Intel Motherboards - How to set the M.2 SSD PCIe mode on Z97 Pro4?

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How to set the M.2 SSD PCIe mode on Z97 Pro4?

Printed From: ASRock.com
Category: Technical Support
Forum Name: Intel Motherboards
Forum Description: Question about ASRock Intel Motherboards
URL: https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=2019
Printed Date: 18 Jul 2025 at 10:10pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: How to set the M.2 SSD PCIe mode on Z97 Pro4?

Posted By: rybackgamer
Subject: How to set the M.2 SSD PCIe mode on Z97 Pro4?
Date Posted: 16 Feb 2016 at 1:47pm

Hello,

I'm use Z97 Pro4. And I use with PLEXTOR PX-G128M6e on M.2

But The interface of M.2 PLEXTOR PX-G128M6e SSD is SATA3, That's not what i want.

So how to set the M.2 SSD to make it use PCIe gen2 mode?
I already ask the local distributor on my country but they don't know how.

Could Somebody please explain it to me.

My bios ver. is 2.20 (Asia)

OS : Win 8.1 (64 bit)

Thank you very much

Replies:

Posted By: parsec
Date Posted: 19 Feb 2016 at 1:48pm

First, Hard Disk Sentinel is wrong about your Plextor SSD using a SATA III interface, or being a SATA III SSD.

It is very common for programs like HD Sentinel to incorrectly identify PCIe SSDs, for several reasons.

The programs expect to only find SATA drives, so every drive becomes a SATA drive, but that is wrong.
Some PCIe SSDs use the Windows AHCI driver for the SSD's controller. Your Plextor SSD is one of those PCIe SSDs. When HD Sentinel detects the AHCI driver, it decides the SSD is a SATA SSD. Again, that is wrong.
Programs like this do not know or understand what a PCIe SSD is. They also don't know there are different kinds of PCIe SSDs, such as PCIe AHCI SSDs, and PCIe NVMe SSDs.

I have seen many different hardware information programs that cannot detect PCIe SSDs correctly. They have simply not been updated to work with PCIe SSDs.

Try using this program, called AIDA64 to check your PCIe SSD. You can download the trial version to use free for 30 days. Try the Extreme or Engineer versions. Click on Download for the free Trial version:

http://www.aida64.com/downloads" rel="nofollow - http://www.aida64.com/downloads

Run it and click on Storage, and then ATA. You should see all your drives listed at the top. Click on the Plextor for its information. Scroll to the bottom for the information you are looking for. This is an example of a Samsung PCIe AHCI SSD, an SM951:

You can see the Interface is PCI-E 3.0 x4 on my board, and this SSD uses the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. It is like your Plextor SSD, since its controller uses the standard Windows AHCI driver, msahci if you use Windows 7, and storahci if you use Win 8 - Win 10. The SSD loads the driver when you install it.

Your SSD is using the PCIe 2.0 x2 interface. Did you look in the Tools screen in the UEFI/BIOS, and start the System Browser tool? Move the mouse pointer over the M.2 slot and see what is shows.

Did you ever run a benchmark test on your SSD? I tested your Plextor SSD for someone on a mother board that they did not have, an ASRock Z97 Extreme6 board with an M.2 slot. You can tell the difference in the results, which are faster than any SATA III SSD:

You cannot believe everything PC hardware monitoring programs display. If the programs are not kept up to date, they make mistakes like displaying your Plextor M6e as a SATA drive.

Your Plextor M6e SSD cannot use a SATA III interface, just like a SATA III SSD cannot use a PCIe SSD interface. Yes, there are M.2 SATA SSDs, which I imagine is why you thought your SSD was being somehow connected to the SATA III chipset. An M6e cannot work like that.

So just because HD Sentinel displayed SATA III information about your SSD, you thought it was true?

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Posted By: rybackgamer
Date Posted: 25 Feb 2016 at 8:46am

Thank you very much, par sec ^^b