Will a WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB PC SSD work in a Asus 970 Pro Gaming/Aura Motherboard?

[Diablo2K]

I have an older Asus 970 Pro Gaming/Aura motherboard that has a M.2 slot. Will the WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB PC SSD work? My old hard drive stopped working and I am now using a laptop drive and need something faster and bigger. I don't know much about M.2 drives and don't know how to tell which are compatible and which are not. I can't afford anything more expensive.
Would I be better off with a Firecuda Hybrid SSHD?

 

[drescherjm]

Would I be better off with a Firecuda Hybrid SSHD?

No way with the price of SSDs today. You are better off with a 2.5 inch SATA SSD.

 

[fullvietFX]

I don't think you can boot from M.2 with those motherboards can you?

 

[drescherjm]

I think that M.2 slot is PCIe only and maybe even the old version without NVMe

 

[Diablo2K]

No way with the price of SSDs today. You are better off with a 2.5 inch SATA SSD.

I see several 2.5" 1Tb SSDs for sale on Amazon from $125, there in my price range.

I think that M.2 slot is PCIe only and maybe even the old version without NVMe

The motherboard specs say
"M.2 Socket 3(NVMe)
PCIe x4 mode (Gen 2.0)"
I have no idea what all that means.

 

[BlueLineSwinger]

I think that M.2 slot is PCIe only and maybe even the old version without NVMe

The manual for this mainboard kinda sucks, but yes, it does appear the m.2 slot is PCIe-only (no SATA). So sorry Diablo2K that particular unit is not going to work. The 2.5" version (or similar SATA SSDs from Crucial, Samsung, etc.) would be fine though of course. As mentioned, the hybrid SSHD units aren't worth it.

The manual does make brief mention of NVMe (page 2-24), so it look like those SSDs will work fine with this mainboard (no mention of PCIe/AHCI abominations) and boot it. However, the fact that the m.2 slot is limited to PCIe 2, plus the virtually non-existent real-world gains seen using NVMe SSDs in typical desktop/laptop setups, makes paying the cost premium wholly not worth it.

 

[Diablo2K]

Thanks for the quick replies. Looking at getting SanDisk SSD PLUS 1TB Internal SSD. It's one of the cheaper 1tb Drives but it has really good reviews. Any reason I should choose another?