[SOLVED] Will an M.2 work as a boot drive on my motherboard?

Oct 25, 2021
3
0
10
I'm looking to upgrad to an M.2 since the space on my 120GB SSD is running low.
My current mobo is the MSI B150 Gaming M3: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B150-Gaming-M3/Specification
It seems like it doesn't support nvme. Since this is the case will an nvme M.2 still work as a boot drive? And does anyone have a rough idea of what the reduced speeds are?
The M.2 I'm looking to get is a 1TB Kingston A200: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/9v...-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-sa2000m81000g

The 2 storage devices I have right now are a 1 TB WD HDD and a 120GB SanDisk SSD.
 
Solution
That board ONLY supports SATA M.2 drives, not PCIe NVME M.2 drives.

Not sure if it would support booting one through the use of a PCIe riser adapter, but most of these older boards won't so I wouldn't be very hopeful AND as a boot drive the difference is going to be along the lines of a couple of seconds between a standard SATA SSD and an NVME SSD anyhow. Not worth the investment or the headache. If you need newer tech, I'd recommend upgrading to newer hardware.
That board ONLY supports SATA M.2 drives, not PCIe NVME M.2 drives.

Not sure if it would support booting one through the use of a PCIe riser adapter, but most of these older boards won't so I wouldn't be very hopeful AND as a boot drive the difference is going to be along the lines of a couple of seconds between a standard SATA SSD and an NVME SSD anyhow. Not worth the investment or the headache. If you need newer tech, I'd recommend upgrading to newer hardware.
 
Solution
Oct 25, 2021
3
0
10
That board ONLY supports SATA M.2 drives, not PCIe NVME M.2 drives.

Not sure if it would support booting one through the use of a PCIe riser adapter, but most of these older boards won't so I wouldn't be very hopeful AND as a boot drive the difference is going to be along the lines of a couple of seconds between a standard SATA SSD and an NVME SSD anyhow. Not worth the investment or the headache. If you need newer tech, I'd recommend upgrading to newer hardware.

Thanks, I think I'll just go with a normal 1TB SSD in that case.
 
Don't buy a Kingston SSD.
I will second that, just in general, not even because of any specific model. I'd recommend sticking to Samsung, Seagate, Western digital, Intel, Crucial or SK Hynix whenever possible, and even then, make sure you are getting a good model. Many models are DRAM-less and don't perform nearly as well as other brands. Kind of hard to go wrong with the higher end Samsung 970 Plus/970 EVO/860 EVO etc. or Crucial MX500 models, but all the brands I listed have some very good and some not AS good models.
 
Oct 25, 2021
3
0
10
I will second that, just in general, not even because of any specific model. I'd recommend sticking to Samsung, Seagate, Western digital, Intel, Crucial or SK Hynix whenever possible, and even then, make sure you are getting a good model. Many models are DRAM-less and don't perform nearly as well as other brands. Kind of hard to go wrong with the higher end Samsung 970 Plus/970 EVO/860 EVO etc. or Crucial MX500 models, but all the brands I listed have some very good and some not AS good models.

Yep, I went with a 1TB Crucial MX500.