- Joined
- Feb 22, 2009
- Messages
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System Name | Lenovo 17IMH05H |
---|---|
Processor | Core i7 10750H |
Video Card(s) | GTX 1660 Ti |
Audio Device(s) | SSL2 |
Software | Windows 10 Pro 22H2 |
Benchmark Scores | i've got a shitload of them in 15 years of TPU membership |
I am here to report that i have successfully installed Windows 7 on my 256 GB Plextor M8Pe SSD.
Plextor M8Pe - an M.2 2280 socket NVMe based SSD, which uses PCI-E lanes for bandwidth transfer instead of SATA cables, has been widely described over the last year in various articles.
https://www.techpowerup.com/223176/plextor-also-unveils-m8pe-series-pcie-ssds
NVMe based SSDs are the "future now" thing, but i, like many other people, wish to stay with Windows 7 for as long as the OS is relevant and supported by Microsoft. The problem is, that Windows 7 does not have drivers for NVMe based SSD.
Also, only some of the Z97 and H97 systemboards with BIOS implementations superseding 2015/3 - 2015/06 period might actually support NVMe drives. Luckily some of the cheaper high-end systemboards like my fresh Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 3 apparently came with the needed BIOS update for 5 generation CPUs and NVMe straight out of the box. Obviously the current Z170 and Z270 systemboards should have no problem with NVMe support.
What is needed for Windows 7 install?
1. USB Win7 iso is not needed to install OS, a common DVD works! All over the internet articles pop up that you need a Win7 iso in a USB drive in order to install OS; don't know where that came from, since a regular DVDROM works just fine!
2. Make sure that UEFI boot ROM and UEFI storage interfaces are selected in your BIOS menu, select no legacy options.
3. Format a USB drive to FAT32, create a folder named "Drv" and paste your OS pendant (x86 or x64) drivers, which are provided by your SSD manufacturer. In case of Plextor, everything is to be found here:
http://www.goplextor.com/Support/Downloads
4. When the time comes to select a hard drive for Windows 7, you will see nothing; click the CD icon "browse files" on the left lower filed, find your USB drive, search your Drv folder for your X86 or X64 drivers, and click ok.
The biggest catch is the speed. Since i've just installed Windows 7, it will take time to organize my stuff and actually test the speed of the Plextor SSD.
Now, i see that my systemboard supports PCI-E 2.0 X4 interface for my SSD, which means a 1600 MB/s bandwidth should be realistically possible - that is below the SSDs 2100 MB/s read speed, but above, it's 900 MB/s write speed. I am ok with that, but i can not guarantee that it will perform like it.
If anybody knows why PCI-E 3.0 was not an option, please reply.
I will write once more when i will test my SSD.
Cheers, i hope this will be useful to somebody!
Plextor M8Pe - an M.2 2280 socket NVMe based SSD, which uses PCI-E lanes for bandwidth transfer instead of SATA cables, has been widely described over the last year in various articles.
https://www.techpowerup.com/223176/plextor-also-unveils-m8pe-series-pcie-ssds
NVMe based SSDs are the "future now" thing, but i, like many other people, wish to stay with Windows 7 for as long as the OS is relevant and supported by Microsoft. The problem is, that Windows 7 does not have drivers for NVMe based SSD.
Also, only some of the Z97 and H97 systemboards with BIOS implementations superseding 2015/3 - 2015/06 period might actually support NVMe drives. Luckily some of the cheaper high-end systemboards like my fresh Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 3 apparently came with the needed BIOS update for 5 generation CPUs and NVMe straight out of the box. Obviously the current Z170 and Z270 systemboards should have no problem with NVMe support.
What is needed for Windows 7 install?
1. USB Win7 iso is not needed to install OS, a common DVD works! All over the internet articles pop up that you need a Win7 iso in a USB drive in order to install OS; don't know where that came from, since a regular DVDROM works just fine!
2. Make sure that UEFI boot ROM and UEFI storage interfaces are selected in your BIOS menu, select no legacy options.
3. Format a USB drive to FAT32, create a folder named "Drv" and paste your OS pendant (x86 or x64) drivers, which are provided by your SSD manufacturer. In case of Plextor, everything is to be found here:
http://www.goplextor.com/Support/Downloads
4. When the time comes to select a hard drive for Windows 7, you will see nothing; click the CD icon "browse files" on the left lower filed, find your USB drive, search your Drv folder for your X86 or X64 drivers, and click ok.
The biggest catch is the speed. Since i've just installed Windows 7, it will take time to organize my stuff and actually test the speed of the Plextor SSD.
Now, i see that my systemboard supports PCI-E 2.0 X4 interface for my SSD, which means a 1600 MB/s bandwidth should be realistically possible - that is below the SSDs 2100 MB/s read speed, but above, it's 900 MB/s write speed. I am ok with that, but i can not guarantee that it will perform like it.
If anybody knows why PCI-E 3.0 was not an option, please reply.
I will write once more when i will test my SSD.
Cheers, i hope this will be useful to somebody!
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