SSD 960 EVO NVMe M.2 500GB and Asus LGA1150 Z97 MAXIMUS VII HERO

Bogdanov89

Junior Member
Jan 27, 2015
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Can anyone please check and verify is the newest Samsung SSD 960 EVO NVMe M.2 500GB compatible with the motherboard Asus LGA1150 Z97 MAXIMUS VII HERO?

I tried comparing the specifications but i am not familiar with tech so i don't want to make an expensive mistake.

Thank you very much for helping me out.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
15,699
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All of this NVMe M.2 stuff is new enough to me, and I skipped the Haswell and refresh chipsets.

But looking at the Z97 Maximus VII Hero specs , it seems very likely that the board provides the proper M.2 "M"-key slot, 2280 storage device.

I think you have two ways to do this. either use the motherboard's own M.2 slot, and share bandwidth with probably two SATA ports, or get an M.2 NVMe PCIE x4 expansion card, and put the drive in a proper PCIE v.3.0 expansion slot with at least x4 lanes. However, the third and bottom x16-length slot providing x4 bandwidth is only a PCIE v.2.0 slot. So, doing it that way, you'd have to forego any SLI or CF configuration, your PCIE-x16 #1 slot's available lanes would drop to x8 with probably a 1% reduction in graphics performance, and you would use the PCIE-x16 #2 slot for the NVMe expansion card and 960 EVO.

I shouldn't be the last word on this, and I'd probably want to put in a support ticket with ASUS and get their confirmation. They would probably recommend, as would I, that you should update your BIOS for the Z97 board.
 

deustroop

Golden Member
Dec 12, 2010
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Can anyone please check and verify is the newest Samsung SSD 960 EVO NVMe M.2 500GB compatible with the motherboard Asus LGA1150 Z97 MAXIMUS VII HERO?

I tried comparing the specifications but i am not familiar with tech so i don't want to make an expensive mistake.

Thank you very much for helping me out.


The web site description for that board says there is an M2 socket on the board.

"1 x M.2 Socket 3, black, with M Key, type 2260/2280 storage devices support (PCIE mode)".

The description also lists several PCIe lanes (electrical connections) which the MAXIMUS VII HERO can use to support the M2, as follows:

"2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8, red)
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode, black) *1"

So yes, the board is compatible.

See generally

https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_VII_HERO/specifications/
 

Justinus

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 2005
3,167
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The web site description for that board says there is an M2 socket on the board.

"1 x M.2 Socket 3, black, with M Key, type 2260/2280 storage devices support (PCIE mode)".

The description also lists several PCIe lanes (electrical connections) which the MAXIMUS VII HERO can use to support the M2, as follows:

"2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8, red)
1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode, black) *1"

So yes, the board is compatible.

See generally

https://www.asus.com/ca-en/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_VII_HERO/specifications/

Sure, the board is compatible. It has a PCI-e enabled M.2 slot with the correct keying and it has NVM-e support.

What you left out is the fact that the M.2 slot is only PCI-e 2x 2.0 enabled, leaving the maximum theoretical throughput at 1,250 MB/s, FAR below the ratings for sequential and high queue depth randoms for the 960 EVO.

The drive will be severely bottlenecked, unless you want to get a riser card and put it in the second PCI-e 16x 3.0 slot to get a full 4x 3.0 lanes.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
15,699
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If his graphics expectations are modest in some price/performance ratio, he could get one good strong graphics card for the system, overclock it, and use the PCIE-x16_2 slot for his NVMe M.2. Personally, I have a GTX 1070 "OC Mini" that I've yet to test with 2560x1440 and 144Hz. But my best understanding of the slot allocation suggests a 1% decline in graphics performance going from x16 to x8.
 

deustroop

Golden Member
Dec 12, 2010
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354
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What you left out is the fact that the M.2 slot is only PCI-e 2x 2.0 enabled, leaving the maximum theoretical throughput at 1,250 MB/s, FAR below the ratings for sequential and high queue depth randoms for the 960 EVO.

The drive will be severely bottlenecked, unless you want to get a riser card and put it in the second PCI-e 16x 3.0 slot to get a full 4x 3.0 lanes.

OK that is a MB limit I did not see in the materials or FAQ. Thx for the clarification. If the OP has bought the M2 ssd, then he might return it for a sata drive or purchase the PCIe adapter, as you and the Duck suggest. Usually a discrete gpu uses one of the red x16 expansion slots so running the adapter in the other red slot will provide 8 lanes and lots of bandwidth.
About returning the drive ? No. Installing the M2 drive in the M2 slot will still give better performance than returning the drive for a sata drive.
 

Mike55

Junior Member
Feb 9, 2018
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0
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OK that is a MB limit I did not see in the materials or FAQ. Thx for the clarification. If the OP has bought the M2 ssd, then he might return it for a sata drive or purchase the PCIe adapter, as you and the Duck suggest. Usually a discrete gpu uses one of the red x16 expansion slots so running the adapter in the other red slot will provide 8 lanes and lots of bandwidth.
About returning the drive ? No. Installing the M2 drive in the M2 slot will still give better performance than returning the drive for a sata drive.
 
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Mike55

Junior Member
Feb 9, 2018
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OK that is a MB limit I did not see in the materials or FAQ. Thx for the clarification. If the OP has bought the M2 ssd, then he might return it for a sata drive or purchase the PCIe adapter, as you and the Duck suggest. Usually a discrete gpu uses one of the red x16 expansion slots so running the adapter in the other red slot will provide 8 lanes and lots of bandwidth.
About returning the drive ? No. Installing the M2 drive in the M2 slot will still give better performance than returning the drive for a sata drive.

I am new here and I wish to solve my SSD problem on my Asus Z97 VII Hero! I had bought Plextor PX-G1256M6E 256GB when this technology first started on my motherboard and after 4 days period of time, since in my Bios secure erase recognized my Plextor SSD M.2 after then it did not recognized it anymore but as I log in to Windows system explorer to find my hard drive it was showing! I had to change Windows operating system to another SSD hard drive. I was worried that I might face a lot of errors during the system is working!

This is the fact since SSD cards M.2 was evolving in these past 3 years or so there have been many changes technology out there. This has passed nearly 2 years since then, at that the same time I was in contact with Plextor support company as they where very friendly and they said to me... "Please be informed if your drive is not recognized in BIOS there will be no possibility to update firmware on that drive. When drive is not visible in BIOS could be that drive is broken if yes please return it to your dealer for warranty. Please do not hesitate to contact us. Thank you."... Now I am considering to get a new M.2 SSD hard drive as I was looking to one of your latest comments.

I have 2 MSI Graphic cards installed 1 on [PCIE_X16/X8_1] and 2 on [PCIE_X8_2] all in the red slots of the motherboard and a USB3.0PCI-Express Card on [PCIEX1_1] right now at this moment.

When I get the new M.2 SSD slot card and put it in the motherboard socket M.2 SATA. USB3.0PCI-Express Card it will be disabled automatically [PCIEX1_1].

[M.2 Mode]: PCIeX4_3 slots runs at two mode for more available of M.2 connector. (PCIeX1_1/2/3 are disabled)

When you place the M.2 SSD in the slot of M.2 socket of the motherboard it does not make any difference less or high performance! Because this will disable all other (PCIeX1_1/2/3 are disabled) and there is nothing to do with Graphic cards performance also they are automatically enabled from the motherboard itself. It depends on the performance of the new high generations out there of M.2 SSD's adapters on it self of their high capacity!

I have made some research compability about one of the new generation Technology of the M.2 Samsung SSD out there of 512GB Samsung 960 Pro, M.2 PCIe NVMe, 48 Layer V-NAND, 3500MB/s Read, 2100MB/s, 330K/330K IOPS, 400TBW
 
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deustroop

Golden Member
Dec 12, 2010
1,916
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I have 2 MSI Graphic cards installed 1 on [PCIE_X16/X8_1] and 2 on [PCIE_X8_2] all in the red slots of the motherboard and a USB3.0PCI-Express Card on [PCIEX1_1] right now at this moment.

When I get the new M.2 SSD slot card and put it in the motherboard socket M.2 SATA the USB3.0PCI-Express Card it will be disabled automatically [PCIEX1_1].

[M.2 Mode]: PCIeX4_3 slots runs at two mode for more available of M.2 connector. (PCIeX1_1/2/3 are disabled)

When you place the M.2 SSD in the slot of M.2 socket of the motherboard it does not make any difference less or high performance! Because this will disable all other (PCIeX1_1/2/3 are disabled) and there is nothing to do with Graphic cards performance also they are automatically enabled from the motherboard itself. It depends on the performance of the new high generations out there of M.2 SSD's adapters on it self of their high capacity!

I agree. The two dGPUs are installed in the red slots and their performance should be unaffected when you install an M2 SSD. As you note you will lose the use of the USB3.
 
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Mike55

Junior Member
Feb 9, 2018
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This is why people get confuse when you buy a motherboard you have to read all the manuals that it came with your motherboard after you judge! Because if you done something wrong you've had it. I advise people who buy should read the manuals first! Components of your motherboard sits there not for nothing because there is a use for it and has to comply and specified with your motherboard! The motherboard has it's own commands! When a component sits there has to comply with the motherboard with it's own command! That's why there is "enabled" or "disabled" and other commands!