P8Z77-M - will it accept a NVME SSD in the PCIE x16 slot?

Hi all.

I already have an excellent Sandisk 128GB SATA SSD in my PC but, despite my best efforts to prevent it getting full, like ensuring as many programs as possible get installed on my 1TB conventional D: drive, there's practically no space left in it. So I started looking for something like a 256GB but then realised prices have come down so much, I could afford a 500GB - happy days!

But then I came across SSDs that go into the PCIE slots and which offer much faster read/write speeds, so now I'm trying to figure out if this motherboard will take one.

It's bootable from a PCIe storage device

The manual says the following:

PCI Express x1 slot

"This motherboard supports PCI Express x1 network cards, SCSI cards and other cards that comply with the PCI Express specifications.

PCI Express x16 slot

This motherboard has a PCI Express 3.0/2.0 x16 slot that supports PCI Express 3.0/2.0 x16 graphics cards complying with the PCI Express specifications."

The slots on the board are as follows:

PCIE x16_1
PCIE x1_1
PCIE x16_2
PCI1

If I can only get SATA performance from a drive in one of these slots, then there's no point buying a NVME SSD, is there?

I'm not sure what the M.2 reference is on some SSD specs and whether or not this board has it, but it seems to be important.

All comments/suggestions appreciated.

Thanks

GB

 

I have to upgrade the PC of a friend and would also like to ask the same question. Couldn't find an answer for that exact model ( Asus P8Z77-M) through Googling.

Any help?