M.2 SSD on old X58 system with M.2 PCI adaptor. Can it work?

[ulises]

I think i was not clear
I want to install windows 10 on the ssd; I want to use it as a system on my old Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P. The ss samsung 960 only work as stockage on my gigabyte; The gigabyte cannot recognize the ssd 960 as a sustem.
So, according to some , the samsung SSD 950 mven could be installed on boards X58 . So if I install the smasung ssd 950 winth windows 7 or 10 as a system on my Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P, do you think it will work?

 

[Flaky]

"I want OS on NVMe because I want OS on NVMe"
Whatever

It should work, as long the motherboard is able to load the boot rom from the drive.
Most do just fine. I read somewhere about trouble with getting it to work on evga x58, but not sure if it was problem with motherboard, or the user.

 

[Gasaraki]

Hello,

This is my board card:
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P ( old one )
Of course, i tried to install samsung ssd 960 mven and it did not work obviously.

As I have read it could perfectly work with Samsung 950 Pro NVME ( i have an adapter pci E) that i can buy from a friend but i must be sure it would work fine otherwise i can not give him back. It is difficult to find this SSD 950 in Europe and is is expensive. I can buy it for 100€ a samsung 950 nvme 256go.

I ponder over this hard disk 950 because i use a lot compression and decompression software as winraar, winzip ( big files 4go 40go, 10 go and so on ) and I think pages must be appeared quickly than a standard ssd.

This is the adapter nvme : https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/PCI-...D-Slot-Adapter-For-M-2-PCI-E/32766479188.html

Have you maybe a better idea, another SSD compatible with ma board with similar performaces ?

Thank you for your answers

I have a X58 board running a NVMe drive as a boot drive using an adapter. I got it working by having the motherboard load a UEFI bios that can see the drive.

I have the MyDigitalSSD BPX. It does not have the BIOS ROM.

Here are the instructions:
https://audiocricket.com/2016/12/31/booting-samsung-sm961-on-asus-p6t-se-mainboard/

 

[ulises]

Thank you for your answer Flaky.
Gasaraki, you speak about MyDigitalSSD BPX. Your motherboard has a bios or UEFI?
Do you mean your MyDigitalSSD BPX works perfectly on your motherboard X58 which only has a standard bios?

Did you compare your ssd mydigital BPX and an standard SSD? did you notice a difference when playing games, charging pages, from internet, and so on?

 

[agent_x007]

If you want NVMe that badly, use Clover (LINK) or DUET.

 

[ulises]

For the moment and as i can state: Samsung 950 and MyDigitalSSD BPX should work as a system disk with windows 8 or 10 on motherboard X58 without legacy mode and without UEFI option , i.e , both SSD mvme are supposed to be working on a standard mainboard X58 not equiped with M.2 port , MVEM.

agentx007, tthe method you propose i know, i think it is only possible with samsung 961 and a usb key is necessary. I state that this method limits the speed of the usb.

 

[agent_x007]

agentx007, tthe method you propose i know, i think it is only possible with samsung 961 and a usb key is necessary. I state that this method limits the speed of the usb.

There are no hardware limits for Clover method. I tested it with SM951 128GB - worked fine (you simply need a NVMe disk driver for Win 7 OS, Win 10 doesn't need it).

What do you mean by "limits the speed of the USB" ?
FYI : If you want, you can use a IDE/SATA drive (or partition of already installed HDD), as Clover partition.

 

[ulises]

Well, I try to assimilate all this, new for me.

I resume :


1.My motherboard Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P = No UEFI, no Legacy no mven.

2.I Need a ssd mven 256 or 512

3.I have an PCI Express 4x to M Key M.2 SSD Slot Adapter For M.2 PCI-E SSD (NGFF) SSD 2230 2242 2260 2280 Card M Key PCI-E X4 NG



According to some, Samsung 950 Pro 256 and MyDigitalSSD BPX 80mm should work when installed them on my Pci Express 4xto M key and obvisouly on my motherboard’s pci E. Is that correct ?

According to some Samsung SM951 NVMe and samsung 96 1nvme need a usb key to install windows ? is that correct ?


Some ssd are hard to be found in shops

This is the list i drew up :


Some advices?



1. Samsung SM951 MZVPV512HDGL-00000 M.2 (2280) PCIe NVMe 3.0x4 - Intel 512GB Price 200€

Writting 1500

Reading 2150


2. Samsung SM951 NVMe M.2 256Go

Price 130€

Writting 1200

Reading 2150


3. Samsung SM 961 256Go

Price 140€

Writting 1400

Reading 3100

4. Samsung SM 961 512G

Price 220€

Writting 1700

Reading 3100


5. Samsung 950 Pro 256

Price : 110€ ( second hand)

Writting 900

Reading 2200


6. Samsung 950 Pro 512

Price : 350€

Writting 1500

Reading 2500

7. MyDigitalSSD 480GB (512GB) BPX 80mm (2280) M.2 PCI Express 3.0 x4
Price 210€
Writting 1600

Reading 2300

8. MyDigitalSSD BPX 80mm (2280) M.2 PCI Express 3.0 x4 (PCIe Gen3 x4) NVMe MLC SSD (240GB)

Price 140 €

Writting 1300

Reading 2600

 

[agent_x007]

According to me most doesn't know what they are talking about, and usually they don't have any proof to back up what they claim.

Here's my take on "some say" :
I say NVMe drive by itself doesn't need support of any kind from MB (PCI-e slot required, duh), if you use DUET or Clover as it's UEFI boot module.
I know Clover* can be installed on SATA HDD and can be booted from it (no USB devices are needed for booting). *confirmed that myself (didn't try Duet).
AND here are My proof's of ^that :

MB used = ASRock P4i945GC.
CPU used Pentium 4 3,2GHz PGA 478 w/EM64T.
My NVMe is a SM961 256GB and I use a cheap PCIe to Dual M.2 adapter (like this : LINK).

1) YT video of complete Windows 7 x64 SP1 installation on SM961 256GB and above hardware : LINK (bit of warning here, it's almost 90 min long ).
2) CPU-z valid with SM951 installed (same hardware) : https://valid.x86.fr/2g58sg

 

[EarthDog]

What are the drive speeds?

Isnt that board pcie 1?

 

[agent_x007]

Board is PCI-e 1.0, and I connected NVMe drive to x16 slot, GPU was connected via x1 riser.
On video (@1:10:20) you can see live CrystalDiskTest : LINK
Results for SM961 (CDM 5.2.2 x64), before any drivers/updates :
Seq. Read (QD32) : 785MB/s
Seq. Write (QD32) : 722MB/s
4k Read : 53,26MB/s
4k Write : 108,8MB/s

Here's screenshot after updates :

 

[EarthDog]

Neutered.. wow. Still a lot faster than a HDD, but damn is that drive wasted on that platform.

 

[ulises]

Hello

Thanks , but your results are less than it should have
the Writting 1400
Reading 3100

I know it cannot reach full spped but it should be more, shouldn't it? MAybe your adapter card mven is limited to 1X on a pcie 2.0

 

[agent_x007]

@ulises Optimistic much ?
I'm using a PGA 478 CPU/board, and you want PCI-e 2.0 ?

PCIe version can be seen in Crystal Disk info on right side... FYI.
LGA 775 PCI-e 2.0 result with SM951 128GB :

 

[ulises]

Interessting, thanks.

You own SM951. In order to install on your motherboard, had you to use the same method as ssd 961 with a usb key, like the video ?

 

[agent_x007]

Yes. However USB key is used only for installation (since I didn't integrate NVMe drivers in Win 7 installation).
If you want, you can install Clover without using any pendrives (simply connect hard drive to working PC and install Clover on it using Windows).
My method is for users who can't easily disconnect hard drives for Clover (or don't have a working system nearby).

 

[ulises]

Your results are correct : samsung 950 128Go, (Samsung's reading 2000 writting 650)
As to you, do you advice me a samsung 951 or 961 256 ? or another alternative ?
I had thought of Samsung SM951 512 200€ but out of my budget partiotioning into two partitions 100Go for the system and the rest when I download big files to decompress or working photos with Optics DXO ans so on and then I put all in a second standard hard disk 4to

I must order them from Germany in France or Spain it is hard to find and very expensive.

 

[agent_x007]

SM961 and SM951 are both great choises.
Keep in mind that for SSDs more space = higher seq. max. write speed (unless drive uses Xpoint).

 

[ulises]

Ok, thank you. Is will be pondering over this next weekend

 

[IvanFidelis]

Hi everyone,

I´m reviving this very nice and informative post, to ask about something that I did not found anywhere else around the web, and I did a lot of reading =)

I have a x58 based system GA X58A-UD7, and I´m about to buy a Nvme drive, and saw that the users that have this drivers already running, and posted the adapter that they are using, they are all using Pcie x4 based ones...

So, in the searching for the same adapters of the users, I saw one that drove my attention, a Pcie x16 based one...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/M-2-NVMe...335944?hash=item3afab604c8:g:sJMAAOSwP4FaM-WX

Like the user cucker tarlson said about the speeds, I´m wandering if the reason of making a x16 adapter, is to achieve higher speeds, since in x4 Gen 2.0 we can get the "Est. real word Max 1.6Gb/s in Pci-e 2.0 x4", and with the Pci-e 2.0 x16 we can get 2x more...

Since the output format of the Nvme I´m about to buy is PCIe Gen 3.0 "x4", my question looks crazy, but, you know, even the adapter being so cheap and simple, I´m just wandering if they found a way to provide higher transfers on PCIe 2.0 x16

 

[agent_x007]

I own and use that exact adapter in my main PC (I bought it with heatsink)
It's x16 in lenght but still x4 electric (you can see PCB tracers don't go full lenght).
"x16" gives it better rigidity (it's less likely to woble in slot when not support by anything), and no bracket means you can install a dual slot card in slot above it (IF adapter is small enough for it to fit).

 

[IvanFidelis]

Hi agent_x007,

Tnx for the real quick answer

It´s a shame knowing that "we" have the power to get 4x more than we already get on x4 slots but one day, who knows =D

This adapter shows what the slot really can do. But since it is built to RAID stuff, put just one Nvme SSD certainly will use just x4 anyway...

And I must say, it´s very nice to see your work on the socket 478 based system . A machine on it´s way to 20 years can deliver almost the same transfer of a new MB with onboard M2 10Gb/s that some companies call "super pro gamer evolution detonator extreme destroyer"...

One more time, tnx a lot for your time

 

[IvanFidelis]

Hello,

I´m back to share my results, and show one more SSD Nvme working flawlessly on architecture without M.2 slots and UEFI bios, using Windows 7 x64 sp1...

I made a fast video "power on till power off" just to show system working and the speed till the system boot up "I had just the drivers installed, none programs"...

And I captured some images too:

The SSD with the adaptor:

I´m very happy with the drive, even simple tasks like browsing on internet are awesome. The windows 7 installation, outstanding, just a few minutes, and I used a USB 3.0 HDD case with a Sata 2 HD. As soon I got a sata 3 drive, or a flash drive 3.0, I´ll do the installation again for sure

The system specs are in the first picture, so, I´m going now to finish the installation of all my stuff, and see how it goes. Till now, just marvelous

All the best

 

[Tomgang]

Hello,

I´m back to share my results, and show one more SSD Nvme working flawlessly on architecture without M.2 slots and UEFI bios, using Windows 7 x64 sp1...

I made a fast video "power on till power off" just to show system working and the speed till the system boot up "I had just the drivers installed, none programs"...

And I captured some images too:

View attachment 100380

The SSD with the adaptor:

View attachment 100381

I´m very happy with the drive, even simple tasks like browsing on internet are awesome. The windows 7 installation, outstanding, just a few minutes, and I used a USB 3.0 HDD case with a Sata 2 HD. As soon I got a sata 3 drive, or a flash drive 3.0, I´ll do the installation again for sure

The system specs are in the first picture, so, I´m going now to finish the installation of all my stuff, and see how it goes. Till now, just marvelous

All the best

Congrats on joyning x58 with an m.2 ssd and yeah its awesome with m.2 ssd on x58. it really makes the old system feels fast and responsive. Infact so awesome that i got a second samsung 950 pro for games.

Oh and its nice to see that there are other m.2 ssd besides samsung 950 PRO that can work on X58. Enjoy your speed freak of a x58 system. I sure do.

A little tip. Make sure windows 7 has deaktivated defrag on your ssd. It makes more damage to the ssd than benefits. Ssd use a funktion called trim. Just if you are new to ssd.

 

[IvanFidelis]

Tnx Tomgang

And yeah Man, I´m freaking out here with the speeds of everything

I was worried "and very curious too" about the Corsair MP500, and my MB being a Gigabyte, since all the positive tests and posts I could find, was in Asus boards. And worse, here, in this thread, 2 users posted about failing to put their boards to work, Ferrum Master, and Bg8780. Ferrum with Intel and Msi, and Bg8780 with Evga. And Bg8780 even have the 950 pro, with legacy support. Kind of worrying

But all end up very well

About the defrag thing, sure, I checked, and another surprise. Since I had a flawless turbo W7 install, all drivers installed, all my work and fun programs installed too "just finished", getting the full speed of the PciE x4 gen 2 can provide, all stuff working amazing well. I can tell that the hotfix to add native driver support for NVMe on W7 is very good.

Oh, about the defrag surprise, the windows even left my SSD out of the scheduled defrag list, like it should, awesome right

Best regards