Asus Z170 DeLuxe and M.2 bios settings

luismenendez · 14 Aug 2019 at 12:21

Hi guys,

After expending a few hours searching for info about the right bios settings for an M.2 drive I decide to try to find some help here. I bought the m.2 drive 2 months ago so it is the latest gen NVMe 1.3 PCIe Gen 3 x 4 and did't have any problems with installation. However I see that the speed is like 15% slower than another system based also in a GA Z170 but with a 3 years old Samsung SM951 which I believe is also PCIe 3 x 4 (I didn't load Samsung drivers as it is OEM so using W10 drivers).

So my question is if someone can give me the correct bios set up of Asus for an M.2 PCIe? I using the latest bios.

Thanks a lot!

PBAsydney · 14 Aug 2019 at 12:23

Make sure the M.2 slot is set to X4 speed, it will disable 2 of your SATA ports but increase performance for the M.2

Smok3y · 15 Aug 2019 at 10:32

My z170 board auto disables 2 sata ports according to the manual and I didn't have do anything in the bios but it's not an nvme drive just a normal m.2. and it's just as quick as the samsung evo it replaced if not a touch quicker.

PBAsydney · 15 Aug 2019 at 10:39

Smok3y said:
My z170 board auto disables 2 sata ports according to the manual and I didn't have do anything in the bios but it's not an nvme drive just a normal m.2. and it's just as quick as the samsung evo it replaced if not a touch quicker.

That's strange, since as far as I know, the only reason it needs to disable the two SATA ports is to have enough bandwidth to run the M.2 slot in x4 speed.

OP could also look into the SATA Express / M.2 setting in the BIOS, which toggles the SATA express ports between PCI-E and SATA and limits M.2 slot speed IIRC.

Smok3y · 15 Aug 2019 at 11:51

PBAsydney said:
That's strange, since as far as I know, the only reason it needs to disable the two SATA ports is to have enough bandwidth to run the M.2 slot in x4 speed.

OP could also look into the SATA Express / M.2 setting in the BIOS, which toggles the SATA express ports between PCI-E and SATA and limits M.2 slot speed IIRC.

I think on my board ports 5 and 6 are disabled when using an m.2 drive. But it definitely disables 2 ports when using the m.2 slot.

My board is an MSI Z170A Tomahawk

luismenendez · 15 Aug 2019 at 13:35

Thanks guys, I wonder if someone have same board with M.2 PCIE to give me the right settings! manual is not very clear!

PBAsydney · 15 Aug 2019 at 14:47

I used to run a 950 Pro in this exact board and never had any speed issues.

Make sure you have these BIOS settings:
PCH Storage Configuration > Hyper kit Mode > DISABLED
Onboard Devices Configuration > PCI-E16_3 Bandwidth > X4 Mode (Not sure if this matters, might only affect the PCI-E slot, not M.2)
Onboard Devices Configuration > M.2 and SATA Express SATA Mode Configuration > SATA Express (This might only affect SATA M.2 drives, but set it anyway)

I ran those settings and my 950 Pro ran fine on that board.

Smok3y · 15 Aug 2019 at 16:13

Well I just checked. I doesn't disable ports 5 and 6, well it kind of does. The drive in the m2 slot shows up as being in port 5 of the sata ports in the bios if that makes sense? And I can't see any options to change anything relating to the settings for the m2 slot.

PBAsydney · 15 Aug 2019 at 16:17

Smok3y said:
Well I just checked. I doesn't disable ports 5 and 6, well it kind of does. The drive in the m2 slot shows up as being in port 5 of the sata ports in the bios if that makes sense? And I can't see any options to change anything relating to the settings for the m2 slot.

That's because you are using a SATA M.2 drive, not NVME.

luismenendez · 19 Aug 2019 at 12:47

I installed AIDA64 to check speed and seems that is working a PCIe 2.0 x4 so not good as it should be PCIe 3.0 x4

PCI Express Controller
PCI-E 2.0 x2 port #1 In Use @ x2 (ASMedia ASM1142 USB 3.1 xHCI Controller)
PCI-E 2.0 x1 port #3 In Use @ x1 (ASMedia ASM1187 PCI-E 2.0 Switch --> ASMedia ASM1187 PCI-E 2.0 Switch, ASMedia ASM1187 PCI-E 2.0 Switch --> Broadcom BCM4360 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter)
PCI-E 2.0 x2 port #5 In Use @ x2 (ASMedia ASM1142 USB 3.1 xHCI Controller)
PCI-E 2.0 x2 port #7 In Use @ x2 (ASMedia ASM1142 USB 3.1 xHCI Controller)
PCI-E 2.0 x4 port #9 In Use @ x4 (Phison PS5012 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe 1.3 SSD Controller)
PCI-E 2.0 x4 port #17 Empty

I am tempting to put it in a PCIe slot using an adaptor instead of the M.2 slot! Also should run cooler