SSD 960 EVO NVMe M.2 500GB and Asus LGA1150 Z97 Maximus VII Hero

[Bogdanov89]

Can anyone please check and verify is the newest Samsung SSD 960 EVO NVMe M.2 500GB compatible with the motherboard Asus LGA1150 Z97 MAXIMUS VII HERO?

I tried comparing the specifications but I am not familiar with tech so I don't want to make an expensive mistake.

Thank you very much for helping me out.

 

[Annunaki Saki]

M.2 (2280) slot is on that Z97 Maximus VII Hero, yes.

You're fine using it.

 

[LNCPapa]

It should work just fine on that board but it may not run at the maximum theoretical speed. I believe M.2 is limited to PCI-E 2.0 X2 on that board. In real world performance I don't know that you'd even see the different though.

 

[Annunaki Saki]

I've avoided M.2 drives so far. I'm of the opinion it adds case and mobo heat. For little performance gain over SATA ssd.

 

[LNCPapa]

Not the case (for me anyway) - my last 3 builds have all used NVMe drives. They are considerably faster and I've noticed no additional heat. Places where you'll really notice the speed is compression/decompression tasks which I happen to do a lot of. Some apps will launch slightly faster than a traditional SSD also. I also think that aesthetically they look a lot better.
https://goo.gl/photos/tcMvRRh4MMgUho2Y7

 

[Annunaki Saki]

You are likely right regarding a performance increase, just researched it.

I based my opinion on a friends computer, it doesn't seem as quick as mine. And his case temps are much higher.

 

[LNCPapa]

I forgot to mention - you can also do some crazy speed backups!