MSI M9 Gaming ACK

[DarthWaq]

Hi, i have previously built a gaming machine using msi m9 ack motherboard

Hi all, hope all is well

specs
samsung 950 pro 512 gb OS
samsung 850 pro 1tb games
samsung evo 250gb scratch disk
wd black 4tb media files
64gb ram ddr4 dual channel
gtx 980ti

I have recently been trying to diagnose the slow read and write speeds of my ssd, especially the 1tb ssd 850 pro

Can anyone please provide a simple diagram on where to connect my sata cable and in which port to place them in?
MSI has two red slots and 4 other grey slots, but they have Sata express

also the m.2 slots im not sure which ones to put them in

What I have done

I have placed my M.2 ssd under the graphics card on the M2_1 section

and the 1tb and 250 ssd are connected to the red slots, but im getting the feeling every time i read the motherboard manual that i am doing something wrong

please any help would be appreciated for the best results

 

[cin19]

Recommend to check your manual page 35 for the M2+ other sata connections. https://www.msi.com/product/motherboard/support/Z170A-GAMING-M9-ACK.html#down-manual Because you use the samsung 950 pro in M2_1, some of sata ports will not work. Try use the M2 in the M2_2.
Also make sure you use the ahci mode too.

 

[DarthWaq]

Recommend to check your manual page 35 for the M2+ other sata connections. https://www.msi.com/product/motherboard/support/Z170A-GAMING-M9-ACK.html#down-manual Because you use the samsung 950 pro in M2_1, some of sata ports will not work. Try use the M2 in the M2_2.
Also make sure you use the ahci mode too.

Hi cin thank you for the response... I was also wondering how best to go about change the bios settings since i am not too comfortable with that, should i reset my bios before i change the slots?

is there any settings in the bios i should change? its all too overwhelming for me atm

thank you

 

[cin19]

Download and print the manual, read it before you try to do something,
You may just shut down the pc, change the ports, boot into the BIOS ( either EZ mode or advanced mode ) make sure the boot order is your 950 pro/OS, XMP is on for the RAM, AHCI mode for the storage. Then save and exit, then reboot. Those are the basic settings. If you want oc the cpu, may read the manual or find the guide online.
Or using the samsung magician to set up the ahci mode too.

 

[DarthWaq]

Download and print the manual, read it before you try to do something,
You may just shut down the pc, change the ports, boot into the BIOS ( either EZ mode or advanced mode ) make sure the boot order is your 950 pro/OS, XMP is on for the RAM, AHCI mode for the storage. Then save and exit, then reboot. Those are the basic settings. If you want oc the cpu, may read the manual or find the guide online.
Or using the samsung magician to set up the ahci mode too.

Thank you for the quick response

One last question I have is that while browsing the msi website I found that the motherboard has several bios updates , particularly it states that the newest update comes with improved memory and pci express compatibility

Should I update or should I leave it as is

Again thank you

 

[cin19]

If your PC runs fine, just leave it alone. But I saw the MB can use the UBS BIOS Flashback without the cpu, which is similar to the asus UBS BIOS Flashback. So you are better to do it. When you do it, you don't need the cpu, ram, GPU, even the 8-pin cpu power cable, only connect the 24pin atx cable. Check it out ( in Easy BIOS recovery section) https://us.msi.com/product/motherboard/Z170A-GAMING-M9-ACK.html