M.2 NVME to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter with Aluminum Heatsink Solution

Thanks for the quick reply! Do I have to worry about any kind of bottlenecking issues of anything like that? I heard with adaptors the ssd can sometimes not read at its optimal speeds due to compatibility issues. If that's not the case then would an adapter like this work?

The Asus have 6 SATA ports, the DS3H only have 4 SATA, with 1 or 2 can be blocked by a big video card. So the Asus let you connect more SSD/HDD if you are a data hoarder.

The 2nd long slot on the DS3H is only x4, so you add another NVMe SSD to it via M.2 adapter.

https://www.amazon.com/YATENG-Controller-Expansion-Card-Support-Converter/dp/B07JJTVGZM/

M.2 NVME to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter with Aluminum Heatsink Solution https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_QkZuFb4F282VT

something like this should get the job done, some mobos you might have to look around to get it to recognize a pcie storage device, should be pretty straight forward https://www.amazon.com/YATENG-Controller-Expansion-Card-Support-Converter/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=sr_1_3?crid=YTNMOA1NCPZY&dchild=1&keywords=m.2+pcie+adapter&qid=1595821027&sprefix=m.2+pcie+%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-3

> Most motherboards only have one M.2 slot

What matters is the board you have. So, what board do you have? Or are thinking of getting since I just realized this is r/buildapc

If it only has one slot then you would have to buy a m.2 pcie addon card to add a second drive. Something like this https://www.amazon.com/YATENG-Controller-Expansion-Card-Support-Converter/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3UVRB7PKAL8FX&dchild=1&keywords=m.2+pcie+adapter&qid=1601581775&sprefix=m.2+pci%2Caps%2C152&sr=8-3

You can buy a very cheap PCI-E to M.2 NVMe adapter though. Like it's literally $13.99 shipped on Amazon for a nicer one with a heatsink. It's really hard to use this as the justification.

Under my motherboard's specifications it says:

• 2 x PCI Express 3.0 x16 Slots (PCIE2: x16 mode; PCIE4: x4 mode)*

• 3 x PCI Express 3.0 x1 Slots (Flexible PCIe)

• Supports AMD Quad CrossFireX™ and CrossFireX™

*Supports NVMe SSD as boot disks

Would this be a suitable adapter, or should I get a x16 slot adapter?

https://www.amazon.com/YATENG-Controller-Expansion-Card-Support-Converter/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=pcie+m2+adapter&qid=1606249277&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/YATENG-Controller-Expansion-Card-Support-Converter/dp/B07JJTVGZM/

Something like this should do the trick

https://www.amazon.com/-/pt/YATENG-Controller-Expansion-Card-Support-Converter/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=nvme+to+pcie+adapter&qid=1593812050&sr=8-3

He just won’t get all the speed from it .

Your PC has one M.2 slot which could be used to install the SSD. If you already have an SSD in that slot, and are trying to add a 2nd one, then you will need an M.2 PCIe Expansion card such as this. You plug this into one of the PCIe x4 slots and it gives you another M.2 connection for the drive.

Do you have a free PCIe slot? There are NVMe to PCIe adapters like this

M.2 NVME to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter with Aluminum Heatsink Solution https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_RGEHFbQBNJ5MV Currently looking at this one - single nvme card adapter with an aluminum heatsink for about 14$. It has decent reviews and it’s not that expensive.

You have free PCIe slot?

https://www.amazon.com/YATENG-Controller-Expansion-Card-Support-Converter/dp/B07JJTVGZM

I don't get it. Anyways here's one I found on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_L9uVFbKANY7PF

Thanks! It's mostly for aesthetics, really. Just one of those things that make you feel good when you look at it.

1) I can't speak for the r710, but The CPU architecture would need to support NVMe. I just picked up a cheap one on amazon that worked fine in my r720 and r730:

https://www.amazon.com/YATENG-Controller-Expansion-Card-Support-Converter/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-drs1_0?cv_ct_cx=nvme+to+pcie&dchild=1&keywords=nvme+to+pcie&pd_rd_i=B07JJTVGZM&pd_rd_r=0976a0e9-ff88-4bdf-8497-4cb51aa8bc2a&pd_rd_w=FGpe0&pd_rd_wg=t8zm7&pf_rd_p=c33e4373-edb9-47f9-a7e6-5d3d6a7a4ad0&pf_rd_r=HHWH6KEMH69RT2NRTXM3&psc=1&qid=1607188410&sr=1-1-5e875a02-02b1-4426-9916-8a5c26cd5a14

You just need to make sure your drive is keyed properly for the adapter. One thing to note is that the older generations do not support bifurcation, if you happen to be using a PCIe single card that support multiple drives. The r730 does, which allows you divide the PCIe lanes up between them.

2) I wouldn't run a full operating system on the IDSDM module, because they're generally used for operating systems that load into memory (e.g. EXSi), which minimizes the number of writes to the media. The SD media would likely wear out much faster and result in poor performance.

3) This is precisely why I chose to go this route. The performance impact is fairly negligible so long as your have a decent CPU that supports virtualization and the number of VMs you need. I have unRAID passed through this way, however, I am only using it for a NAS and docker host. To use the virtualization (KVM), you'd have to enable nested virtualization, which would likely result in poorer performance.

Hope this helps.

You can buy cheap adapters that allow you to use a NVME SSD in a normal PCI-E slot - here's one example, or search "PCI-E NVME Adapter" to see others. I can't vouch for compatibility with your particular system, in particular you may not be able to boot from it. For $14 it's probably worth a try though.

If you can't extract the screw or replace the standoff, you could try a PCIe adapter.

> regular SSD

2.5" SATA drives with cables

To use an M.2 NVMe drive in a normal PCIe slot, you need an adapter like this one https://www.amazon.com/YATENG-Controller-Expansion-Card-Support-Converter/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=m.2+pcie+adapter&qid=1594121940&sr=8-3

There are SSDs that plug directly into PCIe slot like intel 750, but M.2 has taken over since that was released.

Buy a PCIe adapter

You can put it in a PCIe slot

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JJTVGZM/

You can get something like this

It's unlikely you'd be able to boot off it on a Z77 motherboard though.

You want cheap, right? Then we'll forgo the expensive ($100+) PCIe cards with PCIe switches on them. That would allow you to put 2, 4 or even more NVMe drives in a single slot. Instead, we'll look at the simple PCIe x4 to m.2 key M cards, something like this, which will cost you about $14 each. A Dell R720XD has either 6 or 7 PCIe slots, and most (if not all) of them should be at least PCIe x8 slots.

So you could get 6 or 7 NVMe drives in there for about $14 each. If you want more, you'll have to look at cards like the IOCREST IO-PEX40152 QUAD NVMe PCIe card, but those are easily a couple hundred at least. And would need some kind of modification because you have a limited number of PCIe x16 slots. The PCIe switch is expensive, and I doubt the R720XD supports bifurcation. That means no cheap expander cards like you get with modern motherboards.

If your comment about your budget being $20k is serious, look into upgrading to an AMD EPYC server which supports NVMe or U.2 drives natively.

Yeah.

I got this one because it came with a little heatsink

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JJTVGZM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Your motherboard almost certainly has an extra PCIe slot, you should get an M.2 / PCIe adapter. Something like this, it would be cheaper to get a decent NVMe and the adapter than an external ssd, and would perform way better.

There is one M.2 slot on the Aurora R9 motherboard. If that is occupied, you can add an additional M.2 SSD using a PCIe adapter like this

Or you could get adapter like below.

​

https://www.amazon.com/YATENG-Controller-Expansion-Card-Support-Converter/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1KPUOHL942S13&dchild=1&keywords=m2+pcie+adapter&qid=1602182671&sprefix=m2+pcie+ad%2Caps%2C132&sr=8-3

I use these for our machines at work. It requires the Mojave bios update but it’s really fast.

M.2 NVME to PCIe 3.0 x4 Adapter with Aluminum Heatsink Solution https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_69TwFbTACHHVS

Inland Professional 2TB SSD 3D QLC NAND M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive (2TB) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08867VV6V/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ibUwFb9N1GVSW

sweet okay and as my final question would there be any benefit in getting this or not at all?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JJTVGZM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/-/us/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=m.2%20nvme%20pcie%20adapter&language=en_US&qid=1603431568&refinements=p_72%3A1248879011&rnid=1248877011&s=electronics&sr=1-3

You'll want an SSD or NVME for that box since it doesn't come with HDD. For NVME, You'll need an adapter like this. And just read that ServerBuilds link I provided. Thats basically a guide to the whole Plex Box setup. Although, I installed Plex in a docker container instead of DIRECTLY on the Ubuntu OS. Up to you though. And I did RAM Transcoding and added an additional 8GB RAM stick. Not necessary but nice as it will take a load off the SSD/NVME wear and tear from Transcodes

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JJTVGZM?psc=1

As long as your motherboard supports NVMe, you can install an NVMe drive even if there isn't a free M.2 slot.

All you need is a free PCIe x4, x8, or x16 slot. And one of these adaptors:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JJTVGZM/

Alternatively, you can run the NVMe drive inside an external USB enclosure. It will run at 10Gbps instead of the full 32Gbps, but it's still crazy fast for most people:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MNFH1PX/

Samsung's Evo series are still the top option for a consumer-oriented drive.

Newmaxx made this flowchart. Should be easier to follow.

Also, PCIE > M.2 adapters are fairly cheap, so that's also an option.

So I just went through this headache a couple weeks ago. Not sure why your not seeing it in disk manager. I used this adapter and a wd black 1tb nvme drive.

The one that will send you up the wall finding is how to boot off it. What you will need is either a normal HDD or a usb drive. It is not doing anything so will add very little time to the boot process.

What you want to do is install clover. https://www.win-raid.com/t2375f50-Guide-NVMe-boot-without-modding-your-UEFI-BIOS-Clover-EFI-bootloader-method.html Is roughly what I followed although not quite as they use a usb drive and I used a random sata drive. Also the naming was a bit diffent on the folders but you wanna find the nvme driver and put it where clover sees it. After that everything worked.

One note. I had windows installed on another drive that I then cloned to the nvme drive so it had the windows bootloader already.

Hi everyone! I could use some help as I try to add some additional storage to my PC.

I currently have an Asrock "Fatal1ty" Z370 Gaming K6 motherboard. I also currently have a 480gb SSD (on SATA3_0) and a 4tb spinning rust disk (on SATA3_4). I also just purchased and received this ADATA 1tb m.2 drive, which I installed into the lower m.2 slot on my motherboard (the m.2 slot furthest away from the CPU). Unfortunately, I didn't really understand that adding an m.2 drive will nuke one of the SATA ports, as described here, so when the m.2 drive was installed, my 4tb drive effectively went offline. Lame!

I read in a forum that a simple PCIe-to-m.2 adatper card like this one (installed into the bottom PCIe slot) is a quick/easy way around this limitation - is that right? Is there any downside to this approach (other than using up a PCIe slot rather than the built-in m.2?

Or, am I over-thinking this? Is there a better way (just by rearranging which drives go to which SATA ports) to get this working with all three drives at the same time? Thanks for any hints!

That's what I thought. Instead of using SATADOM, I am thinking using one of the PCI slot on each node. Each node has 3x PCI slot. I can use one for PCI to NVME adaptor. Each NVMe just needs to be 128 GB or 256 GB. Here are the ones on Windows Catalog that are compatible with Windows 2016 or 2019: https://www.windowsservercatalog.com/results.aspx?text=NVMe+SSD&bCatID=1282&avc=10&ava=0&OR=5

Adaptor can be something like this: https://www.amazon.com/YATENG-Controller-Expansion-Card-Support-Converter/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=sxbs_sxwds-stvp?crid=30N5ZCSCB1JW3&cv_ct_cx=pcie+nvme+ssd+adapter&keywords=pcie+nvme+ssd+adapter&pd_rd_i=B07JJTVGZM&pd_rd_r=5e98f9c3-fd9b-4a07-80fd-0d6e27c108cc&pd_rd_w=FHtIw&pd_rd_wg=6y2wf&pf_rd_p=a6d018ad-f20b-46c9-8920-433972c7d9b7&pf_rd_r=TW3T0HDKWGF5SPCPD9N7&psc=1&qid=1582075262&sprefix=PCI+nvme+SSD+%2Caps%2C202

Any recommendation on which adapter to use and which NVMe SSD to use?

Found this looking at recommendations on m.2 ssd's.

Judging from the quality of responses, I should have looked elsewhere.

You have

• plenty
• of
• inexpensive
• options

for an nvme to PCIe adapter that will work for you. Note your motherboard does have both PCI Express (abbreviated "PCIe" and available in various widths like x1 and x16) slots that will work for this, and one plain "PCI" slot (no such thing as x1 or x16) that will not work with an inexpensive adapter.

I'd suggest you install an adapter in one of the slots your manual labels as PCIEX8_1 or PCIEX8_2, just because the adapter will only use 4 of the 8 lanes. May as well not waste most of a x16 slot in case you want a 10GBe adapter or something.

You are correct that the NVMe drive won't be as fast as on a new board: Your board has PCIe 2.0 which limits a x4 NVMe card to "only" 2GB/s in each direction. You are unlikely to notice outside of synthetic benchmarks, since under load the drive will likely be limited below that rate by the flash.

Finally, note that you need to do the research on any NVMe drive you shove into one of those -- "B" key and "M" key'd m.2 slots are supposed to provide both PCIe and SATA pins (see here), and some cheap m.2 drives (usually keyed as "B+M") are actually using the SATA pins, which would not be connected on your adapter.

Calm down. It was a honest mistake, that I fixed. If you are looking for an adapter there are multiple other options, for cheaper.

Maybe some of you should realize mistakes happen and to calm down a little bit. Every time I comment in here one you "elitists" comes on to correct me and other people. So stupid. Here let me link to cheaper adapters that do the same thing.

Here is one (16.99) that allows two drives one that is nvme AND one sata 3. https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-advanced-solution-Controller-Expansion/dp/B07JKH5VTL/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=pcie+to+m.2+adapter&qid=1593687618&sr=8-4

Here is one (9.99) that allows one drive https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Controller-Expansion-Supports-Drives/dp/B07WQ447MN/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=pcie+to+m.2+adapter&qid=1593687903&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyS0VHSzZJNTFUM1FTJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUExMDQzNzkxS1NWUEJIRzlDNEYmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMDMyOTc3MldDNkJFMlVRWFRKTiZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Here is another (13.99) with an aluminum heatsink. https://www.amazon.com/YATENG-Controller-Expansion-Card-Support-Converter/dp/B07JJTVGZM/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=pcie+to+m.2+adapter&qid=1593688001&sr=8-3

Another one (10.99). https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Express-Adapter-Support-Converter/dp/B07YFW5HBN/ref=sr_1_11?dchild=1&keywords=pcie+to+m.2+adapter&qid=1593688047&sr=8-11