M.2 to PCIe Adapter differences

Hi folks,

So, recently picked up my first M.2 drive, a lovely Samsung PM961 Polaris 256GB M.2 PCIe 3.0 (x4) NVMe drive, with speeds rated at:

Read: 2800 MB/s, write: 1100 MB/s.

Anyways discovered I hadn't researched enough, and the M.2 slot in my motherboard (in signature) only runs at x2 PCIe speeds, giving me:

Read: 780 MB/s, write 700 MB/s.

TL;DR:

M.2 to PCIe adapter to the rescue then. Can someone ellighten me as to the differences between these two other than one being more than twice as expensive as the other?

£30:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-hyper-m.2-x4-pci-e-mini-adapter-card-black-pcb-hd-032-as.html

£14
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/akasa-m.2-ssd-to-pcie-adapter-card-cc-008-ak.html

Cheers!

The £30 one costs more because it has A.S.U.S written on it! The cheaper one will work just as well. This one is even less and will also give full PCI3 x4 speeds.

I'd go for the cheaper ones or if you want to pay a bit more this one comes with a heatsink to keep the drive a little cooler for £26.99. I have the aqua one and get full speed from my SM951.

Thanks for the reply - thought I was being daft and missing something with those price differences! Going to go for the Akasa one at £14 I think - keeps with my colour scheme better than the £10 Lycom one

Yeah, as long as they are PCIe 3 x4 cards I think they all do the same job - it's just appearance or branding that differs.

iostream said:

Hi folks,

So, recently picked up my first M.2 drive, a lovely Samsung PM961 Polaris 256GB M.2 PCIe 3.0 (x4) NVMe drive, with speeds rated at:

Read: 2800 MB/s, write: 1100 MB/s.

Anyways discovered I hadn't researched enough, and the M.2 slot in my motherboard (in signature) only runs at x2 PCIe speeds, giving me:

Read: 780 MB/s, write 700 MB/s.

TL;DR:

M.2 to PCIe adapter to the rescue then. Can someone ellighten me as to the differences between these two other than one being more than twice as expensive as the other?

£30:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus-hyper-m.2-x4-pci-e-mini-adapter-card-black-pcb-hd-032-as.html

£14
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/akasa-m.2-ssd-to-pcie-adapter-card-cc-008-ak.html

Cheers!

Click to expand...

I bought one that was 6 quid on OCUK ages ago and just this week bought a 256gb Intel 600 m.2 drive, On my Z97 system it gives me reads of around 1400 and writes of around 500 which aren't bad as the store page gives speeds of 1570 & 540 respectively.

Looking at that last pic for the passive heatsink model is it going to work when it has a sticker in the way or just remove any hope of some light air flow getting to it?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aqua...sd-m-key-with-passive-heatsink-cc-000-aq.html

nashathedog said:

Looking at that last pic for the passive heatsink model is it going to work when it has a sticker in the way[/url]

Click to expand...

I wondered that but having seen some tests on websites they fitted a heatsink but left the sticker on and it did still keep the drive cooler.

Personally I removed the sticker. My aqua computer card has kind of bluetack-like thermal pads. I'm just playing with it now actually and results are as follows:-

1) with just the thermal pad between the drive and the card I managed to get it to 47oC according to HWInfo when running Crystal DiskMark benchmark. The adapter card itself functions as a bit of a heatsink and the whole card got warm but not hot to the touch. Controller chip on the drive was noticeably hotter but still not too hot to touch or anything.

2) having just refitted the metal heatsink on top it isn't getting above 34oC in the same benchmark.

P.S. My case has quite bad airflow by modern standards.