M.2 SSD to PCIEX1 adaptor

[dizzy078]

Hello,

I've bought an M.2 SSD for my PC but I'm having to fit it in a PCIEX1 slot. I bought an adaptor to what I thought would work, but it didn't fit.

Can anyone tell me what adaptor I need to fit the memory? Motherboard is a Gigabyte AB350 gaming 3, SSD is Western Digital WD Green SN350 2TB SSD NVMe Gen3 PCIe Internal SSD.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Penfold101]

NVME drives need a x4 slot as they use 4 PCIE lanes - you can’t get a x1 adapter.

 

[julianhj]

Are you referring to something like this?

ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCI-e Controller Card V2

Order ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCI-e Controller Card V2 now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

 

[Tetras]

You have an M.2 slot on that board, so there's no need for an adapter unless you already used the M.2 slot?

If you want an adapter, I'd recommend using the second full length slot, since that has 4 lanes.

As said above, most adapters are intended for what are physically 4 lane slots (or larger), so they won't fit in a physically 1 lane slot.

You may want to ask here what @Cyber-Mav used:

Sata vs nvme on pcie 2.0 x1?

looking to add an extra drive, iv got a free sata port but also have a pcie 2.0 x1 slot that goes through the chipset (x470) available. which would be faster or more ideal for me to go with?

forums.overclockers.co.uk

 

[bimbleuk]

Look up the Asus Hyper M.2 X4 mini for the type of card you want though these are now end of life. Still needs one of the longer slots to work.

They are basically physical adapters so not complicated and plenty of generic ones available.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

Are you referring to something like this?

ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCI-e Controller Card V2

Order ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCI-e Controller Card V2 now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

I used a cheapo 4 quid or less one. I will take a photo of it for you later today

 

[dizzy078]

Are you referring to something like this?

ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCI-e Controller Card V2

Order ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCI-e Controller Card V2 now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

I bought this which I can't link as a competitor; PCI Express M.2 SSD NGFF PCIe Card to PCIe 3.0 x 4 Adapter (Support M.2 PCIe 22110,2280, 2260, 2242)
Which needless to say didn't fit the slot labelled PCIEX1

You have an M.2 slot on that board, so there's no need for an adapter unless you already used the M.2 slot?

If you want an adapter, I'd recommend using the second full length slot, since that has 4 lanes.

As said above, most adapters are intended for what are physically 4 lane slots (or larger), so they won't fit in a physically 1 lane slot.

You may want to ask here what @Cyber-Mav used:

Sata vs nvme on pcie 2.0 x1?

looking to add an extra drive, iv got a free sata port but also have a pcie 2.0 x1 slot that goes through the chipset (x470) available. which would be faster or more ideal for me to go with?

forums.overclockers.co.uk

I have used my M.2 slot, was attempting to add an additional SSD. The item you linked looks far too big to fit in the slot I was thinking. I obviously have no clue what I'm doing.

https://freeimage.host/i/J1hINZg

This is my motherboard, I thought I could use the PCIE X1/2 slots (in red), but is it the PCIE X3 slot I can use? (in blue).

 

[Penfold101]

Stick it in the bottom slot - it’s a x16 slot but it’s only wired as a x4. If you look at the electrical connections at the bottom of the plastic you’ll see the top slot has them all the way along, but the bottom one only has electrics 1/4 of the way along - hence x4 instead of x16.

 

[Tetras]

This is my motherboard, I thought I could use the PCIE X1/2 slots (in red), but is it the PCIE X3 slot I can use? (in blue).

I think the full-length one in red is wired for 1 lane and the full-length one above that is wired for 4 lanes, but it might work in either slot, even though it'll be faster in one.

 

[dizzy078]

So this thing will work?

ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCI-e Controller Card V2

Order ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCI-e Controller Card V2 now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

is there anything smaller that will accept 1 memory stick only? I don't need 4.

Thanks all!

 

[Penfold101]

If the adapter you have fits in a PCI slot, just stick the whole thing in the bottom one. It doesn’t have to fit the full thing, you can fit a small one in a bigger slot.

 

[KompuKare]

So this thing will work?

ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCI-e Controller Card V2

Order ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCI-e Controller Card V2 now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

is there anything smaller that will accept 1 memory stick only? I don't need 4.

Thanks all!

Pretty sure that needs an actual x16 slots as it basically takes the 16 and divides that into 4 times x4 slots.
This should work:

AXAGON PCEM2-N PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter, 1x M.2 NVMe SSD With Passive Cooling

Order AXAGON PCEM2-N PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter, 1x M.2 NVMe SSD With Passive Cooling now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

but probably only in the physical x16 which is wired as x4.
Gigabyte:

GA-AB350-Gaming 3 (rev. 1.x) Specification | Motherboard - GIGABYTE Global

Lasting Quality from GIGABYTE.GIGABYTE Ultra Durable™ motherboards bring together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer users the absolute ...

www.gigabyte.com

list the slots as

1. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)
   * For optimum performance, if only one PCI Express graphics card is to be installed, be sure to install it in the PCIEX16 slot.
   * Actual support may vary by CPU.
   (The PCIEX16 slot conforms to PCI Express 3.0 standard.)
2. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)
   * The PCIEX4 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX1_2 and PCIEX1_3 slots. The PCIEX4 slot operates at up to x2 mode when the PCIEX1_2/PCIEX1_3 slot is populated. The PCIEX4 slot operates at up to x4 mode when both of the PCIEX1_2 and PCIEX1_3 slots are empty.
   * Actual support may vary by CPU.
3. 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x1 (PCIEX1_3)
4. 2 x PCI Express x1 slots
   (The PCIEX4 and PCI Express x1 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)

So #2 but not #3

I presume your single M.2 slots:

1 x M.2 connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 SATA and PCIe x4*/x2 SSD support)
* Actual support may vary by CPU.

is already used and is not empty?

Because if you are on a SATA non M.2 drive then the slot is your best bet.

EDIT:
OCUK do have a far simple card like this:

AXAGON PCEM2-N PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter, 1x M.2 NVMe SSD With Passive Cooling

Order AXAGON PCEM2-N PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter, 1x M.2 NVMe SSD With Passive Cooling now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

although it is possible that the one you already bought is very similar.

Oh, and the board's slot may be hidden by your GPU. If you want to boot of your new drive then using the slot is best.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

This is what i got;

 

[Tetras]

So this thing will work?

ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCI-e Controller Card V2

Order ASUS Hyper M.2 x16 PCI-e Controller Card V2 now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

is there anything smaller that will accept 1 memory stick only? I don't need 4.

Thanks all!

Unless I'm missing something, doesn't the adapter you already purchased fit in the full length slot? Why do you need to buy another?

You can use an adapter that is physically smaller in a physically larger slot.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

i got the adapter that fits in a 1x slot since i got 2 of those available on my mobo and not blocked by the gpu. probably best way to go so in future if upgraded to a platform with more pcie lanes then all the drives will get bandwidth boost.
in my use case max sequential transfers are not needed after the initial data is put on it. nvme lower overheads and more iops than ahci so its win win.

 

[srekal34]

Be careful with those 16x into 4 ssd adapters(not the case of OP) but they require motherboard to support bifurcation on most modern Intel only 2 slots will work(and with some chipsets only 1)

 

[dizzy078]

You can use an adapter that is physically smaller in a physically larger slot.

Oh I didn't know this! May just buy what I had before then.

 

[Penfold101]

Oh I didn't know this! May just buy what I had before then.

The motherboard will look to see what is actually fitted that it can connect to. If you look round the bottom of the plastic slot, you’ll see the electrical connections that tell you what’s it’s physically wired as. Your bottom slot is the full x16 length, but you’ll see the soldering for only a quarter of it, making it a x4 slot. You can put a graphics card In there if you want - it’ll only run at x4 speeds but it will work.

You can also stick a x1 adapter into the top slot - the board will recognise what’s electrically connected to the lanes and operate appropriately.

It’s worth reading up on PCI lane Bifurcation - how motherboards split and manage the limited number of lanes across the various slots depending on what’s fitted.

Example - the top PCIE slot has 16x available lanes, and normally all of these will be given to the GPU as that’s where most people will put it. If you fit anything to the other slots, the top one is automatically reduced to a x8 configuration so the other lanes can be used for the second card. With the current speed of PCI gen 4 and 5, this doesn’t present a bottleneck to even the fastest GPU’s - Gamers Nexus has a load of videos on this.

The HyperX card linked above is a good example - to use all 4 cards you need 16 lanes, bifurcated in the BIOS to a x4/x4/x4/x4 configuration. This leaves no option for a GPU, so unless you’re using onboard graphics and a LOT of M2 drives it’s not a good idea. You CAN use it for only one or two drives, set the bios to run in a x4/x4 config and you’ll have x8 for the GPU.

another option is a card made by Sargent, which has a X4 connection and a switch onboard, so you can have 4 drives with just the x4 lanes.

Alternatively, buy a Threadripper with 128 PCIE lanes…

 

[robinbanks]

Be careful with those 16x into 4 ssd adapters(not the case of OP) but they require motherboard to support bifurcation on most modern Intel only 2 slots will work(and with some chipsets only 1)

Interesting thanks for that. Like others I wasn't aware that's was a thing.

 

[rp2000]

I too am looking to add 3 NVME to a machine that has no spare NVME slots left. The PC has 3 x PCIe slots. PCIe4.0 x16, PCIe4.0 x4, PCIe3.0 X1

I watched this very helpful Youtube video to know the score:

Purchased 2 of the larger cards in his video for the X16 and X4 slots and one of the smaller ones for the X1 slot. He explains on all the theoretical numbers and even does some benchmarks that validate the theory.
time index 8m17s shows the speeds in a X1 slot.

I expect the 3 x SN850X I bought to run at full speed in the faster slots and at the same speed as the video in the X1 slot (900Mb/s give or take for sequential read/write).

I also bought the external NVME caddy in the video for cloning disk purposes and might even use it with a spare smaller NVME drive as the speeds are more or less the same as the X1 slot (which is still faster than any SATA disk in a caddy). Caddy benchmarks in the video at time index 14m30s


rp2000