Has anyone compared M.2 PCIe "Adapter Cards"?

[Mugsy]

I'm thinking about upgrading my system to use an M.2 SSD as a boot drive, but my old MoBo does not have an M.2 slot on it, so I'll have to use an adapter card.

Searching online, most cards look like cheap crap, and reviews for cheap $9 cards seem to be pretty much the same as reviews for more "expensive" $24 cards.

So is there really any difference? Do "cheap" cards perform as well as higher-end cards when it comes to 4x PCIe adapters? (ZTE makes a card called the "Lightning" promising better speeds, but I can find nothing to confirm that.)

I plan on using this on a 64bit Win7 PC, which means I'll have to use the MS "Hotfix" (which I downloaded) and a driver (but how does a motherboard recognize an M2 card to boot from if it needs a "hotfix" and/or driver?) Do some adapter cards add built-in BIOS support so you can boot from them?

I'll update my MoBo next year (though I'll be sticking with Win7) but I'd like to get something now that I can use in he new machine later.

TIA

 

[USAFRet]

If your motherboard lacks a dedicated m.2 port, it is highly unlikely it will be able to boot from a PCIe drive in an adapter.
You'll have to delve into the actual BIOS upgrades and see if that has been enabled for your current motherboard.

 

[Mugsy]

If your motherboard lacks a dedicated m.2 port, it is highly unlikely it will be able to boot from a PCIe drive in an adapter.

Thx. I sent a support request to Gigabyte about whether of not I can boot from PCIe using the latest BIOS (installed). They are usually very good at responding to questions within a day or two, but the last two questions I asked received no reply.

Maybe they're tired of supporting my old Z87X MoBo?

 

[USAFRet]

If your motherboard lacks a dedicated m.2 port, it is highly unlikely it will be able to boot from a PCIe drive in an adapter.

Thx. I sent a support request to Gigabyte about whether of not I can boot from PCIe using the latest BIOS (installed). They are usually very good at responding to questions within a day or two, but the last two questions I asked received no reply.

Maybe they're tired of supporting my old Z87X MoBo?

A Z87 board? Highly unlikely.
My ASRock Z97 won't boot from that either. Or even its included x2 m.2 port.

 

[ko888]

Which of the ten GIGABYTE GA-Z87X motherboard models do you own?

GA-Z87X-D3H (rev.1.x)
GA-Z87X-HD3 (rev.1.1)
GA-Z87X-OC (rev.1.x)
GA-Z87X-OC Force (rev.1.x)
GA-Z87X-SLI (rev.1.1)
GA-Z87X-UD3H (rev.1.x)
GA-Z87X-UD4H (rev.1.x)
GA-Z87X-UD5 TH (rev.1.x)
GA-Z87X-UD5H (rev.1.x)
GA-Z87X-UD7 TH (rev.2.0)

The BIOS can be modded to add in the NVMe support module. You can also update the microcode to patch the Spectre vulnerability.

 

[kraelic]

M.2 is a form factor, the interface can be either SATA or PCI Express. If your board can boot from an Intel 750 SSD then it should boot with an M.2 PCI Express adapter.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/gaming-enthusiast-ssds/750-series.html

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/memory-and-storage/enthusiast-ssds/NVMe_Boot_Guide_332098-001US_Rev1-1.pdf

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815287036

Both slots get power from the mainboard, the lower slot is x4 PCI Express from the mainboard, the upper is SATA and connects data with a SATA cable to the motherboard SATA connectors.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAERN68H8619

This one only converts the physical interface from PCI express to M.2

 

[Mugsy]

M.2 is a form factor, the interface can be either SATA or PCI Express. If your board can boot from an Intel 750 SSD then it should boot with an M.2 PCI Express adapter.

I'm actually more interested in knowing if there's a "performance" difference between adapter cards?

I ended up connecting a 500gb 970 Evo to a 4x card and my results are about half of what I've seen in most benchmarks.

Is it the card? Is it the fact I'm using Windows-7 (64bit, 4.3ghz)? Could it be a driver issue (only "driver" is MS's "hotfix" to add M.2 support to Win7)?

Researching online, it should be possible to boot from the PCIe slot using a USB boot drive with the proper drivers on it (I haven't tried yet.)

 

[kraelic]

The x4 pci express card to m.2 x4 lane adapters are just a physical converter, it matters if they are in a third gen 32Gb/s slot or a second gen 20Gb/s slot on the mainboard. Also some boards may have routing issues and a x4 slot might become x2 if x1 slots are occupied.

The driver is the samsung nvme driver for windows 7, 8, and 10
https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/

Getting nvme to boot on older systems, looks like csm and option rom for samsung is a possibility on pro, not sure on evo. Also some info on USB boot thumbdrive or use another ssd to boot and hand off to m.2 Windows 7 needs to be in UEFI mode too.
https://www.win-raid.com/t871f50-Guide-How-to-get-full-NVMe-support-for-all-Systems-with-an-AMI-UEFI-BIOS.html

 

[Mugsy]

The x4 pci express card to m.2 x4 lane adapters are just a physical converter, it matters if they are in a third gen 32Gb/s slot or a second gen 20Gb/s slot on the mainboard. Also some boards may have routing issues and a x4 slot might become x2 if x1 slots are occupied.

Thanks for the info.

None of my x1 slots are occupied and I made sure not to use the x8 slot next to my vid card (x16) to prevent reducing it to x8.

I used the slot furthest away, which is also an x4 slot, so I should be getting full x4 speed. I haven't seen an x8 M.2 adapter card, so I don't think it needs more bandwidth.

I obtained the driver from Samsung's website, but when you run it, it extracts a Microsoft update .msi file that auto-installs a patch & detects the M.2. I still had to go into "Computer Management" to enable/format the drive and assign it a drive letter.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from Mugsy : "Cloned my Win7 install to an M.2 on an addon card. How can I boot it? (USB? Grub?)"

Short version:

I have a 970 Evo on an x4 card with Win7 cloned to it. My old MoBo doesn't support booting from PCIe cards. Is there a way to load Windows off the M.2 using a bootable USB thumbdrive (or better yet, my Linux boot menu?)

Long version:

I purchased a new 500gb 970 Evo M.2 drive, but my old Motherboard doesn't have M.2 slots so I had to connect it using an x4 PCIe card.

I have the drive working in Windows-7. I installed the M.2 hotfix from MS which recognized the card and allowed me to add/format it from the "Computer Management" utility and assign it a drive letter. I cloned my C: (Windows boot) drive to it but my BIOS doesn't detect the card on boot.

I've seen plenty of sites claiming you can boot a FRESH install of Win7 off an M.2 by using a bootable USB drive with the necessary drivers on it, but they all seem to involve putting the entire Win7.iso (with slip-streamed drivers) on a stick and installing Win7 from scratch. I have no need (nor desire) to do that. And again, my BIOS wouldn't even detect the card at boot.

I also have Ubuntu Linux installed on a different drive (Dual Boot). When Windows is not present, it automatically boots to the "Grub" boot menu (which I updated to detect Windows on the nvme), listing both Linux and Windows. But when I select Windows, it says something like "No device found".

So is there a way to put JUST the necessary boot files on a USB to load Win7 from the M.2 (or fix Grub so it'll launch Windows from the nvme?)

TIA

issue is with the motherboard bios, it just doesn't boot with pcie

You'll need a Z97 or newer motherboard to have the BIOS module that supports booting from NVMe.

M2 comes in several versions. SATA M2 drives have the same controllers and NAND as their 2.5" equivalents. NVMe drives like your 970 Evo need newer boards and Windows 8 or 10 to boot natively. I guess the hotfix can get around the Windows 7 part.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2990941/update-to-add-native-driver-support-in-nvm-express-in-windows-7-and-wi

 

[kraelic]

The x4 pci express card to m.2 x4 lane adapters are just a physical converter, it matters if they are in a third gen 32Gb/s slot or a second gen 20Gb/s slot on the mainboard. Also some boards may have routing issues and a x4 slot might become x2 if x1 slots are occupied.

Thanks for the info.

None of my x1 slots are occupied and I made sure not to use the x8 slot next to my vid card (x16) to prevent reducing it to x8.

I used the slot furthest away, which is also an x4 slot, so I should be getting full x4 speed. I haven't seen an x8 M.2 adapter card, so I don't think it needs more bandwidth.

I obtained the driver from Samsung's website, but when you run it, it extracts a Microsoft update .msi file that auto-installs a patch & detects the M.2. I still had to go into "Computer Management" to enable/format the drive and assign it a drive letter.

That looks normal for a PCI-Express generation two slot. The two x16 slots (x16,x0 or x8, x8) are connected to the CPU with PCI-E 3.0, where the last x16 (x4 electrical) should be through the chipset with 2.0. What is the exact model Gigabyte Z87 motherboard do you have? Three slot x8, x4, x4 from the CPU is not common and maybe there is a bios update for nvme

https://www.anandtech.com/show/6989/intel-z87-motherboard-review-with-haswell-gigabyte-msi-asrock-and-asus-at-200 for the block diagram

As for booting nvme on Win 7 you might need these
https://www.win-raid.com/t2375f50-Guide-NVMe-boot-without-modding-your-UEFI-BIOS-Clover-EFI-bootloader-method.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/guide-installing-windows-7-on-an-nvme-ssd-from-a-usb-3-0-thumbdrive.783921/

 

[Mugsy]

That looks normal for a PCI-Express generation two slot.

Ah, okay. I wasn't aware. That makes sense. I'm surprised a 2.0 slot would be slower since it's not an x16 card.

My MoBo configuration is an x1 slot, a 3.0 x16 slot (with my GTX670), two more x1 slots, an x8 slot (that if used cuts the x16 down to x8), and old legacy PCI slot, and the x4 (where I put the M.2 adapter.)

 

[kraelic]

PCI Express 1.0 x16 is the same bandwidth as 2.0 x8 and 3.0 x4, or a single lane 1.0 250MB/s doubles up for 2.0 500MB/s which almost doubles again for 3.0 984.6 MB/s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express

A 3.0 x4 has nearly twice the bandwidth of a 2.0 x4
The 970 evo is generation 3 and the motherboard lowest slot is generation 2, both are four lanes but the generation is making the difference.

If you were to move the m.2 adapter to the x8 slot off the cpu you would see a crystalmark closer to your expectations but that would reduce lanes to the GPU