what brand of motherboard has HORIZONTAL M.2 slot at NVME speed?

Happy Hopping

Happy Hopping

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jul 1, 2004
Messages
7,841
I know the ASrock Z97 Extreme 6 has an M.2 slot in between their PCI E slot, but it's at PCI E 2.0 speed.

Any brand motherboard that has a horizontal M.2 slot that c/w NVMe speed?
 
The Asus Z170-based mainboards seem to have NVMe slots. At least my Pro Gaming has it.
 
The Z97 Extreme6 has a 3.0 x4 m.2 slot (be aware it will drop your GPU to x8), although it has another below it that I think is mSATA. I used my SM951 on one for quite a while. Pretty much all of the Z170 boards have them though.
 
LigTasm said:
I don't even know what you're asking. The board you posted, the one I responded to, has what you want at the speed you want even though in your OP you said it didn't (why, I have no idea).
Click to expand...

I assume he is just confused or only read the specs on the secondary M.2 slot which is only 10gb

He also didn't really say what CPU he want planning to use.

Yeah if you want a Z97 MB that one you posted has what you need.
 
First off, NVMe isn't a speed. It's a protocol. When properly implemented it is a protocol which results in faster speeds than traditional AHCI/SATA M.2 devices are capable of. Any PCI-Express 2.0 / 3.0 compliant motherboard can support NVMe with the proper UEFI BIOS update.

Secondly, Z97 motherboards are all over the map when it comes to how their M.2 slots are implemented. Some use 2x Gen 2.0 PCIe lanes while others have 4x PCIe 3.0 lanes. The latter is what you are looking for. M.2 slots are also limited to the length of the SSD's they'll support. Most can support up to 80mm devices. ASUS and ASRock for the most part are the only manufacturers supporting 110mm devices. Some I've seen, like the ASUS Maximus VII Formula only handle shorter (60mm) devices. This is important based on what your going to need to pair with your chosen processor. A Core i5/i7 that's LGA1150 would need to be on a Z97 motherboard, which is a mixed bag for M.2 implementation. An LGA1151 CPU would mean going Z170. Almost universally, these support NVMe, booting from NVMe devices and 4x Generation 3.0 PCI-Express implementations for M.2. Going LGA2011 means going to X99. Again, like Z97 it's a mixed bag on that platform.

As for vertical M.2 slots, the only motherboard I know of that has one is the X99 Deluxe which is socket LGA 2011v3. The motherboard linked from ASRock doesn't appear to have a vertical M.2 slot. Look at the specs:

"◾1 SATA Express, 10 SATA3, 1 eSATA, 1 Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x4), 1 M.2 (PCIe Gen2 x2 & SATA, Supports 30mm, 42mm, 60mm, 80mm, 110mm M.2 devices), 10 USB 3.0 (4 Front, 6 Rear), 5 USB 2.0 (4 Front, 1 Vertical Type A)"

The specifications indicate that the only vertical port is a USB port. In fact you can see the vertical USB port on it. There is no mention in the specifications about a vertical M.2 slot. You can see two standard (flat) M.2 slots on the PCB, between the PCIe slots. These have the mounting holes for horizontally mounting SSD's. The motherboard posted above also has one M.2 slot that has 2x PCIe 2.0 lanes attached to it, and the "Ultra M.2" slot which has 4x PCIe 3.0 lanes.
 
Last edited:
if you read the title of the thread, I'm looking for horizontal, I'm concern the vertical will shift thru time
 
The board you linked to is literally how 99% of the m.2 slots are that are implemented.

If you go Z97, an nVME drive will not operate at full speed, Z170 will.

I've used an MSI Z97S Krait, Z170-A, and Z97A. All M.2 slots were in a similar position. No clue what you are asking or implying.
 
Alright, let's start from the beginning: I need a motherboard that allows m2. ssd to go in like this:

plextor_m6e_256gb_m2_ssd_1.jpg


but at a speed of NVMe
 
Almost EVERY BOARD EVER with M.2 compatibility has its port like that, parallel to the board. Pick a Z170 board at random and there's an over 90% chance that is has the M.2 slot exactly like that. Some larger boards (E-ATX) have them further off to the right, but that's about as variable as it gets.
 
Happy Hopping said:
Alright, let's start from the beginning: I need a motherboard that allows m2. ssd to go in like this:

but at a speed of NVMe
Click to expand...

I know this is a tradition for you to not really read the replies and keep asking the same thing, but Dan_D already told you NVMe is not a speed but a transfer protocol. NVMe drives are PCI-E just like AHCI drives, for example a Samsung SM951 drive is still a 3.0 x4 m.2 drive no matter which protocol it uses and is available in both AHCI and NVMe versions. They work in the same slot. They both work in that slot on that board, the Z97 Extreme6.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top