Z170 era boards and M.2 2280 PCI-E 3.0 x4 NVME SSD; fully compatible??

My trusty 8 year old/45,000 hour 1 TB primary storage HDD is nearly full and I want to move to SSD at 2 TB.

Motherboard is Asrock Z170M Extreme 4, performing well. I've got a 6600K in it and don't really care if I ever have a faster processor. I'll likely stick with this board and the 6600K as long as both work, which could be 10 minutes or 10 years. No new board in my present plans.

I'd just as soon avoid cabling, so am seriously considering the 2 TB Intel 660p SSD, which has the M.2 2280 form factor and connects directly to the board. It also uses the NVMe controller interface.

Intel 660p Series M.2 2280 2TB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 3D NAND Internal Solid State Drive SSDPEKNW020T8X1 - Newegg.com

This will be for data ONLY, not Windows.

Asrock documents say the SSD is compatible with the board, but I'd prefer to hear from someone who has actually used these newest-fangled drives with 3 year old 170 series boards.

Any help?

I've scanned many reviews and as you'd expect nearly all of these Intel 660p SSDs are installed on 370 and newer boards.

CountMike said:

Well, it does have:
- 1 x Ultra M.2 Socket, supports M Key type 2242/2260/2280 M.2 SATA3 6.0 Gb/s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x4 (32 Gb/s)
That's actually NVMe so that and other fast drives like that will work at full speed. It would be a pity if not used as system drive.

Thanks, Count.

Yeah, I saw that in the Asrock specs, but I still can't find an actual user who can confirm no issues with a 170 series board. I'm on the original BIOS, but I don't see any indication that newer ones provide any improvement (if needed) on this particular point.

I'm currently using a Crucial MX100 ordinary 2.5 inch SATA SSD as a system drive and am satisfied. Only 1/3 full and still rated at 90% health by SMART and is old enough to have MLC NAND. Its TBW is "only" 72, but I write only 4 TB per year, so I likely will stick with it unless I get fed up with cables entirely. I am highly resistant to keeping my system and data on the same drive. My C is only 40 GB and growing by maybe 3 GB per year.

If I recall correctly, my current board has two M.2 2280 connectors, so I could break down and get a new 240 GB M.2 2280 system drive for $60 or $80, but my more immediate concern is getting more storage.

I once swore I'd never pay over $100 for a drive again, but I'm pretty much unwilling to buy more HDDs. They say NAND prices are likely to fall significantly over the next year, so I may be able to get that Intel 660p for $200 before long.

I used two Samsung 950 nvme drives on asrock 170 extreme mobo without issue. Even raided them for a while to see what speed I could get. This was when the board first came out and with a 6700k cpu

Z170 boards natively supports NVMe drives without issue. My Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming GT board certainly did so without issue.... Thoughts on Phanteks’ Enthoo Luxe PC case.

Peace:)