Planning on Purchasing an M.2 Drive Would it utiliza SATA 6GB or PCIE on my motherboard

[Lunarayaz]

Hey, I was recently looking at improving my system with an M.2 PCIE SSD 250GB 960 EVO, although I was wondering if someone could tell me if my system would utilize the PCIE or SATA/6GB. Additionally would there be any other alterations be required in order for the SSD to function. I also plan to format my system and install a fresh copy of windows onto the SSD.

 

My current System : https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/WGR2vV

 

[D Levy]

m.2 uses PCIE lanes just like the devices routed through your board's chipset for SATA. 

 

These articles might be of help to you

https://superuser.com/questions/1020268/does-m-2-ssd-card-mess-with-pci-express

[Salacious B Crum]

If you populate the m.2 slot it disables sata port 1 based on your manual your bios will have the requirement to set it to sata or pcie

[pyrojoe34]

Yes, that mobo can use PCIe on the M.2 port. Just make sure you switch the M.2 to PCIe mode instead of SATA mode in the BIOS. It will likely disable 2 of your SATA ports (see manual for which ones, probably 5 and 6) but you will still have 4 usable so that shouldn't be an issue.

 

7 hours ago, D Levy said:

m.2 uses PCIE lanes just like the devices routed through your board's chipset for SATA.

Not every board can do PCIe through the M.2 slot. Cheaper boards and older chipsets can only do SATA on the M.2 slot. Although in his case it's fine.

[Lunarayaz]

Thanks for the info guys much help.