NVME PCIe x16 Adapter, ELECTOP M.2 Key-M SSD to PCI 3.0 Express Expansion Card, Support 2230/2242/2260/2280 with Heat Sink, Compatible with Windows XP / 7/8 / 10 & MAC OS System

Just to give a little background info, I built my PC in 2015, I am running a Intel i7-4790K OC to 4.6 GHz with Cooler Master Hyper Evo 212, ASUS Z97-AR mobo, 32 GB G.Skill ARES DDR3-2400MHz RAM(11-13-13-31), 250GB Samsung Evo 850 SSD, and EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 SSC 2GB. So my build isnt exactly the newest, but still holds its own in all departments outside the GPU.I decided I wanted to upgrade some of the parts of my PC that wouldnt be a huge investment, and that would also be able to be brought over to a new build when I decide to do that in the next couple years.The first upgrade was a 500GB Western Digital SN750 w/ Heatsink NVMe SSD. I was able to snag the 500GB WD SN750 with Heatsink for $90 which in my opinion is quite the steal, considering NVMe’s run hot, I was quite happy to take advantage of the sale and spend more then originally planned(250gb, no heatsink) to get the 500gb heatsink model. Because of this, I DID NOT USE the heatsink that came as part of this kit. Because of this I cannot speak to this products ability to stay cool utilizing the included thermal pads and heatsink, but it does seem to be decent quality(nothing amazing, and certainly not as nice as the OEM heatsink by EKWB on my SN750). I will save that if I need it for any additional NVMe’s in future builds.I did this because my Samsung Evo SATA SSD was near full, as well as to get a faster and larger boot drive. The problem is, since I have a motherboard that is 5-6 years old, it predates NVMe SSD’s. Luckily, ASUS did a BIOS update that allowed NVMe to work on all Z97 and Z99 boards in 2016 in the onBoard M.2 slot. However, my built in M.2 slot only runs at PCIe 2.0 x2. This Add-on board allowed me to choose from running the WD SN750 at PCI 2.0 x8, in my 3rd PCIe x16 slot(the 3rd PCIe x16 slot on my motherboard is only PCIe 2.0), OR PCIe 3.0 x4 in the second PCIe x16 slot. While I was worried the impact using the 2nd PCIe 3.0 x16 slot would have on my GPU, and future GPU(next upgrade), I did some research and found that there is less then 1% impact on FPS in most use cases when gaming at 1440p or below running a GPU at x8. Because of this, I chose to utilize the second PCIe slot to get full speed.Please keep in mind, you WILL NOT be able to boot from this addon if your motherboard doesnt natively support an M.2 SSD. You MIGHT be able to use it for storage(do some research) but you WILL NOT be able to boot from it. I was lucky that ASUS was such an early adapter of M.2 and was able to send just a simple BIOS update to support NVMe. Also, if you have an ASUS Z97 or Z99, as I said all those boards got BIOS updates to support NVMe, but if you dont have an M.2 slot natively you STILL CANT BOOT FROM IT. If you do have a native M.2 slot, you WILL likely have to adjust some settings in your BIOS to boot from an NVMe. I had to adjust the CSM settings, as well as some others in ‘boot’ and ‘advanced’ in BIOS.To give you an idea of the speed improvement, my Samsung Evo 850 had a Seq Read speed of 530mb/s. Using the onboard M.2 slot, the WD SN750 clocked in at 830mb/s, still a big improvement and worthwhile of the upgrade considering I will also be able to use it on my next build. Finally, after getting this addon card to be able to use my 2nd PCIe 3.0 x16 slot, running at PCIe 3.0 x4 my NVMe is getting 3300mb/s speeds. I did not test the PCIe 2.0 x8 slot, but can imagine it would likely be in the ballpark of around 1800mb/s. Images attached, pic1 is now, pic2 is using onboard M.2 PCIe 2.0 x2, and pic3 is SATA SSD.I will keep this review updated if there are any issues with the addon, and to add the speed of the PCIe 2.0 x8 slot, im doing some fan maintenance and will be moving some things around so ill test it in the future.All in all, I would definitely recommend this product to anyone who had an extra PCIe 2.0 or 3.0 x16 slot that is not being used, especially if your mobo natively supports M.2 allowing you to boot from the addon card, AND doesnt run at PCIe 2.0 x8 or PCIe 3.0 x4 speeds. Great investment for the price, and I also like how this device is NOT an addon that takes an additional slot in the back of the case, it just sits inside the PC.One negative thing I will say, is that the addon card has some bright blue LED lights that will pulse on And off every few seconds. In my use case I hardly see it, but that could be a make or break for someone highly invested in the aesthetics of their build.I WILL KEEP THIS REVIEW UPDATED IF THERE ARE ANY ISSUES MOVING FORWARD.

I bought this, along with B07MTQTNVR Sabrent 2TB Rocket NVMe PCIe M.2 2280 Internal SSD High Performance Solid State Drive, to add a couple TB of internal storage to my 2019 Mac Pro. It works as expected and was easy to assemble & install. I'm a bit confused by the silicone pads, as I thought silicone would insulate heat rather than spread it, but it seems to work. One note: The silicone pads DO have two plastic covers, one on each side. One is thick and easy to remove. The other side is very thin, so I had to use a tiny screwdriver to get it to separate from the pad. Not a big deal once I figured it out. The pads go on both sides of the NVME drive, not on each side of the card. See screenshot of performance comparisons. Performance seemed to vary with Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, so if your results are different, that's why.

Received product and an nvme pcie ssd together. Works instantly on installation. The rubber thermal strip is a slight pain to line up straight as it does somewhat affect putting the heatsinks back together. This will run a full 16 pci lanes regardless of what configuration your slot is in. Keep that in mind for older boards that only support 16 to 32 pci lanes.

Trying to remove the heatsink to install my SSD for the FIRST TIME the screws would not remove very easily, I got two of them out to find they have superglue on the threads, the other two were not so lucky and started to strip. Maybe I got a returned item that someone thought it would be funny to reinstall the screws with superglue. Thanks for the paperweight!

I used this to install a Samsung 970 Evo NVME as an OS drive on a PCIE 3.0 x16 slot. Assembly was quick and easy, temps are good and speeds are excellent. As my title states, this adapter works like a charm. I wouldn't hesitate to use one of these on another build. Excellent value!

At first I did not bother with the heat sink as it looked cheap. I have an evo 970 pro and it runs hot at full load. 80c. After putting the sink on I can't get it above 59c and even at a moderate load stays at 50c.Highly recommend!

It worked. I was surprised.When linked with a PCIe3.0 slot, the results met the specifications of my drive, Addlink S70 512 GB. >3400 MB/s seq read, see photo. This was able to be recognized as a boot drive for this relatively new motherboard MSI x470.When used in a PCIe2.0 slot, it produced the same results compared to same drive directly into the motherboards m.2 slot at PCIe2.0x4 interface. Photo of 1572.10 MB/s.When used in 2010 motherboard PCI 2.0 slot (same drive) the results were not as fast as above, but likely limited by the older system. This was not able to be recognized as a boot drive on this 10 year old motherboard.

I wasn't initially sure about purchasing this as they are alot of cheap NVME to PCIE adapters. I have had it since November and its been working with no issues, I am getting the speeds I was expecting. I just wish it didnt have the blinking blue leds at the top.