Intel Motherboard PCIe SSD Compatibility

[S6PNJ]

I've recently bought a second hand Intel motherboard ( DQ77MK) and I've found it has a PCIe connector which I think can be used to connect an SSD type device such that it can boot / run from it in place of the SATA connected SSD which I currently have. The specs for the board state:

• One PCI Express Full-/Half-Mini Card connector from the PCH (supporting mSATA, Wireless Intel® Active Management Technology (Intel® AMT), and USB capabilities)

Having done a search on eBay (looking at second hand) I'm more and more confused over the different terminology used and in trying to narrow down the choice, I seem to exclude what might be relevant rather than not, and if I change search terms to use different key words, I get the wrong results.

From what I know (gone are the days when everything was simply ATA or SCSI... ) I need a PCIe mSATA card but it needs to be a short one - 1.5" or so long? as the full length ones won't fit on the MB and in my case due to orientation etc. Plus the fixing points are only suited to a half length card.

2 questions really - can I use one of these devices as a system drive and if so, what is the best term to search for? I only need 120/128Gb as I have a Synology NAS where most of my files sit, so its for OS and progs only.

Edited to add: Will something like this fit / work? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304100283238

Edited by S6PNJ on Saturday 14th August 09:48

[Drive Blind]

the way i'm seeing it you need to buy 2 components

the pci m-sata card
the m-sata drive

and not for any performance gain?

Using a conventional 2.5in ssd will be cheaper/easier ??

[anarki]

This is my understanding from reading that motherboards manual:

On page 15/16 the connector labeled "W" is a mini pci-e slot that accepts half or full sized cards. It will also accept Msata half or full sized cards.

Mini pci-e and Msata use the same slot/connector type - but use totally different signalling methods.

The motherboard you have gets around this issue by the use of a multiplexer, and will use the SATA port labeled "X" signalling method to achieve the use of Msata storage via the mini pci-e port (labeled "W")

TL;DR

You should be fine using an Msata SSD in the port and the one you linked should work without any issue.

The only caveat being is that it will disable the use of the SATA port labeled "X" when doing so, which shouldn't be a problem as there are other Sata ports on the board that you can use.

[S6PNJ]

Drive Blind said:

and not for any performance gain?

Using a conventional 2.5in ssd will be cheaper/easier ??

I thought the PCIe gave up to twice the speed of a SATA connected drive or have I misunderstood? So no different to a SATA III drive then?

I have a 2.5" SSD (from my 'old' system) but was intending to keep this on the old motherboard, hence needing another drive and thought I;d get a speed gain from a PCIe drive.

anarki said:

You should be fine using an Msata SSD in the port and the one you linked should work without any issue.

The only caveat being is that it will disable the use of the SATA port labelled "X" when doing so, which shouldn't be a problem as there are other Sata ports on the board that you can use.

Thanks for confirming my thoughts. I currently have 4 SATA connected devices (1 x boot SSD, 1 x DVD writer and 2 x 1Tb storage), so don't need the 5th, plus if I swap out the SSD (and keep it with my old MB) for a PCIe, I still have a free SATA slot.

[mmm-five]

S6PNJ said:

Drive Blind said:

and not for any performance gain?

Using a conventional 2.5in ssd will be cheaper/easier ??

I thought the PCIe gave up to twice the speed of a SATA connected drive or have I misunderstood? So no different to a SATA III drive then?

I have a 2.5" SSD (from my 'old' system) but was intending to keep this on the old motherboard, hence needing another drive and thought I;d get a speed gain from a PCIe drive.

SATA and mSATA have the same throughputs (assuming SATA III this is 6Gbps or about 550Mbps), so there's no performance benefit between the different interface.

The benefit comes from being smaller, so it can fit into a smaller case/chassis.

So, unless the 2.5" SATA SSD you currently have is particularly old & slow, or in need of replacement, the newer one will be no faster.

[xeny]

S6PNJ said:

I thought the PCIe gave up to twice the speed of a SATA connected drive or have I misunderstood? So no different to a SATA III drive then?

I have a 2.5" SSD (from my 'old' system) but was intending to keep this on the old motherboard, hence needing another drive and thought I;d get a speed gain from a PCIe drive.

A PCIe drive is NVMe, not mSATA. Trying to boot from MVMe on hardware older than Skylake era is often tricky.

[Jinx]

You need an M.2 2242 card (the 2242 refers to the dimensions - the long ones are 2280) - the thing that I can't see form the manual is which key you need ( this may help)