SilverStone Technology M.2 PCIE Adapter for SATA or PCIE NVMe SSD with Advanced Thermal Solution (ECM22)

My motherboard only had one m.2 pcie slot, but we needed extended storage so I paired this along with a WD Black 2TB M.2 Pcie. I've run several leading benchmarks and that drive works just as well as the one on my motherboard. We use this for games since the WD Black supports direct storage.I'll note that I generally receive speeds around 3,000 MB/s, not the drives top potential of 5,400. But as I said it's similar to the internal slot and impressive for 38 dollars.I have a Dell XPS 8940 Desktop maxed out with an 11th Generation Intel Core i9-11900KF, 64 gigs of RAM and a 3070, if that matters.I do not currently use the sata connection.Also, I'm only kinda a tech nerd. Not a full one. Sorry if I misused any terms.

This adapter was just what I wanted for my computer. I did not have any available M.2 NVMe slots on my motherboard but wanted to expand my NVMe SSD capacity. The adapter uses a PCIe x4 slot. The adapter provides a slot for a M.2 NVMe card as well as a M.2 SATA SSD slot. I am currently not using M.2 SATA slot but likely will in the future. The adapter is well made. I was impressed with exposed gold inlays which improves SSD cooling.

I bought this since I was intending to replace my 2.5" Patriot Blast SSD that crashed with a Samsung 970 EVO M.2 drive. Knowing I did not have an M.2 slot on my board the SilverStone Technology M.2 PCIE Adapter for SATA or PCIE NVMe SSD with Advanced Thermal Solution (ECM22) seemed like a great option allowing for use of the newer style M.2 drives on a PCIe lane AND it has an extra slot to use the last generation of M.2 drives as a SATA drive.My only issues I had were not related to this card but to configuring the drive through my BIOS and getting it to boot properly. My system immediately identified the drive as connected with this card I just had to get creative about getting Windows 10 to install and boot from my Samsung 970 EVO that was attached.I ended up creating a UEFI Bootable Windows 10 USB install drive and did a fresh install to the connected 970 EVO. Once Windows 10 was installed I was able to reconnect my other drives and set the PCIe slotted EVO 970 as the boot drive and my system started up lighting fast without so much as a hiccup.

Will make this short... This card was almost perfect, but had to take away a star for inconsistent thermal compound pad.The GOOD:-Works with both Samsung EVO 970 NVMe, and also WD Blue SSD B+M key drives.-No drivers were required for use with Windows 10 (1909).-Well designed and crafted, did not feel cheap.-Configuration and installation was easy, no struggles.-WD Blue B+M key works great as primary boot drive connected to the SATA bus.-Works with older motherboard and chipset.One complaint:-The thermal compound pads were uneven and inconsistent in size. One pad was way thicker than the other, so the pad sitting under the WD Blue M+B key drive is not touching. This means there is a gap and the "heat" that the thermal compound is suppose to be transferring to the metal plating is actually not being transferred. This isn't a big deal for me because of the way I have the MB mounted. But, if you are running a really hot rig config, you may not be happy.My Config:-Windows 10 (1909)-Intel i7-3770K @ 3.50GHz-Gigabyte GA-H67A-UD3H-B3 (PCIe v2.0)-WD Blue SATA SSD M+B key, for Windows boot drive. (SATA 3.0 bus)-Samsung 970 EVO NVMe, for gaming installs. (PCIe 2.0 x16 lane bus, card uses up to x4 lanes)

I like that this freed up one of my x16 lanes. And the read and write speeds didn't take a hit either. If you've got another pci lane available (like where you'd but a gpu) and need extra storage/sata isn't available (though you should leave one sata port available) then this will create up to two more storage spaces.To elaborate, you can use ONE nvme m.2 and one SATA m.2. you need a Sata port available and a sata cable. Just so you don't feel like you get cheated I wanted to help make that clear. So again, ONE nvme m.2, ONE SATA m.2 with sata cable.

This was perfect for my 10 yr old win 7 computer. I was having trouble with Witcher 3 glitching on me even though I have two video cards synced and 16gb of memory. Then I read that upgrading my hd might resolve the situation and it has. I put one of each card into the device and use the slower one for my OS and the faster one for my games and now I can run Witcher 3 on ultra graphics smoothly. Plus if I do upgrade at some point in the future, I'll be able to use the same cards in the new machine.

painfully slow under mac os catalina.installation was a breezy in my mac pro 2019, but drives are painfully slow.my sandisk nvme gets 128MBS write and 402 mbs readthe sata m.2 ssd gets only 365mbs write and 500mbs read

I had seen these SSD's, super fast, measures 1 x 3 inches, and installed this adapter with an 'M' key SSD. The adapter has provisions for both 'B' type and 'M' type keys. I loaded a copy of my 'C' drive and booted the system. Worked great. Silverstone makes beautiful 'stuff'.