External enclosure for M.2 NVMe drive (960 EVO)

[Teched Out]

I have just discovered (the hard way) that all M.2 connections are not made the same.

 

My new Blade only has a 512GB drive, so I got a 1TB 960 EVO thinking I'd be able to stick it in an enclosure and play all my games off it (dammit, Dmitry! ).

However, I now realise that enclosures for PCIe NVMe drives are not really a thing...

 

And now have a 1TB NVMe drive and nothing to plug it into. To add insult to injury, my (desktop) motherboard only has one M.2 slot (as do the new Blades (was able to add a second to my first gen Blade 14)).

 

Am I correct to think that there is no external enclosure which will work with my SSD? Are we likely to ever see such an enclosure?

[ImNotThere]

swap them out?

[unknownmiscreant]

You could get something like a hyper kit card, to convert the m.2 drive to a PCIe slot.

 

As for external, nope. You could swap the 1TB into one of your machines.

[Karl Sven]

I myself have a 960 evo 250gb.

No problem fitting it in the asus strix z270e.

But if the problem is the connection... maybe going back to the store and changing it for something you can fit?

Also if you want my personal experience with 250gb.... is more than enough to fit 4 or 5 games that you are actually playing. The rest I just uninstall and re-download in case I feel like it.

In the end is cheaper (and give you more service for other stuff) a good internet connection that a badass SSD to fit EVERY game  

[beach_boy98]

If your desktop computer has the avaliable PCIE slots and lanes something like this because it will just take the PCIE slot and turn it into an m.2 slot

[Teched Out]

Thanks guys.

Should I expect heat problems if I position a PCIe M.2 card in the slot above a GTX 1080 (with another sitting two slots above (2 slots spacing between cards)?

[Karl Sven]

6 minutes ago, CuRle_ said:

Thanks guys.

Should I expect heat problems if I position a PCIe M.2 card in the slot above a GTX 1080 (with another sitting two slots above (2 slots spacing between cards)?

I have my M.2 Just under my 1080. And no problems whatsoever  

[Teched Out]

That looks like a more sensible M.2 position than on my board.

 

Sitting it above the card would have it closer to the heat, though, I would expect. For reference, my board is a Rampage V E10.

 

I could sit it in the bottom slot, but I was hoping to put my old ASUS AC WiFi card in that slot. Rampage V WiFi is woeful. ~10MBps vs 40MBps+ on the ASUS PCIe card.

 

 

Swapping the Blade's SSD might be the best option. I wonder how the EVO drives compare to the stock SSD in the current Blade.

[Karl Sven]

Well, what you can do is to try it out.

Buy a thermometer that you can put the tip on the peripheral you want to feel the heat (usually you can find those in kitchen afairs) and you'll be good to go. Cause I don't think you can measure the SSD temperature with any software solution  or search for it online.

[Teched Out]

HWMonitor reports temperatures for my 950 Pro.

After several minutes of Heaven, it seemed to settle at 53°c.

 

Might stick the 1TB in my desktop and take the secondary 512GB M.2 out of my old Blade to use as an external.

 

Bit of an expensive learning exercise.  Didn't really need more solid state game storage, in my desktop, already have a 2TB 850 EVO.

[Teched Out]

I just had the best idea.

I buy a second 500GB 850 M.2 and put them in a M.2 RAID enclosure!

 

Now.. Can you get external M.2 RAID enclosures...