Nvme M.2 installation on a Asus Z270F ROG Strix

[Crom808]

System Specs:

Case: Phanteks Eclipse 400 Tempered Glass Edition
CPU Cooler: Deepcool Assassin 2 air cooler
Motherboard: Asus ROG Strix Z270F
CPU: Intel i-7 7700k
GPU: Asus ROG Strix GTX 1080
Storage: Samsung 960 EVO 250GB PCIe NVMe M.2
PSU: EVGA 750 G3
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3000MHz
OS: Windows 10 Pro


Greetings everyone,


I ordered a Asus Z270F ROG Strix motherboard and a Samsung 960 EVO 240 gb Nvme M.2 drive. This is the first time I'll be installing an M.2 drive and this will be the only storage drive in my computer. I have some questions:

For reference, here is the user's manual for the motherboard:

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/STRIX_Z270F_GAMING/E12193_STRIX_Z270F_GAMING_UM_V2_WEB.pdf?_ga=2.43870821.1162737466.1499311155-1480858850.1498624753


1. There are two M.2 slots for installation on the motherboard. One between the CPU and GPU, and one on the lower right hand corner. Which one should I install the M.2 drive into? The installation slot near the CPU and GPU would generate more heat? (I have a big CPU air cooler).

2. I've read a person had trouble installing the Nvme M.2 drive in the slot near the CPU. He said that his computer would not recognize the M.2 drive. He switched to the installation slow at the lower right hand corner. (He had two storage drives: Nvme M.2 and a regular Sata HDD).

3. I've also read that the Nvme M.2 drive can conflict with your GPU? Would that happen on my setup?

4. After installing the Nvme M.2 drive on my motherboard, do I need to enable it on my BIOS somewhere? I do know I have to set it as my boot device before installing Windows 10.


According to the Asus site

*. The M.2_1 socket shares SATA_1 port when use M.2 SATA mode device. Adjust BIOS settings to use a SATA device.

*. The M.2_2 socket shares SATA_56 ports when use M.2 PCIE mode device in X4 mode. Adjust BIOS settings to use M.2 PCIE devices

What does "Adjust BIOS settings to use a SATA device," or "Adjust BIOS settings to use M.2 PCIE" devices mean? Don't I just install the m.2 on the motherboard, and set it as boot in BIOS and then install Windows?

I really don't understand what the Asus website is trying to explain. So the M.2_1 slot doesn't support my Nvme M.2 drive? Only a Sata M.2 drive? If someone could clear this up, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

5. I know I need to install the driver for the Samsung 960 EVO drive, but do I really need to install the Magician software? And since I'm only running 1 storage drive, do I even need to install the Intel Rapid Storage driver/software for this computer?

 

[Calvin7]

M.2 storage devices can be SATA or PCIe. An SATA III M.2 maximum speed is 6GB/s.

You don't have an SATA M.2 device. You need to do a UEFI install of Windows 10 as the drive uses the UEFI firmware to operate.

You can use whichever M.2 socket you want.

1- The M.2 drive has to be the only drive installed.

2 - Go into the bios, under the boot tab there is an option for CSM, make sure it is disabled.

3 - Click on secure boot option below and make sure it is set to other OS, not windows UEFI.

4 - Click on key management and clear secure boot keys.

5 - Insert a USB memory stick with a UEFI bootable iso of Windows 10 on it, USB3 is quicker but USB2 works also. A Windows DVD won’t work unless you’ve created your own UEFI Bootable DVD.

6 - Press F10 to save, exit and reboot.

7 - Windows 10 will now start installing to your NVME drive as it has its own NVME driver built in.

8 - When the PC reboots hit F2 to go back into the BIOS, you will see under boot priority that windows boot manager now lists your NVME drive.

9 - Click on secure boot again but now set it to WIndows UEFI mode. (see #3 above)

10 - Click on key management and install default secure boot keys

11 - Press F10 to save and exit and windows will finish the install. Once you have Windows up and running, shutdown the PC and reconnect your other SATA drives. Do not put anything on SATA port 1 as this is now may be reserved for the NVME drive

The M.2_1 socket shares SATA_1 port when use M.2 SATA mode device. Adjust BIOS settings to use a SATA device.

The M.2_2 socket shares SATA_56 ports when use M.2 PCIE mode device in X4 mode. Adjust BIOS settings to use SATA devices..

I would also recommend installing the Samsung NVME driver at this point to replace the Windows one.

The background here is NVME SSDs do not appear within the BIOS until Windows creates the system partition with the EFI Boot Sector. Your M.2 SSD contains UEFI driver information within the firmware. By disabling the CSM module Windows will read and utilize the M.2-specific UEFI driver.

 

[Crom808]

Thanks a bunch Calvin. I put my computer together and everything seems great. I did run into a couple problems though. Maybe you can check it out if you have time. Thanks again:


http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3462438/bios-dram-status-tweaker.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3462452/windows-booting-secondary-monitor-gtx-1080-rog-strix.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-3462455/asus-vs228h-monitor-showing-audio-device.html

 

[janeberb]

M.2 storage devices can be SATA or PCIe. An SATA III M.2 maximum speed is 6GB/s.

You don't have an SATA M.2 device. You need to do a UEFI install of Windows 10 as the drive uses the UEFI firmware to operate.

You can use whichever M.2 socket you want.

1- The M.2 drive has to be the only drive installed.

2 - Go into the bios, under the boot tab there is an option for CSM, make sure it is disabled.

3 - Click on secure boot option below and make sure it is set to other OS, not windows UEFI.

4 - Click on key management and clear secure boot keys.

5 - Insert a USB memory stick with a UEFI bootable iso of Windows 10 on it, USB3 is quicker but USB2 works also. A Windows DVD won’t work unless you’ve created your own UEFI Bootable DVD.

6 - Press F10 to save, exit and reboot.

7 - Windows 10 will now start installing to your NVME drive as it has its own NVME driver built in.

8 - When the PC reboots hit F2 to go back into the BIOS, you will see under boot priority that windows boot manager now lists your NVME drive.

9 - Click on secure boot again but now set it to WIndows UEFI mode. (see #3 above)

10 - Click on key management and install default secure boot keys

11 - Press F10 to save and exit and windows will finish the install. Once you have Windows up and running, shutdown the PC and reconnect your other SATA drives. Do not put anything on SATA port 1 as this is now may be reserved for the NVME drive

The M.2_1 socket shares SATA_1 port when use M.2 SATA mode device. Adjust BIOS settings to use a SATA device.

The M.2_2 socket shares SATA_56 ports when use M.2 PCIE mode device in X4 mode. Adjust BIOS settings to use SATA devices..

I would also recommend installing the Samsung NVME driver at this point to replace the Windows one.

The background here is NVME SSDs do not appear within the BIOS until Windows creates the system partition with the EFI Boot Sector. Your M.2 SSD contains UEFI driver information within the firmware. By disabling the CSM module Windows will read and utilize the M.2-specific UEFI driver.

"1- The M.2 drive has to be the only drive installed."
Can i ask why that is? I recently cloned my hdd onto my m2 ssd..do i have to remove the hdd now? Thanks in advance for the answer

 

[USAFRet]

"1- The M.2 drive has to be the only drive installed."
Can i ask why that is? I recently cloned my hdd onto my m2 ssd..do i have to remove the hdd now? Thanks in advance for the answer

That is for a new OS install.

For your clone operation...have you verified the system boots with ONLY the M.2 drive connected?
Not just change the boot order...physical disconnection of the old drive.


Also, continue this on a NEW thread. This current one is 4 years old.

 

[janeberb]

That is for a new OS install.

For your clone operation...have you verified the system boots with ONLY the M.2 drive connected?
Not just change the boot order...physical disconnection of the old drive.


Also, continue this on a NEW thread. This current one is 4 years old.

Hi i just made an account to ask this question i wish i knew how to make a thread with a reply to an answer from a different thread that you can find since u already answered here

I didnt disconnect my drive yet but i thought of deleting the files on the hdd so i can use it as a partition for additional space..would that be a possibility ? Also thanks for the quick answer.

 

[USAFRet]

Right.
That is a critical, usually missed step in the cloning process.

At the end, you MUST physically disconnect the old drive and allow the system to try to boot from the new one.

Do NOT delete anything on the old drive until you've done this.

What software did you use for the clone operation?

 

[janeberb]

Right.
That is a critical, usually missed step in the cloning process.

At the end, you MUST physically disconnect the old drive and allow the system to try to boot from the new one.

Do NOT delete anything on the old drive until you've done this.

What software did you use for the clone operation?

I used macrium reflect.
I booted from the ssd once to test if it works, with the old drive still connected. (Just changed the boot order..)
Did this mess something up or can i still disconnect the drive for my next step?

 

[USAFRet]

I used macrium reflect.
I booted from the ssd once to test if it works, with the old drive still connected. (Just changed the boot order..)
Did this mess something up or can i still disconnect the drive for my next step?

Test it now and see what happens.

I use Macrium all the time as well.

 

[janeberb]

Test it now and see what happens.

I use Macrium all the time as well.

Will do when i get home..my day just started.

 

[USAFRet]

Will do when i get home..my day just started.

OK.