I first turned to YouTube to figure out whether or not my Asus Tuf F15 gaming laptop had a spot for an additional SSD. When looking through videos, I found that in most cases it does, but the spot looks different from what I’m seeing in mine. Upon inspection, I found a spot that might be where it goes, but I wanted to double-check before asking my family to help me purchase one. I’ve circled the spot in blue on the attached picture. If you all could let me know, it’d be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!
If you still aren’t sure, you can try swapping the current SSD into that open spot. It should work and give you peace of mind that it’s the correct slot.
Please be aware that many motherboards are standardized, and OEMs don’t bother to remove the components they don’t want because it’s costly to customize it. What I mean by that is, even though the slot is there, first check if it’s even working by putting the main SSD in there or buy an SSD that you can return. The best way is to refer to the laptop manual from the Asus website and see if they list it as an extra NVMe slot.
@Kiran
I’ve triple checked their website and they market it as having two slots for SSDs.
Dara said:
@Kiran
I’ve triple checked their website and they market it as having two slots for SSDs.
What is the system board product and version?
@Kiran
You may have to go into the BIOS to confirm this as well - I know my laptop has a separate thing for it.
Yes, looks like a PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD would fit.
Cass said:
Yes, looks like a PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD would fit.
Thank you so much!!! I’ll make sure to get the right type!
Yeah, that’s an NVMe M.2 slot with the standoff and all. Just make sure to buy a 2280 one since it’s the size that will reach the standoff for securing it with a screw.
Zee said:
Yeah, that’s an NVMe M.2 slot with the standoff and all. Just make sure to buy a 2280 one since it’s the size that will reach the standoff for securing it with a screw.
Just double-checked that the one I’m looking at is the right size. Thanks for the heads-up!
Yep, the empty M.2 is symmetrical, next to the bottom RAM slot.
Don’t forget to get a heatsink or thermal tape with it.
Nori said:
Don’t forget to get a heatsink or thermal tape with it.
Actually, I was wondering where I would put the thermal tape on this one.
Nori said:
Don’t forget to get a heatsink or thermal tape with it.
Actually, I was wondering where I would put the thermal tape on this one.
The thermal tape just sits on top of the SSD, like the one in the first slot. It looks like Wrigley’s bubble gum. If you pick a heatsink, it comes with a metal cover with a screw hole and shares the screw with the SSD.
@Nori
Yes, dear thermal throttling 
. If a modern PCIe 5 NVMe only draws 5 watts (not to speak of Gen 3/4), temperatures of over 70°C can occur. Cooling is essential in such narrow cases.
Nori said:
Don’t forget to get a heatsink or thermal tape with it.
Actually, I was wondering where I would put the thermal tape on this one.
Amazon has it for cheap.
@Quinn
Yippee, thanks y’all!
Nori said:
Don’t forget to get a heatsink or thermal tape with it.
Actually, I was wondering where I would put the thermal tape on this one.
You don’t strictly need any; it just helps some drives live a tiny bit longer.
That’s correct, it’s a spare M.2 PCIe NVMe drive slot, 2280 length. Any 2TB SSD should work excluding 22110, but I have never seen 22110 being sold outside of enterprise. Just note that you may want to bundle in another heat spreader for your SSD. A heatsink on top of the SSD may not fit with low clearance though.