Will this M.2 SSD fit in this mobo?

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reb00tin

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Apr 13, 2009
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I ordered this SSD last week to fit in an Asus H170I-PLUS D3. But I notice that the mobo has an M key and the SSD has a B+M key. Will this pairing work?
 
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Should work fine, it supports both PCI-E and SATA devices.
 
reb00tin said:
Thank you. Will this SSD work in SATA or PCIE mode? What difference would it make if the SSD was an M key?

I found this explanation from Asus. It doesn't matter that some of the contacts are missing on this SSD?
Click to expand...

The m.2 slot is multi-functional. Depending on how it is electrically connected you may get one that only does SATA or only does PCI-E, but many (like the board you have) do both. It will automatically configure itself when it detect the drive. In the case of a SATA drive, it likely will take the place of one of the SATA ports so check your documentation (usually SATA 0 or 1 will not work when the m.2 is using it).

Part of the confusion on this is that we also have the mSATA standard which is older, looks similar, but only does SATA drives. You find them very commonly in laptops or NUC type computers. The industry is moving to the m.2 (NGFF) type connector now because it is more adaptable.

The drive you selected is a SATA drive. It functions no differently than a normal SSD but the connector looks different. The slot does not decide the interface, the drive does. If you wanted super high speeds of a PCI-E drive you need to select one like the Samsung SM951 or 950 Pro, or the Kingston Hyper-X Predator, etc.

My only concern is that brand is a complete unknown to me, you could have gotten something like an 850 EVO drive in m.2 form factor for about the same price. This will only come into effect if you need warranty service, because you can't be sure how you'll be treated.
 
It looks like it will fit.

Like LigTasm said, why not just go with the Samsung 850 EVO? I remember people buying MyDigitalSSD 2-3 years back when I was in the market for a M.2, but I ended up going with a Crucial M500 M.2. I'm not sure if MyDigitalSSD has good support but at least Samsung and Crucial both are good/decent.
 
If you can afford it, and your mobo supports it, go for a Samsung 950 Pro NVME drive !

I was skeptical of the performance claims at first, until I actually got one....now I do not foresee ever going back to "regular" ssd's with their so called "6G" performance......

Yes they are more $$, but if you want speeeeed,,,,,,,,,, they are the ticket :)
 
LigTasm said:
The m.2 slot is multi-functional. Depending on how it is electrically connected you may get one that only does SATA or only does PCI-E, but many (like the board you have) do both. It will automatically configure itself when it detect the drive. In the case of a SATA drive, it likely will take the place of one of the SATA ports so check your documentation (usually SATA 0 or 1 will not work when the m.2 is using it).

Part of the confusion on this is that we also have the mSATA standard which is older, looks similar, but only does SATA drives. You find them very commonly in laptops or NUC type computers. The industry is moving to the m.2 (NGFF) type connector now because it is more adaptable.

The drive you selected is a SATA drive. It functions no differently than a normal SSD but the connector looks different. The slot does not decide the interface, the drive does. If you wanted super high speeds of a PCI-E drive you need to select one like the Samsung SM951 or 950 Pro, or the Kingston Hyper-X Predator, etc.

My only concern is that brand is a complete unknown to me, you could have gotten something like an 850 EVO drive in m.2 form factor for about the same price. This will only come into effect if you need warranty service, because you can't be sure how you'll be treated.
Click to expand...


Thank you, it worked. Windows boots in about 8 seconds, Linux in 4 seconds. Not bad for $50. Write speed is not that good (~150MB/sec), but OSes cache writes, so it probably doesn't matter.

I still have all 4 SATA ports available. If I used a PCI-E M.2 (like the Samsung SM951) would it affect the 4 sata ports?
 
reb00tin said:
Thank you, it worked. Windows boots in about 8 seconds, Linux in 4 seconds. Not bad for $50. Write speed is not that good (~150MB/sec), but OSes cache writes, so it probably doesn't matter.

I still have all 4 SATA ports available. If I used a PCI-E M.2 (like the Samsung SM951) would it affect the 4 sata ports?
Click to expand...

I don't know, you need to look in the manual. Every board is different. Although 150MB/s write is friggin awful for an SSD, I just bought a normal ADATA SP550 240GB for less than you paid for that m.2 drive and it does 500+ MB/s on the writes.
 
Trust me, once you start using a system that does 2+GB/sec, that 500mb/s ssd will instantly feel like an old broken down car that stutters and creaks just to get out of the driveway

Fyi I use 2x of that same Adata ssd as backup drives and storage space. But every time I access data on them...I feel like I am waiting for a taxi that is running late....
 
bonehead123 said:
Trust me, once you start using a system that does 2+GB/sec, that 500mb/s ssd will instantly feel like an old broken down car that stutters and creaks just to get out of the driveway

Fyi I use 2x of that same Adata ssd as backup drives and storage space. But every time I access data on them...I feel like I am waiting for a taxi that is running late....
Click to expand...

lol believe me I know.

ssd2.jpg
 
I've read several reviewers complaining that Asus H170I-PLUS D3 (in my OP) and Z170I PRO GAMING do not support PCI-E M.2 even though Asus advertises that it does. Any experiences?
 
I don't know about those 2 boards..but I have the gigabyte g1 gaming 7 and everything works exactly as advertised....
 
reb00tin said:
I've read several reviewers complaining that Asus H170I-PLUS D3 (in my OP) and Z170I PRO GAMING do not support PCI-E M.2 even though Asus advertises that it does. Any experiences?
Click to expand...

Can you link one of those reviews? I would be curious to read it.
 
LigTasm said:
lol believe me I know.

ssd2.jpg
Click to expand...

Mine shows seq r&w in the 23-2800 range, 4k in the 3-400 range, 4k-64 in the 1100-1300 range, and accepted times of .012-.018ms..... I'll get some screenshots up tonite after work...
 
bonehead123 said:
Mine shows seq r&w in the 23-2800 range, 4k in the 3-400 range, 4k-64 in the 1100-1300 range, and accepted times of .012-.018ms..... I'll get some screenshots up tonite after work...
Click to expand...

Is yours a 512GB or a 256GB? The 512 is faster. The 4k R/W show much slower if you're using it as an OS drive as well.
 
bonehead123 said:
Mine is a 256GB, and yes it is my boot drive :)
Click to expand...

You've got something else going on then, because you're actually exceeding the limitations of the drive with those numbers. I'd guess samsung magician and RAM caching. The 256GB only goes up to ~2200 max read.
 
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