Installing NVME in older motherboard MSI P67A-GD55

greektranslator · 02 Sep 2021

My motherboard MSI P67A-GD55 has one available PCIE 2.0 x16 slot (the other PCIE 2.0 x16 occupied by the GPU, I guess x 16 is preferable over x 1). Would it be possible to use an adapter card (any recommended) in order to install an NVME? Given that the PCIE version is 2, what would be the maximum possible speed?

These are all the slots:
• 2 PCI Express gen2 x16 slots
• 3 PCI Express gen2 x1 slots
• 2 32-bit v2.3 master PCI bus slots.

Macboatmaster · 05 Sep 2021

The simple answer is
It cannot be done on that motherboard
You will not be able to boot from the NVME drive on the adapter.
It will not appear in the boot options and without a mod of the bios you will not get it to.

The board is approx 10 years old or so it is DDR3 ram and in all honesty unworthy of the expense involved.

If you do not already have it as the boot drive - go with an SSD

Please see this
Full NVMe support possible for older Intel Chipsets! | AnandTech Forums: Technology, Hardware, Software, and Deals

and this
When did MSI motherboards start having Nvme support? | MSI Global English Forum - Index

SIW2 · 05 Sep 2021

It can be done using clover boot manager.

The usual way is to have clover on a usb stick, plugged into the back of the machine. Bios boots to the usb stick and clover boots the nvme disk.

unworthy of the expense involved

What expense?

nvme disks are hardly any different in cost from a sata ssd - in some cases they are cheaper, and an adapter can be had for a fiver.

Ghot · 05 Sep 2021

greektranslator said:

My motherboard MSI P67A-GD55 has one available PCIE 2.0 x16 slot (the other PCIE 2.0 x16 occupied by the GPU, I guess x 16 is preferable over x 1). Would it be possible to use an adapter card (any recommended) in order to install an NVME? Given that the PCIE version is 2, what would be the maximum possible speed?

These are all the slots:
• 2 PCI Express gen2 x16 slots
• 3 PCI Express gen2 x1 slots
• 2 32-bit v2.3 master PCI bus slots.

Maybe something like this...

System Builder - Core i5-11600K 3.9 GHz 6-Core - PCPartPicker

Macboatmaster · 06 Sep 2021

unworthy of the expense involved
What expense?

You are quite correct I should have qualified my reply to say

Rather than try and get a NVME drive to work in this computer, with the problems of booting from it an adapter and some manner of mod - your best course of action is to look at a newer system, possibly especially with the - pending introduction of 11 and the eventual death of 10 in 2025

I personally - would not recommend you proceed but if you wish to then you can follow the advice from SIW2

NavyLCDR · 10 Sep 2021

In my opinion, the user would not be able to detect any difference in performance between an NVMe SSD and a SATA SSD connected to one of the SATA III ports on that motherboard. The only advantage I see to putting an NVMe SSD on that motherboard would be to have an NVMe SSD for when it was upgraded.

ThrashZone · 10 Sep 2021

Hi,
You could just use it as a storage device but you'll never come close to the speeds.
Sata 2.5" all the way lots of better prices on them now days.

Buy from legit sites though mining ssd's are around since it tanked
Chia Miners Resell Used SSDs as Brand New Amidst Coin Plummet | TechPowerUp Forums

greektranslator · 12 Sep 2021

I already have a 2.5 SATA SSD disk. On second thoughts, I may wait for DRR5 and PCIe 5 to become mainstream to get a new system.

Berton · 12 Sep 2021

greektranslator said:

I already have a 2.5 SATA SSD disk. On second thoughts, I may wait for DRR5 and PCIe 5 to become mainstream to get a new system.

Should also be able to get Win11 with a new system. I'm going to wait a couple 3 months just to see what the supply of new machines is.

AddRAM · 13 Sep 2021

greektranslator said:

I already have a 2.5 SATA SSD disk. On second thoughts, I may wait for DRR5 and PCIe 5 to become mainstream to get a new system.

Smart move