Need help with m.2 SSD to PCIe x16 adapter choice

[DHUMSHAN]

My PC has MSI B760P WIFI (DDR5) motherboard. It has only 2 M.2 SSD ports, both occupied. I want to add 2 more Samsung 970 EVO SSDs to it through a spare PCIe x16 port.

The only 2 credible brands I see on Amazon India are Sabrent and Asus. Both of them are expensive. Can you please do a quick search and tell me if any other brands are known for their reliability? Also please suggest any other factors that must be looked for to ensure compatibility.

[PDifolco]

2 minutes ago, DHUMSHAN said:

My PC has MSI B760P WIFI (DDR5) motherboard. It has only 2 M.2 SSD ports, both occupied. I want to add 2 more Samsung 970 EVO SSDs to it through a spare PCIe x16 port.

The only 2 credible brands I see on Amazon India are Sabrent and Asus. Both of them are expensive. Can you please do a quick search and tell me if any other brands are known for their reliability? Also please suggest any other factors that must be looked for to ensure compatibility.

Your spare PCiex16 is only x4 bandwith Gen4, not sure if both SSD will get lanes

Given the price of those 4-drives adapter ($100+) you'd better sell off the 970s, buy a larger Gen4 SSD, and a cheap single drive adapter, will be cheaper and drive will be faster

[porina]

I used the cheapest no name 4x M.2 one I could find and it works fine. It doesn't need to do more other than route signals. That one us currently USD25 or so equivalent.

 

The bigger problem is unless your mobo can supply all the lanes and supports bifurcation then only 1 or two slots might work. Probably not going to work on consumer tier boards, you need at least  higher HEDT/workstation levels. You might get two working if you put it in the top slot (where the GPU normally goes).

 

Agree with PDifolco, the best solution seems to be replace multiple SSDs with a single bigger one. Or maybe look at SATA if you don't mind the lower performance.

[Tetras]

An interesting motherboard, if I got the specs right, you have five PCI-E full length slots, but only one with the full 16 and one with 4, the rest are just 1 lane.

 

Most adapters are intended for just one drive and required 4 lanes, but I think you can get 1 lane adapters. I'm not sure how many M.2 drives support that mode of operation and the speed would be impacted.

 

I can't see how a 2x M.2 slot card would work because you just don't have enough lanes on any of your secondary slots.

[DHUMSHAN]

1 hour ago, Tetras said:

An interesting motherboard, if I got the specs right, you have five PCI-E full length slots, but only one with the full 16 and one with 4, the rest are just 1 lane.

 

Most adapters are intended for just one drive and required 4 lanes, but I think you can get 1 lane adapters. I'm not sure how many M.2 drives support that mode of operation and the speed would be impacted.

 

I can't see how a 2x M.2 slot card would work because you just don't have enough lanes on any of your secondary slots.

Serves me right not to go deep into the specs before buying. 

[DHUMSHAN]

2 hours ago, porina said:

I used the cheapest no name 4x M.2 one I could find and it works fine. It doesn't need to do more other than route signals. That one us currently USD25 or so equivalent.

 

The bigger problem is unless your mobo can supply all the lanes and supports bifurcation then only 1 or two slots might work. Probably not going to work on consumer tier boards, you need at least  higher HEDT/workstation levels. You might get two working if you put it in the top slot (where the GPU normally goes).

 

Agree with PDifolco, the best solution seems to be replace multiple SSDs with a single bigger one. Or maybe look at SATA if you don't mind the lower performance.

That is what I wanted to know, whether it is risky to get cheap ones. Thanks for the confidence.

[Tetras]

29 minutes ago, DHUMSHAN said:

That is what I wanted to know, whether it is risky to get cheap ones. Thanks for the confidence.

Typically with PCIE adapters and risers, the cheaper ones can sometimes be unstable at high speeds and they mis-advertise their PCIE gen, but I don't think you need to spend lots to get a good one.

 

32 minutes ago, DHUMSHAN said:

Serves me right not to go deep into the specs before buying. 

To be fair, the lack of lanes is a problem with ALL consumer motherboards since Intel dumped their affordable HEDT CPUs.

 

For most mainstream motherboards, having space for just one PCI-E adapter with 1x M.2 slot is unfortunately all too common.

 

Going high-end with Z790 or X670E gets you more M.2 slots on the motherboard (usually 4) and enough lanes to have 1 or 2 more M.2 slots (depending on the layout), though it can sometimes impact the graphics lanes too and drop them to only 8.

[kokosnh]

you can add one more ssd on full bandwidth of PCIe 4.0 x4 
Just buy a normal pcie x 4 to m.2 adapter

it’s like 5-10$ 

https://www.amazon.in/CARE-CASE®-Express-Adapter-CC-PCI/dp/B0CHW1ZCP3

https://www.amazon.in/Fastline-Products-Nvme-Adapter-Converter/dp/B0CCDVP2BC

 

https://www.amazon.in/Verilux®-NVME-Adapter-PCIe-Support/dp/B099RNMDR9

there shouldn't be any problem with pcie signaling, if you use it with pcie 3.0 ssd ( I assume you have that type now in m.2 slots ) 

 

and use that adapter in PCI_E3 slot ( the pcie 4.0 x4 slot )

why do you want to buy more then one Samsung 970 evo, and why that one? 

 

Just buy one PCIe 4.0 4TB ssd.

 

[DHUMSHAN]

11 hours ago, PDifolco said:

Your spare PCiex16 is only x4 bandwith Gen4, not sure if both SSD will get lanes

Given the price of those 4-drives adapter ($100+) you'd better sell off the 970s, buy a larger Gen4 SSD, and a cheap single drive adapter, will be cheaper and drive will be faster

 

10 hours ago, porina said:

I used the cheapest no name 4x M.2 one I could find and it works fine. It doesn't need to do more other than route signals. That one us currently USD25 or so equivalent.

 

The bigger problem is unless your mobo can supply all the lanes and supports bifurcation then only 1 or two slots might work. Probably not going to work on consumer tier boards, you need at least  higher HEDT/workstation levels. You might get two working if you put it in the top slot (where the GPU normally goes).

 

Agree with PDifolco, the best solution seems to be replace multiple SSDs with a single bigger one. Or maybe look at SATA if you don't mind the lower performance.

 

8 hours ago, Tetras said:

Typically with PCIE adapters and risers, the cheaper ones can sometimes be unstable at high speeds and they mis-advertise their PCIE gen, but I don't think you need to spend lots to get a good one.

 

To be fair, the lack of lanes is a problem with ALL consumer motherboards since Intel dumped their affordable HEDT CPUs.

 

For most mainstream motherboards, having space for just one PCI-E adapter with 1x M.2 slot is unfortunately all too common.

 

Going high-end with Z790 or X670E gets you more M.2 slots on the motherboard (usually 4) and enough lanes to have 1 or 2 more M.2 slots (depending on the layout), though it can sometimes impact the graphics lanes too and drop them to only 8.

 

5 hours ago, kokosnh said:

you can add one more ssd on full bandwidth of PCIe 4.0 x4 
Just buy a normal pcie x 4 to m.2 adapter

it’s like 5-10$ 

https://www.amazon.in/CARE-CASE®-Express-Adapter-CC-PCI/dp/B0CHW1ZCP3

https://www.amazon.in/Fastline-Products-Nvme-Adapter-Converter/dp/B0CCDVP2BC

 

https://www.amazon.in/Verilux®-NVME-Adapter-PCIe-Support/dp/B099RNMDR9

there shouldn't be any problem with pcie signaling, if you use it with pcie 3.0 ssd ( I assume you have that type now in m.2 slots ) 

 

and use that adapter in PCI_E3 slot ( the pcie 4.0 x4 slot )

why do you want to buy more then one Samsung 970 evo, and why that one? 

 

Just buy one PCIe 4.0 4TB ssd.

 

I salvaged the 2 970 EVOs from an old laptop. That's why the makeshift attitude. And it is difficult to sell used SSDs here in India. Thanks for your help, everybody. All the answers helped. I wish they allowed multiple answers to be marked as solutions.

[kokosnh]

Ps. you can buy more and use these adapters in other PCIe x16 slots, but the speed will be capped at 1000 MBps (PCIe 3.0 x1) 
If the SSD is free, then it's better than nothing.

[DHUMSHAN]

On 7/22/2024 at 8:11 PM, kokosnh said:

Ps. you can buy more and use these adapters in other PCIe x16 slots, but the speed will be capped at 1000 MBps (PCIe 3.0 x1) 
If the SSD is free, then it's better than nothing.

Hi. Will it be faster/better to get a dual adapter and put both 970 EVOs in PCIe 4.0 x4 port or Get 2 adapters for each and put one 970 EVO in PCIe 4.0 x4 and another in PCIe 3.0 x1?

Also, I can't put an x16 in x4, right?

[Blue4130]

9 hours ago, DHUMSHAN said:

Hi. Will it be faster/better to get a dual adapter and put both 970 EVOs in PCIe 4.0 x4 port or Get 2 adapters for each and put one 970 EVO in PCIe 4.0 x4 and another in PCIe 3.0 x1?

Also, I can't put an x16 in x4, right?

Only 1 of the SSD's will work if you put them into an x4 slot.

 

And yes, you can put an x16 card in an x4 slot. As long as the back of the slot is open. Not all are, but they can be cut open if need be.

[kokosnh]

9 hours ago, DHUMSHAN said:

Also, I can't put an x16 in x4, right?

Your mobo has all physical pcie slots in x16, so you can put whatever you like x1, x4, x16. 
 

9 hours ago, DHUMSHAN said:

dual adapter

Only active pcie switch would work, and these cost like 200$ and more for pcie 3.0 ones. 
 

I already linked and said what’s best. 
just buy a pcie x4 to m.2 adapter and use it in PCI_E3 slot, and buy one PCIe x1 to m.2 adapter, and use it in other slot (you can buy two x4 adapters if price is similar)

 

[DHUMSHAN]

On 8/19/2024 at 4:22 AM, kokosnh said:

Your mobo has all physical pcie slots in x16, so you can put whatever you like x1, x4, x16. 
 

Only active pcie switch would work, and these cost like 200$ and more for pcie 3.0 ones. 
 

I already linked and said what’s best. 
just buy a pcie x4 to m.2 adapter and use it in PCI_E3 slot, and buy one PCIe x1 to m.2 adapter, and use it in other slot (you can buy two x4 adapters if price is similar)

 

Hi, one last time bothering you. 
I got 2 of these:
https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B099RNMDR9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

While putting the 2nd one in the E4 slot, it is prevented from going in properly by an SSD beside it. The E5 slot is obstructed by a fan above the power supply. Can I cut the lock part in one of the adapters as shown in the picture? E4 doesn't have that lock anyway.

[kokosnh]

It's just a lock tab, you can cut it, but do secure IT after, so there's no short if you thought it with something. ( Event nail polish will do, if you don't have anything better )