NVMe PCIe adapter for the Samsung 970 Pro!!!

[pastrychef]

my apologies I mixed up model number thinking PM981 was pro model. Have you been able to get full advertised speed out of your 970 Evo while on OSX?

Yes. Benchmarks show that it's working at advertised speeds. That being said, for some reason, my old SM951 felt snappier... Maybe it's just my imagination...

 

[xCatbodi]

Yes. Benchmarks show that it's working at advertised speeds. That being said, for some reason, my old SM951 felt snappier... Maybe it's just my imagination...

Weird. I'm hoping there will be better support in future through updates maybe. I recently got 970 Pro. Advertised at 3500 read / 2700 write. I can hit only 2500 write and 2900 read best case scenario.

 

[pastrychef]

Weird. I'm hoping there will be better support in future through updates maybe. I recently got 970 Pro. Advertised at 3500 read / 2700 write. I can hit only 2500 write and 2900 read best case scenario.

This is what I got from my 970 EVO.

 

[xCatbodi]

This is what I got from my 970 EVO.
View attachment 341277

Looks like we're in the same boat then, I attached my 970 Pro benchmarks.

Windows users on a 970 Evo & Pro can hit 3500 read (benchmark with CrystalDiskMark I saw online from multiple users). Wouldn't be asking too many questions if it was like 200-300 mb/s off but 500 makes me feel like it could be something more significant underlying the issue.

Then again near 3000 for both read/write is insane to see, I recall paying hundreds when SSD's were 64gb and less and barely close to 200 MB/s

 

[pastrychef]

Looks like we're in the same boat then, I attached my 970 Pro benchmarks.

Windows users on a 970 Evo & Pro can hit 3500 read (benchmark with CrystalDiskMark I saw online from multiple users). Wouldn't be asking too many questions if it was like 200-300 mb/s off but 500 makes me feel like it could be something more significant underlying the issue.

Then again near 3000 for both read/write is insane to see, I recall paying hundreds when SSD's were 64gb and less and barely close to 200 MB/s

View attachment 341278

Yeah, I'm coming from an SM951 AHCI and my 970 EVO benches approx 50% faster across the board so I never thought there was anything wrong.

 

[manHands]

Booting from NVMe drives requires BIOS support. I strongly suggest you first upgrade the BIOS of your motherboard to the latest version (F7 for your motherboard) if you have not done so.

That said, it seems that your motherboard really does not support NVMe drives. (Strange that Gigabyte does not provide NVMe BIOS support on a Z97 motherboard.) I don't know if Clover can substitute for this support. On a GA-Z97M-D3H motherboard that I have, BIOS version F6 and later supports booting from NVMe drives.

I bought a Silverstone ECM20 some time ago which supports M.2 drives in SATA and NVMe. It should suit your purpose.

I'd like to add a 3rd 970 EVO drive to my Maximus IX HERO Z270 board. Is it as simple as adding this card to the PCIe 3.0 x4 slot? No clover efi drivers or kexts needed?

 

[Jamesbond007]

I'd like to add a 3rd 970 EVO drive to my Maximus IX HERO Z370 board. Is it as simple as adding this card to the PCIe 3.0 x4 slot? No clover efi drivers or kexts needed?

The Maximus IX Hero is a Z270 motherboard, not Z370.

That said, there should be no need for other drivers or kexts when using this card, as long as you are going to use High Sierra or Mojave.

However, you will need to set the PCIe x4 slot bandwidth to X4 in the BIOS under Advanced -> Onboard Devices Configuration -> PCIEX4_3 Bandwidth in order to have full x4 bandwidth for the card. Note that this will disable the PCIEX1_3 slot on the motherboard, according to the motherboard manual.

 

[manHands]

The Maximus IX Hero is a Z270 motherboard, not Z370.

That said, there should be no need for other drivers or kexts when using this card, as long as you are going to use High Sierra or Mojave.

However, you will need to set the PCIe x4 slot bandwidth to X4 in the BIOS under Advanced -> Onboard Devices Configuration -> PCIEX4_3 Bandwidth in order to have full x4 bandwidth for the card. Note that this will disable the PCIEX1_3 slot on the motherboard, according to the motherboard manual.

Sorry, just a typo on the chipset. Thanks for confirming compatibility.

 

[manHands]

@Jamesbond007

After my original post/question, I found another thread on NVMe PCIe compatibility on MacRumors. Of the recommended X4 cards, they mention that X4 will limit speed to 1500 MB/s. Can I assume this limitation is the same with the Silverstone ECM20? Therefore, I may be bottlenecking the 970 EVO NVMe M.2 with this card?

 

[Jamesbond007]

@Jamesbond007

After my original post/question, I found another thread on NVMe PCIe compatibility on MacRumors. Of the recommended X4 cards, they mention that X4 will limit speed to 1500 MB/s. Can I assume this limitation is the same with the Silverstone ECM20? Therefore, I may be bottlenecking the 970 EVO NVMe M.2 with this card?

I am not sure, but it is possible. As far as I know, the PCIe x4 slot on your motherboard obtains the bandwidth not directly from the CPU, but from the chipset, and those bandwidth have to be shared with other motherboard devices for access to the CPU. So the speed may be lower.

That article you are referring to says this : "Note that blade SSDs installed in a Mac Pro 5,1 are limited to ~1,500 MB/s unless installed on a PCIe switch card in slot 1 or 2 such as a HighPoint 7101 or Amfeltec Squid that converts the Mac Pro PCIe 2.0 x16 to the PCIe 3.0 x4 needed for full throughput." This is most likely because slots 1 and 2 on a MacPro5,1 are directly connected to the CPU so can use full bandwidth.