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Hi. I'm picking parts for a new PC and went to get what I thought would be the simplest one: a small SSD for the OS (I like the OS on it's own drive). Seems things have changed and we now have M.2 storage and at first read, it's quite complex. The mobo I think I'll get is an Asus Prime B560M-A:
https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Compo ... E-B560M-A/
If I'm correct, there are 2 places on this mobo where I could put M.2 storage, one for PCIe3 and one for PCIe4. Both are size 2280. So I could buy a 128GB M.2 drive as long as it's 2280 and either PCIe3 or 4?

What I haven't been able to get a grip on is NVMe. Is my proposed board able to take NVMe? All help and suggestions greatly appreciated!

Probably a silly question: one of these M.2's would show up in Explorer as the C drive, yes?

I would not get a HD that is less than 512GB even if it is just for the OS, swap file, and other things that you in stall like Office or what have you.

I'm not sure which one will show up as C: but it should be the drive you install the OS on, probably in order down the MB.

NVMe = logically uses PCIe, and not SATA. No point in getting M2 SATA, besides some laptops which don't support NVMe.

Yes, it will be bootable (so C: by default).

Can be 2280 (= 22 x 80mm) or shorter, like 2260. Not that you'd normally find shorter ones.

128GB, if it exists, isn't a good idea because smaller sizes perform worse. And you might run out of space.
250GB should be the minimum, but 500GB is a better compromise.

Thanks guys. Got a WD Blue SN570 500GB and have just finished installing an OS on it. Very impressive little stick - saves space inside the case.