Need help
Need help
Hey there, just bought some components for my first gaming PC! I got a [CPU] Intel Core I5-10400 with Asrock B560M STEEL LEGEND M.2, WD Black SN750SE 250GB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe M.2, Deep Cool GAMMAXX GT cooler, G.Skill Trident Z 16GB DDR4-3200, and Gigabyte GeForce 1660 6GB OC, plus an EVGA BQ 650W 80+ Bronze power supply and a SeaGate Barracuda 3TB hard drive. Now I’m stuck—my motherboard says the M.2 slot #1 needs an Intel Rocket Lake CPU. If that’s the case, it’s disabled. What should I do?
These Intel chipsets are quite challenging and need 11th Gen processors for optimal performance. The SN750 might work at Gen3 speeds even on a 10th Gen CPU, though using the M2_1 model isn't possible.
It indicates that only the 11th generation supports PCIe 4.0, and you'll receive it only in slots equipped with an 11th generation chip. With a 10th generation unit, you're limited to PCIe 3.0. PCIe technology is backward compatible, meaning the drive should function, though it won't reach its full rated speed. It can be advantageous or disadvantageous depending on your needs; in practice, it's mostly marketed as Gen4. The performance remains around Gen3 levels, just slightly improved. The main advantage is that you might achieve maximum speeds in applications where only PCIe 4.0x2 is available, rather than the full x4 bandwidth. In essence, you may have paid a bit too much for this upgrade. A standard SN750 would offer similar performance at a lower cost.
It's safe to connect it in the second m.2 port. Usually, you don't have to worry about keeping the drives cool.