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Samsung 960 Pro NVMe only 1 Lane?

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Oct 19, 2016
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Motherboard
GA-Z170X-UD5 TH
CPU
i7-6700K
Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
I used to run macOS Sierra on a 950 Pro with rehabman's patch without problems.

Now I updated to High Sierra and bought a 960 Pro which only runs on Link-Width x1 (around 500MB read/write).
Do I still have to use the patch from before High Sierra?

I hope I provided all the needed files if someone would take a look at it :)

Best,
Frank
 

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  • Franks iMac.ioreg
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  • rehabman.zip
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Hi Acklin83,

Afaik High Sierra is fully compatible with the Samsung NVMe as it runs natively so you shouldn't need those old kexts (this is what happened with my setup on the Asus Z370 Prime P). However before installation for the NVMe you do need a separate HD drive attached to the 2nd port of your SATA connection in order for the installer to detect your drive.

My advice would be, do a backup clone of your SSD including the EFI folders, format and use the NVMe drive to install a clean version of High Sierra using HFS+J Mac Journaled format and see how it goes. To run the HFS+J version
run
Code:
/Volumes/Image\  Volume/No-Convert
in Terminal during the install. If everything works, you should be able to import some of your old SSDT files in Clover and work from there. Nvidia drivers and other EFI kexts may need to be replaced with their latest versions, such as Lilu.kext and Nvidiagraphicsfixup.kext. Also don't forget to include the Emuvariableuefi-64 driver in Clover, this is vital if you are using Nvidia cards like I do.
 
Hi Middleman!

Thanks for your answer!
So, you suggest a clean install? I wonder how/if that would affect the used Link-Width for NVMe.

Here's the way I updated:
- Working Install of 10.12.5 on a 950 Pro m.2 NVMe via Rehabmans Patch (about 1GB Write/Read, so all Lanes used)
- Cloned the whole thing incl. EFI to an external SSD
- Got rid of the NVMe patches
- Updated the Clone on ext. SSD to 10.13.4 via Unibeast (the update kept the HFS+J format)
- Switched the 512GB 950 Pro to a 1TB 960 Pro
- Cloned the 10.13.4 SSD incl. EFI back to 960 Pro
- Blackmagic reports 500MB Read/Write, System report shows "Link-Width: x1" for NVMe

I was hoping that some .kext conflict or a wrong system definition (iMac 14,1 in SMBIOS) caused
the x1 Link-Width. This is my Audio machine, so a fresh install would easily take me a day with all
the additional software to download. I'll do it if I have to - any idea what else it could be?

Best,
Frank
 
I just tried booting from my cloned SSD with the old EFI and here I get Link-Width: x2 (at least).
Now I get around 1GB/s read/write, which is between 1/2 and 1/3 of what the NVME is capable of.
I guess it should be Link-Width x4? Nothing's plugged in my PCI-e slots except the graphics card.
Attached is the old EFI.

Thanks!
Frank

EDIT: Restarted with a copy of the old EFI and now we're talking! x4 Link-Width and 2GB/s write, 2.5GB/s read
 

Attachments

  • CLOVER.zip
    1.6 MB · Views: 63
Last edited:
I just tried booting from my cloned SSD with the old EFI and here I get Link-Width: x2 (at least).
Now I get around 1GB/s read/write, which is between 1/2 and 1/3 of what the NVME is capable of.
I guess it should be Link-Width x4? Nothing's plugged in my PCI-e slots except the graphics card.
Attached is the old EFI.

Thanks!
Frank

EDIT: Restarted with a copy of the old EFI and now we're talking! x4 Link-Width and 2GB/s write, 2.5GB/s read

Hi @acklin83
So what is the conclusion? Are the kexts needed? What was wrong and why were you not getting the correct speeds? I am also interested in upgrading to an NVMe and it's also very time consuming for me to re-install everything. :) Thanks
 
Hi @hackyomac

I guess there was something wrong with the EFI/Clover that I installed vanilla after updating to 10.13.4.
I copied the old EFI back and now the NVMe Speed is fine.

If I were you, I'd update to newest OSX and then install the NVMe.
Then use something like Carbon Copy Cloner to move the whole System Partition to NVMe.
Don't forget to copy the EFI folder and tell your BIOS to boot from there.
If it doesn't work, you can always go back to your old disc.
 
@acklin83 Have you enabled trim on your new 960 Pro? Do you know if it affects speed?

EDIT: On second thought, I don't even know if you have the option to disable trim on NVMe devices.
 
Last edited:
I tried both, with and without Trim. No difference here.
 
2000MB/s Write and 2‘800MB/s Read with the 960 Pro. 1400/2300 with the 950 Pro.
 
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