Switching m2 ssd slots on gigabyte z690 mainboard

[May-Day]

Hey,

 

currently I have 3x m2 ssd NVMe on my mainboard (Gigabyte z690 Gaming X DDR4). Running win11.

Those are:

1. Crucial P5 Plus, 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M2 SSD (newly bought)
2. Samsung 970 Evo Plus, 1TB NVMe M2 SSD (current Sys Drive)
3. ADATA xpg GamingX S10, 128GB M2 SSD (old SSD that I will probably only use for VMs. I already removed the heatsink from this ssd so it fits under the mainboard's heatsink [M2M_SB])

I have (clean) reinstalled Windows yesterday with USB (Media Creation Tool). If it is recommended to do some changes, and install Win11 on another SSD, I will probably do so.

 

However the main question is as follows:

 

Can I switch the m2 ssds as shown in the picture, without problems/bugs(programs installed)?

The motivation for this is, that I would like to use the m2-CPU slot for my sysdrive SSD, which is said to be faster. However, I had to put the Samsung(sysdrive) under the m2-SB slots first, because it doesnt have a heatsink yet (BeQuiet MC1 heatsink will arrive thursday. I am curious if my rx 7900XT fits on top of that)

 

Now if someone argues, that all this effort/time/money is not worth it, I will probably send the heatsink back and leave everything as it is.

But still I am curious about this points:

1.  With all drivers and programs on the samsung ssd, will I run in any problem if I change the slots as shown in the picture?
2.  Should Windows be installed on the Samsung or Crucial ssd? (PCI 3.0 vs PCI 4.0)? The ADATA is too small, and was the reaosn why I bought 1TB SSDs and reinstalled Win11)
3.  Are there any benchmarks or tests, that show the difference of Sys Drive on M2M_CPU vs M2M_SB?

 

 

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[jaslion]

1 minute ago, May-Day said:

Now if someone argues, that all this effort/time/money is not worth it, I will probably send the heatsink back and leave everything as it is.

But still I am curious about this points:

You're ssds dont need a heatsink. They aren't using super hot running components.

 

 

[May-Day]

4 minutes ago, jaslion said:

You're ssds dont need a heatsink. They aren't using super hot running components.

 

 

As I have to deal with a lot of file transfer, I dont want the Samsung 970 to bottleneck due to high temperatures. Therefore I would like to put it under a heat sink.

Still the 3 questions persist and I am glad if someone could help.

1. Quote

    

   1.  With all drivers and programs on the samsung ssd, will I run in any problem if I change the slots as shown in the picture?
   2.  Should Windows be installed on the Samsung or Crucial ssd? (PCI 3.0 vs PCI 4.0)? The ADATA is too small, and was the reaosn why I bought 1TB SSDs and reinstalled Win11)
   3.  Are there any benchmarks or tests, that show the difference of Sys Drive on M2M_CPU vs M2M_SB?

    

Thanks.

[jaslion]

6 minutes ago, May-Day said:

As I have to deal with a lot of file transfer, I dont want the Samsung 970 to bottleneck due to high temperatures. Therefore I would like to put it under a heat sink.

Still the 3 questions persist and I am glad if someone could help.

1.  

Thanks.

Thats the thing the 970 evo doesnt bottleneck. Ever. It literally cannot get hot enough.

 

The airflow from the gpu even if hot helps it cool way better too. It simply cannot get hot enough.

 

1. Shouldnt be an issue

2. Doesnt matter windows isn't even slower on a half decent sata drive boot wise and usage wise

3. Yes but pretty much it comes down to as a regular user you can't notice it.

[Alex Atkin UK]

1 hour ago, jaslion said:

You're ssds dont need a heatsink. They aren't using super hot running components.

Both my P1 and P3 despite being low-end drives quickly reach thermal throttling temperatures WITH a heat spreader.  They could definitely benefit from a heatsink.  Although as they're in my server and NAND retains data longer if written hot, data retention over performance is actually better for my use case.

 

AFAIK its only the controller chip that really needs cooling, NAND storage is actually more reliable when hot which is part of the reason for heat spreaders as they actually help keep the NAND warm while transferring heat away from the controller.

[May-Day]

1 hour ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

Both my P1 and P3 despite being low-end drives quickly reach thermal throttling temperatures WITH a heat spreader.  They could definitely benefit from a heatsink.  Although as they're in my server and NAND retains data longer if written hot, data retention over performance is actually better for my use case.

 

AFAIK its only the controller chip that really needs cooling, NAND storage is actually more reliable when hot which is part of the reason for heat spreaders as they actually help keep the NAND warm while transferring heat away from the controller.

so you recomment using a heatsink on the smasung 970 Evo Plus?

[Alex Atkin UK]

3 hours ago, May-Day said:

so you recomment using a heatsink on the smasung 970 Evo Plus?

I'd perhaps just keep a log of the temps with something like HwInfo64.  Case airflow can make a big difference and my case doesn't have anywhere for intake fans close to the motherboard level, so its got rather limited airflow around the SSDs.

 

Its possible like they said, the air from the GPU blowing down could make be helpful.  Especially if the OS SSD you are planning to move into the CPU slot is used for the more intensive games that use DirectStorage.

 

It would definitely be advised clean install the OS on the new drive and wipe the old one, as Windows makes it really hard to remove old OS files without a complete format.  Also installing Windows on a different drive with Windows already on an existing one, tends to put the boot loader on the old drive.  Its just a real PITA.

 

As such, its probably not worth moving the OS drive over to a different slot until you have the new drive for the CPU slot and can clean install onto it.

[May-Day]

15 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

I'd perhaps just keep a log of the temps with something like HwInfo64.  Case airflow can make a big difference and my case doesn't have anywhere for intake fans close to the motherboard level, so its got rather limited airflow around the SSDs.

 

Its possible like they said, the air from the GPU blowing down could make be helpful.  Especially if the OS SSD you are planning to move into the CPU slot is used for the more intensive games that use DirectStorage.

 

It would definitely be advised clean install the OS on the new drive and wipe the old one, as Windows makes it really hard to remove old OS files without a complete format.  Also installing Windows on a different drive with Windows already on an existing one, tends to put the boot loader on the old drive.  Its just a real PITA.

 

As such, its probably not worth moving the OS drive over to a different slot until you have the new drive for the CPU slot and can clean install onto it.

I am kinda confused.

I am not buying a new drive. All my drives are already on my motherboard as shown in the picture. Nevermind about the heatsink, I will probably just stick one there.

 

So did I understand you correctly: When changing the m2 ssd slots as shown in the pciture, I should/need to reinstall windows on the Samsung again?

Samsung is for Programs, Drivers and OS only. And I have already installed programs,drivers and OS on samsung.

Crucial is for media/Gaming

Adata for VMs.

 

@Alex Atkin UKfrom what you said,  you implied I'd buy a new drive. Thats not the case, and thats why I want to confirm your statement.

 

Thanks.