Question 1

Will this drive work with an MSI Z170A SLI Plus motherboard?

From the specs:

1 x M.2 Key M Socket supports type 2280/2260/2242 storage devices in PCIE Gen3 x4 mode

- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 standard, 4.2cm/ 6cm/ 8cm length M.2 SSD cards
- Supports PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Mini-SAS SSD with Turbo U.2 Host Card*
• Supports Intel® Smart Response Technology for Intel Core™ processors
* The Turbo U.2 Host Card is not included, please purchase separately.

I don't think that I will need to buy the Turbo U.2 host card. Am I correct?

Accepted Answer

This motherboard does support the M.2 drive. The turbo U.2 host card is only if you want to connect a drive that has no M.2 connector to the M.2 port . I have this SSD and the MSI Z170-A PRO motherboard, and I had no issues.

Question 2

Can you please reccomend a ATX motherboard to use this ssd?

Accepted Answer

Best way is to go to the components > motherboards section, then check mark the M.2 option so that you can only see motherboards that have the M.2 slot! This is what I did recently and its really helpful to determine the best deals.  If you have anymore questions please ask!

Question 3

2017 DELL XPS i7 has a 256 ssd now. is this one compatible?

Accepted Answer

I can share with you that this was a huge financial loss to my family, when we bought it to put in our Dell XPS13. Our machine would not even post after we installed it. Had to put the 128 memory back in it and eat the bill. It sets on our shelf still today. Buyer beware.

Question 4

Will this work on a z270 Gaming M5 mother board?

Accepted Answer

I'm fairly certain the drive will work - according to MSI, that mainboard has two M.2 slots, plus you can always get a $20 adapter card that the drive will mount on and the card then plugs into any PCI express slot. I have a bunch of these drives and so far they have worked with every mainboard I've tried - both in M.2 slots and using the adapter card.

Question 5

Is this considered NVME?

Accepted Answer

Yes, using it as a NVMe boot disk in my laptop right now. There is a firmware update as well (intel tools are a free download)

Question 6

Is this compatible with the 15" 2016 MacBook Pro?

Accepted Answer

No, the 2016 Macbook Pro comes with and onboard, non-removable, non-upgradeable Pcie SSD that comes soldered directly onto the board
Per ifixit "The processor, RAM, and flash memory are soldered to the logic board."

Question 7

What is the difference between purchasing this retail and the advertised "reseller single pack"?

Accepted Answer

For me I know if it's retail, then it's sealed and 100% minty fresh.  If it's a reseller package you can't be certain it wasn't returned and resold already after already being used.  - you get what you pay for.

Question 8

Is there a USB adapter/case available for this style SSD?

Accepted Answer

Unfortunately those don't work for the PCIe X4 SSDs. I have tried two. Thanks

Question 9

I've been re-assimilated into the PC world and purchased an ROG GX 501v. I got the lower end model with only 256GB SSD. Will this drive work to replace my drive? What is the difference? Is cheap because it is a lot slower than my existing drive?

Accepted Answer

Based on my own benchmarking, this drive is quite fast for reads, and similar to typical SATA SSD speeds for writes.The important thing is that this drive doesn't use SATA (as most "ordinary" drives do these days), it uses M.2 instead - that's how it can read so fast, similar speeds are simply impossible with SATA. This means, though, that it has to be plugged into an M.2 slot (or it can also be plugged into a little adapter card that then goes into a PCI-express slot - I've used both approaches many times without any problems), and unlike most drives it cannot just be connected to a SATA slot with a cable. So, what you need to do is find out if your target rig has an available M.2 or PCI-express slot; without those you can't connect this drive (plus SATA SSD drives are almost always cheaper because SATA simply cannot run at the speeds that M.2 supports).

Question 10

I apologize if this is a stupid question... Can you boot on this using an AMD Ryzen build?

Accepted Answer

Yes If you mother boards chipset supports nvme (which new amd and intels do)and you also need to have a m.2 slot (which they also have these days ). I personally am running this on x79 via bios mods and riser card, speeds are slower than 960 evo or pro

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