Check if your M.2 device works with the MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk motherboard.
Check if your M.2 device works with the MSI MAG Z390 Tomahawk motherboard.
In this forum it was discussed that the m.2 and sata ports share bandwidth thus shutting off some/all of the other sata ports. Does anyone know whether that is true or not? I'm thinking of purchasing an M.2 drive for this mobo and don't want to render my other sata ports useless. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!!
It's accurate to note that you should review the device's user guide to understand the number of SATA ports affected by each M.2 slot and consider using 2.5" SSDs if needed.
Having an M.2 PCIe SSD in the lower port with its heat sink would likely prevent you from using your existing SATA III SSD. The two interfaces compete for power and bandwidth, so running both simultaneously isn't recommended. You can still use two SSDs while keeping the rest as data drives if needed.
They seem to expect you to place the drive in the highest slot first. If you mount it on top, all SATA connections remain functional, including the one for your SSD. If your SATA SSD is truly M.2, you’ll miss SATA ports 5 and 6, but slots 1 through 4 will still work.
Interesting decision to position the M.2 heat sink at the bottom of the motherboard. I'll verify if it can be relocated—removing a screw and detaching the heat sink from its port should make that possible. It seems likely it's only meant to sit lower for shipping or display reasons. Thanks a lot for your assistance! A lot of confusion has surrounded this motherboard, so this clears things up.
If the heatsink isn't adjustable, you might place the PCIe SSD in the lower compartment and test the connection, likely losing support for SATA5 and 6.
I successfully located a method to adjust it (as mentioned in my previous update). Thank you for the advice—I’ll revise this discussion after receiving my M.2 drive.
unless you have over four SATA drives, it works okay. i’d switch the M2 to the second position and use SATA 1 through 4. for more than four drives, put them in the top slot.