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Boot m.2 nvme SSD on z77 mobo? How?

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Helgaiden

Helgaiden

Member
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Joined
Jul 14, 2003
Hi all, i have an intel dz77ga-70k motherboard with an i7-3770k and came across an m2 nvme SSD. Was considering using it but after a little research, it seems i may not be able to boot from it. I saw this on amazon which gives me the choice of using it as a sata SSD as well, but it wouldn't be full speed. https://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-...F8&qid=1471471765&sr=8-1&keywords=pci-e+to+m2

Anyways, i was wondering how i could get it to boot on my setup? Im running windows 10, and would reinstall 10 most likely as well if i had to. Initial research shows that custom BIOS that people make with nvme modules added to it have helped out, but im not sure of all the different available ways. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
 
How were you planning on using it on that board, which doesn't have an M.2 slot, in the first place? Some (older) boards are not able to boot from M.2 or PCIe.

I've never heard of a modded BIOS that would enable such functionality. You may not want to hear it, but, you might want to look into upgrading your system (Z97 board and a Haswell CPU which supports NVMe and M.2 booting.
 
EarthDog said:
How were you planning on using it on that board, which doesn't have an M.2 slot, in the first place? Some (older) boards are not able to boot from M.2 or PCIe.

I've never heard of a modded BIOS that would enable such functionality. You may not want to hear it, but, you might want to look into upgrading your system (Z97 board and a Haswell CPU which supports NVMe and M.2 booting.
Click to expand...

I posted the m2 to PCI-E adapter in my OP, so that's how I would use it. No need to upgrade a completely sufficient mobo and cpu just for nvme support, so I'd rather not do that. Here's the thread I found on adding nvme support to older chipsets.

http://www.overclock.net/t/1571271/...rt-on-any-ami-uefi-bios-with-an-intel-chipset
 
I misunderstood what was written I guess...

Anyway, looks complicated, LOL! I wouldn't do it unless your board has another BIOS you can switch to in case your bork one with the flash. Its honestly a risk I wouldn't take. If I was you, I would sell the NVMe drive and buy a SATA based SSD. Then when you have a board which has native support, get an NVMe drive.
 
If it's seen as a sata...then why wouldn't ya be able to boot from it?
Yes, it would be a shame to run an NVME neutered, but.......
 
On many (older) boards you are unable to boot through PCIe. If he chooses to still use the drive with the PCIe adapter, the OP should be sure he can boot through PCIe on his board.
 
So...on the older chipset PCIE isn't initialized early enough to boot?
Wish I had one'o those adapters...I got a Z77 board here idle that I'd gladly give'er a shot.
Heck....since it's doin' nothin' I'd even try the bios mod for s&g's
 
But what I'm sayin' is the drive in this case is gonna be seen as a sata device, not really NVME. So long as the boot sata doesn't HAVE to be on one'o the Intel sata ports...seems it should work.
Although as stated earlier....neutered.
 
It doesn't matter if its called a potato on the other end :). If a board can't boot from PCIe slot, it can't boot from there (if I knew more details I would fill us all in, LOL).

His best bet if he wants to try is to update his bios to the latest version and give it a go. I wouldn't bet on success. As I said, I would sell that thing off and get a regular SATA based SSD that plugs into his SATA ports. Take the money difference and go buy a few cold ones. :)
 
Last edited:
One thing that is important yet unasked....is the bios for that board UEFI?
If not, then I do believe yer on the short end ;)
 
I would say that since it appears the last bios update for that board was in mid '13 booting from your NVME ain't happenin' unless ya wanna chance moddin' the bios yourself.
Unless you plan on upgrading now, I would strongly recommend against this ;)

However....if you were to upgrade it might be fun to try after the fact :D
 
yeah it does have UEFI but no nvme boot capability according to intel, and its an intel board so i doubt there are any customization that could get it to work. The silverstone adapter above lets me switch between pci-e boot or using it "neutered" over SATA, so running it over SATA is always an option. Id love to try to do a bios mod as well to run it, but the instructions point to using the nvme modules from a newer board from the same vendor....and intel stopped making motherboards after z87 so there aren't any z97 or newer motherboards for me to pull a bios from to mod mine with. I dont want to upgrade, dont have the money. That guru3d article is throwing me for a loop though, saying z77 and newer would work. May have to reach out to them about that. Easier idea might just be to sell it and get a regular sata SSD but for the money id be able to afford a 1tb SSD. Maybe like a mushkin reactor or a sandisk x400 which i was originally looking at.
 
Z77 and newer will work...if the mobo manufacturer has updated bios with the proper modules (which Intel hasn't).
The Asrock Z77 Extreme4 I have here is capable since 2013 :shrug:

So, yep. The 2 mentioned by ED are both solid and reasonable.
 
Did alot of research before landing on mushkin reactor 1tb and sandisk x400 1tb. Obviously the Samsung is king of the heap but the price is a turnoff compared to the other two. I suppose the OCZ trion 150 is fine too, but didn't know they came in 1tb. I see on Amazon it'd actually 960gb, bleh. But the price is nice.
 
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