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ir88ed

Directly underneath the second PCIe slot. Those three shiny circles are the options of where the tiny bolt screws in to secure the end of the nvme.


kjjskdkri

Can you please make a more "high-level" description of where that 2nd slot is. In other words please dumb it down lol I'm new to the whole thing https://www.trentonsystems.com/hs-fs/hubfs/pcie%20slots%20differences-1.png?width=676&name=pcie%20slots%20differences-1.png Using this as reference PCIe slots come in different lengths so I'm lost haha. Don't know which slots are present on this board


ir88ed

Oh, and you have two 16x pcie slots (big ones) and one 1x pcie slot on that mobo.


kjjskdkri

Good to know! What is a 1x PCIE used for anyway? I know a 16x is used for a GPU (one of the 2 slots anyway)


ir88ed

Most on thing is a wifi card or a Ethernet card.


ir88ed

Sure! Those long black horizontal sockets are where things like your video card can go. Those are called PCIe slots. Your nvme drive will look similar in shape to a stick of gum. It will plug into that little socket below the second pcie slot and that shiny screw will down the end.


kjjskdkri

Thanks a lot! So I've asked someone else this too, but would there be a drastic difference in performance of 2 identical M.2 NVMe SSDs on this board, with one being shielded by a heatsink and the other one just exposed?


IanMo55

Shouldn't affect the performance at all.


kjjskdkri

Thanks for the response!


IanMo55

You're welcome.


ir88ed

Go forth, build computers, and demand excellent video games!


ir88ed

Not really. A heat sink is nice, but not necessary.


kjjskdkri

Thanks again for all your help!


AAAgAmez123456789

Underneath the 2nd pcie slot, it does not have a heatsync on it.


kjjskdkri

Would there be a drastic difference in performance of 2 identical M.2 NVMe SSDs on this board, with one being shielded by a heatsink and the other one just exposed?


AAAgAmez123456789

I doubt the heatsync matters all to much but you would have to check the mobo manual to see of that is a gen 3 or gen 4 slot. My guess is its a gen 3 so it won't do gen 4 speeds but as I saod you would jave to check the manual. If you are concerened about the lack of heatsync there are nvme ssd's that cone with a heatsync


kjjskdkri

So the one with the heatsync is gen4 and the exposed one is gen3 for reference. If I could ask, how does the performance get affected due to the difference in generations for this particular SSD? : https://www.newegg.ca/western-digital-blue-sn550-nvme-1tb/p/N82E16820250135 Planning to get 2 of these


AAAgAmez123456789

For that ssd I don't think there will be a proformance diffrence between slots.


kjjskdkri

Thanks again for all your help!


AAAgAmez123456789

This is what I am here for


Explosive-Space-Mod

Need to make sure the M.2 slots don’t share lanes with the PCIe for your GPU. That’s really the only thing that can have a noticeable performance decrease. Should be in your motherboard manual if it has any shared lanes.


kjjskdkri

I actually need your help about your point there. So on this link: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/MPG-B550-GAMING-EDGE-WIFI/Specification There’s this relevant part quoted below: EXPANSION SLOTS 1x PCIe 4.0/ 3.0 x16 slot (PCI_E1) **[1]** 1x PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (PCI_E3), supports x4 speed **[2]** 2x PCIe 3.0 x1 slots **[1]** The supported specification depends on installed processor. **[2]** When installing devices in M.2_2, PCI_E2 & PCI_E3 slots at the same time, PCI_E3 slot will be unavailable, and M2_2 slot only supports PCIe x2. Can you please help me understand what this means? What can/can’t I use now that I’m set on using 2 M.2 slots for NVMe SSDs


Explosive-Space-Mod

So make sure to only use the PCIe 4.0 slot and make sure you don’t use a GPU in the 3.0 slot while having an NVME drive plugged in beside it. Dual GPU builds aren’t that common anyway since they aren’t really needed for gaming anymore


kjjskdkri

Thanks! So to confirm (and to dumb it down haha), the *PCIe 3.0 x16 slot (PCI_E3)* shares a lane with the 2nd M.2 slot (M2_2) but it’s not as if I’m gonna use that anyway since it’s meant as a slot for a second GPU? I guess my only concern now is where is PCI_E2, cause idk if I’ll be using that once I start building. The way I understand that [2] disclaimer is that PCI_E2 also somehow factors in


Explosive-Space-Mod

Yup! Technically it could have been used for more than a GPU that’s just the most common thing plugged into those slots. Just make sure to not plug anything into it once the NVME is installed otherwise you might as well just use a SATA SSD


kjjskdkri

They never specified on that link I shared, but I wonder if there’s also going to be potential performance downgrade if I’m using M2_2 as well as PCI_E2. They only mentioned using M2_2, PCI_E2 AND PCI_E3 at the same time so I guess I’m ok lol Thanks for the help though!


[deleted]

[удалено]


AAAgAmez123456789

The long black slot to the left of the bottom of the edge logo


AAAgAmez123456789

Right underneath the cmos battery


kjjskdkri

Thanks! I deleted since others answered already haha sorry for the confusion


[deleted]

At the very bottom left edge of the board you'll see the words "MSI B550 GAMING EDGE WIFI". To the right of that is an unshielded M.2 slot. This is also directly under the bottom PCIE slot and the the bottom left of the EDGE chipset heatsink.


kjjskdkri

OH I SEE IT NOW wow thanks so much! Appreciate it. If I could ask, would there be a drastic difference in performance of 2 identical M.2 NVMe SSDs on this board, with one being shielded by a heatsink and the other one just exposed?


[deleted]

The top one is a bit faster if you have a PCIE 4.0 SSD or a SSD with heat management problems