M.2 drive,
the obvious choice for storage would seem to be the 4TB.
i doubt you'd notice any actual speed difference in average usage.

it looks like covers need to be removed from the M.2 slots in order to install the storage drives

any decent board will have removable covers\heatsinks for the M.2 slots.

also see in the user manual images/diagrams of the board and it's labeled slots.

 

[mdd1963]

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X570-AORUS-PRO-WIFI-rev-10#kf

Per the website/manual, both M.2 slots are X4 PCI-e 4.0/3.0 capable, with both connected to the CPU... (assuming these sources of info are correct)

 

[CountMike]

AMD Ryzen 9 5950x 3.4 GHz 16 Core
Gigabyte x570 Aorus Pro Wifi
4x16 GB GSkill 3600 Ram
NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3070 - 8 GB GDDR6
Seagate 2 TB 2.5in SATA3 Barracuda SSD
CLX Quench 360 Closed Liquid Cooler
SET P400A Mid Tower Black Case
(4) CLX RGB Fan
750 Watt Gamdias Kratos M2 (RGB) Lights
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

I am purchasing this unit from CLX. I am receiving this unit in approx 2 - 3 weeks. Since the order i have also purchased the following M.2 storage drive.
Samsung 1 TB 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 7000 mmb/S
My question is which one of the M.2 slots should i install it too.
I also am wondering if it will be beneficial for me to purchase and install a secondary M.2 storage drive.
Also, i am looking at the picture of the Gigabyte Pro motherboard and it looks like covers need to be removed from the M.2 slots in order to install the storage drives in these slots or am i misguided in this issue.
P.S. I also am going to reinstall the Pro operating system in the M.2 drive as soon as i receive the pc.

With that setup, use top M.2 slot, it's directly connected to CPU PCIe lanes so it's fastest.
Bottom slot is connected to chipset and shares lines with other PCIe slots which may cause it to slow down if those slots are used for something else.

 

[irvinparrett]

With that setup, use top M.2 slot, it's directly connected to CPU PCIe lanes so it's fastest.
Bottom slot is connected to chipset and shares lines with other PCIe slots which may cause it to slow down if those slots are used for something else.

So, after removing the top slot heat sink and installing the chip I would then reseat the heat sink affixing both to the board.

Thanks

 

[irvinparrett]

download the motherboard user manual from the manufacturer product support page.
different motherboards require different settings for different M.2 setups.

some require a certain series CPU to access certain M.2 slots.
some need different BIOS settings to access more than one slot at a time.
some will disable certain SATA ports or PCIe lanes depending on where the M.2 drives are installed.
that really depends on the price of the drive,
the type of storage you will be using it for,
and other factors like available space for 2.5" or 3.5" drives.

if you can get a 4TB 2.5" SATA SSD for the same price as a 2TB M.2 drive,
the obvious choice for storage would seem to be the 4TB.
i doubt you'd notice any actual speed difference in average usage.
any decent board will have removable covers\heatsinks for the M.2 slots.

also see in the user manual images/diagrams of the board and it's labeled slots.

Thanks I'll see if I can get a manual online. I'll waiting for my build cxl computer so, I haven't received it yet

 

[CountMike]

So, after removing the top slot heat sink and installing the chip I would then reseat the heat sink affixing both to the board.

Thanks

Yes, there should also be a heat transfer pad under the cover, make sure you remove any foil from it before replacing it.