[SOLVED] Will PCIe 3.0 M.2 adapter fall back to PCIe 1.0 16x

[Deleted member 431422]

I want to add a PCIe M.2 adapter to an old PC with PCIe 1.0 x16 slot. I found one that supports PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD's, plus the adapter card looks like x16. There's nothing said what happens when plugged in an older PCIe slot, though. Here's the link:
https://ezdiy-fab.com/collections/pcie-nvme-adapter-series/products/m-2-nvme-ssd-pcie-4-0-adapter

Will it work with full speed on PCIe 1.0 x16? PCIe 3.0 x4 and PCIe 1.0 x16 are similar in speed so it'd be nice to test a ssd 😊

 

[USAFRet]

Performance always depends on the slowest device in the chain.
It will perform at what the slot can do, at best.


With an older system like this, why not just work with SATA III SSD?
A new hotrod NVMe drive won't be seen as any faster than a SATA III drive.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Will it work with full speed on PCIe 1.0 x16? PCIe 3.0 x4 and PCIe 1.0 x16 are similar in speed so it'd be nice to test a ssd 😊

What pc? What motherboard?

M.2 PCIE adapter in PCIE 1.0 slot will operate in PCIE 1.0 mode.
M.2 PCIE 3.0 x4 nvme drive will function at PCIE 1.0 x4.

 

[Deleted member 431422]

Performance always depends on the slowest device in the chain.
It will perform at what the slot can do, at best.


With an older system like this, why not just work with SATA III SSD?
A new hotrod NVMe drive won't be seen as any faster than a SATA III drive.

For fun, wanted to see what happens when you plug a used ssd in it. It's an old Lenovo ThinkCentre M58, with Xeon E3110, E7500 before. Old Intel 40GB ssd that runs with SATA 2 speeds :/. Old stuff is cheap so why not play and learn 😊 I want to test whatever comes to my mind before I get bored and sell it.

 

[Deleted member 431422]

What pc? What motherboard?

M.2 PCIE adapter in PCIE 1.0 slot will operate in PCIE 1.0 mode.
M.2 PCIE 3.0 x4 nvme drive will function at PCIE 1.0 x4.

Hmm, it's a Lenovo motherboard - MTQ45NK. It's faster to search for ThinkCentre M58 6258 for the specs. It's the one with Core 2 Duo E7500.

 

[SkyNetRising]

It's an old Lenovo ThinkCentre M58

Lenovo ThinkCentre M58 has PCIE 2.0 x16 slot (not PCIE 1.0).

So M.2 PCIE 3.0 x4 drive will operate in PCIE 2.0 x4 mode.
Note - you won't be able to boot from nvme drive. BIOS lacks support for booting from nvme.
Bootloader has to be placed on sata drive. Windows still can be installed on nvme.

 

[USAFRet]

Hmm, it's a Lenovo motherboard - MTQ45NK. It's faster to search for ThinkCentre M58 6258 for the specs. It's the one with Core 2 Duo E7500.

Will an NVMe drive work, as a secondary drive, in a PCIe slot adapter?
Probably, yes.

Will it approach anything resembling the drives actual rated speed?
No.

 

[kanewolf]

Will an NVMe drive work, as a secondary drive, in a PCIe slot adapter?
Probably, yes.

Will it approach anything resembling the drives actual rated speed?
No.

The implied statement from @USAFRet is that you wont' be able to boot from that card. Data drive? Probably. Anything else? Nope.

 

[Deleted member 431422]

Lenovo ThinkCentre M58 has PCIE 2.0 x16 slot (not PCIE 1.0).

So M.2 PCIE 3.0 x4 drive will operate in PCIE 2.0 x4 mode.
Note - you won't be able to boot from nvme drive. BIOS lacks support for booting from nvme.
Bootloader has to be placed on sata drive. Windows still can be installed on nvme.

Will an NVMe drive work, as a secondary drive, in a PCIe slot adapter?
Probably, yes.

Will it approach anything resembling the drives actual rated speed?
No.

Thanks guys. That answered my questions. It'd be good as extra storage only, albeit expensive one.