Asus Maximus Formula NVME mod

Older board but would love to keep alive with NVME mod.

Hello @PacketSnort ,

Which board in particular?

I found an LGA775 X38 board. Is that the one?

Do you have a BIOS update file for it? I have had a quick google search and can’t find a page for it.

https://motherboarddb.com/motherboards/529/

Hello @PacketSnort ,

It might not be a UEFI bios if it is that board.

If it is that X38 board then there is no UEFI bios.

I have found an FTP site with ASUS bioses. The one for the X38 board is not UEFI. UEFI was a little later.

Is it OK to post the FTP site link here? Others might find files they need.

EFI bioses were to the Asus P5Q series, you can try this tool/guide:
https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/experimental-modded-vmware-nvme-option-rom-for-amibios8-core-legacy

[Experimental] NVMe Option ROM - BIOS/UEFI Modding / BIOS modules (PCI ROM, EFI and others) - Win-Raid Forum (level1techs.com)

https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/guide-nvme-boot-for-systems-with-legacy-bios-and-uefi-board-duet-refind

https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/guide-nvme-boot-without-modding-your-uefi-bios-clover-efi-bootloader-method

OR buy a Samsung 950 Pro, it has its own NVMe Oprom.

The guide seems easy to follow.

I have just inserted the NVME op Rom into the Maximus Formula bios.

Still exactly 2MB after doing the insert. Always nice to check :slight_smile:

Used the MMtool method

Hello @PacketSnort

As @MeatWar pointed out, going with a native legacy drive is easier. There were a few AHCI bootable drives. I have an old HP Z600. It has a Kingston HyperX Predator 240GB drive in it. I also have a HP Z820 that has a Samsung SM951 drive. These were cheaper than the 950PRO

Samsung 256GB SM951 Internal NVMe M.2 SSD MZHPV256HDGL MZ-HPV2560 PCIe AHCI

It must have MZHPV in the part number and if you look at the drive it says AHCI on it. There were some without the AHCI printed.

Good luck with whichever option you go for

-68k

Yes that is the board, I tried to attach the bios rom 1403 but I am too noob to forum for upload (seriously). Obviously I could throw in a SATA SSD but I want 1500 MB/s that a NVMe delivers even at PCIe gen2 compared to 300-600MB/s of SATA That Samsung 68k recommended mounted in a PCIe adapter card looks promising if Windows will install ok
Ty

@68k-dude

Thats rigth that SM951 has also onboard a native AHCI rom… but the user is looking for an NVMe boot operating system and drive.

In that case the only with NVMe native rom is the 950 Pro (Retail drive) The OEMs SM series, even the PCIe NVMe MZ-VPV doesnt have NVMe native rom.

Here’s a recent case from 16 March for a bit of reading of that user experience regarding SM and the Pro (ignore the DUET-REFIND method).

Hello @PacketSnort ,

@MeatWar is correct that the 950PRO with the NVMe interface will be superior.

For your info, I have a CDM screenshot of the Kingston HyperX Predator in my old HP Z600.

I don’t have access to the SM951 drive at the moment. I probably have result files saves somewhere. I did a lot of testing of these “Legacy” supported drives years ago.

1 Like

Here is a Samsung 950 in NVMe mode in a HP Z820

Hello @PacketSnort,

I Have a notepad file with notes from my SM951 512GB in a HP Z600 Win7 machine. This is a PCIe Gen2 machine, so it should be representative in your machine. Not sure what version of CDM they were from. 6.xx I think

Sequential Read 1629 MB/s
Sequential Write 1570 MB/s

Best regards,

-68k