Hello,
I have a build using the asus b450i strix gaming with a ryzen 2600. Recently upgraded to a 1tb pcie3 nvme from my 500gb WD Blue sata drive. It was my understanding that I could run this WD sata drive in the second m.2 slot on the back of my board. Is this not true?
I know I cannot run the second slot in pcie mode without dropping the x16 slot to 8x, but is the same for sata? The manual does not mention this.
Most B450 boards make you choose between SATA and a second m.2 drive. Try unplugging the two upper ports.
Unplugging which ports? I do not have any sata ports in use.
It took me a while until I understood that your WD Blue is a mSata drive.
The table in the manual seems to suggest that only the first slot (top of mobo) supports mSata.
So, to use both drives your PCIe slot will drop to 8 lanes electrically (8x).
My bad, it is a common mistake people make so I assumed you also made it without looking deeper.
As @jode showed, it seems like you can only run the back m.2 as a PCIe device, and then only with x8 support on the GPU. For the front m.2 slot, yes, this supports mSata always.
Personally I’d look to retire the mSata. Also, do be aware the 5700X is still one heck of an upgrade to make for only $160. 
I think for now I will run both with the GPU in 8x as I’d like to use the SATA m.2 for Linux. I hopefully shouldn’t see any GPU hit.
Do you know why certain b450 boards support multiple m.2 with a 16x card in the right. Slot? Is that because of slots connected through chipset?
Side question: does anyone know the size and where I can get a replacement small screw that mounts the SSD in slot 1 under the cover? I’ve lost the original mounting hardware and purchased a kit on Amazon with 2 different size stand offs and screws. I used these on the back but they don’t work for the front. The threads on the OEM screw that’s stripped are shorter
Well, Amazon has a few kits, otherwise MicroCenter should have you covered.
Can you replace the mobo standoff with a new one you got from Amazon? Careful - don’t strip the threads in the mobo!
This is likely what I’ll do provided the threads on stand off are the same length. I’m not sure the sizing of the original screw as the kit I bought claims to have m2x2.5 and m2x3mm and they’re too long.
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