PCIe x1 slot in an M.2 drive?
PCIe x1 slot in an M.2 drive?
I'm trying to add a FireWire card into my PC so I can connect to some old hardware, but my mATX motherboard's PCIe x1 and x8 slots are both covered by my GPU. I have found a riser cable for the x1 slot on my motherboard, but it's too short and I'd have to jam the card between my GPU and PSU, which would block airflow. I have only found a few risers with a 90 degree male connector, and none of them are long enough except for some really sketchy or slow-shipping ones. However, I do have a slot that has NVMe support with 4 lanes of PCIe Gen 3, so I might be able to connect in the card there. Problem is, I can't find any adapters that go into an M.2 slot and have a PCIe slot on the outside, only ones that have a second NVMe slot. Is it possible to connect a PCIe card into an M.2 slot, and if so, can you send a link to something that does that? Thanks, DJ_Level_3
It's a Gigabyte B450M DS3H motherboard. I also discovered an M.2 PCIe x4 card with mixed feedback: 90% reported mining success, 5% said it worked but ended up closed-ended without GPUs, and another 5% described it as terrible quality that damaged their card.
You can purchase an M.2 to PCI-E adapter card, but you must supply power to the PCI-E port separately—most adapters include a Molex or SATA connector for this purpose. M.2 connectors operate at 3.3V, whereas standard PCI-E ports provide both 3.3V and 12V. For instance, you can find compatible adapters on platforms like eBay. The SATA adapter cable typically delivers 12V into the PCI-E slot from its SATA connector, while the M.2 connector itself only supplies 3.3V. You might also obtain riser cables that transform a PCI-E x1 port into an x16 port, allowing you to insert the card into the larger slot directly via a power source using various connectors such as Molex, SATA, or PCI-E 6/8 pins. Some PCI-E x1 riser cables or extenders can work without additional power cables; examples are available on eBay. While M.2 slots are typically used for storage devices, most computers accept them because they function as regular PCI-E lanes. Keep in mind that Firewire support in contemporary OSes can be unreliable—certain functionalities may fail due to security concerns, as some systems were designed with vulnerabilities in mind, potentially allowing malicious data to overwrite critical memory or programs.
I edited my post to include some links ... there's a m.2 to pci-e which has a floppy connector and comes with a sata - floppy adapter. This style of riser/extension converts the x1 to x16 and has separate power for the x16 slot : https://www.ebay.com/itm/253465917250 The USB cable between the two cards only connects the DATA wires (the pci-e lane) so no power is sent from the motherboard to the extension board, so it's a must to have separate power. With a bit of search you can find versions of these cards with the usb connector on the tiny board at right angle, so your usb cable won't hit the video card plastic shell.