M.2 question...

[Jstagzsr]

i have a, asus z97 deluxe motherboard, intel i7 4790k, 32gb ripjaws ddr3..

on this board there is an m.2 slot.. it is right in front of the sata express ports which i understand to be 10gbps in stead of the standard 6... the sata-e and the m.2 run off the same something.. i just bought my first ever pci-e m.2 ssd.. My question is this: 1, will this ssd work on this board.. and 2, will it be running at its full potential in this slot? i just spent the past few hours reading about the pci-e lanes that are available and everything i read just made me more confused... so everything on the board shares a limited number of lanes right? and the ssd wants 4 lanes.. but this m.2 slot on this board only has 2 lanes for it? so ill be getting half the lanes, does that mean half the speed? so if its getting half the speed, which i understang to be 5gbps (half of the 10gbps available?)... so me running a normal ssd in the 6gbps sata slots is a whole gbps faster than the m.2 pci-e ssd?

im so lost....
--------------------------------------------------------------
to simplify:
board - asus z97 deluxe
m.2 ssd - samsung pm951, mz-vlv1280

will it work at all?
does this m.2 slot run off sata-e or pci-e?
if its sata-e, am i limited to 10gbps?
is that 10gbps shared and divided between all devices connected to the sata-e ports?
is this m.2 slot x2 like ive read?
will it run off pci-e x4 or x2?
if its x2 is that half the speed of x4?
what is the actual speed ill be getting (roughly) for reads and writes?
---------------------------------------------------------------
seperate question: if i plug a regular sata ssd into the sata-e ports, will i get faster speeds on that ssd?

thanks in advance for any help.. this is literally the first time ive ever done anything with m.2

[Jstagzsr]

and now i just read that sata-e IISSS pci-e? but only x2?

i havent been this confused in a long time

 

[Fasauceome]

M.2 runs off PCIe. Also, if you're not using SATA-e (which you probably are not because so few drives were ever made for it) then don't even worry about it. I used a force mp500 for my Z97-AR and it worked really well.

[Jstagzsr]

6 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

M.2 runs off PCIe. Also, if you're not using SATA-e (which you probably are not because so few drives were ever made for it) then don't even worry about it. I used a force mp500 for my Z97-AR and it worked really well.

ive been doing research since i posted this non stop..

apparently nvme is supported on ALL z97 and x99 boards after a bios update that came in 2015.. for my board (z97 deluxe) its version 2205.. and i have 3503.. just came out in april of this year.. so im assuming that even if it wasnt supported in the past, it definitely is now.. and especially after a brand new update only a few months old at this point..

so x4 pci-e speeds on a x4 samsung nvme ssd are what?

[Fasauceome]

2 minutes ago, Jstagzsr said:

so x4 pci-e speeds on a x4 samsung nvme ssd are what?

I don't know statistically, but it's nice and fast. Of course if you use an m.2 SSD in a gaming PC you won't be able to tell the distance.

[Jstagzsr]

1 minute ago, fasauceome said:

I don't know statistically, but it's nice and fast. Of course if you use an m.2 SSD in a gaming PC you won't be able to tell the distance.

im completely new to the m.2 scene. i have no idea what its using. ive seen conflicting things online. im pretty sure this m.2 slot is pci-e AND sata-e.. but since ill be using a samsung nvme sdd doesnt that mean itll be using the pci-e lanes rather than sata-e?

im still working out how this all works in my head.

[Fasauceome]

Just now, Jstagzsr said:

im completely new to the m.2 scene. i have no idea what its using. ive seen conflicting things online. im pretty sure this m.2 slot is pci-e AND sata-e.. but since ill be using a samsung nvme sdd doesnt that mean itll be using the pci-e lanes rather than sata-e?

im still working out how this all works in my head.

I have never heard that it uses SATA-e, so you can probably just ignore that. What I do know is that there are 2 types of M.2, there's one with a single notch that uses PCIe x4, and one with 2 notches that uses SATA. Get the one with one notch, because the one with two notches is not supported by most Z97 boards last I checked.

[Jstagzsr]

1 minute ago, fasauceome said:

I have never heard that it uses SATA-e, so you can probably just ignore that. What I do know is that there are 2 types of M.2, there's one with a single notch that uses PCIe x4, and one with 2 notches that uses SATA. Get the one with one notch, because the one with two notches is not supported by most Z97 boards last I checked.

yeah thats the one i got.. my m.2 slot has the one notch.. and the ssd i got is a one notcher..

something i read literally just now is that yes, nvme is supported and yes it runs on pci-e, but only on x2 NOT full x4.. do you know anything about that? confirm either way?

 

[Fasauceome]

Just now, Jstagzsr said:

something i read literally just now is that yes, nvme is supported and yes it runs on pci-e, but only on x2 NOT full x4.. do you know anything about that? confirm either way?

What it does is run on PCIe X4 gen 2, which is half of gen 3. It's cut in half because it has to take PCIe lanes from the chipset. You won't really be able to tell the difference most of the time, it's still very fast.

[Jstagzsr]

Just now, fasauceome said:

What it does is run on PCIe X4 gen 2, which is half of gen 3. It's cut in half because it has to take PCIe lanes from the chipset. You won't really be able to tell the difference most of the time, it's still very fast.

yeah gen2 and gen 3 are HUGELY different as far as speeds. i was worried about that.  but either way itll still be faster than my regular ssd that has windows on it now.. still fast, but i want the maximum performance possible.. guess i have to upgrade to a new board or get a pci adapter card to get the full full speed.. still looking forward to it though as is..

thanks for the help man. i appreciate it.

[asand1]

The manual and the socket layout will tell you what m.2 you need. Sata 3 m.2 SSDs use SATA. NVME uses PCIe. There are other variants, but you need to read the manual, look for labeling on the Mobo and look at the socket. Is it m key, b key?