[SOLVED] NVME M.2 failing to use all 4 Lanes

[mfp3000]

I have a Sabrent Rocket 1TB mounted in the M2_1 slot of an ASUS Aqua X570. CrystalDiskInfo says Transfer Mode is PCIE 4.0 x 1 | PCIE 4.0 x 4. Sabrent tech was unable to resolve this. Read/Write speeds are 1/3rd of what they should be. Help!

 

[rgd1101]

what the cpu?
try the other m.2 slot?

 

[mfp3000]

I got lucky, the CPU is the 3950x

 

[rgd1101]

latest bios?

 

[mfp3000]

yes, 1.60

 

[rgd1101]

try the other slot?

 

[mfp3000]

waiting for a 16+ hour program to finish running. will post when finished.

 

[rgd1101]

latest chipset driver from AMD?

 

[mfp3000]

I tried the other slot with success (uses all 4 lanes and achieves expected read/write speeds. ASROCK said to return the board. Before I do, which will be disruptive, is there any difference between the two Hyper M2 slots? In your review of the board (https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asrock-x570-aqua-amd-motherboard,6361.html) you state that "And that slot is limited by both its shorter 80mm exposed length and its PCH-based connection. Only the top slot gets 120mm support and the CPU I/O’s four direct pathways." Somewhat ignorant of what that means for performance

 

[jon96789]

When using M.2 SSDs, make sure that you do not use the last two SATA ports as M.2 uses the SATA channels. i had this problem where the M.2 SSD took forever to boot Windows. i had used SATA ports5-8 and the M.2 uses the SATA channels for SATA7-8. When i reconnected my SATA devices to SATA ports 1-4, all was well...

 

[mfp3000]

When using M.2 SSDs, make sure that you do not use the last two SATA ports as M.2 uses the SATA channels. i had this problem where the M.2 SSD took forever to boot Windows. i had used SATA ports5-8 and the M.2 uses the SATA channels for SATA7-8. When i reconnected my SATA devices to SATA ports 1-4, all was well...

Good general advice, but my question is specific to my board (ASUS Aqua), which has dedicated Hyper M2 slots. Also, I am using NVME drives, not SSD.

 

[jon96789]

It still applies... If you use any SATA ports, you must use them in order. M.2 or NVME M.2 SSDs, it still applies as M.2 ports are not really dedicated.

 

[mfp3000]

It still applies... If you use any SATA ports, you must use them in order. M.2 or NVME M.2 SSDs, it still applies as M.2 ports are not really dedicated.

OMG, that was absolutely the issue. Replugged SATA into 1 and 2, moved the NVME back into M2_1 and got all 4 lanes. Thank you for persevering in making sure I understood. Lifesaver!

 

[jon96789]

just remember, if you use another M.2 SSD, it will use another two SATA port's channels... So if your board has three M.2 ports and six SATA ports, using all three M.2 ports will use all six SATA channels...