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What can I use an M.2 Slot for?

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M.2 is 10gbps making it almost twice as fast (theoretical speed) as SATA 3. The M.2 drives are expensive right now but they should come down soon and they have the potential to be really fast. Ultra M.2 is even faster and uses a PCIE 2.0 X4 link for speeds over 1500MB/s.
 
To expand on his question a bit further, is a mini-PCIE slot also an M2?...always?
There's a lot of new mITX boards with a wireless adapter card on them (which I don't need), can this little card be replaced with a SSD (as long as it's vertical/capable of a full height drive).
I've hunted this down for hours last night, and can't seem to tease that info out of Gigabytes motherboard specs for their newest gamer series boards. They appear to be the same, and some motherboards even call them mPCIE/M2, but some only call them one or the other...clear as mud seems to be a growing talent.


BTW, I know super talent makes a half-height drive, but I'm more apt to trust a name like Samsung or Crucial..the Egg doesn't carry their half-heights.
 
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I believe it's like from what I see in pics:

Mini PCIE (MSATA?) = 1 notch
M2 = 2 notches
 

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mSATA, that's the one I was thinking of. Thanks Neb!
Told ya they were confusing. :D
 
Be cautious of purchasing a board with an M.2 slot. Make sure the slot is unobstructed and allows for full length m.2 cards to be used. I believe there are 3 or 4 different lengths of m.2 SSD's that are possible. Some boards only allow for the shortest (and lowest capacity) units. Study the board and check the specs and make sure it takes full length cards.
 
Yeah I've been studying my new board (ASRock Z97 Extreme 6) and it looks like it'll handle full length M2 cards :D
 
Yeah, unfortunately their mITX doesn't, being stuck at the 2242 size is a deal breaker.
Looks like Asus does though with dual standoff holes at 2260 & 2280....the size of that lovely Intel drive for $84...didn't really want to Asus again, dying to try out Asrock, but they're missing what I want by 38mm!


(Yeah, someone's been reading up on things!) ;)

Edit: Hmm, on the other hand, I'm a case modder and couldn't care less if the card stuck out the back from under the IO plate. Unless there's an unforeseen electrical/socket reason it wouldn't work. :shrug:
It would make swapping drives out from under the motherboard so much easier.
 
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go look at the asrock extreme9 manual, it shows m2 pcie and m2 sata installed in the same location and even has a support list for both types.
 
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