Question Why my Samsung 980 Pro 1TB showing as working at PCIe Gen 2 x 4?

[yoji]

My motherboard is a ROG STRIX B760-F GAMING WIFI which has 3 x M.2 slots
Specs say all 3 slots "support PCIe 4.0 x4"
Yet using Samsung Magician, it is reporting that my 980 Pro 1TB is working in PCIe Gen 2 x 4 mode and says
"Recommend to connect PCIe Gen 4.0 for optimal speed"
I cant see anything in manual that says it downgrades them if I use normal SATA slots or anything.
Any idea why it not using/reporting as 4 x 4?
My 990 Pro is in slot M.2_1 and the 980 Pro is in M.2_3 (I think), so I think M.2_2 is unused)

Fire away if you have questions..
Thanks in advance for any insight.

 

[USAFRet]

BIOS update?

 

[yoji]

BIOS update?

Board is on almost latest BIOS.. 1645.... (the latest 1656 has nothing of interest, just to "The update introduces the Intel Baseline Profile option, allowing users to revert to Intel factory default settings for basic functionality, lower power limits, and improving stability in certain games")..
Firmware of the SSD's are latest (according to samsung magician).

 

[USAFRet]

Board is on almost latest BIOS.. 1645.... (the latest 1656 has nothing of interest, just to "The update introduces the Intel Baseline Profile option, allowing users to revert to Intel factory default settings for basic functionality, lower power limits, and improving stability in certain games")..
Firmware of the SSD's are latest (according to samsung magician).

Try the other ports?

 

[yoji]

Try the other ports?

Not sure how that solves the problem. Its a bit like saying if my drivers side car window does not work "lower passenger side" and that works.... sure, I get cool air into the car... but does not really solve the problem.
I am sure to get to that if necessary.. swap out to see if its the drive or the port... but hoping to try and tap into someone who may have seen similar/same and resolved... before getting into such speculative diagnostics.

 

[USAFRet]

Not sure how that solves the problem. Its a bit like saying if my drivers side car window does not work "lower passenger side" and that works.... sure, I get cool air into the car... but does not really solve the problem.
I am sure to get to that if necessary.. swap out to see if its the drive or the port... but hoping to try and tap into someone who may have seen similar/same and resolved... before getting into such speculative diagnostics.

I suggested that, because it might have been an issue with the particular port.

If moving the drive to a different port does not show the same limitation, then the problem may well be that original port on the motherboard.

Not necessarily as a permanent solution, but an indicator of where the problem lies.

 

[CelicaGT]

Check using HWiNFO, and make sure your power profile is set to High Performance. PCIe slots will drop to lower speeds to save power when load is light (Link State). I'm unsure if this affects NVMe or not however but it never hurts to check.

 

[yoji]

Check using HWiNFO, and make sure your power profile is set to High Performance. PCIe slots will drop to lower speeds to save power when load is light (Link State). I'm unsure if this affects NVMe or not however but it never hurts to check.

My power profile is "performance" but I checked the Link state power management specifically (which was OFF).
I also used HWiNFO and it was unclear.. it said against the 980Pro the same as the 990 Pro i.e.
"NVMe x4 16.0 GT/s" but the help says it should show the "Interface capability and current rate" so I expecting to see 2 entries (one for interface and one for current/actual) i.e. the same format as the normal SATA drives which it shows as "SATA 6Gb/s @ 6Gb/s"
I did use CrystalDiskInfo and that seems to agree with Samsung magician, i.e. it says for Transfer mode
"PCIe 2.0 x4 | PCIe 4.0 x4"

 

[CelicaGT]

My power profile is "performance" but I checked the Link state power management specifically (which was OFF).
I also used HWiNFO and it was unclear.. it said against the 980Pro the same as the 990 Pro i.e.
"NVMe x4 16.0 GT/s" but the help says it should show the "Interface capability and current rate" so I expecting to see 2 entries (one for interface and one for current/actual) i.e. the same format as the normal SATA drives which it shows as "SATA 6Gb/s @ 6Gb/s"
I did use CrystalDiskInfo and that seems to agree with Samsung magician, i.e. it says for Transfer mode
"PCIe 2.0 x4 | PCIe 4.0 x4"

Interesting. I'm going to check CDI and see what it says. Some software only grabs a snapshot, others show live data, others show max rate/clockspeed etc.

To add:

CDI shows the proper link states on my machine, so I'm inclined to believe it on both our machines. Might want to dig into your BIOS and see if there's any mode settings for the CPU and chipset PCIe lane speed and/or NVMe. I certainly do on my B550F Gaming (AMD) board but I have never moved them from "Auto".

 

[USAFRet]

CDI on my 1TB 980 Pro:

 

[yoji]

CDI on my 1TB 980 Pro:

Looks like you need update your firmware, latest is 5B2qGXA7.

Might want to dig into your BIOS and see if there's any mode settings for the CPU and chipset PCIe lane speed and/or NVMe. I certainly do on my B550F Gaming (AMD) board but I have never moved them from "Auto".

Thanks.. I did root around and found that in the PCI advanced settings... the M2.3 was set to Gen 2. I changed it back to "Auto" and now the drive is showing the correct 4 x 4. Thanks for your help.
I am a bit surprised... I thought when you updated BIOS.. all settings go back to default and you have to reapply any custom changes (at least I seem to recall after a BIOS update on an old overclocked PC of mine.. I had to reapply the overclock settings). SO I have never messed with that setting... but updated BIOS about 3 times now.. so no idea why it would have been set as it was.
SO bit of a mystery.. but all sorted now.
Thanks to both of you for your help.. and apologies.. I should have checked for such stuff before posting.