Help with understanding M.2 and PCIe support

[aweaver255]

I'm wanting to upgrade to the M.2 SSD going with a PCIe adapter, specifically seen here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104544
While I understand a few things, some questions still remain, and would also like anyone's input if they're using a configuration like this, if at all possible that is.



What I know:
1. The 990FXA-GAMING mobo- PCI_E4 supports up to PCIe 2.0 x4 speed
2. The product with adapter is PCIe Gen 2.0 x4 interface in M.2 form factor
3. This config is much faster than your typical SATA III SSD



Some Questions:

1. Does anyone have any input on this?

2. Would I be able to use this product with my current rig?

3. Is the mobo compatible and will it support it? (I have yet to hear from msi-tech support)

4. Would I be able to put the OS on it and boot?

5. Problems/Errors/Detection/Performance Info or Input from anyone using this type of config?


My Rig:
MOBO: MSI 990FXA-GAMING
CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.5GHz @ 1.55v at 51°C
PSU: EVGA 700B1 Series 700W
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Elite 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory @1600MHz
Cooling: Corsair H80i GT push/pull, 140mm(x2), 120mm; GPU Liquid Cooled w/ 120mm(x2) push/pull
SSDs: Crucial BX200 240GB (X2)
HDDs: Toshiba 1TB 7200RPM (X2)
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti HYBRID GAMING OC'd to 1.49Ghz @ 58°C
CASE: Corsair SPEC-03 Red

 

[KingFatty]

I've heard the PCIe-based SSDs are really fast, but this seems like some kind of combination expansion card plus M.2 interface thing, so does the combination create additional slowdowns at all?

I'm just wondering if this combo would actually be slower than using a M.2 SSD directly? I think it's slower than a pure PCIe-based drive, but would like to know if the various speeds are quantified in raw performance numbers, how M.2 alone stacks up to PCIe alone, and how they both stack up against this PCIe adapter + M.2?

 

[Soulkeeper]

I think you might have an issue booting from it.
I've heard only the newer intel motherboards support that.
You should be able to use it for storage without problem however.

Maybe someone can verify this

 

[bonehead123]

Well if that board only supports gen 2 @4x and the drive is built on that standard, it will be somewhat faster than a regular SSD.

However, pcie drives REALLY shine when they are set up on a gen3 x16 slot (or a native m2 slot). I'm talking about ~2200 MB/s seq read and ~800-1000MB/s writes...........

As for booting that is a question for the mobo mfgr, 'cause I am booted from my pcie drive right now on my skylake rig I built in Feb.

And for the record, m2 is just a connector type. m2 drives can be either regular SATA drives or pcie drives.