Need an extra M2 SSD but cannot fir it? Well, Silverstone released "ECM21-E" that converts your PCI-Express 4.0 compatible M.2 SSD to PCI-Express x4 slot compatible.
This product is a successor model to the "ECM21" , and its biggest feature is that it supports PCI-Express 4.0. SSDs that have been verified to work include products like the Corsair “MP600” and Gigabyte “AORUS NVMe Gen4 SSD”. The connection interface supports PCI-Express (x4), the form factor supports M.2 2230/2242/2260/2280, and the installation of SSD is possible without tools. In addition, an LED indicator, an access pin header, and a jumper pin for enabling / disabling “CLKREQ” which is a power saving function of PCI-Express are provided.The body size is 120mm wide, 23mm high, 104mm deep, and weighs 57g. The product also comes with a low profile bracket.
There are three types of M.2 SSDs, please make sure you know the difference between them and whether your system/motherboard support them before pairing these with your SilverStone product.
Legacy SATA (B key)
Used for SATA SSDs, and interfaced through the AHCI driver and legacy SATA 3.0 (6 Gbit/s) port exposed through the M.2 connector.
PCI Express using AHCI (M key)
Used for PCI Express SSDs and interfaced through the AHCI driver and provided PCI Express lanes, providing backward compatibility with widespread SATA support in operating systems at the cost of not delivering optimal performance by using AHCI for accessing PCI Express SSDs.
PCI Express using NVMe (M key)
Used for PCI Express SSDs and interfaced through the NVMe driver and provided PCI Express lanes, as a high-performance and scalable host controller interface designed and optimized especially for interfacing with PCI Express SSDs. NVMe has been designed from the ground up, capitalizing on the low latency and parallelism of PCI Express SSDs, and complementing the parallelism of contemporary CPUs, platforms and applications.
Tested and compatible are:
- Adata XPG GAMMIX S50 Series
- Corsair Force Series MP600
- Gigabyte AORUS NVMe Gen4 M.2
- Inte NVMe SSD 660p series
- Intel NVMe SSD 760p Series
- Pioneer APS-SE20G series
- Samsung NVMe SSD 970 EVO M.2
- Samsung NVMe SSD 970 PRO M.2
- Samsung NVMe SSD SM951/961 M.2
- Samsung NVMe SSD 960 EVO M.2
- Samsung NVMe SSD 960 PRO M.2
BTW interesting sidenote, the mounting mechanism is screwless, something that would be great on regular M2 slots as well.
