ASUS Develops Screwless, Latched Mounting System for M.2 SSDs

Tsing

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Image: ASUS



ASUS has introduced a new mounting system for M.2 SSDs that doesn’t require screws. The company showed off the feature in a video that it tweeted yesterday, which demonstrates how a user can install an M.2 SSD simply by inserting the drive and turning a latch to lock it into place. While we wouldn’t call screwing something down strenuous work, ASUS’ so-called “Q-Latch” mounting system seems like a practical addition that should boost the appeal of the motherboards that they’ll be debuting in: the Z590 lineup for Intel 11th Gen Core “Rocket Lake-S” processors.



“SSDs can get pretty toasty […],” ASUS explained as part of its Z590 motherboard guide...
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As someone who literally installs M.2 drives on a weekly or bi-weekly basis for reviews and system builds, this is huge for me. While it's not necessarily tough to install the screws, they can be annoying. They are super tiny, sometimes difficult to lineup. Also, when unscrewing them I've had them pull the mounting post out with them many times because the manufacturer didn't tighten them down all the way or because I forgot to in cases where you have to do it.

I've always thought M.2 was a dumb form factor for desktops and this makes it a little better. Especially when adding additional drives to existing machines.
 
I think M2 makes more sense on a vertical riser - like on a PCI add-on card. It makes almost no sense as they have them laid out horizontally on a motherboard eating a ton of real estate. Put them vertically and you can install almost as many as your willing to install.. but horizontally like this and your just limited to one or two.

Sure, you can add on cards... but I don't really know why motherboard folks do this in the first place.

The screws are annoying, but I don't know if the clips will be all that much better. I guess we shall see.
 
Brian_B said:
I think M2 makes more sense on a vertical riser - like on a PCI add-on card. It makes almost no sense as they have them laid out horizontally on a motherboard eating a ton of real estate. Put them vertically and you can install almost as many as your willing to install.. but horizontally like this and your just limited to one or two.

Sure, you can add on cards... but I don't really know why motherboard folks do this in the first place.

The screws are annoying, but I don't know if the clips will be all that much better. I guess we shall see.
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It's because SSD makers didn't want to produce two versions of their drives. The mobile market is much larger than the desktop market, so mobile drives for everyone! As for vertical mount SSD's, this might come down to cost as well. You can still have surface mount components underneath the SSD and we don't typically use that many expansion cards these days. As a result, the space on the board isn't the big deal it used to be and the support brackets for vertical mounts may be too expensive. Not to mention, they do complicate installation even more than the traditional heat sink covers do.
 
Dan_D said:
As someone who literally installs M.2 drives on a weekly or bi-weekly basis for reviews and system builds, this is huge for me. While it's not necessarily tough to install the screws, they can be annoying. They are super tiny, sometimes difficult to lineup. Also, when unscrewing them I've had them pull the mounting post out with them many times because the manufacturer didn't tighten them down all the way or because I forgot to in cases where you have to do it.

I've always thought M.2 was a dumb form factor for desktops and this makes it a little better. Especially when adding additional drives to existing machines.
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Yeah I feel the same way here man. This was needed.
 
Not a terrible idea. Makes me wonder if I have plastic thumb screws anywhere in that thread size (doubt it, it's really small thread).
 
Dan_D said:
It's because SSD makers didn't want to produce two versions of their drives. The mobile market is much larger than the desktop market, so mobile drives for everyone! As for vertical mount SSD's, this might come down to cost as well. You can still have surface mount components underneath the SSD and we don't typically use that many expansion cards these days. As a result, the space on the board isn't the big deal it used to be and the support brackets for vertical mounts may be too expensive. Not to mention, they do complicate installation even more than the traditional heat sink covers do.
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No, I wasn't implying any change to the drive. Just moving where you plug it into...
 
You know what... I HATE those tine EFFING screws for NVME drives. They are little more than pain points of use and design. So I for one would MUCH prefer a latch style mounting mechanism.
 
Huge improvement on the M.2 mounting solution!
I'm sure all the other motherboard manufactures will follow suit! This might become the standard within a year.
 
Dan_D said:
It's because SSD makers didn't want to produce two versions of their drives. The mobile market is much larger than the desktop market, so mobile drives for everyone! As for vertical mount SSD's, this might come down to cost as well. You can still have surface mount components underneath the SSD and we don't typically use that many expansion cards these days. As a result, the space on the board isn't the big deal it used to be and the support brackets for vertical mounts may be too expensive. Not to mention, they do complicate installation even more than the traditional heat sink covers do.
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Why would SSD makers need 2 versions of their drives? just mount the d@mn slot vertically as if it was a pci-e 1x slot, and add a mounting bracket.
Heck you could have 3 or 4 m2 slots instead of a couple of pci-e x1 slots (that no one uses anyway)
I tought at one time that M2 would replace PCI-e x4 slots and below as its essentially a PCI-e interface anyway.
 
Grimlakin said:
You know what... I HATE those tine EFFING screws for NVME drives. They are little more than pain points of use and design. So I for one would MUCH prefer a latch style mounting mechanism.
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I hear you man, a few days ago I was replacing a sata m2 with nvme m2 and when I removed the screw it went off flying
 
Stoly said:
Why would SSD makers need 2 versions of their drives? just mount the d@mn slot vertically as if it was a pci-e 1x slot, and add a mounting bracket.
Heck you could have 3 or 4 m2 slots instead of a couple of pci-e x1 slots (that no one uses anyway)
I tought at one time that M2 would replace PCI-e x4 slots and below as its essentially a PCI-e interface anyway.
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You misunderstand completely. Back when M.2 slots started showing up on motherboards, the alternative was U.2 based 2.5" SSD's which were prevalent in the enterprise market. This would have been a far more sensible form factor for the desktop. It would allow for greater density drives and cooling conditions would have been a non-issue as most cases had some type of fan or airflow directed over 2.5" SSD mounting bays. However, because consumer SSD makers didn't want to create two versions of the drives, they opted to produce M.2 drives alone and U.2 went no where on the desktop.

M.2 is, was, and always will be a stupid form factor for the desktop. That being said, horizontal mounting, as I've stated isn't that big of a deal given how modern systems are configured and built. Vertical mounts are more expensive due to the required bracket and it isn't aesthetically pleasing which is a factor in the current desktop market. There are of course motherboards that do both, giving you a fair amount of horizontal M.2 slots and a vertical slot in addition to those. It was especially prevalent on earlier HEDT motherboards, but I still see it from time to time. Vertical mounting also makes a great deal of sense in mITX form factor motherboards and systems.
 
Dan_D said:
You misunderstand completely. Back when M.2 slots started showing up on motherboards, the alternative was U.2 based 2.5" SSD's which were prevalent in the enterprise market. This would have been a far more sensible form factor for the desktop. It would allow for greater density drives and cooling conditions would have been a non-issue as most cases had some type of fan or airflow directed over 2.5" SSD mounting bays. However, because consumer SSD makers didn't want to create two versions of the drives, they opted to produce M.2 drives alone and U.2 went no where on the desktop.

M.2 is, was, and always will be a stupid form factor for the desktop. That being said, horizontal mounting, as I've stated isn't that big of a deal given how modern systems are configured and built. Vertical mounts are more expensive due to the required bracket and it isn't aesthetically pleasing which is a factor in the current desktop market. There are of course motherboards that do both, giving you a fair amount of horizontal M.2 slots and a vertical slot in addition to those. It was especially prevalent on earlier HEDT motherboards, but I still see it from time to time. Vertical mounting also makes a great deal of sense in mITX form factor motherboards and systems.
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I'm sure someone could build a bracket cheaply and cute; besides, OEMs are always looking for more places to put those d@mn LEDs :p :p :LOL: :LOL:
 
Grimlakin said:
If that is sold as a standoff replacement for a couple bucks I'll buy a small bag of them for my existing motherboard.
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All of them. Everywhere. Including the laptop I'm typing on, because it didn't have an M.2 for the spare slot (thanks Dell, though I don't really blame them too much), and nothing I had laying around worked. Since the drive has nowhere to go... no worries for now.

I probably don't have Dan's collection and certainly don't touch as many of these, but I'd definitely replace the screw with one every time I did.
 
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