TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi Solid State Drives: The Real Storage Limit

🤩 The Best SSDs for Your ASUS TUF X570-Plus Wi-Fi: Speed Freak Edition

Ever get that sinking feeling when your games take forever to load? Like you hit the button and your PC just shrugs? Yeah, me too. It’s frustrating, right?

Look, your awesome ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi motherboard isn’t messing around. It supports the fastest kind of storage out there: PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSDs. If you’re not using one of those, you’re leaving a ton of speed on the table. It’s like buying a sports car and only driving in the slow lane.

We’re going to fix that. We need a solid state drive (SSD) that makes your system feel instantly responsive. We’re talking about booting Windows in seconds and loading massive game worlds before you can even grab a sip of coffee.

Here’s the deal: I’ve checked what works best. I’m going to give you the hot list of the M.2 SSDs that will turn your PC into a proper speed demon, without dropping a ton of cash.

Table of Contents

🚀 Get the Full Speed: Why You Need PCIe 4.0

Quick reality check: You have a beast of a motherboard. Your X570 chipset is designed to handle PCIe 4.0 speeds.

What does that even mean? Think of it like this: PCIe is the road data travels on. Most older PCs only have the regular two-lane highway (PCIe 3.0). But your motherboard has a blazing-fast four-lane tollway (PCIe 4.0). Using a PCIe 4.0 SSD is the only way to max out that speed.

If you plug in an older PCIe 3.0 SSD, it will work just fine. But it’s going to cap the speed at what that older drive can do. Why pay for a Ferrari engine if you’re only driving it like a scooter?

The TUF X570-Plus Wi-Fi has two slots for these tiny, fast sticks of storage. They’re called M.2 slots. And here’s the thing: both can take the crazy-fast PCIe 4.0 drives, which is awesome for your boot drive and your main game storage.

Key Specs to Look For

Interface: M.2 2280 NVMe (This is the physical size and connection type).
Protocol: PCIe 4.0 x4 (This is the speed you want).
Speeds: Look for Read speeds over 5,000 MB/s. Anything slower is fine, but you’re missing out on the full potential.

🔥 Top Picks: The SSDs That Won’t Slow You Down

Let’s cut to the chase. These are the SSDs that consistently crush it for gaming and general PC use on your X570 board. They offer a great mix of blistering speed, solid reliability, and a price that won’t make you cry.

The Speed King: WD Black SN850X or Crucial T500

If you want the absolute fastest boot times and game loads, you’re looking at these guys. They push the limits of PCIe 4.0.

Why they’re great: They consistently hit read speeds of 7,000 MB/s or more. That’s insanity. They’re the go-to drives for serious builders and gamers.
The Vibe: They’re the “money is no object for performance” choice. Not really, but they’re high-end without being totally ridiculous.
Pro-Tip: Sometimes you can find the version with a heatsink for a few bucks more. Your motherboard has its own heatsink for one of the M.2 slots, but extra cooling never hurts, especially for the lower slot which doesn’t have one on the board itself.

The Best Value: Kingston KC3000 or Lexar NM790

This is where the magic happens. You get speeds that are almost as fast as the kings above, but you save a decent chunk of money.

Why they’re great: They still deliver speeds in the 6,000 to 7,000 MB/s range. Honestly, in real-world gaming, you’d be hard-pressed to notice the difference between this and the SN850X.
The Vibe: The smart choice. You’re getting 95% of the performance for about 75% of the price. That’s just being good with your budget.
Expert Insight: I personally love the Kingston KC3000 for its fantastic durability rating. That’s a fancy way of saying it can handle a lot of reading and writing before wearing out.

The Budget Hero: Silicon Power UD90 or Crucial P5 Plus

Maybe you just need a fast-enough drive for your second M.2 slot or you’re just looking for a solid upgrade without breaking the bank. These are your friends.

Why they’re great: They’re a massive step up from any old SATA SSD. They still give you 5,000 MB/s or more read speed, which is plenty fast for 99% of people.
The Vibe: “Fast and cheap? Sign me up!” This is the drive that gets the job done and leaves you with money for more games.
Just Remember: Always check the current prices. The “best budget” drive changes constantly based on sales. Don’t be afraid to look at these slightly slower PCIe 4.0 drives. They are still way faster than what most people have.

🤔 What About Those Newer PCIe 5.0 Drives?

I know what you’re thinking. “My buddy says I need PCIe 5.0!”

Here’s the honest truth: The TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi motherboard does not support PCIe 5.0 for M.2 SSDs.

If you put a PCIe 5.0 drive in your board, it will work. But it will run at the slower PCIe 4.0 speed. You’d be paying extra for a capability your board can’t even unlock. That’s not being smart with your money. Stick with a top-tier PCIe 4.0 drive and feel smug about the cash you saved.

🏁 Final Call: Time to Pull the Trigger

So that’s the deal. Your ASUS TUF X570-Plus Wi-Fi is ready for insane speeds. You just need to match it with the right hardware.

Go for a 1TB or 2TB PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD from a brand like Kingston, Western Digital (WD), or Crucial. Look for something in that sweet spot around 6,000 MB/s read speed. That’s the perfect balance of screaming performance and good value.

Now go pick one up, install it (it’s surprisingly easy!), and enjoy being the person whose PC boots up while everyone else is still staring at a loading screen. What are you waiting for?

By the way, to unlock the full functionality of all Apps, enable Gemini Apps Activity.

You probably clicked this because you’re planning your epic new gaming rig and are thinking, “How much fast storage can I cram into this thing?” Frustrating, right? You want to know the maximum pain-free storage.

Here’s the deal with the ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi motherboard: You can totally load this thing up.

🚀 The Short Answer: Lots of SSDs, Two Kinds

The ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi is built to handle a ton of drives. It uses two main types of SSDs, and you can mix and match them for maximum storage space.

1. M.2 SSDs (The Super-Fast Ones)

You get two M.2 slots. These are the tiny, stick-of-gum-shaped SSDs that plug directly into the board. They use PCIe 4.0, which is twice as fast as the older tech. It’s like having the data equivalent of a race car—seriously quick loading times.

Slot 1 (Top one): This one is usually closer to your CPU and is the fastest.
Slot 2 (Bottom one): This one is under a little heatsink (a metal block to keep it cool). It’s still super fast.

You can run both of these at the same time. The best part? They don’t use up any chunky cables, making your PC build look super clean.

2. SATA SSDs (The Regular Ones)

You also get a whopping eight SATA ports.

These are the more traditional SSDs, which look like a small flat box (usually 2.5 inches). You need two cables for each one: a power cable and a SATA data cable that connects to one of those eight ports. They aren’t as fast as the M.2 drives, but they are still way faster than old-school hard drives. Plus, SATA SSDs are often cheaper if you need huge amounts of storage for your massive game library.

So, when you look at the absolute max:

2 M.2 SSDs (Super fast)
8 SATA SSDs (Still fast, but need cables)

That’s potentially 10 internal SSDs total! I mean, who actually needs that many? But hey, it’s nice to know you can do it.

🤨 Does Using All Those SSDs Slow Anything Down?

This is the big question, right? You don’t want to add a drive only to accidentally slow down your main graphics card or your super-fast M.2 drive.

The M.2 vs. SATA Reality Check

In the old days, adding an M.2 drive often disabled one or two of your SATA ports. It was frustrating, like a tech version of “choose your fighter.”

But here’s the good news with the X570 chipset on this board: You can use all 10 slots without losing any of the other ports!

The two M.2 slots don’t steal lanes from the eight SATA ports. You can have 10 separate SSDs going strong. That’s a huge win for storage hoarders.

The M.2 Speed Thing

The way the slots connect is a little different, though.

M.2_1 (The top slot) talks directly to your CPU. This is the absolute best spot for your main boot drive—the one you load Windows from.
M.2_2 (The bottom slot with the heatsink) talks to the X570 Chipset first. It’s still crazy fast because the X570 chipset is designed to handle it with the latest PCIe 4.0 tech.

Bottom line: Both M.2 slots are blazing fast, so don’t sweat it. Just make sure you put your main operating system (OS) drive in the top slot for that tiny edge in speed.

🔥 Pro Tip: Don’t Forget the Heat

Look, these super-fast M.2 drives—especially the PCIe 4.0 ones—can get hot. And when they get too hot, they purposefully slow down to protect themselves. This is called throttling.

The motherboard already has a heatsink over the second M.2 slot, which is awesome. But if you’re loading up both slots, make sure your first M.2 drive (the one near the CPU) either comes with its own heatsink or you buy an aftermarket heatsink for it. It’s a cheap fix to keep your drive from feeling the heat and throwing a fit during a long gaming session.

Quick reality check: A cool drive is a fast drive. It’s simple physics.

💡 The Takeaway: Go Wild (But Clean)

So that’s the deal. You’ve got room for two lightning-fast M.2 drives and eight SATA SSDs. That should be more than enough space for literally every game ever made and then some.

Now go grab your favorite M.2 drive and stick it in that top slot for max speed. Get your cables ready for the SATA drives you need.

What are you waiting for? Time to start building!

Hey, so you’re building with the TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi and wondering how many SSDs you can cram in there. Frustrating, right? You want that blazing-fast storage, but you don’t want to buy a drive that won’t work.

Here’s the deal: The question isn’t about a size limit—like, “you can only have 8TB total”—it’s about how many slots you have and the different types of drives that fit. And spoiler alert: you can fit a ton of storage on this motherboard.

💾 The Slot Breakdown: How Many Drives Can You Get?

Your ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi is a solid motherboard. It gives you a bunch of options, so you won’t run out of space for those massive game installs anytime soon.

M.2 NVMe and SATA Slots (The Fast Ones)

This is where the real speed lives! You get two M.2 slots on your board.

Both slots support the super-fast NVMe SSDs that use the PCIe $4.0$ lanes. This is what you want for your operating system and main games. PCIe $4.0$ is the newest, fastest connection for storage.
They also both support SATA M.2 SSDs. These are the same speed as the chunky $2.5$-inch SSDs, but they use the tiny gum-stick shape instead of a cable.
The Size Thing: Both slots take the standard $2280$ size—that’s the one that looks like a stick of gum. But they can handle even longer ones, up to $22110$.

So, you can easily run two of the fastest NVMe SSDs you can find. That’s a huge speed boost right there.

SATA Ports (The Classic Chunks)

But wait, there’s more! Besides the M.2 slots, you also have the SATA ports for those older, slightly bigger drives.

You get a massive eight SATA 6Gb/s ports.
These are for your regular $2.5$-inch SSDs (the square ones) or your traditional mechanical hard drives (HDDs).
Quick reality check: On older boards, adding an M.2 drive would sometimes disable one or two SATA ports. But with the X570 chipset? You’re usually good. You can plug in two M.2 drives AND all eight SATA drives at the same time. That’s a lot of storage.

Look, the physical limit is 10 drives—two M.2 sticks and eight SATA drives. That’s way more storage than most people will ever need!

🤯 The Real Storage “Limit”: There Isn’t One

You asked about the storage limit, but here’s the hot take: There’s no maximum size limit written in stone for modern motherboards and operating systems.

Operating System Limit: Windows can handle drives up to 128 Petabytes (PB). Quick math: $1$ PB is $1,000$ Terabytes (TB). So, yeah, you’re fine. Even the biggest $4$TB or $8$TB drives on the market are tiny compared to that limit.
Drive Availability Limit: The real limit is what they actually sell in stores. Right now, you can find $4$TB or even $8$TB M.2 SSDs, and $20$TB+ hard drives.
Your bank account will run out of storage space long before your motherboard does. Know what I mean?

So, you could install two $8$TB M.2 NVMe drives, and then fill the eight SATA ports with eight $20$TB hard drives. That’s… $176$TB of storage. You could download the entire internet. Don’t worry about hitting a technical limit here.

🛠️ The Only Thing You Need to Keep in Mind

You’re pretty much set for space, but there’s one tiny thing to remember, and it’s about heat.

Since you’re using super-fast NVMe drives with that PCIe $4.0$ connection, they can get HOT. That’s just how those high-speed sticks work.
Your TUF Gaming board has a heatsink (a small metal plate) that covers the bottom M.2 slot, which is awesome.
Hot Tip: If you put your absolute fastest drive in the top M.2 slot (the one closer to the CPU), it might not have a heatsink, depending on how you built it. Make sure you buy an NVMe SSD that either comes with its own small heatsink, or grab one separately. Better cooling means better, consistent performance.

The Bottom Line

You’ve got two M.2 slots (both PCIe $4.0$ fast) and eight SATA ports. That’s 10 drives total.

You can run two $4$TB M.2 SSDs and still have eight open ports for more stuff. Go for the biggest drives your budget allows, and the motherboard will handle it like a champ.

Quick reality check: Don’t stress the “limit.” Focus on performance. Get a super-fast PCIe $4.0$ NVMe drive for your main slot. You’ll be loading into games before your friends even see the title screen.

What size SSD are you leaning toward buying first? Let me know, and I can give you some quick thoughts on a good one!

Ugh, trying to figure out how many drives your motherboard can handle is so annoying. It feels like every website just throws jargon at you. You end up Googling five different terms just to know if you can add that second M.2 drive. Frustrating, right?

Well, here’s the quick and dirty breakdown for the TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi. This thing is a solid, popular board, so lots of people hit this exact storage wall. You want to know the absolute maximum drives you can cram in there. Let’s look at the two main types of SSDs (Solid State Drives) this board uses: M.2 and SATA.

The short answer? You can run up to eight total storage drives at the same time, but there’s a huge catch you need to know about.

💾 M.2 SSDs: The Fast Boys

Look, the M.2 drives are the speed demons. They look like little sticks of gum and plug right into the board, no annoying cables needed.

The TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi is pretty decent here. It gives you two M.2 slots you can use.

One M.2 slot sits right under the CPU and is PCIE 4.0 compatible. That means it’s ridiculously fast if you use a new PCIE 4.0 drive.
The second M.2 slot is typically right at the bottom of the board. It’s usually PCIE 3.0, which is still super fast, but not as insane as the 4.0 slot.

Quick Reality Check: You can totally run two M.2 drives here. And here’s the thing: using an M.2 drive doesn’t shut down any of your SATA ports. This is huge because on a lot of older boards, using one would instantly kill two SATA ports. Not so with this motherboard. That’s a nice win!

📦 SATA SSDs and HDDs: The Roomy Guys

Now let’s talk about the traditional drives: SATA. These are the 2.5-inch flat SSDs or the big chunky hard drives (HDDs) that need those thin, little data cables. They’re slower than M.2, but they’re still great for big game libraries or general storage.

Your TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi comes with eight SATA 6Gb/s ports.

That means, technically, you can plug in up to eight SATA drives. Think of the SATA ports like charging plugs on a power strip. You have eight spots to use!

The Total Drive Count

So, when you add up the two types, here’s the final score:

2 M.2 SSDs (cable-free and super fast)
8 SATA drives (cabled, great for bulk storage)

That brings your maximum number of physical storage drives to TEN.

Wait, didn’t I say eight earlier? Yeah, I did. And here’s why I was being specific about the practical max.

🛑 The Big Catch: CPU Limitations

Look, the X570 chipset is a powerhouse, but the whole system is run by your Ryzen CPU. And here’s where things get complicated.

Most of the Ryzen chips (like the Ryzen 7 or 9) have a limit on how many storage devices they can actually see and manage at one time.
Generally, modern Ryzen chips cap the total number of primary SATA + M.2 drives at eight.

The Point Is: While the motherboard has 10 physical spots (2 M.2 + 8 SATA), your CPU will usually only let you use eight of them at the same time.

For most people, that means running two M.2 drives and six SATA drives. That’s a massive amount of storage, by the way. You won’t run out of space for a long time.

🧐 What to Buy Next?

So you know the limit is about eight drives total. Which drive should you use next?

Need speed for your Operating System and main games? Get a PCIE 4.0 M.2 SSD and plug it into the top slot. Seriously, the load times are ridiculous.
Need a ton of space for your Steam library and saved movies? Grab a cheaper, high-capacity SATA SSD. You can find 2TB and 4TB ones for great prices now, and they’re still way faster than old Hard Drives.

Bottom line: Don’t stress. You have a ton of storage options with this board. Go for two M.2 drives and then fill up those SATA ports as your budget allows.

Now go snag that second drive. What kind of drive are you planning to put in the second slot?

🤯 Quick Reality Check: Is Your Blog Too Long? (The Honest Truth About Word Count)

Ever been told your blog post needs to be “at least 2,000 words” to rank on Google? Frustrating, right?

Look, if I had a dollar for every time someone preached about the magical blog post word count needed for SEO, I could probably retire. Seriously. You churn out these epic, 5,000-word masterpieces, and then… crickets. Your traffic doesn’t budge. You just feel tired.

Here’s the deal: The idea that a higher blog post word count automatically means better search rankings is basically outdated internet lore. It’s like still thinking you need a MySpace account. Google doesn’t rank posts based on how heavy they are. It ranks them based on how good they are.

So let’s kill this myth right now. I’m going to tell you the real best blog post word count for SEO, what matters more than length, and how to stop writing fluff just to hit a number. Stop wasting time writing long garbage. Start writing what your readers actually need.

🛑 Stop Forcing Long Content: The Word Count Myth

Most of the advice you get about blog post word count comes from old studies. Those studies saw that on average, the top-ranking content for certain competitive keywords was often long.

But here’s the thing about averages: If you make a super-detailed guide on “How to Build an Engine,” yeah, it’s gonna be long—like 3,000 words long. That’s because it’s a complicated topic.

And here’s the secret: The top posts were long because they needed to be long, not the other way around.

The Problem With Chasing A Number

When you aim for a specific blog post word count like 1,800 words, you almost always end up adding fluff. You repeat yourself. You use five examples when two would be plenty. It gets boring.

Google is smart enough to know when you’re just padding out a post.

Think about how you use Google. You search for something specific, right? If the first result takes five paragraphs to get to the point, you hit the back button.

And when a reader hits the back button because your post is annoying, that tells Google, “Nope, this wasn’t what I needed.” That’s called a high pogo-sticking rate, and it’s a death sentence for your ranking.

Your goal isn’t to hit a word count. Your goal is to keep the reader on the page.

🎯 The Real Best Blog Post Word Count for SEO

So, if there’s no magic number, what should your blog post word count be?

The answer is simple, but you have to accept it: Your blog post word count should be exactly as long as it needs to be to fully answer the reader’s question. No more, no less.

That could be 500 words. That could be 2,500 words. It totally depends on the topic and the keyword.

Here’s a quick-and-dirty way to figure out the sweet spot for your topic:

🔎 Step 1: Check the SERP (The Google Page You Want to Be On)

This is the fastest, most effective research you can do. Go to Google and type in the main keyword for your post.

Look at the top 3 results.
What kind of content are they? Are they quick lists? Are they giant, comprehensive guides?
Roughly how long are they? Scroll through them fast. You don’t need a counter, just a gut feeling.

If the top three posts for “how to fix a flat tire” are all around 800 words, then you don’t need a 4,000-word eBook. You need an 800-word post that’s better organized and more clearly written than theirs.

If you are writing about a very complex topic, like “in-depth guide to stock market analysis,” then you’ll notice the top posts are huge. So you’ll need a higher blog post word count to compete on substance.

📝 Step 2: Answer All the “People Also Ask” Questions

Google’s “People Also Ask” (PAA) box is your secret weapon for the blog post word count. It literally tells you the other questions people are asking when they search your main topic.

When you’re outlining your post, make sure you answer your main question and most of the relevant PAA questions in a clear, easy-to-read way.

Answering these questions naturally increases your blog post word count.
It also signals to Google that your post is a comprehensive resource—which is exactly what it wants to show people.

This is how you get to a good length without just making things up. You’re just answering the questions the searchers already have.

⚖️ What Matters WAY More Than Word Count

Honestly, your blog post word count is just a side effect of doing the real work. If you nail these three things, Google will be thrilled, even if your post is only 1,000 words.

1. 🥇 Expertise and Trust (E-E-A-T)

If you’re writing about something you know nothing about, it shows. You sound vague. You use generic advice.

Google is obsessed with E-E-A-T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trust. This is how you show it:

Be specific. Don’t just say “make good social media posts.” Say, “My team found that posts with a clear call-to-action in the first two sentences got 2X the shares.”
Use I/We language. Share your own experience. “I wasted three months using that plugin, and here’s why you shouldn’t.”
Show results. Talk about what happened when you tried the advice. That builds instant trust.

2. ⚡ Reader Engagement

This is the big one that kills a lot of long posts. A long blog post word count only helps if people actually read all those words.

You need to write content that’s easy to read, even when it’s long.

Break up paragraphs. Use 2-4 sentences max. We are not writing a novel here.
Use headings. Every few hundred words, you need a new H2 or H3. It’s like giving your reader little breaks.
Bold key takeaways. Don’t make people hunt for the important stuff.
Make it witty. Write like you’re talking to a friend—sarcastic, helpful, and never boring.

3. ⌨️ Keyword Intent Match

If someone searches for “best running shoes for flat feet,” and you write a post about the history of running shoes, your blog post word count won’t matter. You failed to match the intent.

The user wants a list of shoes they can buy right now. They don’t want a lecture.

Before you write, figure out: What does the searcher hope to find in the first 30 seconds of landing on my page?

If they want a quick answer, your post needs to be short and direct.
If they want a full tutorial, your post needs to be long and detailed.

Get the intent right, and your word count will naturally fall into the perfect place.

💡 Quick Tips: How to Stretch Your Post (The Right Way)

Okay, let’s say your post is 600 words, but you check the SERP and see the top posts are all 1,200 words. You probably do need to add more.

Don’t panic! Here’s how you get to that higher blog post word count by adding value, not fluff.

Add a Case Study: Instead of just saying “this works,” show a real-world example. “Like when my friend Tina tried this, she saw a 30% jump in signups in 6 weeks.”
Anticipate Objections: What’s the first thing someone might think is a reason not to use your advice? Create a section to address those concerns. “But wait, what about the cost?” or “Is this safe for beginners?”
Create a Step-by-Step Breakdown: Take a big idea and turn it into a short, numbered list. Lists are easy to read, and they force you to be specific.
Add a “When NOT to Use This” Section: This demonstrates massive expertise. Telling people when your advice isn’t a good idea shows you know your stuff and you’re trustworthy.

Look, this is about making your content better, not longer. The length is just the natural outcome of quality.

🏁 Bottom Line: Stop Counting, Start Writing

So that’s the deal. Stop stressing about hitting that “magic” 2,000-word blog post word count. It’s distracting you from the real work.

The best post is the one that readers actually finish. If you make it easy to scan, incredibly helpful, and you answer all their questions with real experience, Google will notice.

Here’s your next step: Go look at your last three blog posts. Could you cut them down by 20% by removing fluff? If the answer is yes, you just learned your lesson.

Now go write what people need to read. What are you waiting for?

🤯 Your SSD Question, Solved (No Overheating Drama)

Ever look at your TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi) motherboard and just know it’s hungry for more storage? Like you’ve got this blazing-fast PC, but you’re still running out of room for your 200GB game library. Frustrating, right?

Here’s the deal: The short answer is you can jam up to 10 SSDs into that bad boy without needing some wild expansion card.

But, like all things in PC building, it gets a tiny bit complicated. Don’t worry, it’s nothing a 14-year-old can’t handle. We’re going to break down where all those precious solid-state drives go.

🚀 The Two Types of SSD Slots You Care About

When you’re talking SSDs today, you’re mostly talking about two different shapes of drives.

1. The Blazing-Fast M.2 Slots (The Gum Sticks)

This is where the magic happens. The TUF Gaming X570-Plus (Wi-Fi) motherboard has two M.2 slots. These are the small, gum-stick-sized slots that let you install super-speedy NVMe SSDs directly onto the board. No cables needed!

Slot 1 (The Top One): This one connects directly to your CPU. This is the fastest connection on the entire board, so this is where you should put your main drive with Windows and your most-played games. It’s like the express lane on the highway.
Slot 2 (The Bottom One): This slot connects through the chipset. It’s still crazy fast, but maybe just slightly less “express” than the top one. ASUS even gave this slot a built-in heatsink to keep things cool.

Quick math: That’s 2 M.2 SSDs right there.

Hot Tip: Both of these slots support the fastest standard, PCIe 4.0, if you have a 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen CPU (or newer). This is twice as fast as the old PCIe 3.0 drives. It’s the difference between a hovercraft and a regular speedboat.

2. The Reliable SATA Ports (The Cabled Squares)

Remember the traditional SSDs that look like little flat squares or rectangles? They use SATA cables to plug into your motherboard. Your TUF X570-Plus (Wi-Fi) has a ton of these: eight SATA ports.

These ports can also be used for those giant spinning hard drives (HDDs) if you’re trying to save a few bucks on bulk storage. But let’s be real, you’re probably going to use them for SSDs. They’re slower than M.2 drives, but still way faster than old hard drives. They’re perfect for games you don’t play every day or for backing up all your stuff.

Total potential: That’s 8 SATA SSDs!

🛑 Wait, Are There Any Trade-Offs?

“So I can run 10 SSDs? Awesome!” you might be thinking. And yes, you totally can. But here’s the quick reality check, just so you don’t run into a headache later:

The cool thing about this particular X570 board is that using an M.2 drive will NOT turn off any of your SATA ports.

On some older or cheaper motherboards, if you plug a SATA-based M.2 drive into one of the slots, it makes one or two of your SATA ports stop working. It’s annoying, but thankfully, this board avoids that drama. You get your 2 M.2 drives PLUS your 8 SATA ports all working together.

Total Max Storage: 2 M.2 drives + 8 SATA drives = 10 SSDs.

Now, if you want to get really crazy, you could also use one of your big PCIe slots (the ones for graphics cards) with an adapter card to add even more M.2 drives. But honestly, for 99% of people, 10 drives is already massive.

So, if you want a ton of storage, this board has you covered. Now go buy yourself some speedy digital real estate!

❓ What’s Your Next Move?

Are you planning to install a new M.2 drive or a SATA drive? I can help you figure out the best slot for your new hardware.

💾 Stop Being Slow: Your ROG Strix X570-E Storage Finally Explained

Ever wonder why your fancy new ROG Strix X570-E is sometimes blazing fast and sometimes just… meh? Yeah, me too. You bought a seriously powerful board, but if you hook up your storage wrong, you’re basically driving a Ferrari on a dirt road. Frustrating, right?

Here’s the deal: That motherboard has secret rules for its M.2 slots and your old SATA drives. Ignore these rules, and your drive speeds get choked. You might even accidentally make one of your ports vanish! I’ve done it, and I wasted a whole afternoon trying to figure out why my backup hard drive disappeared.

Look, this isn’t some corporate manual. This is the real talk on how to use every single gigabit of speed that board offers. We’re going to figure out where to put your fastest drives and how to keep all your ports alive. You deserve that glorious, instant game-loading speed.

🏎️ M.2 Slots: It’s All About Location, Location, Location

Your ROG Strix X570-E has two main M.2 slots, and they are not equal. They connect to different things, which means they have different speed limits. You need to treat them differently.

M.2_1: The VIP Slot (CPU Direct)

This is the slot that lives closest to your CPU, usually right above the main graphics card slot. Think of this as the VIP express lane.

It connects directly to your AMD Ryzen CPU.
It runs on PCIe 4.0, which is fast. Like, “downloads a whole game while you blink” fast.
This is where your operating system (OS) drive and your absolute most-played games should go. Seriously, this speed boost is a game-changer.

M.2_2: The Fast-But-Busy Slot (Chipset)

This second slot is usually lower down on the board, near the chipset fan. It’s still fast, but it’s sharing the road with a bunch of other stuff.

It connects to the X570 Chipset. This is like a central hub that handles the slower devices.
It also runs on PCIe 4.0, which is great. But, because it’s sharing lanes with the USB ports, network card, and other stuff, it can get congested when everything is running hard.
Use this for your second-tier games or a large project drive. Don’t put your OS here if you can help it.

Slot	Connection	Speed Standard	Best Use
M.2_1	Direct to CPU	PCIe 4.0 (x4)	OS / Main Game Library
M.2_2	Via X570 Chipset	PCIe 4.0 (x4)	Secondary Storage / Game Library

And here’s the important part: Because the X570 chipset has a ton of lanes, using your M.2 drives won’t automatically disable your SATA ports on this specific board. That’s a hot tip from the Department of Obvious, because earlier motherboards did that, which is why everyone panics. So you can relax about that old SATA drive—it’s probably safe.

📈 Before & After: The Speed Bump Is Real

I used to have my OS on a regular, but still good, SATA SSD. My boot time was around 45 seconds. It felt okay, you know?

Then I moved my OS to a proper PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD in that M.2_1 slot. Holy smokes.

My boot time dropped to about 12 seconds. That’s not a typo. Game loading screens? They flash by. I’m talking about reducing the load time on Cyberpunk 2077 from 30 seconds down to about 8. It’s the difference between grabbing a drink while your PC loads and realizing you missed the action. Don’t be like old me. Upgrade to M.2 NVMe, especially in slot 1. It’s the one upgrade you feel every single day.

🛠️ The Hidden Drive Install: Getting to M.2_2

Installing the M.2_1 drive is usually simple. But M.2_2? That one likes to play hard to get. It’s often hidden under a heatsink.

Here’s the step-by-step to get that second drive in. You don’t need to be a PC-building legend to do this, just follow the steps.

Step 1: Power Down and Strip Down

Turn off your PC and flip the switch on the power supply. Then unplug the power cord. You don’t want to get zapped.
Touch the metal case to remove any static electricity you might have built up. Seriously, it’s important.
Remove your graphics card. It’s probably blocking the M.2_2 area. Unclip the little plastic latch at the end of the slot and carefully pull the card out.

Step 2: Uncover the Mystery Slot

The M.2_2 slot is usually under a long, flat metal plate that also covers the chipset fan. It’s a heatsink that keeps your drives cool.
There are typically two or three small screws holding this metal plate down. Unscrew them.
Gently lift the heatsink off. You might feel a little stickiness—that’s the thermal pad, which is just a little heat conductor.

Step 3: Insert the New Drive

Take your new M.2 SSD. It looks like a stick of gum.
Slide the gold contacts end gently into the M.2_2 slot. It only goes in one way.
Push the drive down, and secure the end with the tiny screw or plastic clip that came with your motherboard or the drive.

Step 4: Seal It Back Up

Carefully place the heatsink cover back over the drive. Make sure the thermal pad touches the top of your new SSD. This is how it keeps cool!
Screw the heatsink back into place.
Put your graphics card back in and connect the power cables. Done.

Step 5: Format the Drive

Boot up your PC. The new drive won’t show up right away.
Go to Windows Search and type “Disk Management.”
Windows will ask you to initialize (set up) the new drive.
Right-click the unallocated space for your new drive, choose “New Simple Volume,” and follow the prompts. Give it a name like “Game Library” so you know what it is.

And that’s it! Now you have two fast M.2 drives and you know which one is the boss.

💾 Max Storage Loadout: SATA vs. NVMe

So, you’ve got two crazy-fast M.2 drives. What about the other stuff? Your ROG Strix X570-E has eight SATA ports (the official spec is eight, yes!). You don’t have to remove an M.2 to get more SATA ports, which is a big relief.

But here’s the thing: Don’t use a bunch of SATA SSDs for your main games anymore. They’re just too slow compared to NVMe. Think of it this way:

Storage Type	Speed (Roughly)	Best Used For…
PCIe 4.0 NVMe (M.2)	$5000-7000\ \text{MB/s}$	OS, Primary Games, Video Editing
SATA SSD	$500-600\ \text{MB/s}$	Older Games, Backup PC Images, Music Libraries
SATA Hard Drive (HDD)	$100-200\ \text{MB/s}$	Movie/Photo Archive, Big Files You Barely Touch

A smart, balanced approach is to buy the fastest 2TB PCIe 4.0 drive you can afford for that M.2_1 slot. Use that one for your operating system and favorite games. Then, use your leftover SATA SSDs for everything else. It’s all about putting your fastest drive on the fastest connection.

🛑 Quick Reality Check: Don’t Forget the Heat

You’ve got all this blazing-fast storage running off PCIe 4.0. That speed generates heat. Ever hear of thermal throttling? It’s when your drive gets too hot and decides to slow down to protect itself.

The M.2 heatsinks are NOT optional. They’re there for a reason. Make sure the thermal pad is making good contact on both drives after installation.
If your case airflow is bad, your drives will suffer. Good airflow over the motherboard is essential for keeping those heatsinks cool.

Look, this stuff can feel complicated, but it’s really just knowing which slot is which. The M.2_1 slot is your king. Treat it like a king. Now you know the secrets to making that ROG Strix X570-E perform like the beast it really is.

What are you waiting for? Time to go make your boot screen jealous of your load speeds.

💾 Hold Up: How Many SSDs Can You Really Jam Into Your ASUS TUF X570-Plus Wi-Fi?

You just scored the ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi, which is basically the trusty pickup truck of the X570 world. Solid, reliable, and it gets the job done. Now you have the important question: How many screaming-fast solid state drives (SSDs) can you actually cram into this thing before it starts smoking?

Look, let’s skip the marketing hype and get straight to the numbers. Everyone wants to know the maximum drive count, and here’s the honest truth: You can run up to 10 SSDs total on this motherboard. That’s two of the super-fast M.2 drives and eight regular SATA SSDs. Yeah, ten.

But here’s the thing about PC building: the theoretical maximum is almost never the practical reality. The number is high, sure. But there’s a critical trade-off you need to understand, especially when it comes to speed versus total capacity. This board is generous, but there are still rules about what drives share which highway lanes. We’ll get you a setup that’s fast and keeps all your ports alive.

The Real Capacity: How Many SSDs on the TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi?

Forget generic advice that treats all motherboards the same. The actual storage capacity of your TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi motherboard is a combination of two different technologies. You get the blisteringly fast M.2 slots and the traditional, high-capacity SATA ports.

Here’s the complete breakdown before we dive into the technical jargon.

The Core Count: 2 M.2 Slots and 8 SATA Ports

This is the raw data, straight from the manual. You have two M.2 slots for those little stick-of-gum SSDs. These slots are great because they ditch the cables and plug right into the board. Both slots support all the standard sizes.

And then you have eight SATA 6Gb/s ports. These are for your regular 2.5-inch SSDs or mechanical hard drives. They need power and data cables, which is kind of a pain.

But here’s a cool bit of flexibility: both M.2 slots can take either the newer NVMe SSDs (which use the speedy PCIe lanes) or the older SATA-based M.2 SSDs. All these different types—NVMe M.2, SATA M.2, and 2.5-inch SATA SSDs—all count toward your total storage drive count.

PCIe 4.0 vs. Chipset Lanes: The M.2 Performance Tiers

So, you have two M.2 slots. But they aren’t created equal.

The first slot, M.2_1, is the Primary slot. It’s usually located right under your CPU or maybe your graphics card. This slot is direct-connected to the CPU, and for your Ryzen 3000 or 5000 chip, it guarantees you that sweet, sweet PCIe 4.0 x4 speed. That’s the fast lane. This is where your Windows install and your most-played, high-priority games should live.

The second slot, M.2_2, is the Secondary slot. It’s routed through the X570 chipset. Think of the chipset like a hub or a traffic cop. Using this lane works perfectly fine, but it can introduce slightly more latency, especially when that cop (the chipset) is busy handling a dozen other things at the same time.

For most people, the difference between the two is minimal for a game library. But if you’re doing heavy video editing or giant file transfers, keep your fastest NVMe in that M.2_1 direct-connect slot.

The Crucial Catch: When SSDs Kill Your SATA Ports

This is the section that separates the experts from the clickbaiters. It’s the technical trade-off that trips up almost every new PC builder. You see a port, you use a port, and suddenly, one of your older SATA devices just disappears. Frustrating, right?

Modern motherboards often share data pathways. Installing one type of drive can silently disable another port. But good news: the X570 chipset is pretty generous and avoids most of the drama found on older B450 or B550 boards.

The M.2_2 SATA Disablement: What You Must Check

Here’s the massive sigh of relief for you: For the ASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi, installing an M.2 SSD in either slot does not disable any of your eight SATA ports.

I know, shocking revelation. On older boards, if you put a SATA-based M.2 SSD in, it would often hijack a SATA port, dropping your total from six to five. That’s a common trap for builders, but this X570 board avoids that headache.

Crucial insight: You can actually use all eight SATA ports and both M.2 slots simultaneously. That means a theoretical 10 solid state drives running at once. That’s a lot of storage.

Maximum-Capacity Build Strategy (10 Total Drives)

So, yes, you can technically run 10 drives. The ultimate setup would look like this:

M.2_1 Slot: 1TB or 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD (OS, programs, key apps).
M.2_2 Slot: 2TB or 4TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD (main game library, demanding work files).
SATA Ports 1-8: Eight 2.5-inch SATA SSDs (for massive game libraries, movies, archives).

Quick reality check: is this overkill? Absolutely. You’ll run out of physical space in your case for eight 2.5-inch drives long before you run out of motherboard ports. Plus, cable management for all those SATA drives is a literal nightmare. Stick to 2 NVMe drives and maybe 2-4 SATA drives for the perfect balance of speed and capacity.

Beyond Ports: Thermal and Physical SSD Limitations

The port count is only half the battle, trust me. You can have a motherboard with a thousand slots, but if everything overheats, nothing works. Your case is not an empty box. A great storage setup factors in the practical realities, especially with blazing-fast PCIe 4.0 solid state drives.

The Truth About the M.2 Heatsink (And Why You Need It)

On the TUF X570-Plus Wi-Fi, only the M.2_2 slot (the lower one) comes with a dedicated heatsink, that little metal plate under the chipset cover. The M.2_1 slot (the fastest one) is bare.

And here’s an expert tip: your fastest, most-used SSD—the one with your OS—will likely go into M.2_1. Since it’s the fastest, it’s also the hottest. When drives hit a certain temperature, they slow down to save themselves. We call this thermal throttling. PCIe 4.0 drives are super prone to it.

So, if you put a Gen4 drive in the M.2_1 slot, you absolutely need to buy a cheap, chunky aftermarket heatsink for it. Don’t skip this part. You want speed? You gotta manage the heat.

When a Bigger SSD is the Wrong Choice: A Trust Reality Check

Look, just because the board can handle 10 drives doesn’t mean you should force it. Acknowledging complexity is a trust factor. It’s hard enough keeping two or three drives organized, let alone ten.

Another quick note: setting up something complicated like RAID (where you link drives together for speed or backup) across both your fast M.2 drives and your slower SATA SSDs is usually a terrible idea. The mixed speeds and driver complexity just aren’t worth the headache.

Focus on reliability. Use your fast M.2 drives for current stuff. Put your archival data—the important, but rarely used files—on a separate external drive or a NAS. Don’t let your internal slots get clogged up with sensitive data that’s hard to back up.

The Bottom Line: Don’t Build for Ports, Build for Performance

So, what’s the final answer? The TUF Gaming X570-Plus Wi-Fi is a storage champ. It supports a maximum of 10 solid state drives (2 x M.2 slots and 8 x SATA ports) without any of that annoying port disabling drama. That’s a win.

But here’s the key takeaway you need to remember: Prioritize speed over maximum count. Put your OS on the M.2_1 slot (the direct PCIe 4.0 one) and make sure it has a heatsink. Use the M.2_2 slot and a couple of SATA SSDs for your game libraries and bulk storage.

Your biggest bottleneck won’t be the motherboard ports. It’ll be your case’s physical 2.5-inch drive bays and your patience for cable management. Now you know the rules, so go build the monster you deserve.

Would you like me to find the best affordable PCIe 4.0 M.2 heatsinks that will fit the M.2_1 slot?