PCIe NVMe adapter card advice?

Splinterdog · Aug 25, 2022

I have a spare 500Gb NVMe drive and rather than sell it I'd like to use it for games/data storage on my main gaming machine, but I'm not sure which slot to use or which adaptor to buy.
I'd prefer a single slot card (some have SATA and NVMe slots on the same card) like this one:

Here's a diagram of the slots showing what's free on my Crosshair Hero VII.

Thanks for any help given

1freedude · Aug 25, 2022

Have you considered USB external enclosure? I used a docking station that connected to the PC (laptop in this case) by 2x USB 3.x type Cs that included a m.2 slot. Pretty slick device.

Splinterdog · Aug 25, 2022

1freedude said:
Have you considered USB external enclosure? I used a docking station that connected to the PC (laptop in this case) by 2x USB 3.x type Cs that included a m.2 slot. Pretty slick device.

Yes, I already have one for an M.2 sata drive and they are really cool. But I need this to use inside the PC as an extra drive.

JorgeRod · Aug 25, 2022

I have the same adapter. It works fine in any 4x/8x/16x PCIe slot as long as it is not shared with the m.2 slots.
See the motherboard manual but i put it in the third or fifth slot

bonehead123 · Aug 25, 2022

In your situation, put the adapter in slot 3 for the best performance.

Splinterdog · Aug 25, 2022

JorgeRod said:
I have the same adapter. It works fine in any 4x/8x/16x PCIe slot as long as it is not shared with the m.2 slots.
See the motherboard manual but i put it in the third or fifth slot

Just ordered the PCIe adaptor and will report back tomorrow. Never fitted one of these so it should be interesting.

Toothless · Aug 25, 2022

I've used about five of different brands. The one you picked will be fine.

Count von Schwalbe · Aug 25, 2022

JorgeRod said:
I have the same adapter. It works fine in any 4x/8x/16x PCIe slot as long as it is not shared with the m.2 slots.
See the motherboard manual but i put it in the third or fifth slot

bonehead123 said:
In your situation, put the adapter in slot 3 for the best performance.

Please note that using slot 3 *MAY* drop your GPU to 8 lanes of PCIe. I would recommend slot 5.

oobymach · Aug 25, 2022

I have 2 of these in use atm, they support gen 4 drives so full speed. Plug and play no driver needed. Only complaint from people is it has a red led on it which is fairly bright.

As mentioned don't use slot 3 as it probably shares lanes with the gpu in slot 1.

GLOTRENDS M.2 PCIe NVMe 4.0/3.0 Adapter with 0.12 Inch Thick M.2 Heatsink for M.2 PCIe SSD (NVMe and AHCI), PCI-E GEN4 Full Speed, Desktop PC Installation (PA09-HS) - Newegg.com

Buy GLOTRENDS M.2 PCIe NVMe 4.0/3.0 Adapter with 0.12 Inch Thick M.2 Heatsink for M.2 PCIe SSD (NVMe and AHCI), PCI-E GEN4 Full Speed, Desktop PC Installation (PA09-HS) with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.ca

Toothless · Aug 25, 2022

oobymach said:
I have 2 of these in use atm, they support gen 4 drives so full speed. Plug and play no driver needed. Only complaint from people is it has a red led on it which is fairly bright.

As mentioned don't use slot 3 as it probably shares lanes with the gpu in slot 1.

GLOTRENDS M.2 PCIe NVMe 4.0/3.0 Adapter with 0.12 Inch Thick M.2 Heatsink for M.2 PCIe SSD (NVMe and AHCI), PCI-E GEN4 Full Speed, Desktop PC Installation (PA09-HS) - Newegg.com

Buy GLOTRENDS M.2 PCIe NVMe 4.0/3.0 Adapter with 0.12 Inch Thick M.2 Heatsink for M.2 PCIe SSD (NVMe and AHCI), PCI-E GEN4 Full Speed, Desktop PC Installation (PA09-HS) with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!

www.newegg.ca

Electrical tape on the LED, though mine helps me see if my desktop is actually working.

bonehead123 · Aug 26, 2022

Toothless said:
Electrical tape on the LED, though mine helps me see if my desktop is actually working.

yuk, I prefer a dab of black nail polish or model paint. much less ghetto, hehehe

Splinterdog · Aug 26, 2022

I took the advice, put it in slot 5 and it works a treat.
Now to clear out some crap and make some space for games

System Name	Ryzen Monster
Processor	Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair Hero VII WiFi
Cooling	Corsair H100i RGB Platinum
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB (4x8GB) 3200Mhz CMW16GX4M2C3200C16
Video Card(s)	Asus ROG Strix RX5700XT OC 8Gb
Storage	WD Black 500GB NVMe 250Gb Samsung SSD, OCZ 500Gb SSD WD M.2 500Gb, plus three spinners up to 1.5Tb
Display(s)	LG 32GK650F-B 32" UltraGear™ QHD
Case	Cooler Master Storm Trooper
Audio Device(s)	Supreme FX on board
Power Supply	Corsair RM850X full modular
Mouse	Corsair M65 Pro
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe RGB Silent
VR HMD	Headphones Logitech G533 wireless
Software	Windows 11 Start 11
Benchmark Scores	3DMark Time Spy 4532 (9258 March 2021, 9399 July 2021)

Processor	Xeon x5650
Motherboard	SABERTOOTH X58
Cooling	Fans
Memory	24 GB Kingston HyperX 1600
Video Card(s)	GTX 1060 3GB
Storage	small ssd
Display(s)	Dell 2001F, BenQ short throw
Case	Lian Li
Audio Device(s)	onboard
Power Supply	X750
Software	Mint 19.3, Win 10
Benchmark Scores	not so fast...

System Name	Ryzen Monster
Processor	Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard	Asus ROG Crosshair Hero VII WiFi
Cooling	Corsair H100i RGB Platinum
Memory	Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB (4x8GB) 3200Mhz CMW16GX4M2C3200C16
Video Card(s)	Asus ROG Strix RX5700XT OC 8Gb
Storage	WD Black 500GB NVMe 250Gb Samsung SSD, OCZ 500Gb SSD WD M.2 500Gb, plus three spinners up to 1.5Tb
Display(s)	LG 32GK650F-B 32" UltraGear™ QHD
Case	Cooler Master Storm Trooper
Audio Device(s)	Supreme FX on board
Power Supply	Corsair RM850X full modular
Mouse	Corsair M65 Pro
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe RGB Silent
VR HMD	Headphones Logitech G533 wireless
Software	Windows 11 Start 11
Benchmark Scores	3DMark Time Spy 4532 (9258 March 2021, 9399 July 2021)

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
Motherboard	Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus
Cooling	Fractal Celsius S36
Memory	32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 3200 MHz
Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 3080 Suprim X
Storage	PNY CS3140 1TB SSD/Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB/INTEL SSD 750/Samsung SSD 860 QVO 1TB
Display(s)	Asus ROG XG32AQ
Case	Corsair Obsidian 900D
Audio Device(s)	Onboard audio
Power Supply	Corsair AX860
Mouse	Corsair M65 RGB
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe RGB
Software	Microsoft Windows 11 Pro

System Name	The Little One
Processor	i5-11320H @4.4GHZ
Motherboard	AZW SEI
Cooling	Fan w/heat pipes + side & rear vents
Memory	64GB Crucial DDR4-3200 (2x 32GB)
Video Card(s)	Iris XE
Storage	WD Black SN850X 4TB m.2, Seagate 2TB SSD + SN850 4TB x2 in an external enclosure
Display(s)	2x Samsung 43" & 2x 32"
Case	Practically identical to a mac mini, just purrtier in slate blue, & with 3x usb ports on the front !
Audio Device(s)	Yamaha ATS-1060 Bluetooth Soundbar & Subwoofer
Power Supply	65w brick
Mouse	Logitech MX Master 2
Keyboard	Logitech G613 mechanical wireless
Software	Windows 10 pro 64 bit, with all the unnecessary background shitzu turned OFF !
Benchmark Scores	PDQ

PCIe NVMe adapter card advice?

Splinterdog

1freedude

Splinterdog

JorgeRod

bonehead123

Splinterdog

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

Count von Schwalbe

oobymach

GLOTRENDS M.2 PCIe NVMe 4.0/3.0 Adapter with 0.12 Inch Thick M.2 Heatsink for M.2 PCIe SSD (NVMe and AHCI), PCI-E GEN4 Full Speed, Desktop PC Installation (PA09-HS) - Newegg.com

Toothless

Tech, Games, and TPU!

GLOTRENDS M.2 PCIe NVMe 4.0/3.0 Adapter with 0.12 Inch Thick M.2 Heatsink for M.2 PCIe SSD (NVMe and AHCI), PCI-E GEN4 Full Speed, Desktop PC Installation (PA09-HS) - Newegg.com

bonehead123

Splinterdog

System Name	Veral
Processor	5950x
Motherboard	Asus Crosshair VIII Hero Wi-Fi
Cooling	Corsair H150i RGB Elite
Memory	2x16GB G.Skill TridentZ
Video Card(s)	Powercolor 7900XTX Red Devil
Storage	Crucial P5 Plus 1TB, Samsung 980 1TB, Teamgroup MP34 4TB
Display(s)	Acer Nitro XZ342CK Pbmiiphx + 2x AOC 2425W
Case	Fractal Design Meshify Lite 2
Audio Device(s)	Blue Yeti + SteelSeries Arctis 5 / Samsung HW-T550
Power Supply	Corsair HX850
Mouse	Corsair Nightsword
Keyboard	Corsair K55
VR HMD	HP Reverb G2
Software	Windows 11 Professional
Benchmark Scores	PEBCAK

System Name	Work Computer \| Unfinished Computer
Processor	Core i7-6700 \| Ryzen 5 5600X
Motherboard	Dell Q170 \| Gigabyte Aorus Elite Wi-Fi
Cooling	A fan? \| Truly Custom Loop
Memory	4x4GB Crucial 2133 C17 \| 4x8GB Corsair Vengeance RGB 3600 C26
Video Card(s)	Dell Radeon R7 450 \| RTX 2080 Ti FE
Storage	Crucial BX500 2TB \| TBD
Display(s)	3x LG QHD 32" GSM5B96 \| TBD
Case	Dell \| Heavily Modified Phanteks P400
Power Supply	Dell TFX Non-standard \| EVGA BQ 650W
Mouse	Monster No-Name $7 Gaming Mouse\| TBD

System Name	New compy
Processor	AMD Ryzen 5800x3D
Motherboard	MSI MPG x570S EDGE MAX WiFi
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15S w. FHP141 + Xigmatek AOS XAF-F1451
Memory	32gb G.Skill Ripjaws V Samsung B-Die Dual Rank F4-4000C16D-32GVKA
Video Card(s)	ASUS TUF GAMING RTX 4070ti
Storage	17tb (8+4tb WD Black HDD's, 2+2+0.5+0.5tb M.2 SSD Drives) + 16tb WD Red Pro backup drive
Display(s)	Alienware AW2518H 24" 240hz, Sony X85K 43" 4k 120hz HDR TV
Case	Thermaltake Core v71
Audio Device(s)	iFi Nano Idsd Le, Creative T20 + T50, Sennheiser HD6Mix
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova G2 1000w
Mouse	Logitech G502 Hero custom w. G900 scroll wheel mod, Rival 3 + Rival 3 wireless, JLab Epic Mouse
Keyboard	Corsair K68 RGB + K70 RGB + K57 RGB Wireless + Logitech G613
Software	Win 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores	https://valid.x86.fr/s2y7ny