Kingston SSDNow M.2 and Asus X99-E WS

Ploppy2k3 · 11 Mar 2015 at 21:05

Hi guys,

I have to admit that i know pretty much nada about the M.2 standards and apart from the Samsung XP941 in my other rig i'm clueless.

Now I have been given a Kingston 240GB SSDNow M.2 which I would have thought should work in my X99-E WS but for the life of me I cant get it to see the drive.

So my question is........... am I barking up the wrong tree with this drive or just being thick?

I cant find a solid source of info as people have differing opinions on the B B/M M key blablabla

cheers

p.s. if you think this should be in the motherboard section please move. it was a 50/50 guess

ginjaninja · 11 Mar 2015 at 21:10

this is an msata drive.... the m2 slots in asus x99 boards are only pcie ssd compliant (2/4 lanes gen 2 or 3)

Ploppy2k3 · 11 Mar 2015 at 21:20

Cheers, thats what I was afraid of.

I wonder if there is a PCIe adapter? I have seen the USB ones but not a PCIe one

Ploppy2k3 · 12 Mar 2015 at 16:47

Just for the record I have found a M_Tech adapter on the web which has both a x4 M,2 slot and a M.2 sata port.

problem sorted.

megatron · 13 Mar 2015 at 03:18

1 x M.2 x4 Socket 3, gray, , with M Key, type 2260/2280 storage devices support (PCIE mode)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-629-AS

Your mobo has M.2 socket

The Kingston SM2280S3 is a M.2 2280 form factor. The 2280 means that it is a standard 22mm width by 80mm length M.2 SSD

http://www.thessdreview.com/featured/kingston-sm2280s3-m-2-sata-ssd-review-240gb/

The storage device is coming with the same buzzwords and formfactor.

There is supposed to be an issue with making it a boot drive till they make an updated bios:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8045/asrock-z97-extreme6-review-ultra-m2-x4-tested-with-xp941/11

Also from the first page:

"SATA Express shares bandwidth with the M.2 x2 slot, meaning that any SATA device connected to SATAe disables M.2 and vice versa. To ensure that a specific device is recognized, it is advised to manually adjust the option in the BIOS."

Actually I'm quoting from a different board review here, one that had 16 cpu lanes and yours has 40 so I guess the sharing problem won't come up.

I read another review but it didn't mention M.2 testing.

I think u should ask in this thread:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1516058/official-asus-x99-e-ws-owners-thread/20
Its an owner's club with 188 pages, and at the top of the page is someone who said he had your issue and solved it (but not how).

I'm pretty sure with a board which costs ~£500 and has 7 PCI-E slots, 28 USB port that you don't need to go and buy extras for it.

Ploppy2k3 · 13 Mar 2015 at 08:54

Ive had a good look at this and it would seem that the board only supports PCIe devices in the slot not SATA. shame but thats the way it is

megatron · 13 Mar 2015 at 15:36

The fact that there is a 4 tier level all using the M.2 moniker was news to me i.e. sata b & m, PCIe x2(b) & PCIe x4(m). B keying using 2 lanes and M keying using 4 PCIe lanes.

In the review of the SM2280S3 it says that it has both b & m keys. The motherboard has an m slot, so I guess u can only fit it one way. If you say that your motherboard M.2 slot supports only PCIe variants then orientation is irrelevant and you are right the adapter is the solution.

I wonder if this adapter would be suitable for me cause I am still on Sata II interfaces.

Gunslinger · 20 Mar 2015 at 22:55

Ploppy2k3 said:
Just for the record I have found a M_Tech adapter on the web which has both a x4 M,2 slot and a M.2 sata port.

problem sorted.

The Addonics AD3M2SPX4 - (M2 PCIe + 2 M2 SATA on PCIe 4X) adapter is probably the best i've seen.

On one side of the board you get a PCIe based m.2 socket (Gen 3.0 x4 speed capable)
and on the other, Two SATA based m.2 sockets.

Only thing i wasn't too keen on is that all the power comes from the PCIe socket, although that shouldn't be a problem, and if yo uwant your case drive LED to work for the m.2 drives, you'll need to mod the card a little, because it has LEDs mounted to the rear expansion slot plate area, so you'll have to add some pins to the board to connect your front panel wiring to.