ASRock Forums : 970A-G3.1 M.2 help [Solved]

ASRock Forums : 970A-G3.1 M.2 help [Solved] https://forum.asrock.com/ Copyright (c) 2006-2013 Web Wiz Forums - All Rights Reserved. Tue, 05 May 2026 16:40:05 +0000 Tue, 20 Sep 2016 22:58:11 +0000 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Web Wiz Forums 12.04 360 https://forum.asrock.com/RSS_post_feed.asp?TID=3390 <![CDATA[ASRock Forums]]> https://forum.asrock.com/forum_images/web_wiz_forums_black.png https://forum.asrock.com/ <![CDATA[970A-G3.1 M.2 help [Solved] : Quick answer,The 950 Pro was detected...]]> https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3390&PID=16952&title=970ag3-1-m-2-help-solved#16952 Author: shadetree1
Subject: 3390
Posted: 20 Sep 2016 at 10:58pm

Quick answer,

The 950 Pro was detected in the UEFI storage boot list after it was installed, with a newly added reference radio button to show it's information just like the other drives.

As I remember, after booting the (Rufus) USB drive in UEFI mode, and adding the Samsung drivers, Windows seen and formatted the raw drive GPT with 2 viewable partitions. The first was something like UEFI-boot-recovery...and the second partition was the Windows installation.

The CPU is the Phenom II x6 1090T BE from the old HTPC ASrock board, not OC, runs very cool and quiet.

Take care mate!

]]> Tue, 20 Sep 2016 22:58:11 +0000 https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3390&PID=16952&title=970ag3-1-m-2-help-solved#16952 <![CDATA[970A-G3.1 M.2 help [Solved] : shadetree1 wrote:CONFERMED...]]> https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3390&PID=16921&title=970ag3-1-m-2-help-solved#16921 Author: parsec
Subject: 3390
Posted: 20 Sep 2016 at 8:12am

shadetree1 wrote:

CONFERMED

The 970A-G3.1 MB supports the Samsung M.2 950 Pro NVMe as OS drive with Windows 7x64.

Followed METHOD 1 of parsec's guide: http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1236&title=how-to-install-windows-on-a-pcie-ssd.

The M.2 drive was present as first boot device in the UEFI after physically installed. Added the Samsung extracted drivers during the Windows 7 setup (add drivers) from another USB drive as you usually would. Refreshed the Windows Install Pane and the M.2 was listed to install to. The first boot during the install showed Windows Boot Loader as the first device already set in the UEFI. Finished in about 10 minutes.

Haven't tested performance but it's noticeably faster overall than the (other brand) SATA3 SSD I had. Now all 6 SATA3 ports are available for storage on my HTPC.

Thanks again, parsec

Thanks for your kind words!

Your description of the installation process is text book perfect... if we had a text book for that.

I must admit I've never done an NVMe SSD installation on an AMD system. UEFI booting, yes, but not with an NVMe SSD.

Yours is the first confirmation that it works that I've seen from the "wild" on an AMD board, meaning out in the world by a PC enthusiast. That was with the initial, 1.20 UEFI version too. ASRock has always done a great job at providing the latest IO capabilities for OS drives, I've never had a problem with them.

Thank you for letting us know of your success! Handshake

Intel based mother boards are no longer the only ones that can use NVMe SSD as the OS drive. That is an important milestone for AMD, particularly on an older chipset like the 970. Plus using Windows 7 is the most difficult way to go.

You allowed the Windows installer to format the SSD, and the result was four partitions, if you recall that part, correct?

I'm glad you did not stop when you could not see the 950 Pro, before you loaded the Samsung NVMe driver. That only happens with an OS without an NVMe driver, such as Windows 7.

Just curious, what CPU are you using in this system?

Do you have anything in your board's UEFI related to the M.2 slot? Since SATA M.2 SSDs are not supported by this board, I don't see an M.2 slot entry in the Storage Configuration screen in the manual. Normally, NVMe SSDs do not appear in the Storage Configuration screen, but a new ASRock system I started using does include an NVMe M.2 drive entry in that screen. That is unique in my experience with ASRock boards.

You should see your 950 Pro listed in the System Browser feature in the Tools screen.

If you have any questions or problems with the drive or system, let me know. Thanks again!
]]> Tue, 20 Sep 2016 08:12:53 +0000 https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3390&PID=16921&title=970ag3-1-m-2-help-solved#16921 <![CDATA[970A-G3.1 M.2 help [Solved] : CONFERMED The970A-G3.1MB supports...]]> https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3390&PID=16918&title=970ag3-1-m-2-help-solved#16918 Author: shadetree1
Subject: 3390
Posted: 20 Sep 2016 at 6:07am

CONFERMED

The 970A-G3.1 MB supports the Samsung M.2 950 Pro NVMe as OS drive with Windows 7x64.

Followed METHOD 1 of parsec's guide: http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1236&title=how-to-install-windows-on-a-pcie-ssd.

Haven't tested performance but it's noticeably faster overall than the (other brand) SATA3 SSD I had. Now all 6 SATA3 ports are available for storage on my HTPC.

Thanks again, parsec

]]> Tue, 20 Sep 2016 06:07:27 +0000 https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3390&PID=16918&title=970ag3-1-m-2-help-solved#16918 <![CDATA[970A-G3.1 M.2 help [Solved] : Thank You for the reply and help...]]> https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3390&PID=16658&title=970ag3-1-m-2-help-solved#16658 Author: shadetree1
Subject: 3390
Posted: 10 Sep 2016 at 1:06am

Thank You for the reply and help with this as the manual and sites offered no real information on M.2 with this model of MB yet.

I had previously read you brilliant install guide but was still hesitant to pull the trigger on an M.2 as an OS drive without more information.

I had previously contacted support with no reply, so I asked for help here.

I received a reply today from support stating that " You have to use a nvme version of M.2 and the Samsung 950 Pro will work with the 970-G3.1."

Thanks again.

]]> Sat, 10 Sep 2016 01:06:13 +0000 https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3390&PID=16658&title=970ag3-1-m-2-help-solved#16658 <![CDATA[970A-G3.1 M.2 help [Solved] : shadetree1 wrote:I wanting...]]> https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3390&PID=16583&title=970ag3-1-m-2-help-solved#16583 Author: parsec
Subject: 3390
Posted: 07 Sep 2016 at 10:00pm

shadetree1 wrote:

I wanting to install or image over the current Windows 7 X64 WMC MBR to the M.2 slot.

Cannot find information if the M.2 PCI Express Gen2 x4 (20 Gb/s) socket 3 is able to use the Gen3 x4 SSDs.

If so, what version of ssd AHCI or NVMe is supported.

Only the PCI-E x16 graphics and x1 turner slots are being used.

Like to free up all 6 SATA ports for HDDs it an HTPC.

Thank You for any suggestions.

Let's look at the specs for the 970A-G3.1, which is a newer model board:

1 x M.2_SSD (NGFF) Socket 3, supports type 2230/2242/2260/2280/22110 M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen2 x4 (20 Gb/s)*

*If PCIE4 is occupied, M2_1 will be disabled.
The M.2 socket does not support SATA M.2 SSDs.

Since the M.2 slot does not support SATA M.2 SSDs, and the M.2 spec is Socket 3 and PCI Express, then it can be used with both NVMe and AHCI PCIe M.2 SSDs.

This means SSDs like the Samsung 950 Pro, SM951 AHCI and NVMe, SM961, the OCZ RD400, the Intel 600p, and Plextor and HyperX M.2 SSDs, as long as they are NOT SATA M.2 SSDs, can be used in the M.2 slot. None of the specific models I listed are SATA M.2 SSDs.

While the specs do not specifically say so, these PCIe M.2 SSDs can be used as the OS drive. A few existing ASRock AMD boards with M.2 slots have had NVMe support added recently (Fatal1ty 970 Performance/3.1 for example), at the same time that the 970A-G3.1 was released, so it also must have this support.

Any of the M.2 Gen3 x4 PCIe SSDs can be used with lower bandwidth connections. Even those that are Gen2 x2 for example. They will experience lower performance if the interface is less than PCIe 3.0 x4.

The PCIe 2.0 x4 M.2 interface on the 970A-G3.1 will have the least performance reduction, better than a PCIe 3.0 x2 connection, but it won't allow the full performance of PCIe 3.0 x4.

Imaging an MBR Windows 7 installation, or a new installation of Windows 7 on a PCIe M.2 SSD is another story.

PCIe SSDs whether M.2 or PCIe slot types, require GPT formatting and the use of the Windows EFI boot loader, instead of the "legacy" boot loader that is normally used. Cloning an existing Windows 7 MBR installation to a PCIe SSD simply will not work.

Another problem is the Windows 7 installation folder/file layout has a known bug in the location of the EFI boot loader program. That can be manually fixed, but takes some work and cannot be ignored.

Installing any modern version of Windows (Win 7, 8. 8.1, 10) requires configuration in the UEFI/BIOS to cause the EFI boot loader to be used. That is discussed in my guide about installing Windows on a PCIe SSD:

http://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1236&title=how-to-install-windows-on-a-pcie-ssd

Instructions for modifying the Windows 7 installation files for a "UEFI Booting" Windows installation (which means using the EFI boot loader) are included in this guide:

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/15458-uefi-bootable-usb-flash-drive-create-windows.html

]]> Wed, 07 Sep 2016 22:00:57 +0000 https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3390&PID=16583&title=970ag3-1-m-2-help-solved#16583 <![CDATA[970A-G3.1 M.2 help [Solved] : I wanting to install or image...]]> https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3390&PID=16557&title=970ag3-1-m-2-help-solved#16557 Author: shadetree1
Subject: 3390
Posted: 07 Sep 2016 at 4:57am

I wanting to install or image over the current Windows 7 X64 WMC MBR to the M.2 slot.

Cannot find information if the M.2 PCI Express Gen2 x4 (20 Gb/s) socket 3 is able to use the Gen3 x4 SSDs.

If so, what version of ssd AHCI or NVMe is supported.

Only the PCI-E x16 graphics and x1 turner slots are being used.

Like to free up all 6 SATA ports for HDDs it an HTPC.

Thank You for any suggestions.

Edited by shadetree1 - 22 Sep 2016 at 4:55am]]> Wed, 07 Sep 2016 04:57:38 +0000 https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3390&PID=16557&title=970ag3-1-m-2-help-solved#16557