[SOLVED] NVMe running slow on B460m

[AmeyK]

Hi There,

My NVMe is running on PCIe Gen 3x1 speeds instead of x4 for some reasons. Any idea why?
I tried to reset BIOS but no luck.

Setup:
i5 10400f, 2x8GB DDR4
MSI MAG B460m Mortar WiFi (BIOS 7C82v14)
AMD RX 6700 XT (in PCI_E1 slot)
Samsung 970 Evo 1TB NVMe (in M2_1 slot)
Crucial MX500 Sata SSD (in SATA6 slot)

 

[Colif]

well, the spec sheet for motherboard shows them as gen 3?

PCI-E GEN - Gen 3

MAG B460M MORTAR WIFI

Inspired from armor design with the Extended heatsink design, Core Boost, DDR4 Boost, Audio Boost, 2.5G, WiFi 6, Turbo M.2 with M.2 Shield Frozr

www.msi.com

Intel® B460 Chipset ∙ 6x SATA 6Gb/s ports* ∙ 2x M.2 slots (Key M) ▪
M2_1 supports up to PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s, 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices* ▪
M2_2 supports up to PCIe 3.0 x4, 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices

Page 14 - https://download.msi.com/archive/mnu_exe/mb/E7C82v1.1.pdf

or am I misunderstanding and the slot is running slower?

 

[AmeyK]

well, the spec sheet for motherboard shows them as gen 3?

PCI-E GEN - Gen 3

MAG B460M MORTAR WIFI

Inspired from armor design with the Extended heatsink design, Core Boost, DDR4 Boost, Audio Boost, 2.5G, WiFi 6, Turbo M.2 with M.2 Shield Frozr

www.msi.com

Intel® B460 Chipset ∙ 6x SATA 6Gb/s ports* ∙ 2x M.2 slots (Key M) ▪
M2_1 supports up to PCIe 3.0 x4 and SATA 6Gb/s, 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices* ▪
M2_2 supports up to PCIe 3.0 x4, 2242/ 2260/ 2280 storage devices

Page 14 - https://download.msi.com/archive/mnu_exe/mb/E7C82v1.1.pdf

or am I misunderstanding and the slot is running slower?

Actually, it is running on Gen 3 but it is x1 instead of x4.

Specs wise Samsung 970 EVO should give 3,500 MB/s read speeds on Gen 3x4.
But due to it's running on Gen 3x1 it is giving me barely 900 MB/s read speeds.

Don't know if I am able to explain the issue properly..

 

[Colif]

oh no, i get it. its only running 1 lane.

do you have any sata drives in PC? it might be sharing lanes.

have you tried the other NVME slot?

So does it show as that speed in Crystaldiskinfo? https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/
it should show it next to Transfer Mode.

 

[AmeyK]

oh no, i get it. its only running 1 lane.

do you have any sata drives in PC? it might be sharing lanes.

have you tried the other NVME slot?

So does it show as that speed in Crystaldiskinfo? https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/
it should show it next to Transfer Mode.

Yes, I have one Sata drive connected to Sata #6 port . As per manual, Sata #1 port conflicts with NVMe. Also, I tested by removing sata drive. Still same.

Crystaldiskinfo shows it is running on PCIe 3.0 x1

I haven't tried changing NVMe slot though... That's a last option I want to try.. This NVMe slot is beneath beefy GPU and it will take quite some efforts to remove and put back gpu. Just want to try other options first.

 

[Colif]

I can see hints that its something to do with the bios, someone else with slower nvme but it was in slot 2. But they talking about a December bios, not the current one. I can't show a link as its just showing on the google page, if I go to source its not there. Or easily found.

what speed does it show as in bios?

I don't think it would help but have you got the Samsung NVME drivers?

I can't see anything overly helpful, you could ask on here as if anyone knows it should be MSI - https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?forums/gaming-motherboards.122/

 

[AmeyK]

I can see hints that its something to do with the bios, someone else with slower nvme but it was in slot 2. But they talking about a December bios, not the current one. I can't show a link as its just showing on the google page, if I go to source its not there. Or easily found.

what speed does it show as in bios?

I don't think it would help but have you got the Samsung NVME drivers?

I can't see anything overly helpful, you could ask on here as if anyone knows it should be MSI - https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?forums/gaming-motherboards.122/

Thanks a lot for your efforts and help. I managed to fix it just now.

Seems like it was some sort of bug. I did BIOS upate couple of days back, that might have caused it.

I moved it into second M2 slot and it worked at full speed Gen 3x4.. but I moved it back again into First M2 slot as it has heatsink/shield on my motherboard, and it worked over there as well.

 

[mikewinddale]

I wonder if maybe there was some dust in the socket? Perhaps some dust got in the way, and so the slot used only 1 lane that had the best electrical connection? I've never heard of this happening, but I think this is possible? So maybe just removing and reinserting solved the problem?

 

[Karadjgne]

Try moving the Sata to #4 instead of #6.

 

[AmeyK]

I wonder if maybe there was some dust in the socket? Perhaps some dust got in the way, and so the slot used only 1 lane that had the best electrical connection? I've never heard of this happening, but I think this is possible? So maybe just removing and reinserting solved the problem?

Not completly sure but dust thing is highly unlikely, both components are quite new, bought them couple of months back only. Also, slot was covered with the shield all the time.. But yeah, removing and reinserting solved the problem.

 

[AmeyK]

Try moving the Sata to #4 instead of #6.

I did try that. In fact removed Sata completely as well but didn't work.
Anyway, the issue is resolved now.
Thanks!

 

[CherryXBlossom]

I did try that. In fact removed Sata completely as well but didn't work.
Anyway, the issue is resolved now.
Thanks!

Hello, how did you end up resolving this issue? I have the exact same problem on a B360M where my M2 slot is only running at PCIe3x1 instead of PCIe3x4