You can install up to two M.2 drives and one SSD on your Gigabyte Aorus B550 AX V2.
You can install up to two M.2 drives and one SSD on your Gigabyte Aorus B550 AX V2.
Hey there, Peter! I see you're excited about setting up your PC. You're planning to use both old SSDs and the new NVMe drive for the OS. The board you're considering has two M.2 slots and four SATA 3 ports. It sounds like it can support multiple drives, but the numbers on the page are confusing. The comment mentioned you shouldn't install everything at once. Let me help clarify—check the manufacturer's guidelines for your specific board model to understand the maximum number of drives it can accommodate. Good luck with your build!
On the Specifications section, navigate to the Storage section... It seems the M.2 slots don’t replace the SATA ports, meaning it uses two M.2 drives and four SATA drives. Additional users may verify this.
You have two M.2 slots and four SATA ports. The extra numbers in the M.2 slot reference depend on your CPU speed. Bottom M.2 slot: works with SATA M.2 drives or PCIE 3.0 speed M.2 drives. Top slot: varies based on the CPU and its operating speed. Ryzen 3000/5000 (excluding 3200G, 3400G): M.2 SATA or M.2 PCIE 4.0 x4 or lower Ryzen 3200G/3400G: M.2 SATA or M.2 PCIE 3.0 x4 or lower The warning is likely a general notice, since a B550 motherboard with six SATA ports will have two ports sharing bandwidth with the lower M.2 slot, meaning either one or the other applies. This isn’t true for this motherboard. Edited February 17, 2021 by minibois
You're on the right track. For your setup, placing the NVMe drive in the top M.2 slot is ideal for performance. The other SATA slots will likely slow things down if you add more M.2 drives later. With a Ryzen 5600X, this configuration should work well. Let me know if you need further clarification!
In theory, the bottom port would perform equally well as its PCIe 3.0 compatible counterpart, similar to the SSD, while the top port connects directly to the CPU. The SATA ports and M.2 slots operate independently without affecting each other's speed. Using both M.2 slots and all four SATA ports won't cause any slowdown in any component.