X99-UD3 M.2 Samsung 950 Pro Slow performance

[kozak79]

So I got the new Samsung 950 Pro 512GB M.2 SSD, Popped it into the M.2 Slot and ran a benchmark:

Sequential Read :   835.475 MB/s
Sequential Write :   726.472 MB/s

Drive rated to:

Sequential Read :   2,500 MB/s
Sequential Write :   1,500 MB/s

Is this a limitation of the X99 chipset or this particular board (GA-X99-UD3)?

[Aladin]

Well, the product page states up to 10 Gb/s (max) which is 1.25GB/s or 1250 MB/s.
You're not that far, your confusion is probably coming from bytes (B) and bits (b), 1 byte is 8 bits. Marketing communication tend to prefer "bigger" numbers.

Some other brand of motherboards claim to have up to 32Gb/s with M.2 which would not be the bottleneck.

[kozak79]

When I check the Samsung Magician Utility, it shows that M.2 is using x2 out of x4 PCI-E lanes and is running at 5Gbps out of 10Gbps. Does this motherboard not support 4 pci-e lanes for M.2 drives?

[absic]

If you check the specs for this motherboard the M2 slot is rated as PCIx2/1, that is why you are getting the speeds that you are.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5138#sp

If you want the M2 card to run at its full speed then you could invest in a PCI M2 adaptor card that plugs into one of the PCI slots on the motherboard.

[kozak79]

If you check the specs for this motherboard the M2 slot is rated as PCIx2/1, that is why you are getting the speeds that you are.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5138#sp

If you want the M2 card to run at its full speed then you could invest in a PCI M2 adaptor card that plugs into one of the PCI slots on the motherboard.

Thanks, wasn't sure if it was limited to just 2 lanes. Ordered a Pci to M2 adaptor.

[kozak79]

Just an update... I bought the Lycom M.2 to PCI-E 4x Adapter and am now getting:

Read: 2602 MB/s
Write: 1535 MB/s

I just wish the M.2 Port on the motherboard was 4x so I didn't have to get an extra adapter.

[trading10]

Just an update... I bought the Lycom M.2 to PCI-E 4x Adapter and am now getting:

Read: 2602 MB/s
Write: 1535 MB/s

I just wish the M.2 Port on the motherboard was 4x so I didn't have to get an extra adapter.

I got the Samsung 950 pro working (sort of) as my system drive using the same PCIe adapter in a 4x slot,and Magician reports the same as your system - 5Gbps of a max of 10Gbps and running as x2.

My system is a Dell Optiplex 7020 running windows 7 Enterprise 64bit, which only has 1 16x PCIe and 1 4x slot.  The 16x is occupied by the video card.

I would like to know if you found out why yours reports getting half of the max shown in Magician. X2 instead of x4.

PS. For anyone interested, I say 'sort of' working because I get a 'no hard drive found' warning during POST that pauses until you press F1 to continue, and then Windows 7 loads fine. I could only get windows to install by disabling UEFI boot mode in the BIOS. Drive is partioned as GPT.  Samsung NVMe drivers were needed during the windows 7 install before it would recognize the drive.