Question Which M.2 Socket to use on my ASRock B650M Pro RS motherboard ?

[albertkao]

I have only one TEAMGROUP MP44L 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME SSD.
My motherboard is ASRock B650M Pro RS:

The Blazing M.2 Socket (M2_1, Key M) supports type 2260/2280 PCIe Gen5x4 (128
Gb/s) mode.

The Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_2, Key M) supports type 2260/2280 PCIe Gen4x4 (64
Gb/s) modes.

The M.2 Socket (M2_3, Key M) supports type 2260/2280 PCIe Gen4x2 (32 Gb/s)
modes.

Can I put a M.2 NVME gen 4 SSD on a gen 5 SSD socket (M2_1)?
If not, what is recommended?
If I buy another SSD in the future, which socket is recommended?

 

[evermorex76]

PCIe devices, including NVMe drives, are backward and forward compatible with the slots. They will operate at the speed of whichever is slower, so yes a Gen4 SSD will work in a Gen5 slot, at Gen4 speeds, and a Gen5 SSD would work in a Gen4 slot, at Gen4 speeds. (Or a Gen3 slot, at Gen3 speeds, or an x2 slot at half the bandwidth of an x4.)

Recommendation of course is usually to match or exceed them so that no SSD is running slower than it's capable of, but the first slot is a little better due to being connected directly to the CPU, so while you only have one, you should use that even though the drive can't fully make use of it. If you upgrade later and get a faster SSD (Gen4 or 5) then you'd want to put it in slot 1 and move the MP44L to slot 2, and probably clone it so the new SSD runs the OS and applications and the MP44L would just become data storage.

 

[helpstar]

PCIe 5 is compatible to older PCIe versions, this will work
no limitations in bandwidth as well

 

[CountMike]

I have only one TEAMGROUP MP44L 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME SSD.
My motherboard is ASRock B650M Pro RS.
The Blazing M.2 Socket (M2_1, Key M) supports type 2260/2280 PCIe Gen5x4 (128
Gb/s) mode.
The Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_2, Key M) supports type 2260/2280 PCIe Gen4x4 (64
Gb/s) modes.
The M.2 Socket (M2_3, Key M) supports type 2260/2280 PCIe Gen4x2 (32 Gb/s)
modes.

Can I put a M.2 NVME gen 4 SSD on a gen 5 SSD socket (M2_1)?
If not, what is recommended?
If I buy another SSD in the future, which socket is recommended?

Yes of course you can,any M.2 NVMe SSD,there are also 2 other M.2 sockets with same ability so you can have 3 and more if you use M.2 to PCIe adapter. I have 5.

 

[albertkao]

Is SSD heatsink recommended?

 

[CountMike]

Is SSD heatsink recommended?

Not for all, only Gen4 if used extensively and prolonged.

 

[evermorex76]

Not for all, only Gen4 if used extensively and prolonged.

And Gen5 which would be operating at Gen4 in this case, but might actually be hotter than a mature Gen4 even at the same speed.

 

[albertkao]

I plan to use my SSD for a maximum of 17 hours in one day, assuming I do not turn off my computer when it is idle, is SSD heatsink recommended?

 

[CountMike]

I plan to use my SSD for a maximum of 17 hours in one day, assuming I do not turn off my computer when it is idle, is SSD heatsink recommended?

They heat up only during prolonged writing of large files, at idle or near idle they stay cool enough so it doesn't really matter how long they are on staying in idle or normal use.

 

[evermorex76]

Unless you're going to be writing 100GB of data at a time, often, you don't really NEED a heatsink. It just becomes a "nice to have" which might possibly extend the lifespan of the drive from like 10 years to 11 under normal usage, even a high-end Gen5 drive. Or if your case has really poor ventilation it might be recommended to slightly increase the cooling of the SSD.

You can always add one later if you find it's necessary. Run Crystal DiskInfo and watch the temperature during your usual activities and especially the peak usage.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I plan to use my SSD for a maximum of 17 hours in one day, assuming I do not turn off my computer when it is idle, is SSD heatsink recommended?

Install your NVME M.2 drive into M.2 slot with heatsink.
PCIE 4.0 and 5.0 drives run hot and require a heatsink for normal operation.

With PCIE 3.0 NVME drive it would be fine without a heatsink.

 

[evermorex76]

Most of them don't.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Most of them don't.

Heatsink is absolute requirement.
MP44L overheating and thermal throttling.
Read below.

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/team-group-mp44l-1-tb/8.html

 

[JayGau]

Always use a heatsink with gen 4 and gen 5 unless you are only using the computer as an office desktop. If you are gaming it's totally required (I was using a heatsink even with gen 3 because then run quite hot when gaming).

For the slots, if you buy a second drive check your motherboard manual carefully to make sure you don't cripple your PCIe x16 (there's almost always a M.2 slot that shares lanes with it so if you put a drive in it your GPU will get to work at x8 instead of x16, so half the bandwidth).

 

[evermorex76]

Heatsink is absolute requirement.
MP44L overheating and thermal throttling.
Read below.

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/team-group-mp44l-1-tb/8.html

Sure, when you perform a THERMAL STRESS TEST by maxing out write throughput for 2 minutes straight it will get hot. Writing over 400GB of data isn't normal usage. I think it did pretty well, too, going into throttling for a short period then maxing out again for 4 times as long.