Too many M.2 slots on the motherboard.
Too many M.2 slots on the motherboard.
Yes, on my router server I use a SATA drive openly since I can simply take it out and make a copy elsewhere. NVME is really difficult to clone or mount as a separate device and in the long run...hard to reach except for the first port near the CPU.
Absolutely, I have two M.2 drives installed on my computer. I don’t need to reduce the number.
I generally support this idea. A top slot on a motherboard should be an x8 or even x4 type. For M.2 sticks, an adapter card works well. What's a practical setup for a modern high-end desktop? A solid AIC capable of handling SSDs (x4 or x8) is needed. A graphics card (x8 or x16) and a high-speed networking card (PCIe 3.0 x2 or PCIe 4.0 x1 for 10Gbps) are essential. You'd likely need 1-3 x4 slots for NVMe sticks. If you want all the storage from five M.2 slots, you might go for a NAS solution instead (which I did). I aim to use my Optane drive in a PCIe 3.0 x4 slot and pair it with a fast PCIe 3.0 NIC in an x2 slot. Combining both is tricky—often the network card ends up in an x2 slot, or you have to deal with awkward workarounds like using adapters.
The inexpensive options are basic cards lacking logic, depending on PCIe splits from the CPU to operate at x4/x4/x4/x4. Without internal logic to manage lanes, they just act like a single M.2 slot. The models with built-in logic chips cost over $300. I haven’t seen any that don’t use a single slot, so they avoid interfering with other PCIe ports. They’re more practical than traditional motherboard slots, especially for watercooling—no need to take apart the PC. Not very appealing. I’ve got a mixed selection of drives since they all come from those haphazard projects. Having multiple drives is easier to handle; if I combine them, it would likely be just three: one OS, one game, and one for other projects. As it stands, I use that configuration but have three dedicated drives (one SATA SSD I didn’t mention before).
I tend to match what the other person said. It’s simple to purchase a PCIx card for extra M2 ports. However, you can’t change an M.2 slot into a PCIx slot. Even though it might make the drive slower, it’s still quicker than most users require.
My view on a well-designed mainstream board that considers all SSDs in MS Paint is clear. It should follow the X99 style of M.2 connectors, sticking straight up from the board. This makes it easier to fit into an ATX case and allows slight adjustments. It would greatly simplify swapping drives and let the chipset share bandwidth among several slots, increasing the number of PCIe ports available.
My board has 5, I'm using 2... If I had to rant about anything it'd be graphics card thickness because even if my board had more PCIe slots I simply couldn't use them. Not that there is much need for extra PCIe slots these days, most people who use them install... m.2 drives anyway.
It fits perfectly with my setup. The slots aren’t even included, which is great for removing the SSD quickly. You should be able to use it as long as you have the right adapter.
I really enjoyed the DIMM.2 design; the slim profile makes me nervous about damaging them. PCIe cards and DIMMs tend to be thicker and look more durable overall.