Boot From PCEI x1?

[Zedbird]

So I have a kind of a weird question that needs a little back story. I bought a "gaming" PC that needs some serious upgrades. I have a MSI B360m Bazooka motherboard and only have one M.2 drive currently being used to store all my games. My 2.5" ssd currently is my boot drive containing my OS, but is only 120gb. I can purchase an intel optane 1tb nvme for only $100 and an adapter for $15 which would be faster then a traditional ssd. Is it possible to boot from PCIE on a MSI B360m Bazooka motherboard or should I just purchase a bigger 2.5" for the same price?

[GoldenLag]

17 minutes ago, Zedbird said:

I can purchase an intel optane 1tb nvme for only $100

Actual optane?

 

Or just the 660p or 665p?

[Zedbird]

9 minutes ago, GoldenLag said:

Or just the 660p or 665p?

The 660p.

[Zedbird]

21 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Optane is a joke, get a real SSD

 

Now that's what I call professional ripping off, these guys are masters.

If you read my post I already have my M.2 slot filled with a 2 tb nvme. 1 tb for a nvme is a good deal and is faster then a 2.5" ssd even in a PCIe x1 slot.

[Kon-Tiki]

I assume you want to buy an adapter from m.2 to PCIe x whatever Slot? If that's the case you'll want to make sure that the adapter actually goes physically to a x1 slot. The PCIe x1 slots on the b350 bazooka are not open at the end, meaning you won't be able to fit anything else in than a card with a physical  x1 connector.

With that in mind, it should theoretically be possible to boot of the NVMe drive in the adapter.

Otherwise you could also just put the 660p in your motherboard's m.2 port and move the drive currently populating it into the adapter.

[Kilrah]

Yup if your adapter is only PCIe x1 then put the game drive on that and put the new one on the mobo. 

[GoldenLag]

32 minutes ago, Zedbird said:

The 660p.

thats not optane, thats a regular QLC m.2 drive. 

 

its a good drive, its by far not optane in any way. 

 

38 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Now that's what I call professional ripping off, these guys are masters.

for 1TB SSD thats a decent price. 

 

you read optane and assumed it was expencive, the SSD he found is at regular price. if it was actual optane 1TB at 100$ then it would be crazy deal. 

 

16 minutes ago, Zedbird said:

If you read my post I already have my M.2 slot filled with a 2 tb nvme. 1 tb for a nvme is a good deal and is faster then a 2.5" ssd even in a PCIe x1 slot.

the pcie 1x slot is at 3.0 speed or is it at 2.0 speed? because if its the latter, its not faster than regular Sata iirc. 

 

just checked, its 3.0 speed. 

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/h3tQzy/crucial-mx500-1tb-25-solid-state-drive-ct1000mx500ssd1

 

look at something like this, and you avoid having to adapt. if you want to adapt. pick up either the 660p from intel, or P1 from Crucial. whichever is cheaper

[Zedbird]

21 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Yup if your adapter is only PCIe x1 then put the game drive on that and put the new one on the mobo. 

I like my game drive where it's at. Just curious of you can boot from PCIE.

[Zedbird]

42 minutes ago, Kon-Tiki said:

If that's the case you'll want to make sure that the adapter actually goes physically to a x1 slot.

It's a PCIEx1 adapter. I only found one, but it exsist.

[Kon-Tiki]

Then it should be possible to boot.

[Zedbird]

Just now, Kon-Tiki said:

Then it should be possible to boot.

And wouldn't be faster then a Sata ssd?

[Kon-Tiki]

Just looking at theoretical numbers: A PCIe x4 interfaced SSD can achieve around 3.2 GB per second. So using a x1 connection you should still be able to get around 0.8 GB per second which is more than the theoretical connection speed of SATA III (0.6 GB per second).

However: The Intel 660p is a QLC SSD, so as soon as you run out of SLC cache, your speeds will drop, even if your PCIe connection would be able to handle more. LTT actually made a video about this particular SSD model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OffzVc7ZB-o

[Zedbird]

27 minutes ago, Kon-Tiki said:

Just looking at theoretical numbers: A PCIe x4 interfaced SSD can achieve around 3.2 GB per second. So using a x1 connection you should still be able to get around 0.8 GB per second which is more than the theoretical connection speed of SATA III (0.6 GB per second).

However: The Intel 660p is a QLC SSD, so as soon as you run out of SLC cache, your speeds will drop, even if your PCIe connection would be able to handle more. LTT actually made a video about this particular SSD model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OffzVc7ZB-o

Thank you so much for your help. Do you think if I just ran windows on the 660p the SLC cache will run out? Sounds like the 660p is $100 for a reason. 

[GoldenLag]

58 minutes ago, Zedbird said:

Thank you so much for your help. Do you think if I just ran windows on the 660p the SLC cache will run out? Sounds like the 660p is $100 for a reason. 

The SLC cache is dynamic, it will only get smaller as the remaining storage gets smaller. 

 

Its a good drive for most people. A lot of people put QLC drives under unreasonable fire due to the poor post SLC cache performance