I'm looking to install a Kingston NV3 NVMe SSD, which is PCIe 4.0, on my ASUS TUF Gaming B550M-Plus motherboard with a Ryzen 5 5600X. My motherboard has two M.2 slots: the top one supports PCIe 4.0, but the bottom one only supports PCIe 3.0. I'm considering putting the SSD in the PCIe 3.0 slot because it has a better heatsink, which I prefer over buying a cooling solution for the top slot. I'm aware that there's a potential speed loss (around 1500 MB/s). Since my other drive is just a SATA SSD, which runs around 500 MB/s and is fast enough for my needs, I wonder if it's a bad idea to go with the PCIe 3.0 slot. Will this impact performance noticeably in real-world use, or is it manageable?
5 Answers
Heatsinks aren't always essential unless you're pushing the limits with a PCIe 5.0 SSD. For most PCIe 4.0 drives, especially in a gaming setup, it's not necessary unless you're experiencing overheating.
Honestly, just stick it in the first slot if you can. Some SSDs can run hot, and even under light load, they can reach temperatures that make a heatsink worthwhile.
Installing the SSD in a PCIe 3.0 slot is totally fine! It will run at Gen3 speeds, which are adequate for most users. Remember, those speed ratings are for sequential reads. Unless your workload relies heavily on those speeds, you probably won’t even notice a difference in everyday usage.
Honestly, the difference between PCIe 3.0 and 4.0 is usually negligible for regular tasks. Most gaming or typical applications rely more on random I/O than on sequential read speeds, so you're unlikely to hit any bottlenecks.
You’ll do just fine. For general use, the SSD often won’t reach those max speeds anyway, so go ahead and use that PCIe 3.0 slot.
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