Questioning If My MB Can Handle More Current SSD.

Codeguru

Member
My motherboard specs for hard drives are as follows.

On-Board SATA

Intel® Z170 Express Chipset
• 6 x SATA 6Gb/s ports*
• Supports RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5 and RAID 10 for SATA storage devices
• 1 x M.2 Key M Socket supports type 2280/2260/2242 storage devices in both PCIE Gen3 x4 & SATA mode*
- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Mini-SAS SSD with Turbo U.2 Host Card**
• 2 x SATAe port (PCIe 3.0 x2)***
• Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology for Intel Core™ processors.

* SATA1~2 ports will be unavailable when installing the M.2 SATA interface module in M.2 slot. SATA3~4 ports will be unavailable when installing the M.2 PCIe interface module in M.2 slot.
** The Turbo U.2 Host Card is not included, please purchase separately.
*** SATAe port is backward compatible with SATA.


I currently have one SSD: Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB, and quite frankly I need more room to install games on. Of the current generation of SSD drives, is there something my computer can handle that can go 2TB or more? I know there are faster SSDs now that use a different format than PCIe 3.0, but that's what I'm stuck with at the moment. Any insights would be appreciated.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
That motherboard supports an M.2 NVME drive which will boot up much faster than a sata SSD. If its just for storage that you need then it would be much cheaper to just to buy a 2tb regular hard drive or possibly a 2tb SATA SSD. If you do use the M.2 with an NVME drive then SATA 3 and SATA 4 ports will not be able to be used. If you go M.2 SATA then SATA 1 and SATA 2 can't be used. Your motherboard manual will explain this.

 

Codeguru

Member
I guess what I'm really after is the largest and fastest drive C:\ SSD I can possibly get to work on my current MB. Some of these games are literally moving past the 100G mark in storage necessity, and 500G of storage just doesn't cut it. Nor does a regular hard drive, because unless I have a massive amount of porn to archive, I'd just dump the old slow magnetic drives in the trash. When loading data from a SSD HD got to the point where it's a part how smooth and fast your OS and games that load massive amounts of assets are, SSD became a necessity. If I truly need storage, I'll hook up an external 10TB crap drive to a USB.

Do you have an example of a good M.2 NVME drive? I'm kind of a newbie when it comes to the ever improving SSD technology that seems to be ramping up as of late.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Depending on how much you want to spend. I believe 4tb is biggest right now and its pretty expensive at 650 bucks.


or a teamgroup for 420 bucks.


2tb would be the next size down for a 150 bucks.

 

Codeguru

Member
2 TB seems the most sensible based on the prices. As far as quality, I've always gone with Western Digital for crappy mag drives. But Kingston used to be King on RAM, and GSkill has long since dethroned them. Anything to watch out for brand wise? Cus I honestly don't give a crap if I have to pay 50 more bucks for something that won't be dead on arrival.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
I try to use only Samsung NVME drives now. If I need to go cheaper then Western Digital. Just all depends on what you want to spend.
 

Codeguru

Member
Well, that was a horrible experience. But suffice it to say 2TB is gud. I dunno what my MB was doing shutting off my main drive and not letting me boot to it (I know you warned me) but I just had to rip the old one out and reinstall windows on the M.2 NVME. Plus side, it's a big old 500G flash drive now, and my C drive can breath again. Appreciate the advice.
 

Okedokey

Well-Known Member
Use SATA ports 3 and 4 for additional drives. Some motherboards shut down 1 or 2 SATA channels when M.2 is inserted. Read your mobo manual man.
My motherboard specs for hard drives are as follows.
On-Board SATA
...
* SATA1~2 ports will be unavailable when installing the M.2 SATA interface module in M.2 slot. SATA3~4 ports will be unavailable when installing the M.2 PCIe interface module in M.2 slot.

Also make sure you have the latest BIOS. Most of the improvements relate to M.2 and memory improvements but some others that involve security. Also, take time to update your intel chipsets, https://www.intel.com.au/content/www/au/en/support/detect.html. Major components of your system stability.
 
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