Ultra m 2 что это

Ultra m 2 что это

С ассортиментом материнских плат ASRock на базе чипсета Z97 постоянный читатель знаком. Одна из моделей – Z97 Extreme6 – получила разъём «Ultra M.2» для твердотельных накопителей соответствующего исполнения. О том, какими преимуществами этот разъём обладает по сравнению с обычными гнёздами M.2, компания ASRock решила поведать в отдельном пресс-релизе.

Итак, слот Ultra M.2 соединён непосредственно с корневым комплексом PCI Express 3.0, расположенном в процессоре, в то время как стандартная реализация предполагает соединение посредством чипсета. Это снижает задержки при передаче данных.

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Кроме того, ASRock задействовала вдвое больше линий PCI Express для передачи данных. Теоретическая пропускная способность слота Ultra M.2 составляет 32 Гбит/с, что в три-шесть раз превосходит возможности стандартного M.2 с двумя или одной линией PCI Express 2.0 соответственно. На практике прирост производительности гораздо скромнее, но тоже ощутим.

ASRock

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Новости

Рожденный для высоких скоростей! ASRock Ultra M.2 Gen3 x4 32Gb/s развивает запредельную скорость передачи данных

Тайбэй, Тайвань, 12 мая 2014 года – по мере того, как на рынке появляется все больше материнских плат на платформе Intel ® 9 Series, становится очевидно, что сейчас идет постепенное продвижение в массы интерфейса PCIe Gen2 x2 M.2 для настольных компьютеров. При этом компания ASRock Inc. уже вышла в безусловные лидеры даже по этому новому направлению. Речь идет о материнской плате Z97 Extreme6, которая оснащена разъемом «Ultra M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4». При удвоенной пропускной способности разъем ASRock Ultra M.2 с легкостью преодолевает скоростные ограничения интерфейса SATA3 6Gb/s и оставляет всех конкурентов далеко позади!

Особенности Ultra M.2

Разъем Ultra M.2 – это одна из собственных технологических инноваций компании ASRock. По сравнению с обычным разъемом M.2 PCIe Gen2 x2, разъем ASRock повышает пропускную способность M.2 в два раза до уровня PCIe Gen3 x4! Это происходит благодаря особому размещению Ultra M.2 на печатной плате. На обычных материнских платах сигнал от устройства M.2 сначала поступает на бортовой чипсет, и только затем передается к CPU. А более совершенный разъем ASRock Ultra M.2 соединен с CPU напрямую, что снижает задержку сигнала и поднимает скорость передачи данных на новую высоту!

Испытайте новый уровень скорости с ASRock Ultra M.2

Максимальная расчетная скорость работы интерфейса Ultra M.2 составляет 32Gb/s, что в х6 раз быстрее, чем PCIe x1 M.2 и в х3 раза быстрее, чем PCIe x2 M.2 (рис. 1). Для сравнения производительности Ultra M.2 и обычного разъема M.2 мы провели тест скорости чтения накопителя Samsung XP941 PCIe x4 M.2 SSD на разъеме Ultra M.2 и получили результат 1,16GB/s, что на 46% быстрее, чем на разъеме PCIe x2 M.2 (рис. 2). Мы также протестировали работу накопителя класса PCIe x2 M.2 SSD на разъеме Ultra M.2. Благодаря прямой связи между интерфейсом Ultra M.2 и CPU, скорость чтения данных накопителя PCIe x2 M.2 SSD на разъеме Ultra M.2 оказалась на 8,8% выше, чем на обычном разъеме M.2. Как видно из примера на изображении 3, низкая задержка Ultra M.2 действительно имеет значение.

Z97 Extreme6 – для самых продвинутых технарей

Теперь можно смело сделать вывод о том, что интерфейс ASRock Ultra M.2 поможет преодолеть ограничения пропускной способности для настольных ПК текущего поколения. Распространение разъемов Ultra M.2 и M.2 знаменует начало новой эры скоростей передачи данных. Если вы уже столкнулись с пределом производительности HDD и находитесь в поисках нового скоростного интерфейса для вашего ПК, обратите внимание на материнскую плату ASRock Z97 Extreme6. Только с этой МП вы получите самый быстрый в мире разъем Ultra M.2, технологию ASRock Super Alloy, схему питания 12 Phase Power, звук Purity Sound™ 2, двойной LAN, интерфейс SATA Express *, ASRock Cloud и многие другие потрясающие разработки. Эта материнская плата станет для вас лучшим выбором!
* Следите за новостями.

Ultra M.2

It is always good to stay on top of the latest technologies and be able to compare them to older technologies. Ultra M.2 is a form factor and interface for connecting drives ( and other things ) to system boards.

If you are looking for an M.2 Drive you can find our guide here: Best M.2 Drive.

Ultra M.2 vs M.2

Ultra M.2 is generally faster than regular M.2.

• Ultra M.2 slots use PCIe 3.0 x4 ( or SATA )
• Regular m.2 slots use PCIe 3.0 x2 ( or SATA )

As far as I understand, Ultra M.2 is a marketing term from ASRock. It basically means any M.2 socket that supports PCIe Gen3 x4. The same socket can and often does support SATA. It doesn’t seem to be an actual part of an official specification. ASRock actually uses this term in feature lists for their system boards:

• “2 Ultra M.2 (PCIe Gen3 x4 & SATA3)”

M.2 sockets keyed for:

• Socket 2: SATA or PCIe ×2 ( B+M keyed )
• Socket 3: SATA or PCIe ×4 ( M keyed )

Speeds

Two factors that affect drives using the PCIe bus:

• PCIe generation
• PCIe slots ( x2 vs x4 )

Using more slots will result in a faster drive.

• 2 lanes PCIe 2.0 = 1GB/s
• 2 lanes PCIe 3.0 = 2GB/s
• 4 lanes PCIe 3.0 = 4GB/s

GPU / Gaming Alert — M.2 NVMe uses up PCIe lanes. This means that fewer lanes will be available to other things such as your GPU.

Terminology: NVMe vs M.2 vs Sata 3

• Drive form factor
• Slot / edge connector specification
• A replacement for Mini-SATA (mSATA)

• A protocol that uses PCIe lanes ( x2 or x4 )
• PCIe storage host controller interface
• Directly connects to CPU subsystem

• Connector
• Protocol ( doesn’t have to go over SATA connector )

M.2 sockets can support:

• SATA ( Serial ATA )
• NVMe ( PCI Express )
• Both SATA and NVMe
• USB
• Other stuff like WiFi cards and bluetooth

Protocol and Drivers Used:

• SATA/AHCI — Legacy SATA — SATA Port through the m.2 connector. Uses the AHCI driver. Can use new M.2 form factor with old driver.
• PCIe/AHCI — PCI Express using AHCI — Just AHCI over PCI Express. Uses the AHCI driver. Slower than NVMe. For backwards compatibility, slower, can’t reach full speed.
• PCIe/NVMe — PCI Express using NVMe / PCIe with NVMe driver. Fast, parallel, makes full use of PCIe lanes, works great with flash technologies, works great with parallel data transfers.

M.2 modules can include other functionality besides disks. They can be used for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and more.

It is easy to get a lot of the terms mixed up especially whent they sometimes seem to be used ambiguously. This chart should be helpful:

M.2	Drive Form Factor / Socket specification
Ultra M.2	Type of M.2 port with 4 PCIe lanes ( M key )
2.4” SATA	Drive Form Factor — standard / normal sized SSD
mSATA	Drive Form Factor — smaller card shaped SDD
PCIe Add-In Card	Drive Form Factor — a card for an actual PCIe slot
SATA 3	Protocol / Connector
NVMe	Protocol — uses PCIe
X4	Number of PCIe lanes used

SATA 3 the third revision of SATA or Serial AT Attachement. It is an interface for connecting storage media to a system’s host bus adapter (a card or builtin to the system board). NVMe or Non-Volatile Memory Express is an interface for connecting storage media through the PCIe Bus. This is generally much faster than SATA. M.2 is a drive form factor. You can actually have M.2 drives that use either NVMe connections or SATA connections. They both exist. You can actually even have USB based M.2 devices. M.2 used to be known as Next Generation Form Factor (NGFF).

M.2 Socket Types

• M.2 module cards can have 2 keys
• M.2 connectors ( sockets ) can only have 1 key
• B — commonly used for SATA and PCIe x2 ( can use up to 2 lanes )
• M — commonly used for SATA and PCIe x4 ( can use 2 to 4 lanes )
• B & M key — can fit both types of sockets
• A key — commonly used for WiFi
• E key — commonly used for WiFi
• socket 2: SATA or PCIe ×2 ( B+M keyed )
• socket 3: SATA or PCIe ×4 ( M keyed )
• other types of M.2 cards exist besides SSDs ( ex. WiFi )

M.2 Module Keys Chart

Key ID	Notched pins	Provided interfaces
A	8–15	PCIe ×2, USB 2.0, I2C and DP ×4
B	12–19	PCIe ×2, SATA, USB 2.0 and 3.0, audio, UIM, HSIC, SSIC, I2C and SMBus
C	16–23	Reserved for future use
D	20–27	Reserved for future use
E	24–31	PCIe ×2, USB 2.0, I2C, SDIO, UART and PCM
F	28–35	Future Memory Interface (FMI)
G	39–46	Reserved for custom use (unused in the M.2 specification)
H	43–50	Reserved for future use
J	47–54	Reserved for future use
K	51–58	Reserved for future use
L	55–62	Reserved for future use
M	59–66	PCIe ×4, SATA and SMBus

Types and Prodcuct Descriptions

Drives can be specified by type using a format that looks like this:

WWLL-HH-K-K

WWLL-HH-K

The potential values map out like this:

WW	width
LL	length
HH	height
K	key

You also might see the size specified by a 4 digit number like this:

In this case it is referring to a drive that is 22 mm wide and 80 mm long. The first two digits are the width and the last two digits are the length. Product descriptions will often look like this:

“Patriot Viper VPR100 M.2 2280 PCIe 1TB”

PCIE gen3 x4 Ultra M.2

You might see disks specified like this in product descriptions:

• “Gen 3.0 X4”
• “Gen3x4”
• “G3 x4”

Which drive did I choose?

I have a 1 TB M.2 NVMe Drive as a primary OS drive in my Linux workstation. Besides booting my OS it also holds most of my development and testing VMs. I previously used a 1 TB SATA M.2 drive as my OS disk. I still have both disks installed in my system and could boot off of either one for the time being. Eventually I will probably move everything off of the old drive and wipe it. I might also run some bench marks on both of them at some point.

For my NAS I don’t use anything even close to this. I have all old fashied, magnetic, spinning disks. This is totally fine for a NAS since I’m not really expecting it to be super responsive. The bottle neck is really the network.

Here is the video for the newer NVMe M.2 drive that I purchased:

Here is my write up on the newer NVMe x4 drive that I’ve ordered: Samsung 970 EVO Plus — 1TB — M.2 NVMe — V-NAND SSD.

Here is a video for the older SATA M.2 drive that I purchased:

Here is my write up on the drive from this video: Samsung 860 EVO — 1TB — SATA M 2 — V-NAND SSD.

Other Info

No hot plug functionality with M.2 drives

What screw do I use for m 2? 2.0 x 3mm (CM2x3-3.3) This may depend onthe spacing though.

Does m2 NVME need heatsink? No but you should have one to avoid overheating and thermal throttling.

Should I remove M.2 / NVMe stickers? Some people say “yes” others say “no”. It may affect the connection to the heatsink. You might want to remove the stickers and clean them with alcohol before adding the heatsink.

M.2 vs Ultra M.2: What’s the Difference and Which Is Better?

Lots of users intend to upgrade to Ultra M.2 SSD for the purpose of improving performance, while they are still confused about whether it is worthy and the difference between M.2 and Ultra M.2. Besides, the storage interfaces, compatibility, and some factors also bother many people.

You may encounter the same confusion as to the user from tom’s hardware forum:

I’ve tried to do my own research on this topic, but I’m unable to find the answer to my specific questions. I want to understand if Ultra M.2 socket uses 4x PCI-E lanes from the CPU. Would it be worth the increased SSD bandwidth to drop my single card down to 8x? What’s the difference between M.2 and Ultra M.2? My gaming is currently 1080P, so no immediate plans to upgrade my CPU to Ultra M.2. Thanks in advance for any help.https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/is-ultra-m-2-worth-it.2574877/

What Is Ultra M.2

What is Ultra M.2? To figure this question out, it is necessary to have an overall understanding of its history background, pros and cons, and key features.

History Background

The fact is that Ultra M.2 is just a marketing term that’s used by ASRock to distinguish the older 10/Gbps M.2 socket (M.2) and a full 32/Gbps M.2 socket (Ultra M.2). That’s why you can’t search for any detailed information about the Ultra M.2 form factor in Wikipedia.

As you might know, the older M.2 SSDs are not available for the maximum bandwidth, while the bandwidth has a significant impact on the performance of SSD. With the improvement of form factor technology, the Ultra M.2 slot takes advantage of those SSDs that are available for truly extreme bandwidth.

Based on the older M.2 slot, Asrock developed its own Ultra M.2 slot that can be used to support up to 4GB/s of bandwidth. This is because the Ultra M.2 slot relies on PCIe 3.0 and a more advanced interface. If it’s used on the PCIe 4.0 motherboard interface, the Ultra M2 SSD can even support up to 16GB/s bandwidth.

As the new Ultra M.2 slot provides larger bandwidth, it stimulates a big potential of some modern SSDs such as Samsung. According to the report of ASRock, its Ultra M.2 socket is 46% faster than a typical M.2 socket. Another distinctive feature is that the Ultra M.2 sockets can be connected to the CPU directly without going to the chipset.

However, the Ultra M2 socket has its own drawbacks. For example, the Ultra M.2 slot on the Intel Z97 platform PCIe 3.0 can only be supported by the microprocessor itself. Besides, it is reported that Ultra M.2 will consume 4 PCIe lanes that are used for GPU X16. So, it won’t make any sense to choose an Ultra M.2 SSD if the slot uses PCIe lanes from the chipset.

If your computer is using a relatively old graphics card or CPU, the graphics processing unit and central process may slow down due to the Ultra M.2 slot. For instance, the 16 PCIe 3.0 lanes of a CPU are used to connect a graphics card in the 16 PCIe 3.0 model or a dual GPU configuration. Once an SSD is plugged into the Ultra M.2 slot, the bandwidth between the graphics processing unit and CPU processing will be cut down by half.

In other words, you have to sacrifice a certain amount of GPU performance to get maximum SSD performance due to the insufficient bandwidth. Well, not all GPU processing will consume a massive amount of PCIe bandwidth. So, if you want to get an excellent graphics performance, Ultra M.2 may not a good option.

According to the above information, I believe that you already have an overall understanding of the Ultra M.2 slot. Let’s further exploring another important topic — M.2 vs M.2 Ultra.

M.2 VS Ultra M.2

What the difference between M.2 vs Ultra M.2? Some users think that Ultra M.2 is exactly the same as M.2. The Ultra M.2 slot is a marketing name used by ASRock to differentiate a full 32/Gbps M.2 slots and the older 10/Gbps M.2 slots.

One of the most distinctive features is that the Ultra M.2 slots equipped with the PCIe 4.0 lanes can be connected to CPU directly without going to the chipset, while the M.2 slots with PCIe 2.0 are connected to CPU through the chipset.

Here we will explore the difference between M.2 vs M.2 Ultra from the following 2 aspects.

#1. Data Speed

According to the user report, the M.2 and Ultra M.2 SSD have the same data speed. Is it true? If you are searching for an M.2 or Ultra M.2 SSD, you will find there’s a slight difference between them. In most cases, Ultra M.2 has faster data speed than the M.2 slot. This is because Ultra M.2 takes advantage of the maximum bandwidth of an SSD, while sometimes it may slow down the CPU and graphics processing.

In reality, the data speed depends on the specific interface and controller of a drive. Do you want to know the real performance of your M.2 SSD? Now, you can use MiniTool Partition Wizard. It can help you test disk performance with ease.

Until now, this trusted software has helped lots of users to make a comparison about disk performance such as RAID 0 vs RAID 1, hardware vs software RAID, SanDisk Extreme vs Extreme Pro, and so forth.

Besides, this utility boasts many powerful features such as convert dynamic disk to basic disk, change cluster size, convert NTFS to FAT without data loss upgrade hard drive, rebuild MBR, etc.

Click on the following button to download MiniTool Partition Wizard and then install it on your computer. Now, let’s see how to perform a disk benchmark using this software.

Step 1. Run MiniTool Partition Wizard to get its main interface and click on the Disk Benchmark feature on the top toolbar.

Step 2. Select the drive letter of the SSD that you want to test from the drop-down menu. Here you can further specify the test parameters and click on the Start button.

Step 3. Then wait for a few minutes, you will get the disk performance including transfer size, the random/sequential reading and writing speed, etc.

#2. Storage Interfaces

There are 3 major storage interfaces for M.2 storage devices that you can choose one depending on the operating system and motherboard. The Legacy SATA interface is used for SATA SSDs. The PCI Express interface is used for PCIe SSDs through the AHCI driver and PCIe lanes. Another surging storage interface is NVMe that’s used for PCIe SSDs through NVMe driver.

At present, the Ultra M.2 sockets are mainly used for the NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSDs. According to a survey, the Ultra M.2 SSDs mainly come from Samsung 970 EVO series, while the M.2 SSDs come from different brands such as Samsung, Kingston, WD Black, SanDisk, and so on.

Is Ultra M.2 SSD Worthy

Right now, you may be wondering whether it is worth choosing the Ultra M.2 socket. The answer depends on your specific needs. If you want to get a dramatically high disk performance and don’t care about the price, you can consider switching to the Ultra M.2 SSD.

Bear in mind that the data speed depends on the specific storage interface. When choosing an Ultra M.2 SSD, you should check if the storage interface is SATA, NVMe, or PCIe 4.0. Usually, an NVMe SSD is faster than a SATA SSD.

Besides, you should check if your graphics card and CPU match the Ultra M.2 slot. This is because sometimes it will slow down the central processing and graphics card processing. Right now, you may have a deep understanding of M.2 vs M.2 Ultra.

How to Upgrade to SSD Without Reinstalling OS

No matter what you choose M.2 or Ultra M.2, you need to upgrade your previous hard drive. So, how to upgrade your hard disk to SSD without any data loss? MiniTool Partition Wizard is what you need. It not only helps you test the disk benchmark but copy the whole disk to an SSD.

Step 1. Connect the M.2 SSD to your computer and launch the software to get its main interface.

Step 2. Click on Copy Disk Wizard feature at the left pane and click on the Next button in the pop-up window.

Step 3. Select the original hard disk that you want to copy and click on the Next button.

Step 4. Now, select the target disk that you prepare to be stored and click on Next to continue. Then click on Yes to confirm this operation.

Step 5. Select a copy method based on your needs and click Next to continue.

Step 6. Click Finish in the pop-up window and click Apply to execute this operation. Right now, all the data on the previous hard disk have been transferred to the SSD.

What is Ultra M.2? Would it improve my SSD performance? A lot of people think it is the same as the M.2 socket. Really? I found the answers from this post. Perhaps here’s what you are searching for. Click to tweet

What’s Your Opinion

Here comes the end of the post. Have you understood the Ultra M.2? What’s the difference between M.2 and Ultra M.2? I believe that you already have a deep understanding of them. You can use MiniTool Partition Wizard to upgrade to SSD with ease.

If you have any questions, you can send us an e-mail via [email protected] . We also appreciate any opinions about this topic in the comment area.