Question Storage option for speed

[InnerNerd]

Hey all,

I have just bought a second M.2 NVMe (PCIe 4.0) drive and want to mount this in the M.2 4.0 slot - and move my existing M.2 drive into the 2nd M.2 slot on my mainboard (is only PCIe 3.0)

The problem is that when I used the 2nd M.2 slot, it disables SATA ports 5&6 - and I’m currently using all 6 x SATA ports.

My mainboard is this:

We'll be back.

Can anyone let me know the best way to configure things, and why ? i.e., which would give the best performance.

The options, “I think”, are:

a) move my older M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 drive into the 2nd M.2 slot on my mainboard and add a SATA port expansion card so I can still use all my SATA hard drives

b) buy an expansion card and plug my older M.2 NVMe PCIe 3.0 drive into that card (I’m guessing this method wouldn’t then kill SATA ports 5&6?)

Other questions ……

Does the speed of my older M.2 2880 (PCIe 3.0) drive change if mounted in a PCIe expansion card, as opposed to being mounted directly in the M.2 slot on the mainboard?

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

This MIGHT help answer your question. It has a block diagram of the Strix-E also, so click the link and take a look.

ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WiFi and Strix-E Review - OC3D

Introduction For the longest time manufacturers produced products which were nearly visually identical, and we were often left with the dichotomy between going for the biggest box with the most stuff, or going for the more measured choice. In the ASUS world that was often a case of picking...

overclock3d.net

 

[Tech Junky]

Just get a HBA and move to the PCI bus / streamline your cabling.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BHZQVP7 - 5 ports / $42
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09C4G57PW - 6 ports / $50

If you move the M2 there could be more reduction in speed vs moving the spinners.