[SOLVED] Will this motherboard support M. 2 Ssd?

[Ritesh778]

Hi
I am about to buy a new PC components
I already have a M.2 sata WD 120GB ssd, 1TB Seagate barracuda 7200RPM HDD and a GTX 1060 6gb
I am about to buy
Ryzen 5 3500(only CPU available right now because of this pandemic)
16GB 8GBx2 corsair 3000Mhz ram
Antec Nx100 Case
GA-A320M-H (rev. 1.1) motherboard
On the Gigabyte website in motherboard specifications It says M.2 Ssd is only supported for Atlon and 7th gen A series
My question is If ryzen is superior it should also support it right?
Or am I missing something here?
Please clear my doubt so that I can order other motherboard or stay with this one.
Thanks in advance

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, it supports both SATA and PCI M.2 drives in it's M.2 slot, so long as you are not using a Athlon™-series/ 7th Gen. A-series or Athlon™ X4 APU, because if you are, then it ONLY supports SATA M.2 drives in that slot. Otherwise, it supports both SATA and PCIe NVME drives in the M.2 slot.

It has nothing to do with being "superior". I'm not even sure what that is supposed to mean, but practically all platforms support M.2 these days.

 

[Ritesh778]

Yes, it supports both SATA and PCI M.2 drives in it's M.2 slot, so long as you are not using a Athlon™-series/ 7th Gen. A-series or Athlon™ X4 APU, because if you are, then it ONLY supports SATA M.2 drives in that slot. Otherwise, it supports both SATA and PCIe NVME drives in the M.2 slot.

It has nothing to do with being "superior". I'm not even sure what that is supposed to mean, but practically all platforms support M.2 these days.

So I don't have to change the motherboard right?

 

[beers]

So I don't have to change the motherboard right?

You don't have to, but I personally wouldn't buy A320 at this point.

The NVME drive will work on that board, however.

 

[Ritesh778]

You don't have to, but I personally wouldn't buy A320 at this point.

The NVME drive will work on that board, however.

I am not going to use NVME, This PC is for my little brother who don't know these kind of things. So I think this will be sufficient for him for 2 years atleast. After that I will build him a while new system when I earn good money. For now I have to buy what is available and the amount I have right now. Because of money and pandemic I don't have many options

 

[Darkbreeze]

I wouldn't buy an A320 motherboard either, because they are low cost and low quality in most cases, especially that one, but being in India and depending on what region of India, it may well be the only affordable option.

The bigger problem is, that unless you know somebody with a 1st or 2nd generation Ryzen processor that will let you use it to update the BIOS on that motherboard, it almost certainly is not going to support that Ryzen 3000 series processor without a BIOS update. So you can pay a shop to update the BIOS, borrow a CPU, WAIT for and PAY for an update kit from AMD if it is even available in your country OR buy a board that shows it already has 3000 series support and has a "Ryzen 3000 series ready" sticker on it.

 

[Ritesh778]

I wouldn't buy an A320 motherboard either, because they are low cost and low quality in most cases, especially that one, but being in India and depending on what region of India, it may well be the only affordable option.

The bigger problem is, that unless you know somebody with a 1st or 2nd generation Ryzen processor that will let you use it to update the BIOS on that motherboard, it almost certainly is not going to support that Ryzen 3000 series processor without a BIOS update. So you can pay a shop to update the BIOS, borrow a CPU, WAIT for and PAY for an update kit from AMD if it is even available in your country OR buy a board that shows it already has 3000 series support and has a "Ryzen 3000 series ready" sticker on it.

I already asked about the updated Bios to shop owner. I have confirmed about it 3 times.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Should be fine then. Are you planning to run a SATA M.2 drive then, since you're not planning to run an NVME M.2 drive? Because if so, then it doesn't matter WHAT CPU you use, so long as it is one supported by the board.

 

[Ritesh778]

Should be fine then. Are you planning to run a SATA M.2 drive then, since you're not planning to run an NVME M.2 drive? Because if so, then it doesn't matter WHAT CPU you use, so long as it is one supported by the board.

Yes, Since i already own a WD green 120GB sata M.2 SSD

 

[Darkbreeze]

Should be A-OK then.

 

[Ritesh778]

Should be A-OK then.

Hi, Thanks for the solution. I have built the PC. Instead of getting 2X8GB i bought 1X16GB since there was whole 2000Rs difference. Now I have 2 doubts.

1. If I add 2nd 16GB Ram Stick will i gain performance in gaming due to dual channel or the games will use only the 1st ram stick?(Heavy AAA games like COD warzone, RDR2, Shadow of the tomb raider etc)
2. My friend under volted his ryzen 5 3600 and gained huge performance boost, so will I gain performance doing the same? If yes can you suggest me how to do it?

Thanks In advance 😊

 

[Darkbreeze]

First of all, nobody EVER got a boost in performance by undervolting their CPU. What they got was POSSIBLY a reduction in thermal response, which MIGHT be fine, but it also poses a potential decrease in stability. EXTENSIVE testing should be done anytime you deviate away from the stock voltage for the CPU or memory. Just because you don't get system crashing blue screens doesn't mean it is stable. Micro errors can result from a lack of sufficient voltage and that can result in system wide corruption of your entire file system. OS, personal files, game files, documents, everything, and you'll never know it until it is too late to do anything about it. You'll just think some piece of hardware messed up or you got a bad windows update so you'll reinstall, but you'll save some of the corrupted files, which will even more quickly this time cause the same problems again. Be sure, do the testing if you are going to make changes to voltage or overclock, anything, ever.

As for the memory.

The odd man out, (Or, mixed memory)


While memory modules that did not come together in a matched set that was tested by the manufacturer to be compatible, certainly CAN still work together, often it does not. Right up front I'll tell you that if you are trying to get sticks to work in the same machine together that were purchased separately, even if they are otherwise identical according to the kit or model number or if they would seem to have identical timings and voltage requirements, there is a very good chance that you simply will not be able to do that. There is also a pretty fair chance that you might be able to if you are willing to take your time, listen to and understand what you are being told and follow the steps necessary to determining if they will "play nice" or not.

The exception in most cases will be that if the memory from both sets are the same speed and timings and both kits are within the JEDEC specifications for the default speed on that platform, so for example, 2666mhz on the latest Intel Z390 platform, 2133mhz on Ryzen first and second Gen platforms, then they stand a much better chance of working together but if they are higher speed kits the chances begin to diminish from what they might be at the low speed and loose timings end of the scale.

A word of advice. If you just purchased this memory, and for whatever reason you bought two separate sticks of the same memory instead of buying them together in a matched set, see if you can return them for a refund or credit towards buying a similar or same set of matched sticks that come together in a kit. It is ALWAYS better to have matched modules because from brand to brand, or even within the same brand, in fact, even when the part numbers are IDENTICAL, there can be anything from simply slightly different memory chips that were sourced from different bins at the end or beginning of a production run to entirely different configurations altogether even though the model numbers seem to be the same. Some manufacturers even reuse model numbers when they discontinue a product. Point being, memory is only the same for sure when all sticks came out of the same blister pack or packaging and were sold as a tested kit.

In order to determine if differences in the memory, or a need for increased voltage when using more than one stick (Especially if you are running three or more sticks) are responsible for the problems you are having you will always want to begin your troubleshooting process by attempting to boot the machine with only a single stick of memory installed. Also, for practically every consumer motherboard that's been sold since at least as far back as about 2014, the A2 memory slot which is the second slot over from the CPU socket, is THE slot that is most commonly designated for the installation of a single memory module. Slots A2 and B2 are almost always the slots specified in the motherboard memory population rules for use with two modules. If you need to install a third module I have no opinion on which of the remaining slots to use for that, but typically since the A1 slot is right next to the CPU socket and often interferes with the CPU cooler or fan, I'd say the B1 slot was probably just as good.

Honestly, I don't ever recommend that you HAVE three modules installed anyhow. Using memory in pairs is almost always a better option, except on boards that support triple channel memory population, so that normal dual channel operation will occur. And that's another thing. When it comes to memory there are no "single channel" or "dual channel" memory modules. There are ONLY memory modules and the motherboard and CPU architecture will determine whether or not dual, triple or quad channel operation is possible based on the architecture and how many modules are in use. Occasionally though there are situations where it might make sense to run three modules and some boards CAN use three modules in a FLEX type mode where two of the modules will operate in dual channel while the third oddball module will run in single channel. I'd avoid oddball configurations though if possible because many motherboards will simply run ALL modules in single channel mode when an odd number of modules are installed.



If you think you will ever need 16GB of memory, then buy 16GB of memory from the start so you can get it all in a matched set that has been tested,
and eliminate a lot of problems right from the start.​

How To - Troubleshooting problems with PC memory (RAM) and XMP profile configurations

In the beginning, there was......BIOS Before you go ANY further, go to the manufacturer product page for your specific motherboard model AND revision. Revision is an important aspect because for any given motherboard there may be more than one version of that model which will be identified...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Ritesh778]

I don't think you got my question about memory.
Ofcourse I will buy the same Ram stick with same model, speed, voltage, CAS latency
My question is will I gain performance in 2X16GB due to dual channel in heavy AAA titles like warzone RDR2 Shadow of the tomb raider etc? Since these game only use upto 12GB of Ram so will these games use it from only 1st stick or divide it from those 2 sticks to gain performance?
So should I buy another Ram Stick or stay with 1X16GB?

 

[Darkbreeze]

I got your question, but you obviously didn't get the point of MY post or the content of the linked guide. Adding "the same RAM stick" doesn't mean they are going to work together, or work together properly, IF they DO work together.

The only way you get any guarantee of compatibility is if they are purchased TOGETHER, in ONE kit. That's it, and that's all. That doesn't mean they CAN'T work together, but especially on Ryzen (BUT, with any memory and particularly with DDR4) there are strong indications and proof that sticks not purchased together present problems. So be aware that buying the same part number doesn't really mean much.

As for dual channel operation, yes, there is a performance gain from having dual channel operation and it is usually something significant enough to "feel", regardless of whether you are gaming or not.

It has nothing to do with HOW MUCH memory you are using. It ONLY has to do with the bandwidth, which is doubled, when memory is in dual channel. Do not confuse "bandwidth" with "speed/frequency" because they are not the same thing.

 

[Ritesh778]

Okay so its worth to go dual channel right?
What if i buy the exact same Ram stick from same vendor and same stock?
I had tried dual channel on my old i5 6600k with 2133 hyperx ram stick 1st 8GB was bought in 2016 and 2nd 8GB was bought in late 2017 the model number were different but they look exactly same and the dual channel worked flawlessly

 

[Darkbreeze]

All you can do is TRY. You have two choices.

You can buy a whole kit with all the sticks in it you need, which is what is PREFERRED to be done.

Or, you can buy another stick that is the exact same part number, and HOPE that they play nice together, knowing that there are no guarantees but that you can likely return the stick if they do not play nice together. Depending on where you buy them and how good they are in that regard anyhow.

Here is the problem with trying to do that though. Often, sticks that did not come together, came from different production runs, and when they come from different production runs they may have ENTIRELY different compositions, as seen here:

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/amd-ram-compatibility.3210050/post-19785792