Use the appropriate M.2 slot that matches the adapter's dimensions and PCI-E version requirements.
Use the appropriate M.2 slot that matches the adapter's dimensions and PCI-E version requirements.
You're planning to expand storage and have already used both M.2 connectors on your board. You're considering a PCI-E adapter to add another drive. The picture shows which slots are taken and which are available. This information helps determine where to place the adapter without affecting existing connections. It's important because the placement affects compatibility and performance.
Increasing the number of PCIe devices can cause issues: the added device may go unnoticed, or your graphics card might switch to PCIe x4 (this is common). If you proceed, install in the final PCIe slot or the third PCIe lane (the first blue slot for x16), but keep in mind adding another NVMe will likely reduce gaming performance.
The bottom position is turned off if the M.2 slot below is full. The slot immediately above offers PCIe Gen 2 with just one lane, meaning you'll be limited to about one-eighth of the SSD's maximum speed. The following slot provides eight lanes away from your GPU, which is ideal unless you have a GPU under 1080 Ti. This seems to be the most suitable choice.
This guide clarifies slot connections: slot 5 connects to the bottom M.2 port, meaning it’s already occupied. It also notes that slots 2 and 3 (GPU and main) share 16 CPU lanes, so choosing slot 3 reduces GPU lanes by half. Therefore, either of the single slots is viable, though no specific confirmation exists for shared connections beyond these details.
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