M.2 Drive Help please

[Yuffe]

Hello guys, I want to upgrade my ssd to a PCI-E ssd. I would like to know if the ssd I am wishing to buy will work properly with my motherboard in sense of speed of the drive.
So I have MSI x79A-GD45 Plus motherboard, Windows 10, and Im looking to buy "Samsung SM951 128GB M.2 PCI-e Gen3 8Gbps x 4 Solid State Drive (MZHPV128HDGM-00000)".
I would like to know if those two will be compatible, and which adapter should i use?

Also i have a question of why is this drive only around £90 + adapter, and Kingston HyperX Pci-e ssd costs around twice the price? Due to the branding or is there something else to it?

Thank you very much!

 

[thisisevilevil]

x79 chipset does not have native support for M.2 drives, and you also have no M.2 slots on your current motherboard. Even if you get an add-in PCIE card to support the M.2, I doubt you will be able to use that drive as an OS drive, as it would not be able to boot from it. You could still install your OS on a SATA SSD, then use the M.2 SSD for other things you want to load faster than your normal SSD. Otherwise, we are not allowed to link to parts from other stores, so I'm just gonna add a picture of the part you need: - You can find this part by doing a google search for PCIe M.2 adapter. You would need at least a PCIe 3.0 x8 slot to get the full speed of the Samsung SSD.

Also, the reason for the Kingston HyperX PCIe SSDs being twice the price, is probably because the samsung drive you want is only 128GB. The smallest Kingston PCIe drive is 240GB, which you can also see here: http://www.kingston.com/us/company/press/article/7547 - Be aware that should you decide to go for the Kingston HyperX drive instead, not all re sellers will give you the PCIe card that follows with it as it's optional. Look very specifically for that, before you buy it. The part description should have "AIC" which stands for "Add-in Card", which refers to the PCIe adapter itself.

 

[Yuffe]

x79 chipset does not have native support for M.2 drives, and you also have no M.2 slots on your current motherboard. Even if you get an add-in PCIE card to support the M.2, I doubt you will be able to use that drive as an OS drive, as it would not be able to boot from it. You could still install your OS on a SATA SSD, then use the M.2 SSD for other things you want to load faster than your normal SSD. Otherwise, we are not allowed to link to parts from other stores, so I'm just gonna add a picture of the part you need: View attachment 7106 - You can find this part by doing a google search for PCIe M.2 adapter. You would need at least a PCIe 3.0 x8 slot to get the full speed of the Samsung SSD.

Also, the reason for the Kingston HyperX PCIe SSDs being twice the price, is probably because the samsung drive you want is only 128GB. The smallest Kingston PCIe drive is 240GB, which you can also see here: http://www.kingston.com/us/company/press/article/7547 - Be aware that should you decide to go for the Kingston HyperX drive instead, not all re sellers will give you the PCIe card that follows with it as it's optional. Look very specifically for that, before you buy it. The part description should have "AIC" which stands for "Add-in Card", which refers to the PCIe adapter itself.

So could You tell me if i would purchase the HyperX pcie ssd, would i be able to install the os onto it to work perfectly?

 

[thisisevilevil]

I wouldn't count on it, but I'm actually not sure. Never heard about anyone trying it on an x79 chipset before. Googling it also only yields very ambiguous results. Some guys claims it works, but in the end, it's just "some guy" so you can't really trust that. You could try and call MSI and/or Kingston and ask them about it, to get a specific answer, before you decide to buy it.

 

[Yuffe]

Thank You very much. I will contact MSI and/or Kingston UK today, will get back when i get any information.

/// EDIT: I have sent an email to Kingston, and tried calling MSI however they are closed during the weekends, will try my luck on Monday.