M.2 SSD Compatibility

[nitocris]

MOBO: Z170 HD3

Recently purchased a Samsung 950 PRO M.2. SSD.

Was hoping to use this as the boot drive but ran into some problems.

I have the latest BETA Bios F6e which was noted to "improve compatibility with M.2"

However the MOBO won't even detect the SSD as a storage drive unless I set the "Storage Boot Option Control" to LEGACY ONLY (Previously was on UEFI ONLY).

The problem with LEGACY ONLY as the Storage Boot Option is that the Boot drive has to be initiated as a MBR and not GPT (newer technology) in order for Windows to be installed on it.

My questions are:

1. Does having the Bios Storage Boot Option set on LEGACY ONLY along with having the SSD setup under MBR have any detrimental effect on performance for my system? It doesn't really make any sense, LEGACY was suppose to be the 'older' technology and somehow that 'mode' can detect M.2. but UEFI cannot?

2. In my peripherals tab in Bios. It is not detecting the M.2. as a PCIe SSD regardless of the option I select in the Storage Boot Option Control mentioned above. Why is that the case?

[navinnaido36]

Hi im using ur older brother sm951. So far i previously did install my windows through legacy and didnt find any performance issue other then it doesnt boot up very fast which takes 6 - 8 seconds. The uefi part im not sure i did raid 0 within the bios and in eufi mode the bios did detect the ssd not sure for a single ssd. Im not sure whether this help if u have a graphic card set ur display to boot from igfx and connect the display straight through the mobo. Then try again the settings in ur bios eufi and csm disabled or enabled(not sure for single ssd) maybe u can detect ur ssd.

[Undermoose]

I happen to own both the SM951 and the SM950 Pro.

This was on my ASUS Sabertooth Extreme mobo that I noticed this, and the SM951 is now on my GA-Z170N-Gaming 5 mobo, but the behavior you mentioned is the exact situation I ran into.

I noticed the same thing on BIOS setup. The SM951 is recognized by the BIOS as an NVMe drive and can boot CSM enabled or disabled.

SM950 Pro can boot, but only CSM disabled, and the BIOS doesn't see it as NVMe. However, once in Windows there is no problem, utilities see it as NVMe etc.

Odd behavior...

[nitocris]

Where is the CSM option in bios. I don't see it anywhere on my Gigabyte dual-bios user interface. I've looked at the MOBO manual and it simply doesn't appear where it is suppose to appear. Does the option only appear when some other specific option/setting is activated/deactivated.

[dmdilks]

It will only show once you set Windows 8/10 Features

Windows 8/10 Features
Allows you to select the operating system to be installed. (Default: Other OS)

CSM Support
Enables or disables UEFI CSM (Compatibility Support Module) to support a legacy PC boot process.
Enabled Enables UEFI CSM. (Default)
Disabled Disables UEFI CSM and supports UEFI BIOS boot process only.
This item is configurable only when Windows 8/10 Features is set to Windows 8/10 or Windows 8/10 WHQL.

[nitocris]

I appreciate all the responses. Which leads on to my next question. Why do we all have to all go through this trouble just to use a drive?

Is it because this technology is too NEW? And current motherboards simply have not caught up to this technology?

I purchased gigabyte MOBO when I saw it supporting M.2. SSD. By support I expected a simple clip on and use.

[dmdilks]

The thing is that other people have got it to run with UEFI. When you installing windows you have load a driver. Other people install the Intel RST driver. Just like the old days when you install XP hit F6 to install other drivers.

[its_tricky83]

I know this is an old thread but I thought I would chime in considering I have a Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 7 mobo + a Samsung 950 PRO NMVe drive. Now running the latest (so called stable) Mobo BIOS F21.

When I first built my computer back mid-2016 I went around in circles getting the drive to appear in the NVMe Drive list, which is one of the bottom menu options in the peripheral tab of the bios. The only way I could get the drive to appear in that list was if I had CSM set to ENABLED, which is so contradictory to the norm that it is still doing my head in to this day.

Anyway, with CSM set to ENABLED, I installed Windows 10 PRO, ensuring the 950PRO drive was formatted as GPT partition table. Everything booted super quickly.... So then I went into the BIOS again and set CSM to DISABLED, saved and rebooted to the BIOS again and the NVMe drive list was empty. However, Windows 10 is still able to boot but a few noticeable seconds slower.

A year has passed and I've decided to freshly re-install Windows 10 just for kicks. Before I kicked off the install I went into my BIOS. The NVMe list still says NO DRIVES DETECTED, but a full re-install of Windows 10 works without any hassle, GPT and all. The boot times are still faster with CSM ENABLED which still screws with my head.

So all said and done, although everything works, I just wish there was an explanation as to why the NVMe drives don't appear in the NVMe drive list when CSM is DISABLED. It truly pains me!