M.2 NVME SSD, Intel RST & W10 Installation

[occtec]

Hi guys I have purchased the Samsung 950 Pro to add onto my Gigabyte Z170x Gaming 3 MOBO. Question I have can I disable sata in the BIOS without adverse effects to performance. Or should i install the bootdisk AHCI driver and IRST after OS installation? I have windows 10 64bit Pro. I will also be installing the Samsung SSD driver after OS Installation.

The motherboard manual advises to leave all settings in BIOS at defaults settings for system stability, if I disable SATA as I won't be using it will this cause any system instability? Lastly if I leave the BIOS settings at defaults there is an option there for Windows 8.1/10 or other OS will there be an issue if I leave it at defaults which is set to 'other OS' during windows 10 Installation, which option is recommended? I will not be using secure boot. Thanks in advance.

 

[occtec]

Any advice would really be appreciated. Thanks again..

 

[Skunk-Works]

Doesn't a M.2 share the SATA controller? Or was it the PCI-e controller? To answer your question. I don't think disabling SATA will cause instability. At worse it might make the M.2 drive not function. That's all I got.

 

[occtec]

Doesn't a M.2 share the SATA controller? Or was it the PCI-e controller? To answer your question. I don't think disabling SATA will cause instability. At worse it might make the M.2 drive not function. That's all I got.

As far as I know it shares the PCI-e controller or lanes to be exact. Thanks anyway

 

[Ketchup]

If there are no drives plugged into the sata ports, the savings from disabling those ports really is going to be negligible.

Good advice in the manual. Start with default, get everything stable, then play with it.

 

[occtec]

If there are no drives plugged into the sata ports, the savings from disabling those ports really is going to be negligible.

Good advice in the manual. Start with default, get everything stable, then play with it.

So there is no need to pre-install achi drivers during win10 installation if I'm not using SATA? What about the Intel RST driver, is it necessary if I'm only using m.2? As with it installed the SSD doesn't show anyway.

 

[Ketchup]

With your board in UEFI mode, you shouldn't need too much beyond what comes with Windows 10. That doesn't mean you might not get some better numbers with Intel software and drivers from Gigabyte's site, but only some benchmarking after the install will tell you for sure.

 

[Ketchup]

If it helps, here is a diagram of the chipset:

 

[Skunk-Works]

I don't want to hijack, but I just have a simple question regarding a m.2 HDD. Do they work in Windows 7?

 

[Ketchup]

Yeah, but it will take pre-installing drivers at installation. But since you will be able to install them straight off a flash drive, it shouldn't be much of a chore at all (assuming you have a chipset that plays nice with Windows 7).

 

[Skunk-Works]

The drivers are from the motherboard manufacture, right?

 

[Ketchup]

Correct.