[SOLVED] NVMe M.2 Compatibility

[scarabx]

Hi I'm building my first PC or rather, upgrading a good majority of my old computer. I seem to have the basic understanding to complete this build however I have one issue that I am not 100% certain with. I have a Corsair MP510 NVMe M.2 SSD which I wish to boot from however, after consulting the instructions for my x299 MSI Gaming Carbon Pro AC motherboard I'm not exactly sure how to go about installing my OS onto this particular SSD, nor do I know which PCIe slot becomes 'occupied' as a result of using the first or second M.2 slot. Knowing which PCIe slot is used by the M.2 slot will help me later on as I plan on obtaining Intel Optane to boost my 3 TB Hard Drive performance as well as to SLI another graphics card later. My CPU is an i9 7900X, so from what I have researched the PCIe slots are in a 16/1/4/16/1/8 fashion for a 44 lane CPU so will using both M.2 slots with PCIe occupy the 4x and 8x slots only, and what M.2 slot goes with its respective PCIe slot? In conclusion my main concern is booting from my NVMe SSD and if anyone can help me with that it would be excellent.

 

[karenjoly]

The difference between the M2 slots is only the length of the device supported, per this spec:


M2_1 slot supports 2242/ 2260 /2280 storage devices
M2_2 slot supports 2242/ 2260 /2280/ 22110 storage devices

The ssd will fit either but I suggest #1.

Both M.2 ports support PCIe 3.0 x4 (lanes) M.2 devices and SATA 6Gb/s M.2 devices . Yours is NVMe/PCIe.


The expansion PCIe slots are not M.2 ports and no PCIe port is occupied when an M.2 card is installed. There are 44 PCIe lanes available and each slot uses some if they are occupied.

If you install 2 x16 graphic cards in the two x16 expansion slots AND 2 M.2 x4 PCIe drives, you will be using 38 lanes, the rest available for other functions, like USB, wifi, etc.

Just install windows 10 on the M.2 , ensuring no other drive is attached until the install is complete.

Here is a guide:

Create an up to date USB install media by following the steps outlined here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10

Then disconnect or disable all hdd /ssd drives but the one where you will install windows.

Insert the USB media tool, with the windows install files, into the board. Next startup and go to the board setup and ensure the board is configured to use UEFI boot settings, CSM is enabled. and SATA mode set to AHCI.

On the motherboard boot device menu, select the command that identifies both the firmware mode and the device. For example, select UEFI: USB Drive or Windows Boot Manager: Drive and list that device in the first boot slot on the board.
Reboot. Install begins.

When choosing an installation type, select Custom. On new disks, the drive will show a single area of unallocated space. If there are partitions, select each one and then "delete".

Select the unallocated space and click Next. Windows detects that the PC was booted into UEFI mode, partitions the drive using the GPT and begins the installation.

Any data on the drive will be lost