Both of my motherboard's M.2 slots are already occupied, and I accidentally bought another 1TB NVMe SSD when I actually needed additional storage. I'm considering a PCIe adapter that lets me install the NVMe drive in an available PCIe slot. The drive won't be used as a boot device—it would only store games, downloads, and other files. I'm using an MSI Pro B650 AM5 motherboard. Will this setup work reliably, and will it affect gaming performance?
3 Answers
Make sure you search for a PCIe-to-NVMe adapter. Some listings reverse the wording and describe adapters that let a PCIe card connect through an NVMe slot, which isn’t what you need. Also check which PCIe generation and slot configuration your motherboard supports; the drive may not reach its maximum advertised speed if the slot is slower or has limited lanes.
Yes, an NVMe drive installed through a PCIe adapter should work essentially like one installed directly in an M.2 slot. For game storage, you shouldn’t notice any meaningful difference as long as the adapter uses an appropriate PCIe x4 connection and your motherboard has the required lanes available.
This should be perfectly fine for games and downloads, and not needing to boot from it makes compatibility simpler. The main thing to verify is your motherboard’s slot-sharing behavior. On some boards, using particular M.2 or PCIe slots can reduce the graphics card to x8 or disable another slot, although that usually has little practical impact depending on the configuration.
The graphics card is installed in its dedicated PCIe slot, and the additional slots are underneath it. I’m only planning to use the adapter for the extra game drive.