[SOLVED] Will this motherboard support M.2? M.2 is better than 850 Pro SSD's?

[luzhun]

Hello. I have an Asus SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK 1/USB 3.1 currently using Samsung 850 Pro SSD's but am thinking of getting a bigger one that is faster. I have heard of M.2's being up to possibly 4x faster and was wondering if this motherboard can support an older model, if not the latest.

There is an additional free PCIx16 slot as well, if there is one available in that format too.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Barty1884]

There's no M.2 slot on the board natively (although it is supported with Z97), so you're looking at the cost of an M.2 PCIe adapter too.

With that consideration, I wouldn't bother. In theory, M.2/NVMe drives can be substantially faster but, unless you need that raw throughput*, you're not going to notice much of a difference in typical daily use. Shaving a second off of boot times, for example, hardly seems worth the expense.

*And if you need the raw throughput (large file transfers, editing, rendering etc), chances are you wouldn't still be running Z97 and (at best) 4c/8t in 2019.

 

[luzhun]

Thank you for the reply. It would mostly just be used for the main boot drive that has the OS on it and any games that I mostly play to help cut down on loading screen times. How much do one of these M.2 Adapters cost and would the PCIe slot be an option too?

 

[Barty1884]

Yes, the adapter needs a PCIe slot. Add in cards should set you back <$20, depending on the brand.

Even then though, as a boot OS and for load times in games.... I just don't see this being viable. Of course, if you want to, there's no harm other than a hit on your wallet. Make sure you're not buying a Gen4 drive though, as there's no Gen4 support on Z97 (or Intel in general, for now).