m.2 list fx990 fatal1ty killer

signman wrote: Is there a updated list for m.2 cards for fx990 fatal1ty killer board I want to get one but NewEggs listings dont match web site specs for board or any help on what drive to get want to be boot drive so 128 to 256 is what im told?

No updated list is available specifically for the Fatal1ty 990FX Killer.

The important things to know about this board's M.2 slot, is:

The current Storage Support list includes both SATA and PCIe M.2 SSDs. That means the M.2 slot can be used with both of those types of SSDs.

The 1.60 UEFI version adds NVMe support. That means PCIe M.2 SSDs like the Samsung 950 Pro, OCZ RD400, and Intel 600p and 750 are compatible as the OS drive.

PCIe SSDs that use a PCIe slot interface, or M.2 to PCIe slot adapters can also be used with this board, and will work as the OS drive.

The capacity of these drives is not a factor with compatibility. So 512GB or 1TB PCIe SSDs will work fine in this board.

One caveat with this board's M.2 slot is, it is only a PCIe 2.0 x2 interface. M.2 SSDs such as the 950 Pro, RD400, or 600p, need a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface to provide their full performance. Those M.2 PCIe SSDs can still be used with that M.2 slot, but their performance will be reduced by about 50%.

Those PCIe M.2 SSDs mentioned above can be used in an M.2 to PCIe adapter card in this board. But this board only supports PCIe 2.0, so there will be some reduction in full performance.

Specific PCIe SSDs, whether using the M.2 or PCIe interface, do not need special compatibility added to a board's UEFI, besides NVMe support for NVMe SSDs. That has been added with the 1.60 UEFI version. The few AHCI PCIe SSDs like the Samsung XP941 or SM951 will work in this board without the 1.60 UEFI version. But the lack of PCIe 3.0 support on this board will affect the performance of the majority of the PCIe SSDs.

signman wrote: thanks so much, so basically no speed improvements over a external ssd drive that i have at 6gps (force le 240)

What's the external SSD's interface? eSATA? USB 3.0?

If you want to talk theoretical bandwidth, on that board the M.2 slot is 10Gbps, and the PCIe slot at x4 is 20Gbps. The full PCIe 3.0 x4 interface (not available on this board) is 32Gbps.

Real world throughput on all interfaces (including SATA) is lower. The NVMe interface/protocol has less overhead than SATA. USB is a completely different interface, without the advantages of AHCI or NVMe.

Large file sequential read speed for SATA III SSDs is at best ~550MB/s. An NVMe SSD in the PCIe slot on this board would be ~1,800MB/s for the same type of files.

There would be differences in benchmark tests, and in certain applications and use cases, although the amount depends upon the interface you are using.

If you work with large files then an M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD in a PCIe slot adapter card would be useful, but the difference would be a matter of seconds. Starting a PC and booting an OS tends to not be any faster, due to the extra POST time needed for the NVMe controller. In some cases, it can be slower with NVMe SSDs.

If you're running a database or file server, NVMe SSDs will be faster than SATA III SSDs by a significant amount.

For the typical PC user, PCIe NVMe SSDs are not a night and day differences from SATA III SSDs.