ASRock Z97 Extreme6 M.2 support question.
Printed From: ASRock.com
Category: Technical Support
Forum Name: Intel Motherboards
Forum Description: Question about ASRock Intel Motherboards
URL: https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1487
Printed Date: 24 Dec 2024 at 10:22am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: ASRock Z97 Extreme6 M.2 support question.
Posted By: Naz75
Subject: ASRock Z97 Extreme6 M.2 support question.
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2015 at 5:17am
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Greeetings... I have the ASRock Z97 Extreme6; with an Intel i5-4690K and an eVGA GTX 770 4GB FTW GPU. I mention these because they all relate to the M.2 slots on the motherboard. I also have an old Plextor M5s 256gb sata SSD, that I am interested in replacing with a better and faster SSD. I am interested in making use of the M.2 slots. I see that, for the current price, I can purchase 2 Samsung 850 Evo 500GB M.2 cards. Would I be able to use both of them, at the same time... one in each M.2 slot on my motherboard; and how will this effect my CPU which only has 16 PCIe lanes, and how will it effect my GPU pushing a 1440p monitor? Thanks in advance for any responses and advice!
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Replies:
Posted By: Naz75
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2015 at 5:19am
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Also, for the record... I specifically mention that I want to buy 2 of those Samsung m.2's.... Because not only will I be able to replace my old Plextor SSD, but also replace an aging WD 640GB HDD!
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Posted By: Naz75
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2015 at 9:36pm
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Hoping to get an aswer soon, as I would like to make my purchase either sometime later today, or tomorrow.... :) |
Posted By: DooRules
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2015 at 9:49pm
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Not sure if I am missing something but that drive you have linked to uses a standard sata connection, as opposed to the M2 connection. Either way running two of them should have no impact on your gpu |
Posted By: Naz75
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2015 at 10:08pm
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How odd, I did not put any links in my original post... But the one I am referring to is this one. http://www.microcenter.com/product/445918/850_EVO_M2_Series_500GB_SATA_III_M2_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_Single_Unit_Version_MZ-N5E500BW" rel="nofollow - http://www.microcenter.com/product/445918/850_EVO_M2_Series_500GB_SATA_III_M2_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_Single_Unit_Version_MZ-N5E500BW Thank you for the GPU answer, though the one I want answered the most is whether or not I could run TWO of those on my motherboard at the same time, using both the M.2 slots. My Manual is somewhat confusing at best, and rather a little misleading on the information it provides. Also, can my i5-4690K with its limited 16 PCIe lanes handle running one of these in the Ultra m.2 slot? I read an article that said the Ultra M.2 Slot would only work best with CPU's that supported up to 20 lanes.... though Im not sure if that was just, wishful thinking from the articles author, or if they were actually saying that. |
Posted By: DooRules
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2015 at 10:20pm
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Quick answer is you can run both of them in M2 slots with the gpu. After reading the intel page on your chip, as you say you have a max of 16 pcie lanes. This I suspect would mean your gpu would run at x8 as opposed to x16. In real world terms you would never notice the difference between x8 and x16. That would be my take on your specs. |
Posted By: DooRules
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2015 at 10:22pm
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from the asrock spec sheet... 1 x Ultra M.2 Socket (M2_1), supports M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s) - 1 x M.2_SSD (NGFF) Socket 3 (M2_2), supports M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen2 x2 (10 Gb/s |
Posted By: Naz75
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2015 at 10:23pm
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Thank you very much. :) Having two of those, a terabyte's worth of extra SSD space, on the m.2 slots will be a huge improvement for me! |
Posted By: DooRules
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2015 at 10:23pm
looks like a total of 6 lanes for these two slots so still 10 left, enough to run gpu at x8 it would seem
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DooRules wrote:Posted By: Naz75
Date Posted: 12 Dec 2015 at 10:26pm
Thank you, yeah looks like it should be plenty for a single GPU. Just as long as both m.2's work together, then I should be good. |
Posted By: Naz75
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2015 at 1:30am
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It appears as though my motherboard may have only come with just 1 set, of screws... for the m.2 mounting. Going through my box now which I kept with all the extra spare parts and such, and I have found 3 little tiny plastic bags. Each bag contains 1 screw, though neither of them are labeled. 2 of the screws appear to be identical, while the third looks smaller. I am presuming these are the 3 needed to secure the M.2 cards, but is my board supposed to come with more then just 3, and are they supposed to be different sizes? |
Posted By: DooRules
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2015 at 1:40am
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on my board only one screw needed per M2 drive, or slot... the drive you have linked also requires only one screw per drive, at the end, drive slots in on one end and you screw the other end down to mobo You can see the 950 mounted here...  |
Posted By: parsec
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2015 at 2:37am
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I have a Z97 Extreme6 too. It has two M.2 ports, so only two small screws are needed, one for each of the two threaded standoffs, as DooRules pointed out. M.2 drives come in different lengths, which is why there are multiple nuts mounted in to the board to accept the threaded standoff that I mentioned. Each nut is covered by a tiny yellow plastic cap disk, which you remove and move the standoff into for different length M.2 cards. On your board if you look between the PCIE2 and PCIE4 slots, there is an mSATA port. There is another nut mounted in the board with the yellow cap that is offset from the nuts in a straight line for the M.2 card. The third different screw is used to secure an mSATA card mounted in the mSATA port, with the offset nut mounted in the board. ------------- http://valid.x86.fr/48rujh" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: Naz75
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2015 at 4:02am
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I appreciate the responses guys! I picked up one of the 850 EVO 500GB m.2's this afternoon to try it out. If all goes well, and I can get my existing Plextor imaged over to it, to use as the boot drive, then I may go buy a second one in a day or two. One more question though, well hopefully last one. At present I am on UEFI v1.7 Naturally I plan to update it; but will I lose all my custom settings or will or remember those after the update? |
Posted By: DooRules
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2015 at 4:10am
| on my board there is a setting in the bios to save all settings to hard drive, i have tried it and it works well, not sure if you have the same |
Posted By: Naz75
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2015 at 4:19am
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I do, and I did that already just to be prepared! Thanks again! |
Posted By: Naz75
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2015 at 4:56am
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Well so far so good! UEFI update went flawless. Samsung 850 EVO M.2 installed, no problems there; detected in the UEFI so awesome. Booted to Windows which saw the drive immediately and allowed me to format it and I am now using Samsung's data cloning software to clone my existing Plextor SSD on to the new Evo which looks like it will be about a 15min process. Soon as its done I plan to set the M.2 as the bootable drive. Edit for just a quick side note: I did not install into the Ultra M.2 slot, yet... just installed in the second one cause it was easily accessible without removing my GPU and Sound Blaster. According to Samsung's software, it is cloning at a rate of about 205MB/S. |
Posted By: Naz75
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2015 at 5:19am
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Absolutely flawless! Windows up and running very fast! |
Posted By: DooRules
Date Posted: 13 Dec 2015 at 5:46am
Great news and a great job done there. 
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