M.2 NVMe installation question - Asus Prime H310i-Plus

[marriedman]

I am sure that most of you more experienced guys on here will chuckle, but I would rather look the fool in front of a bunch of strangers than in front of my wife!

I just bought an Asus Prime H310i-Plus used from eBay and was looking it over and realized that my NVMe will not fit where I thought it went. I downloaded the manual from Asus and is says that the M.2 slot I am looking at is actually for a wi-fi module. In the manual, the spot they point to doesn’t have anything. However, if I flip the mobo over, there is the M.2 slot. Is this common? I admit haven’t built a computer since my kids were born, but I don’t think I have ever seen anything on the bottom of a mobo.

Also, I bought a NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 drive, and this mobo supports that. But there is warnings all over the manual saying that if I am using SATA mode I will lose SATA 2. That doesn’t apply to my situation at all does it?

Like I said, I can handle looking foolish in front of you people. I don’t want my wife to think I don’t know what I am doing!

[JDM_WAAAT]

You can just use this adapter and plug into any of the open PCIe slots. I would recommend you use an x4 or above slot for best results.

JacobsParts M.2 to PCIe NVMe SSD Adapter Card 2242 2260 2280 M2 Drive to Desktop...

[JDM_WAAAT]

You can find more info on NVMe drives here:

[Official] NVMe FAQ & Info - M.2, U.2, heatsinks, and more!

NVMe Physical Interfaces M.2 [pngfuel.com (1)] Note that M.2 is a physical interface and does not describe the electrical capability of the drives. There are multiple types of M.2 drives, including: SATA (same speed as a regular 2.5" SATA SSD) ACHI (pre-NVMe PCIe, not all motherboards support it) NVMe (PCIe, fastest current standard) Double check the M.2 drive and motherboard you are looking at to ensure the drive is in fact NVMe, and that the motherboard also supports NVMe. Sizes M.2 NV…

[keeloi79]

@marriedman

I bought a NVMe PCIe Gen3 x4 drive, and this mobo supports that. But there is warnings all over the manual saying that if I am using SATA mode I will lose SATA 2. That doesn’t apply to my situation at all does it?

So I looked at the manual for that board - the M.2 is on the bottom and makes sense on this board because it is a mini-ITX and there is no top-side real estate for the SSD. Your PCIe M.2 NVMe drive will work just fine and all of your SATA ports will work. What the manual (pg 1-3) says is if you use a SATA M.2 SSD it will disable the “SATA 2” port.

E13994_PRIME_H310I-PLUS_UM_web.pdf

[marriedman]

I downloaded that same manual, it just wasn’t clicking in my head for some reason. Thanks for verifying/clarifying that for me. Now I can use the PCIe slot for a SATA controller to get 2 more drives in my case.