booting nvme disk via pcie adapter on older machines

3rd gen intel processor lga1155 motherboard from a decade ago.


Using the gigabyte f16 bios that adds nvme boot support to ga-b75m d3h motherboard.
ga-b75m-d3h-f16-bios.7z

Pcie x1 adapter if you only have an x1 slot available.

GLOTRENDS M.2 PCIe X1 Adapter with M.2 Screw for M.2 PCIe 4.0/3.0 SSD (NVMe/AHCI Key M), PCIe X1/X4/X8/X16 Lane Installation, but Only PCIe X1 Bandwidth (PA09-X1): Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

The nvme disk shows up in bios like any other disk
https://www.corsair.com/uk/en/Catego...D-F960GBMP510B



Testing speed of x1 adapter :






Even this x1 is pretty good especially the random speeds.

Faster than a sata ssd and this particular model nvme has massive endurance rating.

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Pcie x4 adapter on the same machine.

Multibao M.2 NVMe SSD NGFF to PCI-E 3.0 X4 X8 X16 Adapter M Key Interface Card Support PCI Express Full Speed: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

glotrends PCIe M.2 Adapter with 0.12 Inch Thick Heatsink for M.2 SSD, NVMe PCIe 4.0 | 3.0 M.2 Adapter Card, PCIe GEN4 Full Speed, Supports PCIe x4 x8 x16 Slot, Desktop PC Installation (PA09-HS) : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

It is worth considering if you can find an nvme disk at good price. You could find that an nvme disk plus a pcie to nvme adapter is no more expensive than a sata ssd.

To those that do this may want to reference their motherboard manual to see if certain PCIe slots share bandwidth with an already used primary NVMe hard drive you may have installed...

Obviously, if the computer doesn't already have an M.2 slot, then this doesn't apply to you.

For people with machines that did not initially support nvme boot and didn't come with m2 nvme connection:

The motherboard in the first post didn't come with nvme boot support.

The gigabyte bios f16 added nvme support much later. There is no nvme m2 slot on the board so a cheap pcie adapter can be used.

It works very well.
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People with recent equipment that came with nvme boot support and an m2 nvme slot could add an extra nvme disk by using a pcie adapter.

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If you are interested , good deals can be found. I got the nvme disk for half the price listed at corsair and have just been offered another at a price that is almost as good. Add an adapter for a fiver and heatsink for a fiver and thats considerably less than a samsung 870 evo sata ssd.

x4 adapter in pcie 2.0 slot





x1 adapter in pcie 2.0 slot