[SOLVED] Motherboard supports PCIe SSDs but my NVMe SSD is being used in SATA

[Krackerjax]

Today I installed a new Samsung 970 EVO SSD M.2 NVMe into my Gigabyte Z490 AORUS Elite AC motherboard. It works fine, but I noticed it disabled one of my HDDs. This was because it was disabling two of my SATA lanes, which I understand is normal if using SATA mode.

But with both an NVMe M.2 SSD and a PCIe M.2 slot, shouldn't it not take up any of my SATA lanes? Shouldn't all six of my SATA lanes be free? I would like this to be running correctly, as from what I understand, isn't PCIe also faster than SATA?

Do I have to enable something in my BIOS or something? Surprisingly, I cant find this anywhere on google, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[USAFRet]

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z490-AORUS-ELITE-AC-rev-10/sp#sp
Specifically, Section 1-7 in the user manual

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_z490-aorus-elite-ac_1001_e.pdf

 

[Krackerjax]

Oh my god I think I misread the manual. If i use the upper M.2 slot, EVEN IN PCIe, it still disables the SATA lanes. What the hell, why would it do that?

Whereas if I use the lower M.2 slot, it does not disable anything in PCIe. Only in SATA. Very weird.

I was just worried it wasn't running in NVMe, which is faster from what I gather. I can spare the SATA lanes, but I want the improved performance.

Is there any way I can confirm its using NVMe? Like a test or something? Seeing as how the M.2 slot im using disables two SATA lanes no matter what.

 

[Krackerjax]

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z490-AORUS-ELITE-AC-rev-10/sp#sp
Specifically, Section 1-7 in the user manual

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_z490-aorus-elite-ac_1001_e.pdf

Yes exactly. Thank you I was just posting about this.

I was just worried it wasn't running in NVMe, which is faster from what I gather. I can spare the SATA lanes, but I want the improved performance.

Is there any way I can confirm its using NVMe? Like a test or something? Seeing as how the M.2 slot im using disables two SATA lanes no matter what.

 

[USAFRet]

Why? Resources on the board and $$.

Yes, your drive is in PCIe/NVMe.
Run Samsung Magician or CrystalDiskMark to check the throughput.

 

[Krackerjax]

Why? Resources on the board and $$.

Yes, your drive is in PCIe/NVMe.
Run Samsung Magician or CrystalDiskMark to check the throughput.

Crystal Disk says speeds of 3400-3500. So I guess its working as it should? If it were in SATA it would be closer to 500, correct?

 

[USAFRet]

Crystal Disk says speeds of 3400-3500. So I guess its working as it should? If it were in SATA it would be closer to 500, correct?

Yep, that's right on track.

 

[Krackerjax]

Yep, that's right on track.

Great. Thanks for your input today.