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Here is what I have in my windows PC box now:

https://www.adata.com/rs/specification/410

It appears there is an available slot + power for 1 more SSD drive and I want to buy this one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07822Z77M/

They look totally different. The first one above is in a tidy little rectangular case while the second one looks like something that plugs straight into the motherboard.

I'm trying to figure out if this SSD "drive" from Amazon will fit in my PC, and how I would install it.

Here are photos from the inside of my PC:

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I admit I'm a total noob when it comes to the inside of my PC case. Any advice or ideas?

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  • Have you looked in your motherboard's manual to check if it supports the connection type?
    – grawity_u1686
    Commented Jul 29, 2020 at 20:53
  • You want to buy a SATA M.2 SSD and you have a 2.5" SATA SSD currently installed. Check your motherboard's description. It may support an NVMe SSD, which would be the 970 Evo, or it may support your SATA M.2 SSD, which would be the drive you want to buy, or it may support neither. Also note that your method of providing images is a poor one. The StackExchange provides a way of uploading images in a secure way, which also allows you to embed them in your question.
    – Kraigolas
    Commented Jul 29, 2020 at 21:00

2 Answers 2

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Assuming you have this motherboard (GA-X99-Designare EX) as I could barely make out from your second photo, it looks like you can add the m.2 card you are looking for on Amazon (but double check your motherboard before buying it, and you might want to check you can send it back just in case !)

Looking at the Gigabyte page for the board it claims "NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 2210 M.2 Interface...", and if you scroll down it talks about "Fast Onboard Storage with NVMe ..." and lists that it can take a type 2280 module.

The module would look to fit between the 5th and 6th PCIe slot (assuming the first slot is at the top left).

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  • Thanks davidgo, it sounds like i need the mobo manual to know for sure. Any idea how I can discover where/how to get the correct manual? Where should I look on the mobo to find the model # or whatever I should be finding? You said "could barely make out" - where are you looking exactly? I could pop the case and get a better shot/angle, but I don't know where I should be looking.
    – HerrimanCoder
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 14:29
  • On your picture 2 between the bottom and second last pcie slot you can see the name and model of the motherboard in white. The grey-black cable running diagonally slightly obscures the model no. Actually, looking at the top of that PIC, if you zoom in, you can just make out that it DOES have the m.2 ssd bracket/shield. (Make sure the ssd is not there!)
    – davidgo
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 19:18
  • If it's not too much trouble, could you indicate with an arrow on top of a photo above, where the Amazon Samsung 860 EVO SSD 1TB - M.2 SATA would go? Or would this be just as good, and would it fit: amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76Q1T0B-AM/dp/B07L3D19MY
    – HerrimanCoder
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 21:44
  • Sorry, I do much of my Superuser answering from my cellphone, so I won't be modifying images. Just look closely at the top of the second image. You will see the bottom of the words "22110 m.2" - Thats where it goes. You could use a regular SATA disk as you linked, and it will be much faster then a hard drive, but much slower the the M.2 drive - SATA is constrained to about 600 megabytes/sec. I don't think there is such a thing as m.2 SATA.
    – davidgo
    Commented Jul 31, 2020 at 1:29
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Nice computer :-)

Backing up a step, the second drive you linked to is an "M.2" SSD. They cost about the same per GB as the SATA format (the Adata). The major differece: The SATA was designed to be a drop-in replacement for a hard disk in any existing computer. The M.2 is smaller and much faster.

As Davidgo notes, your MoBo (motherboard) may be able to support the M.2. If so, that's definitely the better way to go. Possible gotchas, even assuming the MoBo is identified correctly, are that some motherboards will disable some SATA capability if you add an M.2. You'll want to carefully check for this in the MoBo's manual.

To make life even more complicated, there are several types of M.2. The Samsung in your link is a SATA compatible, which means the even though it (obviously) does not use a SATA connector, it is still limited to SATA speeds. The "NVMe" your board seems to support (it's printed right on the board in one of the pix) is a different, much faster connector. Note the different connector notches in the Samsung NVMe M.2 here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N8Z82SY/

If your MoBo has the NVMe slot with the correct key & and no SATA disabling (or you are not using the SATA channel which will be disabled - you have a lot of drives in there) then the NVMe will give you a big drive speed boost.

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  • Thanks jbartas, it sounds like i need the mobo manual to know for sure. Any idea how I can discover where/how to get the correct manual? Where should I look on the mobo to find the model # or whatever I should be finding?
    – HerrimanCoder
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 14:28
  • Note that the M.2 form factor having similar pricing is usually dependent on it not being NVMe. NVMe is typically pretty expensive, especially if you want hardware with support for he newest PCIe standards, because PCIe (the protocol NVMe runs over) is significantly more complex to implement than SATA.
    – Austin Hemmelgarn
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 14:37
  • This is making me think I shouldn't buy that M.2, but instead maybe this one: amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76Q1T0B-AM/dp/B07L3D19MY - comes in that little case that seems to match the 2 SSDs I already have. Is there a good likelihood it will work and fit?
    – HerrimanCoder
    Commented Jul 30, 2020 at 23:31
  • @HerrimanCoder, the drive you picked will almost certainly just work. It won't be as speedy as an NVMe, but having something "just work" is a powerful argument.
    – jbartas
    Commented Oct 5, 2020 at 22:53

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