Can I Use a Gen 4 SSD in a Gen 5 Slot?

December 6, 2025 3 answers
Asked by RandomGamer42
I have a 2TB NVMe SSD (the 990 Pro) and an MSI x870 Gaming Wifi Plus motherboard. There's a Gen 5 slot at the top and two Gen 4 slots at the bottom. Should I install my SSD in the Gen 5 slot for better performance, or does it need to be in a Gen 4 slot? I've heard the Gen 5 slot has the lowest latency, but I'm not sure if I should use it there or stick to where the SSD is technically supposed to go.

Answers

SpeedyDriveX
Yep, go for it! You can use your Gen 4 SSD in that Gen 5 slot without worrying about performance loss. Just remember that any drive will run at the speed of the slowest compatible version.
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ChipMaster84
Of course you can. I've got a couple of Gen 4 SSDs in my Gen 5 slots too. You won't see a noticeable difference in performance for gaming, even if you were using Gen 3.
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TechSavvy93
Definitely put your SSD in the Gen 5 slot, especially since itโ€™ll be your main drive. It takes advantage of the faster interface and is backward compatible with the PCIe standards, so you wonโ€™t have any issues there.
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