M.2 is an interface for expansion cards, most often SSDs, that appeared relatively recently on motherboards of desktops and laptops. Recently, manufacturers have introduced many motherboards with the Intel 9 series chipset (Z97 and H97) equipped with M.2 connectors using two PCI Express 2.0 lanes. In this respect, ASRock was ahead of the competition by offering the Ultra M.2 interface.Ultra M.2 uses four PCI Express 3.0 lanes and allows for a theoretical 32 Gbit / s bandwidth - 3 times higher than M.2 on two PCIe 2.0 lines. For example, the Samsung XP941 SSD in the Ultra M.2 connector achieves a speed of 1.16 GB / s - 46% faster than the regular M.2.
The key to higher bandwidth here is the direct connection between the Ultra M.2 connector and the processor. In ordinary M.2, the signal paths are routed first to the chipset and then to the CPU.
ASRock has used the Ultra M.2 connector on its new Z97 Extreme 6 motherboard.
Source:
http://www.guru3d.com/news_story/asrock_offer...cie_gen3_x4_bandwidth_on_their_m_2_slots.html
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