M.2 Upgrade Options - X99 System

Chazaxl · 29 May 2020 at 10:36

Hi,

I have an 'old' X99 system. This is the mobo.

Asus X99-A II Intel X99 (Socket 2011) DDR4 ATX Motherboard

It has a single M.2 slot as far as I can tell.

There is an expansion card option available for it which at the time was x 4 speed. But you cant buy these anymore, I can only see x 16 speed.

Does anyone know if I can use one of these to get more than 1 x M.2 slot for this motherboard?

I'm running a single M.2 as my OS and already have 2 x Sata SSDs for storage. Assuming M.2 is quicker / better, I'd prefer to look at that as an option for more storage or would I be better off just getting another SATA SSD?

Thanks

Bubo · 30 May 2020 at 00:06

If your mobo is anything like my Asus X99 Pro then according to my manual using the on board m.2 slot disables pcie slot #4, the bottom most one. It doesn't explicitly say in my manual but I *assume* this means that pcie slot #3 is available for m.2 cards if you have any ssd plugged into the on board m.2 port, as long as you have enough cpu lanes left, assuming slot #1 has your gpu in it. This suggests to me that if you want it easy put the m.2 pcie card in slot #3. I personally have the bundled Hyper pcie card in slot 4 with a 1TB nvme and don't use the on board m.2 port, and have a 2tb normal sata for games. I have my pcie slots configured as x16/x8/x4, slots #1,#3,#4 respectively, this is with a 28 lane 5820K cpu. pcie slot #2 is apparently only a 2.0 slot, not 3.0 so not the best for an m.2 card or gpu. My plan is to rely on normal sata ssd drives for games for the foreseeable future, as they are a bit cheaper for large capacities and not far off in terms of speed, and you don't run out of pcie 3.0 lanes if your cpu/mobo is limited in this regard.

Chazaxl · 30 May 2020 at 10:57

Thanks. Sounds a bit like a pain to mess with. Ill get another SATA SSD if needed and then upgrade hopefully a bit later in the year.

megatron · 6 Jun 2020 at 03:58

My old Z97X gaming 5 had a slot shared with sata ports and was 2 lanes only. Newer motherboards support bifurication which can split a x16 slot into 4/x4, however in my own case, X570 Aorus Elite I don't know if the setting effects the primary PCIe slot or secondard. According to the manual with a Zen 2 3900x the 2nd slot is x16 pci-e gen 4, but gen 3 x4 with an earlier CPU. Here is a video on it with a highlighted comment:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5G-zciner4&lc=UgzjFWUYpjPhXWFwLLF4AaABAg