Question Which M2 slots do you use on your motherboard?

[mrjenkins44]

I'm finally making the upgrade to M2 (from SSDs) and I will no longer bother with SATA anymore at all.

I have an old Gigabyte z390 master that I want to upgrade.

I plan on putting two 2-4 TB M2 drives into it and will no longer use any SSDs.

I assume that these will not interfere with the GPU at all (2070 Super).

I plan to just use these two drives and nothing else (no other drives, no other PCIe cards other than GPU). The motherboard has 3 m2 slots.

Does it matter what slot configuration I put them in? Will it have any affect on anything?

Z390 AORUS MASTER (rev. 1.0) Key Features | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...

www.gigabyte.com

Z390 GIGABYTE PCIE Diagram.pdf

drive.google.com

 

[Lutfij]

Make and model of the NVMe SSD's that you've set your sights on?

 

[mrjenkins44]

Make and model of the NVMe SSD's that you've set your sights on?

Most likely two WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7CMZ3QH?tag=georiot-us-default-20&th=1&ascsubtag=pcg-us-1107557015919960300-20&geniuslink=true

It will be mostly for media storage, but also for some gaming.

 

[Lutfij]

You can drop the SSD's in any slot, just be wary that due to the chipset the speeds will be at PCIe 3.0. If you can find a PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD, for cheaper, that's what I'd get...if you want to migrate the new SSD's that you'll be purchasing, then you can get the WD's linked above.

 

[mrjenkins44]

You can drop the SSD's in any slot, just be wary that due to the chipset the speeds will be at PCIe 3.0. If you can find a PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD, for cheaper, that's what I'd get...if you want to migrate the new SSD's that you'll be purchasing, then you can get the WD's linked above.

So I've been looking at gen 3 drives, and let me ask you this...

Are they all the same? Some are 90 bucks (for 2 tb) and some are 100+ dollars (the Evo).

But they all have the same speeds listed.

Is it worth going for the more expensive gen 3 Evo, or just going with one of the many other brands (Mushkin, Silicon Power, Crucial, Fanxiang, etc.)?

 

[Lutfij]

Perhaps I was unclear, you can work with PCIe4.0 SSD's but due to the platform/chipset, the SSD's will be running at PCIe 3.0 speeds. If you want to migrate to a latter generation platform, one that supports PCIe 4.0 out of the box, then you're fine to pick up the WD drive.

If you don't have any intention of migrating the drives then you look at the cheapest branded drives at your disposal. You stated you want the drives for storage and games, I'd look through this shortlist;

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/internal-hard-drive/#sort=price&A=2000000000000,22000000000000&t=0&D=1

 

[mrjenkins44]

Perhaps I was unclear, you can work with PCIe4.0 SSD's but due to the platform/chipset, the SSD's will be running at CPIe 3.0 speeds. If you want to migrate to a latter generation platform, one that supports PCIe 4.0 out of the box, then you're fine to pick up the WD drive.

If you don't have any intention of migrating the drives then you look at the cheapest branded drives at your disposal. You stated you want the drives for storage and games, I'd look through this shortlist;

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/internal-hard-drive/#sort=price&A=2000000000000,22000000000000&t=0&D=1

This PC will probably never be moving to a gen 4 platform (its a side computer, not my main gaming PC), so I should probably just save some money and get gen3 since it's highly unlikely it will see new mobo any time soon and the drives probably won't ever leave this mobo. My gaming PC WILL be getting gen4 drives (its a new AM5 platform).

 

[Bob.B]

I'm finally making the upgrade to M2 (from SSDs) and I will no longer bother with SATA anymore at all.

I have an old Gigabyte z390 master that I want to upgrade.

I plan on putting two 2-4 TB M2 drives into it and will no longer use any SSDs.

I assume that these will not interfere with the GPU at all (2070 Super).

I plan to just use these two drives and nothing else (no other drives, no other PCIe cards other than GPU). The motherboard has 3 m2 slots.

Does it matter what slot configuration I put them in? Will it have any affect on anything?

Z390 AORUS MASTER (rev. 1.0) Key Features | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...

www.gigabyte.com

Z390 GIGABYTE PCIE Diagram.pdf

drive.google.com

Are you sure you need 2 large disk?

Many folks will get a small disk for the OS and apps and then a large disk for storage.

Perhaps save yourself a buck.

 

[USAFRet]

Which M.2 ports do I use?
On my B550M, both of them.

Along with the 4x SATA ports.

 

[sonofjesse]

Use the active ones. Some boards have 3 slots and one will be disabled with GPU. Just read the manual fo rany odd things.

Some other boards the slot would not be activate depending on your CPU gen (intel)