M2 M2P or M2M confusion

[el3ctronick]

Hi, it's been maany years since the last time I built a pc.. so now I decided to build a new one. I have bought everything needed and the time to build it has come. I have a Z390 motherboard and I have a samsung 970 EVO NVMe ssd. I am reading the instructions of the motherboard..which says that it has two M2 slots.. one M2M and one M2P.. so I am failing to understand which is the right slot for the samsung 970 EVO NVMe. I cannot find any information about this in the net..can someone help?
Thank you!

 

[Distracted]

Could it be M.2 to Motherboard (m2m). M.2 to Processor (m2p)?

One uses the motherboard chipset while the other is directly attached to the cpu?


Something like this should really be in the manual.

Edit: nope, not related to cpu vs motherboard lanes, just the gigabyte naming convention.

 

[el3ctronick]

thanks for the response. haven't seen anything like that..I didn't even think it might be Gigabyte's naming..thought that it was like a different type of slot.. I will check it out. thanks!

 

[Distracted]

Okay. Further research suggests that this is simply a naming scheme to differentiate the slots on your mobo.

On another Aorus board (z370) which had the same naming convention, using the m slot disabled certain sata ports while using the p slot shared bandwidth with or disabled the x4 pcie slot.

However, this info was in the manual for the board.

It is unlikely to be on the same page, but on the rare possibility that it is, the page was 36 for the z370 board. If you can post your board model i can try and dig up the info in the manual if it exists.

 

[el3ctronick]

Thank you so much. there is some information but I am confused if I should plug the NVMe to any of these slots or I will cause some damage.. :S
As far as I can understand from the manual in page 17, I ca install the NVMe PCIe to the M2P slot and then the rest 2 sata ssds to any slot without having performance issues.
Below there is a link of manual of my motherboard.. thank you!

https://www.gigabyte.com/uk/Motherboard/Z390-I-AORUS-PRO-WIFI-rev-10#support-manual

 

[Distracted]

M2p will disable sata 3.1 port.

M2m will not disable any ports.

You can use either slot, bear in mind that the m2m slot being on the back of the board will likely make the m.2 drive hotter due to reduced airflow. This isn't a bad thing for the nand (which likes heat) but might cause throttling if the controller overheats (unlikely).

If you can use m2p and avoid using the sata 3.1 port for your remaining drives then that would be my suggestion purely to have everything on one side of the mobo.

If you are unsure or need all the sata ports then use m2m.

So the answer is either will be fine. Decide based on what is easiest for you and how many sata ports you need.

 

[Distracted]

As far as I can understand from the manual in page 17, I ca install the NVMe PCIe to the M2P slot and then the rest 2 sata ssds to any slot without having performance issues.

Any slot except sata 3.1, which wont work at all.

Otherwise everything you've said is correct.

Sata3 1 is the top right of the 4 sata ports. So if you use m2p then avoid the top right sata port and you'll be good.

 

[el3ctronick]

I see, thank you very much mate.. I appreciate your assistance

 

[el3ctronick]

ok.. again, thank you very very much for the time you spent

 

[Distracted]

ok.. again, thank you very very much for the time you spent

Np at all, just edited my post to say which sata port gets disabled.