Question 1

PCI-Express 4.0 - Do MB's with PCI-Express 3.0 slots support this? Is there a list of supported Boards somewhere?

Accepted Answer

As others have stated, Intel Optane SSD 900p series is compatible with PCIe 3.0 x 4 slot motherboard.

Question 2

Can I use Optane 900b as a bootable drive?  I have i7 6700 with Dell XPS 8900, which I believe is z170 / LGA1151.

Accepted Answer

I just did that very thing with the Asus ROG Maximus, which is z170/LGA1151. Even the oldest boards will see it, but booting to it wasn't a problem for me . . .  except the BIOS was krusty old. Once I upgraded that, Win 10-64 Pro installed clean on the SSD 900P.

Question 3

Does this card work in Z370 maxtx MOBO?  They don’t have an x4 slot.  Just 2 x16’s and 2 x1’s.  I don’t know if the x16s can be used as an x4?

Accepted Answer

Yes it should be fine. You can plug a PCIe x4 device into any x4, x8, or x16 slot available - I have this currently plugged into an x16 slot myself.

Question 4

I have a Z170-A Motherboard, which offers the following expansion slots: 
2 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16 or dual x8) 
1 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (max at x4 mode) *1
3 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x1 
1 x PCI

This states PCI-e 4.0. Do I take it this is not compatible?

Accepted Answer

I does work, you have to put it in slop 3 and go into bios and set it to x4. Also keep in mind that it shares bandwidth with SATA6G_56. I do not know if this motherboard will boot off of PCIe, it does boot off of M.2

1 x PCI Express 3.0/2.0 x16 slot* (max. at x4 mode, compatible with PCIe x1 and x4 devices)
* The PCIe x16_3 slot shares bandwidth with SATA6G_56. The PCIe x16_3 is default set at x2 mode.

Question 5

is this bootable on a Z87 (Haswell) Era motherboard?  Asrock Extreme 6 ? I know you can't just drop a M2 in a PCIE adaptor ...

Accepted Answer

If a Beta UEFI/BIOS version for this board adds NVMe support, that means it supports booting Windows from an NVMe SSD.

I have an ASRock Z77 Extreme4 board that has a Beta UEFI version that adds NVMe support, and I used an Intel 750 NVMe SSD as the OS drive with that board.

You can use an NVMe SSD as a data/storage drive on ANY mother board that does not have NVMe support. NVMe support specifically means it supports booting an OS.

There are restrictions booting Windows from an NVMe SSD:
 
You cannot use Windows 7 without adding an NVMe driver to the installation files, or using a pre-Windows boot loader tool every time you start or restart the PC.
You must have a UEFI booting Windows installation. The easiest way to accomplish that is to check the boot order with the Windows installation media in the PC. Select the entry for the installation media with the prefix "UEFI:".Enter an answer to this question.

Question 6

is this compatible with ASUS Deluxe II  mother board?

Accepted Answer

I believe it should be compatible with any motherboard with PCIEx4 slots.  I would find the product manual to confirm however.

Question 7

Will this still come with the Sabre Raven?

Accepted Answer

I don't know. I ordered mine a while ago during a promotion but I'm not sure if the offer still applies. Best to check with RSI if your purchase is dependent on that. I will say I'm very happy with the Optane drive in any case.

Question 8

If I were to buy this drive, how could I migrate windows 10 OS to it from my current SSD?  What is the best software for migrating or creating a duplicate with this kind of drive?

Accepted Answer

Macrium Reflect Home Edition is OUTSTANDING for this exact type of work as well as making consistent back up libraries. Probably one of the best software purchases I've ever made. Excellent cloning capabilities.

Question 9

will this work with a gigabyte g1 gaming ga z170x gaming 5 motherboard?

Accepted Answer

Yes, from what I've seen from the data and reviewers it should work no problem.

Question 10

What does "while supplies last" for the Sabre ship mean? Is there a limited number of ships being given away? Is it first come first serve? First to order SSD or first to redeem code? "Limited supplies" for digital content is kinda a bummer, and making me second guess buying this SSD.

Accepted Answer

It means the promotion with the Sabre Raven will end at some point if you buy the SSD and if it says it has the raven code you will have it. I do not believe that it will be number limited only limited time probably a few months from now. (I watch/ read everything realsed by cloud imperium games in relation to star citizen and they have never said anything about this deal being limited by quantity

Questions & Answers