Will a PCIE Gen 4.0 NVME SSD still work with an older montherboard?

[FL4XY]

Planning on upgrading my PC, but not right now (The reason should be fairly obvious I assume).

I need more storage for my PC now though, and so I thought of just getting the SSD that I will be using as my boot drive in my new PC, the WD Black SN850 and putting it in my current system. 

I just wanted to make sure that this will work with my current system, on a 6th Intel CPU and a Z170 motherboard as it is a PCIE 4.0 SSD, something my 5 year old motherboard doesn't support.

 

Obviously I understand that I won't be getting the speeds advertised, as I'll be using it with PCIE 3.0, but I just want to be sure that I can still use it without any issues.

[GoodEnough]

i dont see why it wouldnt work, it would be like putting a gpu in a x8 pcie slot instead of a x16 pcie slot.

[Moonzy]

as long as your board supports m.2 NVME (not sata), you should be able to use it just fine

at pcie 3.0 speed, of course

[Electronics Wizardy]

Yup it will work on older boards, but id save the money on a gen 3 drive as it really won't matter even on a board that supports gen 4

[FL4XY]

2 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Yup it will work on older boards, but id save the money on a gen 3 drive as it really won't matter even on a board that supports gen 4

I was looking at the 970 EVO, but the WD Black one I linked is PCIE 4.0 (So 7100/5300 MB/s vs 3500/3300 MB/s) and is literally only $0.10 more, so I figured why not, especially if my new PC will support PCIE 4.0 (Planning to go with either a 5900X or wait for Zen 4 and get the 6900X).

[FL4XY]

9 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

as long as your board supports m.2 NVME (not sata), you should be able to use it just fine

at pcie 3.0 speed, of course

On the specifications page for my motherboard is says this regarding the M.2 slot:

 

"1 x M.2 x4 Socket 3, with M Key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (both SATA & PCIE mode)"

Does "PCIE mode" here refer to NVME, or would it not be compatable?

[Electronics Wizardy]

8 minutes ago, FL4XY said:

I was looking at the 970 EVO, but the WD Black one I linked is PCIE 4.0 (So 7100/5300 MB/s vs 3500/3300 MB/s) and is literally only $0.10 more, so I figured why not, especially if my new PC will support PCIE 4.0 (Planning to go with either a 5900X or wait for Zen 4 and get the 6900X).

Is this system just for games and other desktop uses? if thats the case, id get a cheaper drive like a 660p or a sn550 as the extra performance won't make a difference for these storage light uses.

[Moonzy]

5 minutes ago, FL4XY said:

On the specifications page for my motherboard is says this regarding the M.2 slot:

 

"1 x M.2 x4 Socket 3, with M Key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (both SATA & PCIE mode)"

Does "PCIE mode" here refer to NVME, or would it not be compatable?

Yes pcie means nvme

It should be good

[FL4XY]

25 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Is this system just for games and other desktop uses? if thats the case, id get a cheaper drive like a 660p or a sn550 as the extra performance won't make a difference for these storage light uses.

It will be for writing and transfering larger files in the future, and compiling code for larger programs. The difference between the 660p and SN850 for me is also only around $60.

[FL4XY]

27 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

Yes pcie means nvme

It should be good

Alright, thanks so much for the help!

[Electronics Wizardy]

5 minutes ago, FL4XY said:

It will be for writing and transfering larger files in the future, and compiling code for larger programs. The difference between the 660p and SN850 for me is also only around $60.

Even compiling programs won't make a big difference, both drives will probably not have a noticeable difference.

[FL4XY]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Even compiling programs won't make a big difference, both drives will probably not have a noticeable difference.

I'll look into it then thanks! (Only problem is that right now the 660p is not in stock and the next "unconfirmed" shipment only arrives in a month where I live - wheras the SN850 is confirmed to arrive in 1 week)

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 minutes ago, FL4XY said:

I'll look into it then thanks! (Only problem is that right now the 660p is not in stock and the next "unconfirmed" shipment only arrives in a month where I live - wheras the SN850 is confirmed to arrive in 1 week)

Look at drives like the sn550 aswell, but most uses really aren't that io heavy.

 

What ssd do you have now? id keep a sata ssd for now if you have one.

[FL4XY]

43 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Look at drives like the sn550 aswell, but most uses really aren't that io heavy.

 

What ssd do you have now? id keep a sata ssd for now if you have one.

I have a Kingston 240GB SATA that I bought 5 years ago.

[Electronics Wizardy]

7 minutes ago, FL4XY said:

I have a Kingston 240GB SATA that I bought 5 years ago.

Id personally keep using that for now until you get a new system, but the ssd market is pretty good, and a sn850 won't be a bad buy now.

[FL4XY]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id personally keep using that for now until you get a new system, but the ssd market is pretty good, and a sn850 won't be a bad buy now.

I would too, if it wasn't for the fact that my backup HDD only has 20GB left, and the SSD only has 10GB left.

 

Ideally, I'd be using an M.2 for boot, and a slower, but still M.2 SDD, for bulk storage in my new system, which is why I wanted to just buy an M.2 now, rather than a SATA SSD.

EDIT: I also have a 10% off voucher for the website I buy my parts from, so I'm also saving around $30 (The voucher expires in 7 days, so I'd have to use it now or else it'd just be wasted)