Adding more SSD Storage

[Nialfb]

Hi Guys

I have a ASUS® ROG MAXIMUS Z690 motherboard in my gaming PC and it has two SSD slots - both used. I want to add a third SSD dedicated to DSC, probably a 2TB SSD, I'm thinking a 2TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2 PCIe running on a PCI adapter card.

Has anyone had experience of this? Does the PCI adapter slow down the SSD read/write time significantly? Would I notice it in DCS even if it did?

Thanks

Nial

[Rudel_chw]

16 minutes ago, Nialfb said:

Has anyone had experience of this?

 

I have no personal experience on this, only what I've read and seen on the web.

 

16 minutes ago, Nialfb said:

Does the PCI adapter slow down the SSD read/write time significantly? Would I notice it in DCS even if it did?

 

On a newer board like yours, the answer to both questions is: probably  not. Here is an amateur review on this subject (couldnt find any on the more well-known channels):

 

 

On my own PC, I'm looking forward to having to upgrade one of my two SSD M2's, as I no longer have enough space to contemplate adding Kola ... but rather than using an adapter, I'm planning on selling one of my 1 TB units, and replace it with a new 2 TB unit ... seems more cost-effective to me, in spite of the extra work on having to reinstall windows.

[MAXsenna]

Free cloning software works great, if one can keep the original drive before selling.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[Rudel_chw]

1 minute ago, MAXsenna said:

Free cloning software works great, if one can keep the original drive before selling.

 

and assuming that the motherboard has a free M2 slot   

 

... on my case, I will replace the OS/DCS drive, where I have no user data that needs backup (my C:/Users/ folder is stored on my G: drive, so there is no user data on the OS drive) .. but I will backup the DCS folder to another drive, to avoid a large download to reinstall it on

[MAXsenna]

 
and assuming that the motherboard has a free M2 slot   
 
... on my case, I will replace the OS/DCS drive, where I have no user data that needs backup (my C:/Users/ folder is stored on my G: drive, so there is no user data on the OS drive) .. but I will backup the DCS folder to another drive, to avoid a large download to reinstall it on

Yeah! Haha! Which you can achieve by pulling out one and boot with a USB drive temporarily for the cloning. That's what I always do anyway. Or just use HDD USB docking station, while that's kinda slow.

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[Nialfb]

@MAXsenna - The cloning software I use is Macrium Reflex, I think it was recomended on Samsungs own How To video I watched. I had to clone my 500GB SSD to a new 1TB SSD on my work laptop so it was crutial it didn't fail. I bought an external enclosure on Ebay for the new SSD, plugged it into the USB and then cloned the old to the new using Macrium Reflex. Swapped out the PC SSD for the new one, fired it up and it just immediatly worked - everything exactly the same except loads more space!

An aside to this, if you have the enclosure, the old SSD makes a blindingly fast external drive

I've already got two 1TB SSD's on my computer but they just get filled up so quickly. I could swap one out for a 2 or 4TB SSD but I just wanted a dedicated drive just for DCS.

[kksnowbear]

It seems there is some confusion...

According to the Asus document at this link https://www.asus.com/us/site/motherboards/Intel-Alder-Lake-Z690-H670-B660/websites/download/ASUS_Z690_Full_Specs.pdf

all the Asus Z690 boards except one have three or more M2 slots.  The one that doesn't is an iTX board, which I imagine would never be confused for a ROG Maximus board.

So it seems your board would almost certainly have three (or more) slots...

Am I missing something?

 

 

 

[MAXsenna]

@Nialfb Yeah, I think that was the one I used last time too!

I've also used Clonezilla in the past. But I think I had some issues with RAID drivers at one point.

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[Nialfb]

@kksnowbear ... No, you may be right. It's just that PC Specialist, the guys who supplied the PC, said there were two. He may have meant there are two free slots after the two I have used but they never got back to confirm it. I was just looking at other options.

 

Edited November 19, 2023 by Nialfb

[kksnowbear]

Check the Asus doc, confirm your motherboard model.  Let us know what you find out.

Unfortunately, Asus model info marking is usually obscured by an installed GPU...however, if you're comfortable with PC utilities, CPU-Z is reputable and can tell you not only which board but also the BIOS version.

Good luck

Incidentally, adding a PCIe card - with certain caveats - won't affect the SSD's performance of itself.   There are some things you need to check for, but any (reasonable quality) add-in card will work OK, it's a 'pass-through' for all the PCIe signals.  I own/have used several and never had any issues to speak of.  If you'd like I can provide links to units I've used from Amazon.

One final thought: While you're over at the Asus site, why not download the manual for your board?  Save you time and confusion later on

Edited November 17, 2023 by kksnowbear

[Nialfb]

HA! In my box of 'junk' that comes with a new high end computer I found a ROG Hyper M.2 card!!!!! LOL Apparently it support for up to four PCIe® 3.0 M.2 drives with transfer bandwidth up to 128Gbps! According to ASUS at least. I think I just solved my own problem

@kksnowbear ... Of course I do have the manual. The one I put in a safe place so I wouldn't lose it

[kksnowbear]

Sounds like you're all set then...

BTW among the caveats I mentioned is that, sometimes, motherboards will 'share' PCIe lanes between PCIe slots and M2 slots.  This means that using one disables the other...just to be sure you don't unknowingly disable one of your existing drives (for example) by installing the adapter board.

Naturally, I'd suggest careful review of both the motherboard documentation (as regards the PCIe lanes and M2 slots) and that which applies to the Hyper M2 board

Best of luck

[BitMaster]

That NVMe-Card card comes with a caveat you should be aware of if you call a 4090 your own.

Your 690 chipset does not have enough PCIe lanes to feed those extra drives, or better said feed that PCIe-Slot with enough lanes directly from the CPU !

 

Page 2-23 of your manual states the modes the TWO ( not four ! ) NVMe can run in and if both or only one can be used.

what that doesn't tell you is what you sacrifice, that is stated in the technical documentation. You have to READ & UNDERSTAND BOTH paragraphs to know what you are facing.

 

If you plug it in the 2nd PCIe-slot you will force BOTH PCIe slots #1 and #2 into 8x mode, before it was 16x and 0x, now it's 8x + 8x. That means your 4090 only has 8 lanes instead of 16, if that matters a lot, maybe..the more data you need to send across, aka the higher the resolution the more it does matter. Try it out.

The second option is slot #3, which does NOT link up to the CPU as #1 and #2 does but links up to the Southbridge chip, which usually forces you to sacrifice 2 Sata drives and maybe a 4th PCIe slot if you have on. The lanes must come from somewhere and if you opt to run more devices than there are lanes you need a PCIe switch that can switch lanes between connectors, between ON and OFF. Mind that when you start a build.

 

I have 4 NVMe in my rig, 1 from CPU and 3 from the chipset. For #3 and #4 I had to sacrifice Sata 5+6 and my fourth PCIe slot, they got deactivated when I put #3 and #4 NVMe in.

If I wouldnt need all 16 lanes for my GPU I could have used #2 slot with a AddOn card and put two NVMe there but I do not want that unless the GPU has PCIe v5 itself and can shuffle enough data at only 8 lanes. All GPU's out there now have PCIe v4 and if you cut that in half you end up at PCIe v3 16x speed and that I think is too little for an unleashed 4090.

If the 4090 was a v5 card then 8x at v5 might still be plenty.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 2023 by BitMaster

[kksnowbear]

1 hour ago, BitMaster said:

That NVMe-Card card comes with a caveat you should be aware of if you call a 4090 your own.

Your 690 chipset does not have enough PCIe lanes to feed those extra drives, or better said feed that PCIe-Slot with enough lanes directly from the CPU !

 

Page 2-23 of your manual states the modes the TWO ( not four ! ) NVMe can run in and if both or only one can be used.

what that doesn't tell you is what you sacrifice, that is stated in the technical documentation. You have to READ & UNDERSTAND BOTH paragraphs to know what you are facing.

 

If you plug it in the 2nd PCIe-slot you will force BOTH PCIe slots #1 and #2 into 8x mode, before it was 16x and 0x, now it's 8x + 8x. That means your 4090 only has 8 lanes instead of 16, if that matters a lot, maybe..the more data you need to send across, aka the higher the resolution the more it does matter. Try it out.

The second option is slot #3, which does NOT link up to the CPU as #1 and #2 does but links up to the Southbridge chip, which usually forces you to sacrifice 2 Sata drives and maybe a 4th PCIe slot if you have on. The lanes must come from somewhere and if you opt to run more devices than there are lanes you need a PCIe switch that can switch lanes between connectors, between ON and OFF. Mind that when you start a build.

 

I have 4 NVMe in my rig, 1 from CPU and 3 from the chipset. For #3 and #4 I had to sacrifice Sata 5+6 and my fourth PCIe slot, they got deactivated when I put #3 and #4 NVMe in.

If I wouldnt need all 16 lanes for my GPU I could have used #2 slot with a AddOn card and put two NVMe there but I do not want that unless the GPU has PCIe v5 itself and can shuffle enough data at only 8 lanes. All GPU's out there now have PCIe v4 and if you cut that in half you end up at PCIe v3 16x speed and that I think is too little for an unleashed 4090.

If the 4090 was a v5 card then 8x at v5 might still be plenty.

Yes, this is all part of the caveat that I mentioned previously - as well as the documentation that must be reviewed.

It's very typical for boards to share PCIe slots, as I said.  Having more slots really only gives you the option of using different form factor devices (i.e., PCIe card vs M.2 etc); it doesn't give you more PCIe lanes than the CPU+the chipset have.

As I described, "...among the caveats I mentioned is that, sometimes, motherboards will 'share' PCIe lanes between PCIe slots and M2 slots.  This means that using one disables the other."

All in the manual.

The OP indicates he has the manual, and I assume he'll read it and act accordingly.  If that's not appropriate then my advice (as always) would be to consult a professional.

[Nialfb]

@kksnowbear@BitMaster ... Hi Guys. I just had a response from the tech guys at PC Specialist. This clears it up  -

"The case will fit up to 4 x 2.5" SSD's as it has 4 x SSD bays. Your motherboard will fit up to 5 x M.2 SSD's, you can install another 3 as two are taken up by the following:

 

1^st M.2 SSD Drive 1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)

2^nd M.2 SSD Drive 1TB SAMSUNG 980 PRO M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 5000MB/W)

 If you want to install 2.5" SSD's then you will need to connect a SATA cable and a SATA power cable from the power supply. However, if you are installing an M.2 SSD then you can just connect these by slotting them into the motherboard."

[kksnowbear]

Right..but just keep in mind as previously discussed: There are some considerations in using slots. 

Also the response doesn't detail which slots are already in use, which is itself a consideration as well.

Good luck