Which SSD will go best with my GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK (rev 1.1) mobo?

[samc0101]

Dear Experts,

It has always been a pleasure reading here & gaining knowledge from your kind-selves, now I need some expert opinion...please help & correct me if i am wrong....I have checked GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK supports all latest till NVMe pci-e ssds and has all the sata latest speeds.

1. I want to upgrade my storage to 256GB SSD where only the OS will be on SSD and my existing WD 2TB will act as my storage, but will keep my licensed Windows 7 pro X64 as OS.

2. After googling a lot and perplexed with too much info, i have this concept that the NVMe based SSDs support win8 and above, getting Win 7 installed is a problem on them. Hence no NVMe.

3. Also PCI-e based NVMe SSDs are the top of line and costly hence I have to stick to:
Kingston HyperX Predator 240GB PCIe Gen2 x4 (M.2) or Samsung 850 Pro 256GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD. My brand prefs are samsung, kingston, corsair.

4. Lastly tell me which one will fit my bill so that i can install my win7pro x64 smoothly and later on add my WD 2TB as secondary storage - will a M.2 Internal SSD match or i have to stick to 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD just for the sake of Win7pro x64.

System Specs
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit Sp1
CPU: Intel Core i7 4790
Motherboard: GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK (rev 1.1, Bios:F8)
Memory: 16GB G.SKILL TridentX Series 1600mhz
GPU: Msi HD 7850 2GB
PSU: Coolermaster Bronze 650W
HDD: WD Black 2TB SATA

regards
Samrat

 

[Samer1970]

Dear Experts,

It has always been a pleasure reading here & gaining knowledge from your kind-selves, now I need some expert opinion...please help & correct me if i am wrong....I have checked GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK supports all latest till NVMe pci-e ssds and has all the sata latest speeds.

1. I want to upgrade my storage to 256GB SSD where only the OS will be on SSD and my existing WD 2TB will act as my storage, but will keep my licensed Windows 7 pro X64 as OS.

2. After googling a lot and perplexed with too much info, i have this concept that the NVMe based SSDs support win8 and above, getting Win 7 installed is a problem on them. Hence no NVMe.

3. Also PCI-e based NVMe SSDs are the top of line and costly hence I have to stick to:
Kingston HyperX Predator 240GB PCIe Gen2 x4 (M.2) or Samsung 850 Pro 256GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD. My brand prefs are samsung, kingston, corsair.

4. Lastly tell me which one will fit my bill so that i can install my win7pro x64 smoothly and later on add my WD 2TB as secondary storage - will a M.2 Internal SSD match or i have to stick to 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD just for the sake of Win7pro x64.

System Specs
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit Sp1
CPU: Intel Core i7 4790
Motherboard: GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK (rev 1.1, Bios:F8)
Memory: 16GB G.SKILL TridentX Series 1600mhz
GPU: Msi HD 7850 2GB
PSU: Coolermaster Bronze 650W
HDD: WD Black 2TB SATA

regards
Samrat

you can use PCIe 3.0 x8 slot you have for M2 NVME PCIE 3.0 .. no point getting old slow PCI 2.0 M2 ...

GET M2 PCIE 3.0 x4 card adapter

and you can run NVME on WIN 7

 

[samc0101]

Dear Experts,

It has always been a pleasure reading here & gaining knowledge from your kind-selves, now I need some expert opinion...please help & correct me if i am wrong....I have checked GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK supports all latest till NVMe pci-e ssds and has all the sata latest speeds.

1. I want to upgrade my storage to 256GB SSD where only the OS will be on SSD and my existing WD 2TB will act as my storage, but will keep my licensed Windows 7 pro X64 as OS.

2. After googling a lot and perplexed with too much info, i have this concept that the NVMe based SSDs support win8 and above, getting Win 7 installed is a problem on them. Hence no NVMe.

3. Also PCI-e based NVMe SSDs are the top of line and costly hence I have to stick to:
Kingston HyperX Predator 240GB PCIe Gen2 x4 (M.2) or Samsung 850 Pro 256GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD. My brand prefs are samsung, kingston, corsair.

4. Lastly tell me which one will fit my bill so that i can install my win7pro x64 smoothly and later on add my WD 2TB as secondary storage - will a M.2 Internal SSD match or i have to stick to 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD just for the sake of Win7pro x64.

System Specs
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit Sp1
CPU: Intel Core i7 4790
Motherboard: GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK (rev 1.1, Bios:F8)
Memory: 16GB G.SKILL TridentX Series 1600mhz
GPU: Msi HD 7850 2GB
PSU: Coolermaster Bronze 650W
HDD: WD Black 2TB SATA

regards
Samrat

you can use PCIe 3.0 x8 slot you have for M2 NVME PCIE 3.0 .. no point getting old slow PCI 2.0 M2 ...

GET M2 PCIE 3.0 x4 card adapter

and you can run NVME on WIN 7

Thanks Sameer for your valued comment but NVMe has issues while installing windows 7...drivers not found & other chaos...i recently faced while trying to install win7pro on my dell xps 13 9350 notebook which has samsung 950nvme ssd...only windows 10 runs smooth and also they are very expensive 15-20k INR

 

[Samer1970]

Dear Experts,

It has always been a pleasure reading here & gaining knowledge from your kind-selves, now I need some expert opinion...please help & correct me if i am wrong....I have checked GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK supports all latest till NVMe pci-e ssds and has all the sata latest speeds.

1. I want to upgrade my storage to 256GB SSD where only the OS will be on SSD and my existing WD 2TB will act as my storage, but will keep my licensed Windows 7 pro X64 as OS.

2. After googling a lot and perplexed with too much info, i have this concept that the NVMe based SSDs support win8 and above, getting Win 7 installed is a problem on them. Hence no NVMe.

3. Also PCI-e based NVMe SSDs are the top of line and costly hence I have to stick to:
Kingston HyperX Predator 240GB PCIe Gen2 x4 (M.2) or Samsung 850 Pro 256GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD. My brand prefs are samsung, kingston, corsair.

4. Lastly tell me which one will fit my bill so that i can install my win7pro x64 smoothly and later on add my WD 2TB as secondary storage - will a M.2 Internal SSD match or i have to stick to 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD just for the sake of Win7pro x64.

System Specs
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit Sp1
CPU: Intel Core i7 4790
Motherboard: GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK (rev 1.1, Bios:F8)
Memory: 16GB G.SKILL TridentX Series 1600mhz
GPU: Msi HD 7850 2GB
PSU: Coolermaster Bronze 650W
HDD: WD Black 2TB SATA

regards
Samrat

you can use PCIe 3.0 x8 slot you have for M2 NVME PCIE 3.0 .. no point getting old slow PCI 2.0 M2 ...

GET M2 PCIE 3.0 x4 card adapter

and you can run NVME on WIN 7

Thanks Sameer for your valued comment but NVMe has issues while installing windows 7...drivers not found & other chaos...i recently faced while trying to install win7pro on my dell xps 13 9350 notebook which has samsung 950nvme ssd...only windows 10 runs smooth and also they are very expensive 15-20k INR

no it is easy , use Gigabyte windows 7 flash maker !! it will include the nvme drivers in the windows 7 flash and will work fine .

gigabyte windows usb installation tool

 

[samc0101]

Dear Experts,

It has always been a pleasure reading here & gaining knowledge from your kind-selves, now I need some expert opinion...please help & correct me if i am wrong....I have checked GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK supports all latest till NVMe pci-e ssds and has all the sata latest speeds.

1. I want to upgrade my storage to 256GB SSD where only the OS will be on SSD and my existing WD 2TB will act as my storage, but will keep my licensed Windows 7 pro X64 as OS.

System Specs
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit Sp1
CPU: Intel Core i7 4790
Motherboard: GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK (rev 1.1, Bios:F8)
Memory: 16GB G.SKILL TridentX Series 1600mhz
GPU: Msi HD 7850 2GB
PSU: Coolermaster Bronze 650W
HDD: WD Black 2TB SATA

regards
Samrat

you can use PCIe 3.0 x8 slot you have for M2 NVME PCIE 3.0 .. no point getting old slow PCI 2.0 M2 ...

GET M2 PCIE 3.0 x4 card adapter

and you can run NVME on WIN 7

Thanks Sameer for your valued comment but NVMe has issues while installing windows 7...drivers not found & other chaos...i recently faced while trying to install win7pro on my dell xps 13 9350 notebook which has samsung 950nvme ssd...only windows 10 runs smooth and also they are very expensive 15-20k INR

no it is easy , use Gigabyte windows 7 flash maker !! it will include the nvme drivers in the windows 7 flash and will work fine .

gigabyte windows usb installation tool

Dear Sameer...Gigabyte usb utility works only for Intel 100 series motherboards.Intel Braswell series motherboards and mine is Z97. I found out this card - Samsung SM951 256GB AHCI MZHPV256HDGL-00000 M.2 80mm PCIe 3.0 X4 SSD
Please suggest names the criteria being 256GB / AHCI / M.2/ 80mm / PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD

Sadly gigabyte support for my rev1.1 mobo says these are the only m.2 pci-e supported:
M2P01 Plextor PCIE PCIE*2 2280 PCIe B / M PXAG128M6e 128GB
M2P02 Samsung PCIE PCIE*4 2280 PCIe M XP941 MZ-HPU512T 512GB
M2P03 Samsung PCIE PCIE*4 2280 PCIe M XP941 MZ-HPU128T 128GB
M2P04 Plextor PCIE PCIE*2 2280 PCIe B / M 256G 2280 (PCIE2.0) 256GB
Plextor PCIE PCIE*2 2280 PCIe B / M 128G 2280 (PCIE2.0) 128GB
M2P05 Lite-On PCIE PCIE*2 2280 PCIe B / M LGT-256B1P 2280 (PCIE2.0) 256GB

regards