Hi everyone.
While looking through the forum i read it’s a prerequisite that your board supports a PCIe connected M.2 SSD. How can i check if that’s the case for my board (Asus M4A785TD-V EVO)?
I’m planning to buy a new computer in a couple of months but could use some extra SSD storage right now. So I’d like to buy an M.2 and use it on my current setup with an adapter. If possible i would also boot from it using the clover bootloader method. Alternatively i might boot from my 64 GB SATA SSD and use the M.2 for storage only.
In case that information is relevant:
Current OS: Win 7 x64 Pro
Next OS: Win 10
Board: Asus M4A785TD-V EVO
Bios: Version 2105 from asus.com’s M4A785TDV_EVO/HelpDesk_BIOS/
@Alex_91 : Welcome to the Win-RAID Forum!
Since the BIOS of your mainboard is not an UEFI one, you will not be able to boot directly off any NVMe SSD (except the Samsung 950 PRO).
If you want to install Win10 onto an NVMe SSD, I recommend to use either the “Clevo-EFI bootloader” (look >here<) or the “DUET-Refind” method (look >here<).
Good luck!
Dieter (alias Fernando)
@Fernando :
That’s all clear to me (from reading the forum beforehand). My question was referring to whether my board can even use a NVMe when it’s connected to my PCIe via adapter.
For example, in a thread about the M5A88-V EVO you said “Precondition is, that your mainboard will support a PCI/PCIe connected M.2 SSD”. To me that sounds like some (older) boards can’t use NVMe at all despite having a PCIe slot.
@Alex_91 : I cannot give you a guarantee, but it is very likely, that Win10 will detect and can use the NVMe SSD for storage purposes (although the BIOS will not show the NVMe SSD at all).
@Fernando :
Thanks for clarifying. I will try my luck then.
I will report how it went once I get to it. And chip in a coffee for your help in this topic 
Guess I’m halfway there.
I successfully installed the M.2. I’m able to use it as storage in my current Win7 with Speeds being 1570 MB/s seq.read and 1160 MB/s seq.write.
Microsoft seems to have removed the hotfix though. Had to get it from another forum.
Currently, I’m stuck with Clover not booting any media. I can’t really tell which media each of the options refer to. Tried all 5 of them but none worked. My SATA SSD has Win7 and boots fine without Clover.
Also booting into Clover takes ages. First I get some “" a couple of times in one font/size, then a “6” and then "” again in another font/size. I suppose those are questions for the Clover mega thread in case I can’t figure it out myself?
Update:
Turns out everything had worked as intended. I just didn’t realize I had to make Clover show hidden entries (F3) to boot from “UEFI external from ESD-USB” in order to install Win10 on the NVMe. I was confused because I couldn’t make sense of the names given to all those boot options.
I still have the problem of waiting like 15 seconds until my system gets to boot from the NVMe though. I will post more information and ask for advice in the Clover mega thread.
Conclusion:
Even a board as old as mine can handle and even boot from an NVMe via a PCIe-adapter giving you a significant improvement in speeds. At least for me the investment was well worth it.
Thanks to Fernando and sibliss for your work here and for the great guide.
@Alex91
Would you mind giving more details about drive you used. I currently have M4A79XTD with 950PRO. I succesfully installed Windows 7 on it.
Hello Friend, I have the same motherboard. M4A785TD-V EVO
What brand of PCIe NVMe adapter are you using?
I’m thinking of getting it too.
I don’t know if my motherboard will accept Nvme as boot. 
I would be very happy if you could help me with this.
I don’t want to waste money on a wrong part.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
@Serkan : Welcome to the Win-RAID Forum!
If you want to address your request to a certain person, you should enter his/her nickname and - even better - set a "@" in front of it. Then he/she will be notified about your request.
It will not (unless you use a Samsung 950 Pro SSD), because ASUS doesn’t offer an AMI UEFI BIOS for your mainboard.
Regards
Dieter (alias Fernando)
Dear @Fernando Thank you very much for informing. Respect.
Edit by Fernando: Unneeded fully quoted post removed (to save space)
@Serkan I use Ampcom and ASUS HYPER M.2 X4 MINI CARD ASUS HYPER M.2 X4. No difference. If you want sth more expensive it might be Ugreen M.2 NVME to PCle 3.0 Adapter 13$. Search for M.2 NVME to PCI Express Adapter