I have a Gigabyte B850 Gaming Wifi6 motherboard from Powerspec G757. I checked the official specs, and it says only the top M.2 slot supports PCIe 5. However, when I removed my GPU to install a PCIe 5 SSD, I noticed that both the first and second M.2 slots are labeled as PCIe 5. The third slot is labeled as PCIe 4. Also, I didn't realize I needed heatsinks for my Samsung 9100 Pro SSD until recently. I didn't buy one, just like my previous 990 EVO Plus. Do I need to get heatsinks for both of these SSDs? Here's a link to a picture for reference: https://imgur.com/a/WqUGLn5
4 Answers
It's possible that during development, they planned for both slots to support PCIe 5.0, but later decided to downgrade one for signal integrity reasons. The M2B_CPU slot could still support PCIe 5.0 because it's directly connected to the CPU. This could just be a labeling error on the factory's part!
The second M.2 slot being connected directly to the CPU does mean it could technically support PCIe 5.0. However, AMD only allows full feature support with their more expensive X chipsets, which is likely why the BIOS limits it to PCIe 4.0. It wouldn’t be the first time Gigabyte ran into legal issues over misadvertisement either!
Another possibility is that the second slot could be intended for a PCIe Wi-Fi card, which would be useful if you're considering that upgrade. It's good to check if you're planning to use it for something other than storage!
I would suspect that it's just a mistype with the labeling. If both slots were actually supposed to support PCIe 5.0, it would be highlighted as a feature. It seems more likely that a "5.0" label got mixed up during assembly. As for heatsinks, most SSDs, unless under heavy load, don't typically need them. The original EVO Plus wouldn't usually require one either!
Yeah, it’s surprising! I thought everything was automated now.
Right? You'd think they'd have a more automated process for assembly. I guess human error still happens!