I recently bought an ADATA Premium M.2 Gen 4 SSD, which is rated for the PS5, and paid about 93 CAD (or 68 USD). While it works fine and some games like Street Fighter 6 load noticeably faster, I've noticed that the speed is only about 25% of what's advertised. I checked its health using CrystalDiskInfo and HD Tune, and everything seems good. My motherboard is an AORUS X470 Ultra Gaming, and their website shows two M.2 slots: one that supports PCIe 3.0 and another that supports PCIe 2.0. I think I'm using the PCIe 2.0 socket, which could be what's slowing things down. I can't find a clear answer online about the specs of M2B socket, so I'm a bit confused about how to maximize the SSD's performance.
2 Answers
Your SSD is actually a PCIe 4.0 x4 drive, but since you're using it in a PCIe 2.0 x4 slot, it's indeed only getting about 25% of its potential speed. Since PCIe 2.0 is equivalent to Gen 2, moving it to a PCIe 3.0 slot should definitely boost your speed significantly, getting you closer to its capabilities. It’s always best to match your drive’s generation to the right socket for optimal performance!
Sounds like you've got it right! A PCIe 4.0 drive in a PCIe 2.0 slot will reduce the bandwidth way down to 25%. Moving to a PCIe 3.0 slot should give you about half the maximum bandwidth, so you'll see a noticeable improvement. Just make sure your SSD is seated properly in the new slot!
Thanks! I switched it to the Gen 3 slot, and the speeds are much better now, though still not hitting the max. At least it's a good improvement!
Exactly! Since it's on a Gen 2 slot, you're losing out on so much performance. Switching to the Gen 3 slot will have a massive impact on the speed without hitting the max potential, but it'll definitely be better than what you're getting now.