Samsung SSD 970 EVO Pro on Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK MoBo

[ronvmeijer]

I've installed the SSD into the M.2.socket and it's running.
On Samsung Magician software it says "Interface PCIe Gen.2 x 2".
How do i configure the PCIe slot to Gen.3 x 4?

Thanks

 

[USAFRet]

I've installed the SSD into the M.2.socket and it's running.
On Samsung Magician software it says "Interface PCIe Gen.2 x 2".
How do i configure the PCIe slot to Gen.3 x 4?

Thanks

You can't. That m.2 slot is what it is...x2.
Most of the Z97 level boards cannot fully utilize an NVMe drive in that m.2 port.

My ASRock Z97 is the same way, that's why I've not bothered with a drive like that.

 

[mdd1963]

I think others with similar configurations have been limited to about 850 MB/sec, or, roughly a quarter of what is available in a modern M.2 configured Z170/270/370, etc... (which makes sense for half the lanes, and each running half as fast...)

 

[ronvmeijer]

Indeed, 835 MB/Sec Reading and 810 MB/Sec Writing speed. That's all. It's faster than my SSD i've used before but still too slow.
Maybe a firmware Bios update in the near future will give any solution?

 

[USAFRet]

Indeed, 835 MB/Sec Reading and 810 MB/Sec Writing speed. That's all. It's faster than my SSD i've used before but still too slow.
Maybe a firmware Bios update in the near future will give any solution?

The most recent BIOS update for that (F8) is Sept 2015. Unlikely they are expending any resources on anything new.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK-rev-12#support-dl-bios

 

[ronvmeijer]

When you scroll to below on http:// you see that the MoBo support 10 Gb/Sec on the M.2 port. I don't know why in't this working?

 

[USAFRet]

When you scroll to below on http:// you see that the MoBo support 10 Gb/Sec on the M.2 port. I don't know why in't this working?

Yes, 10 gigabit/sec.
An NVMe drive is capable, in the right port, of 3500MegaBytes/s.

Small b vs large B. bits vs bytes.

For instance, the m.2 port in a Gigabyte Z370 board is listed at 32Gb. Over 3x as fast as the one in your Z97.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z370-AORUS-ULTRA-GAMING-20-OP-rev-10#sp

There is nothing to be "fixed". The simple fact is that your m.2 port is not capable of supporting that drive at its full performance.

 

[ronvmeijer]

Oké, you're right. I presume there's nothing else to do but to place my SSD in a PCIe 4 converter.

 

[USAFRet]

Oké, you're right. I presume there's nothing else to do but to place my SSD in a PCIe 4 converter.

And then not be able to boot from it.

 

[ronvmeijer]

And then not be able to boot from it.

Is that so? What a misery...so there's nothing else to do than accept the slow speed of the SSD...what a bummer...

 

[USAFRet]

And then not be able to boot from it.

Is that so? What a misery...so there's nothing else to do than accept the slow speed of the SSD...what a bummer...

It may or may not be.
I know my ASRock Z97 will not boot from a drive in a PCIe adapter.

These boards are older than the drive. They do not know how to handle them properly.
Personally, I would have waited to spend the extra on an NVMe drive until I had a motherboard that can natively use it int he dedicated port.
And that is exactly what I am currently doing.

My system is SSD only. But no NVMe drive, because I can't utilize one at full speed.

Like having a 10 year old Honda Civic (Z97 board), but buying racing tires (NVMe) for it. And then wondering why you're not getting full performance out of the tires.

 

[ronvmeijer]

And then not be able to boot from it.

Is that so? What a misery...so there's nothing else to do than accept the slow speed of the SSD...what a bummer...

It may or may not be.
I know my ASRock Z97 will not boot from a drive in a PCIe adapter.

These boards are older than the drive. They do not know how to handle them properly.
Personally, I would have waited to spend the extra on an NVMe drive until I had a motherboard that can natively use it int he dedicated port.
And that is exactly what I am currently doing.

My system is SSD only. But no NVMe drive, because I can't utilize one at full speed.

Like having a 10 year old Honda Civic (Z97 board), but buying racing tires (NVMe) for it. And then wondering why you're not getting full performance out of the tires.

I absolutely didn't know that the NVMe SSD won't fully work on that M.2 socket. I presume that this was a wonderful solution.
If i knew it before, i won't buy a new drive, but honestly...it's faster than my old SSD (Kingston 120Gb)....