Does the ASRock X99 Extreme4 support the Samsung 950 Pro 512GB SSD?

[KevinDckr]

So I recently purchased the ASRock X99 Extreme4 motherboard ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157543 ) and I have been reading through the instruction manual. In the manual it lists the supported M.2 NGFF modules, under the list there is only one entry for Samsung and it reads

"Samsung XP941-512G (MZHPU512HCGL)"

I also managed to find a supported devices list for the Extreme4 on their website ( http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/X99%20Extreme4/?cat=Storage ). On it, it lists 3 Samsung modules

"Samsung 256GB PCIe3 x4 2280 SM951 (MZHPV256HDGL)"
"Samsung 512GB PCIe3 x4 2280 SM951 (MZHPV512HDGL)"
"Samsung 512GB PCIe x4 2280 XP941-512G (MZHPU512HCGL)"

The issue I am facing is that I purchased a Samsung 950 Pro ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147467 ) and I cannot tell if is compatible with the motherboard.

From what I understand M.2 is just a protocol. If two pieces of hardware support M.2 then they should be compatible. Is the manufacturer just bragging that it can support "all these devices" or is there some reason they might have to implement specific software for each devices?

After finally booting up and entering the BIOS I can see the "N1-Samsung 950 PRO 512GB" as a possible boot option. Though under the "Advanced -> Storage Options" there is an entry "M.2 Ultra" which reads "No device installed". Further more when booting into the Windows 7 setup I can only view my HDDs, the Samsung drive is not in the list of drives to install the OS to.

Can anyone clear up what the issue might be here?

 

[Calvin7]

Install Windows 7 Using the "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" (UEFI)
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/186875-uefi-unified-extensible-firmware-interface-install-windows-7-a.html

 

[KevinDckr]

Install Windows 7 Using the "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface" (UEFI)
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/186875-uefi-unified-extensible-firmware-interface-install-windows-7-a.html

I've read through this and I do not think it is the solution. When I am at step #6 (where it shows all of the drives in the system) the Samsung drive does not show. All I see is my 2TB RAID array. Though, this will definitely help in the future once I actually get the drive to show up!

 

[KevinDckr]

I might have found a solution. Though I don't have time just now to try it out.

The rep from microcenter that helped me get all my parts responded to me and confirmed my suspicions that Win7 does not have an NVMe driver by default. I did find a link to the Samsung 950 Pro NVMe driver on their website (4th one down http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/support/downloads.html?CID=AFL-hq-mul-0813-11000279 ) but this is a windows installer, I really needed the driver files themselves. The rep managed to find a download for the files themselves and linked me ( https://mega.nz/#!IJcSDIIB!xdxM-atprqjeTTN6ZxSfyh2dJZXVSi5GsJeIy3iVNk4 ).

So tonight I am going to try to use this driver within the Win7 setup which should be able to identify the SSD. Along with the partial solution above ( http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/186875-uefi-unified-extensible-firmware-interface-install-windows-7-a.html ) I should be able to install Win7 on the SSD.

As far as the Extreme4 not recognizing the device in the M.2 port. After watching this youtube video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No-ct8pQcIg ) I think it should recognize it after the install. Around the 2:08 mark the speaker says "You'll now notice that the windows boot manager recognizes your AHCI M.2". I hope this means that the motherboard should recognize it, though I am not sure how the windows boot manager and the motherboard interact.

I will post later, hopefully, with a successful install!

 

[MortarArt]

Did you find a solution to this? I also bought a 950 pro, and it's not showing up in Disk Management, and the Windows Samsung Driver installation said no device was installed.

 

[MortarArt]

Nevermind! Reseated the drive and it worked fine.

 

[CellCall]

Hey There, I've got the asrock x99 extreme4 motherboard as well as the samsung 950 pro 512gb,

Okay, so basically these guys are right about installing windows 7 on it, but regardless, the ssd will work fine through the m2 slot, only thing is, it's not supported as NVME which means that it'll just run at stock m.2. speeds and not the "Ultra m.2." which claims to boost to 32GB per second, and as far as I'm aware, all they need to do to fix this is to release a bios update that will therefore support the 950 pro 512gb as NVME and then we'll get the speed boost that we deserve, it's very annoying, I mean it runs perfectly and really fast, but really, when you're meant to get faster speeds, not so much.

 

[HeavenEdit]

Hey There, I've got the asrock x99 extreme4 motherboard as well as the samsung 950 pro 512gb,

Okay, so basically these guys are right about installing windows 7 on it, but regardless, the ssd will work fine through the m2 slot, only thing is, it's not supported as NVME which means that it'll just run at sock m.2. speeds and not the "Ultra m.2." which claims to boost to 32GB per second, and as far as I'm aware, all they need to do to fix this is to release a bios update that will therefore support the 950 pro 512gb as NVME and then we'll get the speed boost that we deserve, it's very annoying, I mean it runs perfectly and really fast, but really, when you're meant to get faster speeds, not so much.

Are you certain about this? Why shouldn't it support the full 32GB/s?

 

[CellCall]

Hey There, I've got the asrock x99 extreme4 motherboard as well as the samsung 950 pro 512gb,

Okay, so basically these guys are right about installing windows 7 on it, but regardless, the ssd will work fine through the m2 slot, only thing is, it's not supported as NVME which means that it'll just run at sock m.2. speeds and not the "Ultra m.2." which claims to boost to 32GB per second, and as far as I'm aware, all they need to do to fix this is to release a bios update that will therefore support the 950 pro 512gb as NVME and then we'll get the speed boost that we deserve, it's very annoying, I mean it runs perfectly and really fast, but really, when you're meant to get faster speeds, not so much.

Are you certain about this? Why shouldn't it support the full 32GB/s?

Yes, I'm sure, I have both devices and have it up and running and the motherboards bios is completely up to date, basically it'll work fine in the slot, but because the Motherboard does not support it under NVME it won't be able to use the tech that allows it to go up to 32gb/s it's max speeds will be as stated on the Samsung 950 Pro packaging.

Still runs great, but the next upgrade I'm getting, which based on my research is the only one so far that states that it does support the 512gb Samsung 950 Pro under NVME, which means it'll properly go the 32gb/s, and that has a 2011-3 CPU socket and DDR4 ram support is the Gigabyte X99P-SLI which currently comes in at around $410 AUD, and then I'll be able to utilise the 32gb/s functions that the Samsung 950 Pro allows. Unfortunately this is the case, but you've got choices you can make now...

 

[HeavenEdit]

Hey There, I've got the asrock x99 extreme4 motherboard as well as the samsung 950 pro 512gb,

Okay, so basically these guys are right about installing windows 7 on it, but regardless, the ssd will work fine through the m2 slot, only thing is, it's not supported as NVME which means that it'll just run at sock m.2. speeds and not the "Ultra m.2." which claims to boost to 32GB per second, and as far as I'm aware, all they need to do to fix this is to release a bios update that will therefore support the 950 pro 512gb as NVME and then we'll get the speed boost that we deserve, it's very annoying, I mean it runs perfectly and really fast, but really, when you're meant to get faster speeds, not so much.

Are you certain about this? Why shouldn't it support the full 32GB/s?

Yes, I'm sure, I have both devices and have it up and running and the motherboards bios is completely up to date, basically it'll work fine in the slot, but because the Motherboard does not support it under NVME it won't be able to use the tech that allows it to go up to 32gb/s it's max speeds will be as stated on the Samsung 950 Pro packaging.

Still runs great, but the next upgrade I'm getting, which based on my research is the only one so far that states that it does support the 512gb Samsung 950 Pro under NVME, which means it'll properly go the 32gb/s, and that has a 2011-3 CPU socket and DDR4 ram support is the Gigabyte X99P-SLI which currently comes in at around $410 AUD, and then I'll be able to utilise the 32gb/s functions that the Samsung 950 Pro allows. Unfortunately this is the case, but you've got choices you can make now...

Well the 32 GB/s is a theoretical speed. If the drive is slower than that, the speed will be slower too... I thought you were implying that the 950 Pro would run as fast as a common SSD which would be horrific. As long as it gets to the speeds which are on the package everything is fine to me. I'm going to make my order now, cheers.