Reddit mentions of EZDIY-FAB PCI Express M.2 SSD NGFF PCIe Card to PCIe 3.0 x4 M2 Adapter (Support M.2 PCIe 22110,2280, 2260, 2242)

Alternatively, if you have an extra PCIe slot, you can probably use an adapter like this: https://www.amazon.com/EZDIY-FAB-Express-Adapter-Support-22110/dp/B01GCXCR7W/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1525983455&sr=8-5&keywords=m.2+pcie+adapter

And since it maxes out a 1000mb/s, a PCIe gen 2 slot would be fine too.

Your motherboard does not have an M.2 slot on it.

You can buy a PCI-E x4 M.2 adapter that fits the 500GB Samsung EVO 970 plus (like this one https://www.amazon.com/EZDIY-FAB-Express-Adapter-Support-22110/dp/B01GCXCR7W/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=pci-e+m.2+adapter&qid=1562715160&s=gateway&sr=8-4), but it requires a PCI-E x4 slot.

Your motherboard has four PCI-E x1 slots (won't fit) and two PCI-E x16 slots (it will fit in this slot but only if you have one free -- i.e. you don't have two video cards).

If you're looking for a cheaper alternative, consider getting a regular old boring SATA III SSD. True, they aren't as fast as NVMe SSDs, but this is $30 cheaper (https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-500GB-Internal-MZ-76E500B-AM/dp/B0781Z7Y3S/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=500GB+samsung+evo+SSD&qid=1562715888&s=gateway&sr=8-3) and for gaming you actually won't notice much of a difference compared to the NVMe drive you spec'ed. NVMe gives you bigger performance boosts when reading/writing large blocks of sequential data, so for example video editing. Source: https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/sata-3-vs-m-2-vs-nvme-overview-and-comparison/

It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users.
I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click!


Here is link number 1 - Previous text "$15"



----
^Please ^PM ^/u/eganwall ^with ^issues ^or ^feedback! ^| ^Delete

If you have a pcie slot open, there are pcie to m.2 adapters you can get for $15

This is SATA drive so it doesn't use PCIe but requires a SATA connection

M.2 to 2.5" works

M.2 to PCIe doesn't work

M.2 SATA to PCIe works but requires connecting the bundled cable to one of your motherboard's SATA ports.

Solid State Drive, it is many times faster than your hdd, (Hard Disk Drive), and it WILL make your computer feel many times faster.

Edit: Your motherboard doesn't have a M.2 slot, so you will have to get a Sata SSD (Such as the WD Blue or the Samsung 860 Evo)

Edit 2: You could get a M.2 to PCIe adapter and a decent NVMe SSD (Such as the Intel 660p), this is by far the best option.

Oh damn you have a lot of drives. There are PCIE-m.2 adapters you can look into those. Or if you're willing to spend money there are PCIE-NVME drives.

> SSD is overkill for the OS drive but will likely be more reliable than USB sticks.

I've actually started using PCIe m.2 adapter with a 32gb m.2 SSD for a total of like 40 bucks its so much more reliable than a USB stick and it doesn't take up a storage slot.

You would need a PCIe dock, they run about $200 like this, and a m.2 to PCIe size adapter, another $15 like this, and then you need a machine that has a thunderbolt port to use that dock.

Edited

If you want to do it on the cheap standard adapters should work. There are some fancy ones with multiple slots but they aren't easily available to consumers and they're pretty expensive due to the use of PLX switches.

That link doesn't work for me but I use this one from amazon and I get same speeds as I do when it's straight into the motherboard. An x4 adapter is all you would need for a single NVMe drive.

The longest m.2 disk (which this card supports) is 110mm and you can dump https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81smXUfnqXL._SL1500_.jpg into https://www.rapidtables.com/web/tools/pixel-ruler.html to see that from slot to the 22110 mark it's ~840 pixels, and to the edge of the card it's about ~460pixels so the card is (460/840+1)*110 ~ 170mm long

That's exactly the ITX size. The graphics card is H=37 L=169 W=131 mm. So: it should fit, no problems. It is sort of an official size by now.

However! Startech is expensive so https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GCXCR7W why not? It's also shorter.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078WRG94P even comes with a heatsink and still cheaper...

If you have a free pcie slot you can use an M.2 to PCIE adapter like this one: https://www.amazon.com/EZDIY-FAB-Express-Adapter-Support-22110/dp/B01GCXCR7W

You can get m.2 to pci-express adapters such as this that will be faster than a sata enclosure

No worries. That doesn't really help but if you could show me where you found it I might be able to dig deeper.

For clarity, a PCI Express (or PCIe) slot is where expansion cards like your graphic card go. They are very fast when it comes to transferring data. A PCIe slot has "lanes" of data it can transfer. An x1 slot has one "lane". An x16 slot as 16 "lanes". Each lane can transfer 8Gb/s, if I remember correctly. That's some background info.

Now let's talk drive types. You've got Hard Disk Drives or HDDs, which come in different capacities and physical sizes. The two common sizes these days are 2.5" (usually found in notebook computers) and 3.5" (usually found in desktop computers). Larger physical size does not necessarily equate to larger capacity. Capacity is usually expressed in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB). An HDD is one of the slowest forms of media commonly used today, but it's cheaper per GB/TB than solid state drives. (SSDs.) HDDs today use the SATA "bus", which is a specific way to transfer data. Your PCIe slots are another way to transfer data, but we'll come back to that.

Then you've got SSDs. The most common size still being produced is 2.5". These are much faster than HDDs. SATA SSDs are roughly 5 times faster than HDDs for reading and writing data. This means faster boot times for your system, faster game loads, and faster file copies.

A few years ago, M.2 SSDs came out. M.2 is not necessarily faster than 2.5" SSDs. This depends on which bus they use. If they use the SATA bus, they're around the same speed as 2.5" drives. That said, they're far smaller and use less power, so they're better for laptops and, frankly, everything else except for speed. That said, we also have M.2 NVMe drives. NVMe is a special type of memory (like your computer's RAM) that doesn't wipe itself each time you reboot your computer, which means it can be used for storage. Also like your RAM, it's very fast - about 4 times faster than a SATA SSD, which is about 5 times faster than an HDD. That means an M.2 NVMe SSD is roughly 20 times faster than an HDD.

Because of this faster speed, the SATA bus just isn't fast enough, so they use the same bus as your PCIe slots. They can use 4 lanes of the PCIe bus. They can be plugged into an M.2 slot if your motherboard supports them, but you can also buy an inexpensive PCIe card (which will fit into a PCIe slot, if you have one available) if your motherboard does not have an M.2 slot. Here's an example of a cheap card that I've found to work well. You mount the M.2 SSD to the card, then install the card in a PCIe slot. That said, if the only PCIe slot you have available is x1, it's kind of pointless to do so. Remember how I said it is roughly 4 times faster than a SATA SSD? And remember how I said it uses 4 PCIe lanes? Well, if you only use 1 PCIe lane, you're not going to see those same performance gains. At that point, you're better off using a SATA SSD. They do make them in the M.2 size/format. The Samsung 850 Evo is an example of a decent one. (Note: the 850 Evo is also made in the 2.5" size/format, so be cautious which one you buy if you go that direction. Also, note that many PCIe cards (and M.2 slots on motherboards, for that matter) only support NVMe/PCIe M.2 SSDs OR SATA M.2 SSDs but not both. The PCIe card I linked above will only work with NVMe/PCIe SSDs, for example. Therefore, the Samsung 850 Evo I just linked wouldn't be compatible with it.

I hope that helps to clarify. Feel free to respond with more info or questions if you have them.

https://www.amazon.com/EZDIY-FAB-Express-Adapter-Support-22110/dp/B01GCXCR7W?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_14#customerReviews

It sounds like your issue isn't with the Z170 motherboard, but the lack of M.2 sockets (there are Z270 motherbaords with only 1 M.2 socket, as well as Z170 motherboards with 2 or more M.2 sockets).

What is your use-case for a 2nd M.2 drive? Do you actually need the sequential throughput?

You can install a M.2 drive in a location that isn't a motherboard M.2 socket (There are a number of products that accomplish this, the following are just some examples I found in 2-3 minutes of searching). Like in a PCIe slot:

https://www.amazon.com/EZDIY-FAB-Express-Adapter-Support-22110/dp/B01GCXCR7W/

Or to your motherboard's SATA express ports (could be a performance hit here depending on the SSD, as SATA Express is just 2 PCIe lanes):

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAA6W5XX4889

Alternatively, you could buy a SATA SSD, which would have zero performance hit on your regular SATA ports.

You can get m2 riser cards to go in your pci slot, btw.

Those two drives are basically the same, not unlike coke & pepsi.

Here's the Amazon link

Your motherboard has no slot for such an m.2 ssd.

However, there are many PCIe to m.2 adapters fairly cheaply available.
such as this one

Yeah so an adapter like this one would allow me to use it at optimal speeds right? Would this allow me to use it as a boot as well or is that dependent on my MB? Thanks for the reply, I appreciate it!

> So, what is the best adapter for me to buy that will enable me to utilize the full speed of my 2 SSDs, boot from them & enable RAID for them.

​

"Best adapter" is relative.

You just need a PCIex4 to M.2 hardware adapter that works electrically.

Option: https://www.amazon.com/EZDIY-FAB-Express-Adapter-Support-22110/dp/B01GCXCR7W

I have no idea of the quality of components used on that adapter - but I do know it works!

​

"Utilize full speed of my SSDs"" ?? Let the NVMe SSD do it's thing - don't bother with software RAID (introduce overhead).

I guess you could boot from a third drive and stripe the two EVO+ drives - but I'd still just let them be and not do soft RAID.

I'm running a Raid 0 setup on my X58. I thought of going down the NVME adaptor route via clover but was scared of messing around. Is it really worth booting from an NVME instead of just using the NVME for storage (video editing cache/raw footage)?

Also is there any difference between an PCIe x4 x8 x16 Slot adapter (that was linked above) vs just a PCIe X4 adapter (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GCXCR7W/ref=twister_B07NT4K8KM) ?