NVME SSD + 4x SATA 6G HDDs + Current Gen Motherboard?

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  Riczter on 06/01/2025 - 21:56

  +6

  You're all good.

  The board has 2 m.2 slots.

  The first slot supports the normal nvme m.2 ssds like the kingston you have mentioned above.

  The second slot supports nvme as well as the older sata style m.2, it does this by sharing chipset resources with the 4th sata port for sata hard drives.

  If you plug in a SATA style m.2 ssd into the second m.2 slot, then the 4th sata port would not work.

  However as long as you use an nvme style m.2 ssd in the second slot, or leave it empty, then all 4 SATA ports will be available to you.

  Also, if you are buying a new motherboard, and your budget allows, you should get one that supports current gen DDR5 RAM. That one only supports the older DDR4 RAM.

  • 

    QuickToThePointless on 06/01/2025 - 22:11

    thanks - really appreciate your response, ozbargain community never lets me down any time i ask a question!

    have a great night!

  • 

    Chandler on 07/01/2025 - 14:53

    Just FYI, "older sata style m.2" is called NGFF ("Next Generation Form Factor"). Uses the m.2 connector like NVMe, but connects to a SATA bus rather than the PCIe bus.

    A (probably incomplete/partially incorrect) SSD history:

    SATA (same as HDDs) > mSATA (looks similar - but different - to the m.2 connector) > m.2 SATA (NGFF) > m.2 PCIe (NVMe)

    SATA is a bus interface AND connector
    mSATA is a connector
    m.2. is a connector
    NVMe is a bus interface

    WLAN cards frequently use the same m.2 connector, but those connectors don't always support NVMe (typically due to having insufficient PCIe lanes plumbed in).

    More information:
    https://www.crucial.com/support/articles-faq-ssd/msata-m2-ss…
    https://hackaday.com/2023/01/19/what-else-is-an-m-2-wifi-slo…

    • 

      GordonD on 07/01/2025 - 17:35

      +1

      WLAN cards frequently use the same m.2 connector, but those connectors don't always support NVMe (typically due to having insufficient PCIe lanes plumbed in).

      An A+E keyed M.2 socket does support PCIe. It just only supports x1. And it can only fit a 2230 card. So if you're not using it for a WLAN card, and you have an adapter, and your NVMe card is 2230, and you don't care about speed, it works. It works for me.

      The ones that don't work are the WLAN card sockets that only have an E-key. Its not a real M.2 standard socket. Part of the wifi card functionality is on the card, and the rest is in the chipset. Intel started doing it, now AMD is doing the same.

• 

  GordonD on 06/01/2025 - 21:56

  +2

  The first M.2 slot, M2_1 will only take an NVMe drive.

  The second M.2 slot, M2_2, will take either an NVMe drive or an M.2 SATA drive. If you fit an NVMe drive in that slot you do not lose one of the SATA ports. You will only lose one of the SATA ports if you fit an M.2 SATA drive in M2_2 slot.

  Note that if you are not using M2_2 to fit an NVMe drive, and you want to connect even more SATA HDDs, you can get an adapter that goes in an M.2 slot that has up to 6x SATA ports on it. Like this:
  https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/146103614186?_skw=M.2+to+sata+ad…

  • 

    QuickToThePointless on 06/01/2025 - 22:10

    thanks - already looked into these/LSA cards

    have a great night!

• 

  Screamingeagle on 06/01/2025 - 22:01

  There are 2 M.2 slots. Slot 1 (M2_1) supports PCIe drives (like the one you have listed). Slot 2 (M2_2) supports both PCIe drives and SATA drives. If you were to use a SATA M.2 drive in slot 2, then SATA port 8 would be disabled. If you were to use a PCIe drive in slot 2 (like the drive you have listed), all 4 SATA ports would work.

  So to answer your question, your combination will work.

  Source https://download-2.msi.com/archive/mnu_exe/mb/PROB760M-AWIFI…

  • 

    QuickToThePointless on 06/01/2025 - 22:11

    thanks - really appreciate your response, ozbargain community never lets me down any time i ask a question!

    have a great night!

• 

  bazingaa on 06/01/2025 - 23:24

  I have MSI Z690 Tomahawk WIFI, I use 6 M.2 drives (4 slots + 2 addons), It also has 6 SATA ports, but I am only using 1 (no space in my case), good motherboard if you can find one for a good price.

  Kingston NV2

  try get an Kingston KC3000 at least, it is cheap now