Slot for M.2 SSD - Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 Intel LGA1150 Z97 ATX Motherboard

[nwgilbert]

Hi, I am looking to upgrade my current build with an M.2 SSD.

I have a few questions that you may be able to help with as detailed below:

1) Does my motherboard have a slot for an M.2 SSD? I can't seem to see it on the physical mobo, although maybe some already installed parts are covering it - I'm not sure. My motherboard is
Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 Intel LGA1150 Z97 ATX Motherboard (4x DDR3, 6x USB3.0, 6x USB2.0, HDMI, DVI-I, DSUB)


2) Will my app loading times/loading files improve in speed running an M.2 SSD, compared to what I have currently? I will send a full list of my build below.


3) I was looking at the following M.2 SSD (if my mobo supports m.2) - would this be a good upgrade or should I look at another one?
WD Blue SN550 1TB High-Performance M.2 PCIe NVME SSD




Intel Quad-Core i7-4790K
EVGA Super NOVA 850W PC Power Supply – Gold
ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3060 Ti 8GB Twin Edge LHR Graphics Card
Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 Intel LGA1150 Z97 ATX Motherboard (4x DDR3, 6x USB3.0, 6x USB2.0, HDMI, DVI-I, DSUB)
Crucial BX100 250 GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal Solid State Drive
WD 1TB 3.5 inch Internal Hard Drive - Caviar Blue
Alpenfhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler 120 mm
NZXT H440 Mid Tower Case with Side Window and 4 Quiet Fans for PC - White/Black
Team Group TLRED316G2400HC11CDC01 - TeamGroup Vulcan RED 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-19200C11 2400MHz Dual
ASUS MG278Q Gaming Monitor - 27" 2K WQHD (2560 x 1440), 1ms, G-SYNC Compatible, up to 144Hz, FreeSync

 

[EsaT]

Unless being satisfied with 0.5GB/s speed from x1 PCIe v2 slot (only one of which is usable with bigger cooler GPU) you'll have to half graphics card's slot into x8.
Those ICs you see below graphics card slot (PCIEX16) are switches redirecting last eight PCIe lanes into PCIEX8 or PCIEX4 slots.

Those single lane x1 adapters are like this:

So you wouldn't see any highter transfer rate than from SATA drive.

Four lanes adapters halving GPU lot's bandwidth might take couple percents of its performance.
Though in more heavily multithreaded games that quad core CPU would likely bottleneck sooner.
Akasa M.2 SSD to PCIe Adapter Card= £13.99
Aqua Computer kryoM.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 adapter for M.2 NGFF PCIe SSD, M-Key= £16.99

 

[Snapshot]

No, your mobo is too old to have an M.2 slot. Talking through backside.
As EsaT says, adding one via a PCIe slot offers no advantage unless you're prepared to compromise your GPU performance.

 

[nwgilbert]

Ok thanks for your comments

I need to upgrade storage to a larger SSD anyway, would you suggest something like this below for around £70?

Crucial BX500 1TB CT1000BX500SSD1-Up to 540 MB/s (Internal SSD, 3D NAND, SATA, 2.5 Inch) , Black

 

[MadMatty]

The NVME drive should work fine without any adaptors. It will disable 2 of the sata ports if you use it though.

 

[ANDARIAL]

The NVME drive should work fine without any adaptors. It will disable 2 of the sata ports if you use it though.

I `think` that ONLY M2 will work and not NVME
Not certain though