Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

M.2 Motherboard Slot/Socket

  • 03-04-2023 11:37am
    #1
    Gadgetman496
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,414 ✭✭✭


    I have a motherboard that has one M.2 Slot/Socket only.

    The motherboard manual states the following,

    Form factor M.2 drives  2230 , 2280 , 2260 , 2242 (I'm assuming that means 22mm wide by the last 2 digits long?)

    The logical interface of the M.2 drive socked is SATA 3, PCI-E 3.0 x4

    Does that mean that the M.2 socket can take either the PCIe/NVMe one-notch drive type or the SATA 3 two-notch drive type depending on which one you decide to install?

    image.png

    Is the socket capable of handling both these drive types?


    -

    "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."

    Post edited by Gadgetman496 on


Comments

  • #2
    Spear
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 25,651 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    The bit you may want to know there is called 'keying'. The SATA or PCIe should have different notches that correspond to a certain keying value.

    If the manual states it supports both SATA mode and PCIe mode, you should be fine with either. SATA would be slower though, so go with PCIe if there's a choice.



  • #3
    Gadgetman496
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,414 ✭✭✭Gadgetman496


    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120435535#Comment_120435535

    The board has 6 SATA ports too and the manual states that if a SATA drive is fitted to the M.2 socket, the SATA port number 03 will be disabled. I'm not sure if I fully understand why that is, but, I'm assuming it's because the M.2 socket and the SATA port number 03 share the same bandwidth? If that was the case and you had a SATA drive in the M.2 slot and something connected to the SATA port number 03 it would cause a conflict? If I'm correct, it makes sense to auto-disable that SATA port under those circumstances.

    "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."



  • #4
    Spear
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 25,651 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    It's common for m.2 slots to share capacity with something else. In the case of SATA, instead of using PCIe to connect to the chipset or CPU direct, it gets redirected to the SATA controller, and re-uses one of the SATA ports. The PCIe mode isn't always without consequences either, and can take PCIe lanes from either PCIe slots or other ports (e.g. u.2).



Advertisement