M.2 NVMe/SATA

SouthOfHere · Mar 29, 2018

Quick question, I have an M.2 slot on my ASUS X99-S board which I tried to install an M.2 SSD on but it isn't detected. Now from what I have been reading there are two types, SATA and NVMe, correct me if I'm wrong. The SSD I tried using unfortunately the label is missing, all I know is it's a 500GB that's been hardly used and I was intending on using it as a boot drive. It has this type of connector (SATA?):

The manual says the board specifically supports NVMe SSDs which I believe only has the 1 notch:

Can anyone clarify?

jboydgolfer · Mar 29, 2018

sata has the 2nd "B" keys as well, as the "M" key slot.

SouthOfHere · Mar 29, 2018

jboydgolfer said:

Hadn't specifically seen that illustration but thanks, makes sense now. Would the Samsung 960 EVO 500GB be a good buy then?

jboydgolfer · Mar 29, 2018

samsung is The SSD of MY choice . great and reliable (not to say the yare the only good ones, but IMO they are the best)

crucial are nice as well

manofthem · Mar 29, 2018

SouthOfHere said:
Hadn't specifically seen that illustration but thanks, makes sense now. Would the Samsung 960 EVO 500GB be a good buy then?

Samsung has a great reputation when it comes to things like ssd's, and I wouldn't hesitate to grab one if the funds were there. (I have 3 Samsung ssd's running strong for years, 2 of those are the older 830s that I've had for 6 years.)

Recently I wanted to get the Evo 960 500gb one, but instead I got an ADATA m.2 drive. It's true that I don't trust it like I do the Samsungs, but the price was pretty good.

cucker tarlson · Mar 29, 2018

I can't find a m.2 connector on x99-s. I think it comes with a complementary m.2 pci-e card, right ? If so, did you put the card in the slot that runs off pch pci-e lines or cpu pci-e lines ?

cookiemonster · Mar 30, 2018

I recently bought a Samsung M.2 250gb 960 Evo and would recommend it, download the driver for yours from the Samsung site and install it mine wasn't recognised till I done that also download Samsung Magician.

jboydgolfer · Mar 30, 2018

cookiemonster said:
also download Samsung Magician

& immediately delete/uninstall it :laugh:

BadFrog · Mar 30, 2018

cucker tarlson said:
I can't find a m.2 connector on x99-s. I think it comes with a complementary m.2 pci-e card, right ? If so, did you put the card in the slot that runs off pch pci-e lines or cpu pci-e lines ?

It's a vertical M.2 slot. Should be next to the 24-pin power connector.

cucker tarlson · Mar 30, 2018

BadFrog said:
It's a vertical M.2 slot. Should be next to the 24-pin power connector.

View attachment 98988

lol.
looks weird.
gerts good airflow tho.

@op

if you're okay with used, then a used 950 pro would be better than a new 960 evo. It is slower on paper (sequential read/write), but in real world use it's just about the same (time in seconds)

copying 4GB of small files

https://www.purepc.pl/pamieci_masow..._scorch_512_gb_solidna_klasa_srednia?page=0,8

copying one 7GB file

https://www.purepc.pl/pamieci_masow..._scorch_512_gb_solidna_klasa_srednia?page=0,9

unpacking 7GB archive

https://www.purepc.pl/pamieci_masow...scorch_512_gb_solidna_klasa_srednia?page=0,10

multitasking (file copy+game install)

https://www.purepc.pl/pamieci_masow...scorch_512_gb_solidna_klasa_srednia?page=0,12

game install

https://www.purepc.pl/pamieci_masow...scorch_512_gb_solidna_klasa_srednia?page=0,14

it's got a 400TBW limit (512GB) while 960 evo is just 200TBW (500GB) and a 5 year warranty vs 3 years on evo. So chances are you'll be able to find a used 950 pro at a much lower price than a new 960 evo, with much more TBW left and still ~3.5-4 years of warranty left.

jboydgolfer said:
& immediately delete/uninstall it

rapid mode works nicely. I have experience with a single 850 pro 256GB in normal mode, two 256GB 850 Pro's in raid0 and a single 512GB 850 pro in rapid mode, and as far as everyday use goes (launching programs) a single 850 pro rapid mode takes all the cake. System shutdown is like a snap of a finger, while on 850 pro raid0 it took quite some time if you had several things running and you needed to shut down/restart. Also, it's easier to set the overprovisioning in magician,altough it's pretty easy in disk management too.

But other than that, magician is pretty useless unless you mean the old version, which you can still run on w10.

agent_x007 · Mar 30, 2018

jboydgolfer said:
sata has the 2nd "B" keys as well, as the "M" key slot.

Yeah... except a few NVMe M.2 drives that have both keyes... like this LiteOn drive (LINK) or Intel Optane 16/32GB.
There are also AHCI (not NVMe) M.2 drives, that use M-Key only (Samsung XP941 or some SM951 models).

M.2 is basicly a minefield :
Some early boards don't support "SATA" type M.2s, and some laptops don't support M-Keyed ones.
Only one drive support Legacy booting (by default), however most M-key ones require (U)EFI modding for booting to work on Sandy Bridge or later platforms.

System Name	Desktop
Processor	Intel i7 5820K CPU @ 4.5Ghz
Motherboard	ASUS X99-S
Cooling	Corsair H90i
Memory	Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR4 @ 2400Mhz
Video Card(s)	2x EVGA GTX 1070 (SLI)
Storage	4x250GB Crucial SSDs RAID 10 (OS/Apps), 4x1TB WD Black HDDs RAID 10 (Data), 2x2TB WB Black RAID 1
Display(s)	Philips BDM4350UC 43" 4K @60Hz + BenQ 27" 1080p @60Hz
Case	Cooler Master HAF X
Audio Device(s)	Sound Blaster Z with Logitech Z506 Speakers and Astro A50 Headset
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNova G2 1000Watt
Mouse	Mad Catz R.A.T 8
Keyboard	Razer Chroma RGB
Software	Windows 10 Professional x64

System Name	Americas cure is the death of Social Justice & Political Correctness
Processor	i7-11700K
Motherboard	Asrock Z590 Extreme wifi 6E
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12A
Memory	32GB Corsair RGB fancy boi 5000
Video Card(s)	RTX 3090 Reference
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo 1Tb + Samsung 970 Evo 500Gb
Display(s)	Dell - 27" LED QHD G-SYNC x2
Case	Fractal Design Meshify-C
Audio Device(s)	on board
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus+ Gold 1000 Watt
Mouse	Logitech G502 spectrum
Keyboard	AZIO MGK-1 RGB (Kaith Blue)
Software	Win 10 Professional 64 bit
Benchmark Scores	the MLGeesiest

System Name	Desktop
Processor	Intel i7 5820K CPU @ 4.5Ghz
Motherboard	ASUS X99-S
Cooling	Corsair H90i
Memory	Corsair Vengeance 64GB DDR4 @ 2400Mhz
Video Card(s)	2x EVGA GTX 1070 (SLI)
Storage	4x250GB Crucial SSDs RAID 10 (OS/Apps), 4x1TB WD Black HDDs RAID 10 (Data), 2x2TB WB Black RAID 1
Display(s)	Philips BDM4350UC 43" 4K @60Hz + BenQ 27" 1080p @60Hz
Case	Cooler Master HAF X
Audio Device(s)	Sound Blaster Z with Logitech Z506 Speakers and Astro A50 Headset
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNova G2 1000Watt
Mouse	Mad Catz R.A.T 8
Keyboard	Razer Chroma RGB
Software	Windows 10 Professional x64

System Name	Americas cure is the death of Social Justice & Political Correctness
Processor	i7-11700K
Motherboard	Asrock Z590 Extreme wifi 6E
Cooling	Noctua NH-U12A
Memory	32GB Corsair RGB fancy boi 5000
Video Card(s)	RTX 3090 Reference
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo 1Tb + Samsung 970 Evo 500Gb
Display(s)	Dell - 27" LED QHD G-SYNC x2
Case	Fractal Design Meshify-C
Audio Device(s)	on board
Power Supply	Seasonic Focus+ Gold 1000 Watt
Mouse	Logitech G502 spectrum
Keyboard	AZIO MGK-1 RGB (Kaith Blue)
Software	Win 10 Professional 64 bit
Benchmark Scores	the MLGeesiest

Processor	3900X @ 4.0
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strix X570-E
Cooling	DeepCool Castle 360EX
Memory	G Skill Trident Z Neo 32GB 3600
Video Card(s)	RX 5700 XT Pulse
Storage	Sabrent Rocket Q 1TB
Display(s)	LG 34UC88
Case	Thermaltake P3
Power Supply	Super Flower Leadex III 750w
Mouse	Logitech G900
Keyboard	G Skill KM570 MX Silver
Software	Windows 10 Pro

System Name	Purple rain
Processor	10.5 thousand 4.2G 1.1v
Motherboard	Zee 490 Aorus Elite
Cooling	Noctua D15S
Memory	16GB 4133 CL16-16-16-31 Viper Steel
Video Card(s)	RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio
Storage	SU900 128,8200Pro 1TB,850 Pro 512+256+256,860 Evo 500,XPG950 480, Skyhawk 2TB
Display(s)	Acer XB241YU+Dell S2716DG
Case	P600S Silent w. Alpenfohn wing boost 3 ARGBT+ fans
Audio Device(s)	K612 Pro w. FiiO E10k DAC,W830BT wireless
Power Supply	Superflower Leadex Gold 850W
Mouse	G903 lightspeed+powerplay,G403 wireless + Steelseries DeX + Roccat rest
Keyboard	HyperX Alloy SilverSpeed (w.HyperX wrist rest),Razer Deathstalker
Software	Windows 10
Benchmark Scores	A LOT

Processor	Intel 10 Core i9 10900K Comet Lake CPU/Processor
Motherboard	Gigabyte Intel Z490 AORUS MASTER ATX Motherboard
Cooling	Noctua Intel/AMD NH-D15 Silent CPU Cooler
Memory	Corsair 32GB ( 4x8) DDR4 Vengeance LPX 3000MHz Memory
Video Card(s)	Zotac NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 8GB AMP! Extreme Turing Graphics Card
Storage	Samsung 970 EVO PLUS 500GB M.2, Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1 TB PCIe NVMe M.2
Display(s)	ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q 27" 2K WQHD 165Hz IPS G-Sync 2K Gaming Monitor, Sony Bravia 49" 4k uhd tv
Case	NZXT Phantom 410 Black Orange Special Edition
Audio Device(s)	Sound BlasterX AE 5 RGB PCIe Gaming Soundcard
Power Supply	Corsair RM1000
Mouse	Roccat ROC-11-812 Kone EMP Max Performance Razer Basilisk x Hyperspeed Wireless Gaming Mouse
Keyboard	Roccat isku/ fx
Software	Windows 10 Home 64-bit

System Name	unnamed currently :*(
Processor	Intel Core i7-5960x
Motherboard	ASUS ROG RAMPAGE V EDITION 10
Cooling	EKWB/Bitspower CPU, motherboard & GPU WB
Memory	Corsair Dominator Platinum 4x4gb ddr4 2666
Video Card(s)	nVidia GTX 1080 Ti FE 11GB
Storage	Samsung 960 Evo 1 TB M.2 SSD & WD Black 5TB HDD
Display(s)	Asus SwiftROG PG278Q & Asus PB277Q
Case	Corsair 900D
Audio Device(s)	Sound Blaster Zx
Power Supply	Corsair Axi1200
Mouse	Steel Series Sensei RAW
Keyboard	Corsair K70
Benchmark Scores	4.8 ghz @ 1.37 - 5930k - old cpu 4.6 GHZ @ 1.3 - 5960X - current cpu

System Name	BOX
Processor	Core i7 6950X @ 4,26GHz (1,28V)
Motherboard	X99 SOC Champion (BIOS F23c + bifurcation mod)
Cooling	Thermalright Venomous-X + 2x Delta 38mm PWM (Push-Pull)
Memory	Patriot Viper Steel 4000MHz CL16 4x8GB (@3240MHz CL12.12.12.24 CR2T @ 1,48V)
Video Card(s)	Titan V (~1650MHz @ 0.77V, HBM2 1GHz, Forced P2 state [OFF])
Storage	WD SN850X 2TB + Samsung EVO 2TB (SATA) + Seagate Exos X20 20TB (4Kn mode)
Display(s)	LG 27GP950-B
Case	Fractal Design Meshify 2 XL
Audio Device(s)	Motu M4 (audio interface) + ATH-A900Z + Behringer C-1
Power Supply	Seasonic X-760 (760W)
Mouse	Logitech RX-250
Keyboard	HP KB-9970
Software	Windows 10 Pro x64

M.2 NVMe/SATA

WCG-TPU Team All-Star!