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Author Topic: whats the oldest motherboard that can boot from nvme?  (Read 2977 times)

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Offline chrisNova777

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whats the oldest motherboard that can boot from nvme?
« on: July 20, 2025, 01:07:30 AM »
The oldest Intel desktop platform that can natively boot from NVMe is the X99 (Haswell-E) chipset. This platform was introduced in 2014 and is the first Intel desktop platform to feature M.2 slots, which can support NVMe SSDs. The X99 chipset was released in late August 2014, according to Wikipedia. Specifically, the compatible Intel Core i7 "Haswell-E" processors were released alongside it, also in late August and early September.

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/990FXA-GAMING/Specification
The MSI 990FXA GAMING motherboard was the first AMD motherboard to offer NVMe support. It was released in May 2015 and specifically supported NVMe devices as a primary storage option under Windows 7 64-bit and Windows 8.1 64-bit, including NVMe booting. This motherboard also featured USB 3.1 ports and was designed for AMD FX, Phenom II, Athlon II, and Sempron processors with an AM3+ socket.



The first generation of desktop motherboards with official NVMe support for booting were Intel's 5th generation (Broadwell) on the X99 chipset and some Z97 chipset boards, according to Level1Techs Forums. These boards were typically high-end desktop (HEDT) and offered DDR4 memory support. While some older systems could be modified with custom BIOS to boot from NVMe, these were the first to offer official support.

Early NVMe Support:
NVMe, or Non-Volatile Memory Express, is a protocol that allows for much faster data access speeds compared to traditional SATA. Early NVMe drives were often used on systems with PCIe adapters or modified BIOS to enable booting.

Official Support:
The introduction of NVMe support on X99 and some Z97 motherboards meant that users could boot directly from NVMe drives without needing to modify the BIOS or use adapters.

Z97 chipset motherboards were introduced around May 2014, supporting Intel's 4th, new 4th, and 5th generation Core processors (Haswell, Haswell Refresh, and Devil's Canyon). These motherboards were designed for high-performance PCs, gaming rigs, and multimedia centers. Key features included support for SATA Express and M.2 storage interfaces, offering faster data transfer speeds.

The first Mac to feature NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) was the 2016 MacBook and MacBook Pro. Apple adopted NVMe to improve storage performance and power efficiency in these models.
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