z87m OC Formula BIOS update?

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   I have one of these boards in a build i have just put together.
I have no GPU in the system, just the onboard, CPU is a 4790K, I also have no HDD's in the system, I have a 500gb Samsung 850 Evo mSATA, and a PCIe adapter carrying a Samsung 250gb 850 Evo m.2

I also have a Samsung SM951 AHCI 250gb in the same adapter that i'd like to use as the boot drive, but as you know, no boot support for this yet, even in a PCIe adapter.

Can anyone shed any light on a possible BIOS update schedule? it looks like the last update for this board, P1.90, was literally a few days before the newer UEFI Bios's started appearing with support for the Samsung SM951

Basically, should i hang in there and hope, or consider a board swap or an m.2 drive swap to the slower Kingston HyperX Predator ?? ..... a board swap sounds extreame, but when you consider the m.2 drives are near £180-£200 it's not as daft an idea as it sounds !

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Gunslinger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 27 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 17	Post Options Post Reply Quote Gunslinger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: z87m OC Formula BIOS update? Posted: 27 Jun 2015 at 8:06am
	I have one of these boards in a build i have just put together. I have no GPU in the system, just the onboard, CPU is a 4790K, I also have no HDD's in the system, I have a 500gb Samsung 850 Evo mSATA, and a PCIe adapter carrying a Samsung 250gb 850 Evo m.2 I also have a Samsung SM951 AHCI 250gb in the same adapter that i'd like to use as the boot drive, but as you know, no boot support for this yet, even in a PCIe adapter. Can anyone shed any light on a possible BIOS update schedule? it looks like the last update for this board, P1.90, was literally a few days before the newer UEFI Bios's started appearing with support for the Samsung SM951 Basically, should i hang in there and hope, or consider a board swap or an m.2 drive swap to the slower Kingston HyperX Predator ?? ..... a board swap sounds extreame, but when you consider the m.2 drives are near £180-£200 it's not as daft an idea as it sounds !

parsec Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996	Post Options Post Reply Quote parsec Report Post Thanks(1) Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 2015 at 11:30am
	Personally I have no idea of any UEFI update schedule for booting from the SM951. A person from ASRock technical support would be the only one that could answer that question. You can submit a Support Request Form here: http://event.asrock.com/tsd.asp As you know, it was only recently that support for booting from the (AHCI) SM951 was added to some ASRock Z97 boards, and X99 boards. So far there has been one older board that does not have the Ultra M.2 slot that received this update. I assume your SM951 is recognized by the PC using an adapter card, correct? I agree, considering the price of the SM951 is more than most mother boards, a mother board swap is not a crazy idea. As a user of a SM951 in a Z97 Extreme6 board, and also having used SSDs such as the Samsung 840 Pro, SanDisk Extreme Pro and Extreme II, and Intel 730, the difference using the SM951 is not night and day as an OS drive.

Gunslinger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 27 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 17	Post Options Post Reply Quote Gunslinger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 2015 at 6:16pm
	Thanks for the Reply, and yes, the BIOS "system Browser" sees the PCIe_3 slot occupation as "AHCI Controller" and yes windows install setup is more than happy with it, other than the lack of boot support :( I have a support request ticket in now, and actually just followed it up with a second because the first reply i got to another of my posts immediately confused my need as for the NVMe version, so i had to send a second support message, because i could not remember if i was clear enough on the AHCI side of it !!

parsec Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group Joined: 04 May 2015 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 4996	Post Options Post Reply Quote parsec Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 Jun 2015 at 6:45pm
	The AHCI Controller entry is what you would expect to see in System Browser for the SM951. I have yet to see any reports of ASRock board owners using an NVMe SSD regarding any issues regarding booting, or success actually. In the USA, only the Intel 750 and the corresponding enterprise model is the only NVMe SSD readily available. Question for you, did you happen to install the Intel IRST driver and Windows UI package on that PC? That would be the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver and utility ver:12.8.0.1016 on your board's download page, or a newer version?

Gunslinger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 27 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 17	Post Options Post Reply Quote Gunslinger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 28 Jun 2015 at 7:13pm
	Good morning, NVMe - yeah, i have seen the Intel 700 series, i do get the feeling they are sort of the natural progression from the likes of the RevoDrive, and Scorpion Drive, which lets face it were always enthusiast targeted, and had niche marketplaces and some "quirks" for sure. With the introduction of NVMe i think the manufacturers are seeing this as an ideal time to start shifting these PCIe card SSD's into the spotlight a little, as the consumers awareness and understanding of PCIe devices vs SATA has just been dragged kicking and screaming upto date with the mess that is the m.2 specifications! I looked at them, and whilst tempting, ths sheer balls to the wall extreme speed they give is overkill for this machine i'm building, and also the cost was a little restrictive, i could probably have fitted one inside the mATX format though, and the m.2 adapter i used gives me a fairly painless upgrade path later for storage volume increases. Also, the whole NVMe question of support made me wary, although for the likes of the Intel 700 series, as they are pushing them into the consumer market place, i would suspect that Intel are bending over backwards to ensure plug and play compatibility, and are probably wielding a rather large amount of pressure onto manufacturers to conform to it's compatibility wishes IRST Driver - had i been able to get the setup to get past the first reboot after install, yes i would have installed it fairly early in the configuration process. I have downloaded all of the latest stuff and created a new DVD (why don't manufacturers have a "here's a DVD image, just like the one you get with the motherboard, only updated to the latest files" ?? ) Just reading over my reply there before hiring submit, and i found myself wondering if you meant did i install it as an additional driver, prior to setup install, like you used to have to with certain controller chipsets back in the day!...... can you even do that with IRST ? this little obstacle is a shame, because the system looks really nice but is an expensive paperweight right now Edited by Gunslinger - 28 Jun 2015 at 7:15pm

Gunslinger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 27 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 17	Post Options Post Reply Quote Gunslinger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jun 2015 at 5:57am
	I got a reply via email to my tech support request...... with a new BIOS attached, and my Samsung SM951 is now bootable on this board, and flies straight into Windows 7 64bit Thank you guys in tech support, for the speedy response and fix I have a couple of questions for anyone here that might be able to answer. 1. the CSM setting i have set to enabled, for storage option i have UEFI only the other 2 options i have legacy selected Is this right ?? 2. what is "Windows Boot Manager" that is now in the boot sequence options ? and what should i do with it 3. I set boot order to DVDRW then the SM951 and tried to boot from a UEFI flashdrive to run into the windows setup, from the F11 boot menu selection, and it beeped and then skipped it, any ideas ? Edited by Gunslinger - 30 Jun 2015 at 6:04am

Gunslinger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 27 Jun 2015 Status: Offline Points: 17	Post Options Post Reply Quote Gunslinger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 30 Jun 2015 at 6:11am
	oh, and what's the difference between Instant Flash and Instant Flash ME ??