Wanting To Upgrade To M.2 Ssd With Am3+ Matx

Hi,

Thanks in advance for looking at my problem. I've got limited space where my PC lives, so I've opted for a Micro ATX case. Now that m.2 SSDs are becoming more popular, I'd like to upgrade, but it seems impossible on AM3+.

In addition to the SSD, I don't really want to buy a new motherboard, RAM AND processor if I can avoid it, as my current PC runs games quite well - even at 4k resolution.

Is there a way to upgrade without replacing almost everything?

 

So check your systemboard for available PCI Express slots and buy an m.2 adapter card: (You need an x4 slot for this one) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=12K-017B-00001

 

Thanks. I've ordered this. I would've paid more, but I couldn't find anything with the same features in an mATX board. It has a spare PCIe x16, but it's 2.0.

I'm thinking this would have enough bandwidth for a PCI SSD, but the connector looks shorter on the m.2 converter?

 

That board you ordered has two PCIe x16 slots. You can use the second for the m.2 adapter card because x16 slots are supposed to accept x8, x4, and even x1 cards. Your old board only had x1 slots which would have slowed down the m.2 SSD.

 

Cool, that's what I thought, thanks.

There's some decent offers on 512Gb m.2 cards right now so I'm gonna invest. I couldn't imagine using the second slot for another graphics card in an mATX case simply because of the heat tbh.

 

Am I right in thinking that a 4 lane converter card on PCIe 2.0 equates to 4x500 Mbits? IE 250 MBps?

If my card has 2000 MBps read, will I be limited? If so, can I buy an x16 converter which would have the required bandwidth?

 

A PCI Express 2.0 X4 slot can handle 500MB/s times 4 or 2GB/s of data transfer (and notice the capital B for Bytes, not bits). I don't think you're even close to that!
http://www.tested.com/tech/457440-theoretical-vs-actual-bandwidth-pci-express-and-thunderbolt/