MP 1,1-5,1 NVME M2 Speed changing between 800-1700 MB/s Mac Pro 5.1 Windows 11 PLEASE HELP

[ovitalika]

Hi Everyone! Please help me to solve it.

2xXeon 5690
64gb 1333 RAM
RX580 8Gb
240 Gb SSD GoodRam connected through diskrom (Windows 11 installed here)
1Tb M2 KINGSTON SNV2S1000G installed through adapter Frime PCI-E x4 to M.2 (B & M Key) NGFF (ECF-PCIEtoSSD001.LP)

Im searching my solve almost several months, found this forum, but my english isn't very good, sorry about it at first.
I have a problem, my NVME M2 Speed changing between 800-1700 MB/s on Mac Pro 5.1 on Windows 11 (i need windows for my work). Sometimes it can show around 1700 Mb/s, then after rebooting around 800 Mb/s...unfortunately i donw have a screenshot with speed like 1700 Mb/s. And crystal disk shows PCI 1.0 What is going on? Please help 👏👏👏👏

help. 👏

 

[tsialex]

The best sustainable throughput you can get with a high-end SLC/MLC blade like Samsung 970 PRO is ~1450MB/s (PCIe v2.0 x4 limitation of MacPro5,1 - PCIe x4 v2.0 in spec/theory is up to 2000 MB/s, but overhead limits it to ~1450MB/s), with your low end Kingston one, you get very variable speeds depending if the size of the file is within the blade cache memory.

Get a better blade for sustainable performance.

 

[ovitalika]

The best sustainable throughput you can get with a high-end SLC/MLC blade like Samsung 970 PRO is ~1450MB/s (PCIe v2.0 x4 limitation of MacPro5,1 - PCIe x4 v2.0 in spec/theory is up to 2000 MB/s, but overhead limits it to ~1450MB/s), with your low end Kingston one, you get very variable speeds depending if the size of the file is within the blade cache memory.

Get a better blade for sustainable performance.

So, do you think my problem is in NVME PCIe adapter? SLC/MLC blade is the same? im so sorry, i don't have good knowledges, trying to learn it)

 

[ovitalika]

The best sustainable throughput you can get with a high-end SLC/MLC blade like Samsung 970 PRO is ~1450MB/s (PCIe v2.0 x4 limitation of MacPro5,1 - PCIe x4 v2.0 in spec/theory is up to 2000 MB/s, but overhead limits it to ~1450MB/s), with your low end Kingston one, you get very variable speeds depending if the size of the file is within the blade cache memory.

Get a better blade for sustainable performance.

And it's not a problem with my M2, because as you can see on CrystalDisk Info, column Transfer Mode it shows PCIe 1.0 instead of PCIe 2.0 at least as it should be. KINGSTON very nice for me, Samsung very expensive for me, country where i from average salary 150-200$)

 

[tsialex]

So, do you think my problem is in NVME PCIe adapter?

Your problem is your Kingston NV2 blade, not the adapter.

The firmware is 💩💩💩, known to sometimes work with absurdly low performance (even with PCs, there are loads of forum posts/youtube videos about it), to lock the blade as read only and besides the firmware issues, this one is an entry level QLC blade.

You should check if there are any firmware updates for the NV2 with the Kingston app.

P.S.:

I had one 1TB NV1, replaced it wiht a 1TB NV2 and after the last sluggish performance episode I gave up using it with my Macs.

SLC/MLC blade is the same? im so sorry, i don't have good knowledges, trying to learn it)

This is the order, from the best NAND technology/most expensive (SLC) to the worst/cheapest one (QLC):

• SLC
• MLC
• TLC
• QLC

Again, get a better blade that is compatible with a Mac, for sustainable throughput.

And it's not a problem with my M2, because as you can see on CrystalDisk Info, column Transfer Mode it shows PCIe 1.0 instead of PCIe 2.0 at least as it should be.

This is a known NV1/NV2 firmware issue, sometimes the blade firmware enumerates itself as PCIe v1.0 instead of the expected PCIe v2.0.

 

[ovitalika]

Your problem is your Kingston NV2 blade, not the adapter.

The firmware is 💩💩💩, known to sometimes work with absurdly low performance (even with PCs, there are loads of forum posts/youtube videos about it), to lock the blade as read only and besides the firmware issues, this one is an entry level QLC blade.

You should check if there are any firmware updates for the NV2 with the Kingston app.

P.S.:

I had one 1TB NV1, replaced it wiht a 1TB NV2 and after the last sluggish performance episode I gave up using it with my Macs.



This is the order, from the best NAND technology/most expensive (SLC) to the worst/cheapest one (QLC):

• SLC
• MLC
• TLC
• QLC

Again, get a better blade that is compatible with a Mac, for sustainable throughput.



This is a known NV1/NV2 firmware issue, sometimes the blade firmware enumerates itself as PCIe v1.0 instead of the expected PCIe v2.0.

Got it! Thank you very much for all info that you provided to me. Now i know that this brand is not so good. So, i can give this M2 to service center, i have a warranty on it, 36 months, i bought it 1 year ago. I checked firmware - last version. Also will try to find someone with good M2 and to insert another M2 to check speed on my Mac.
Thank you very much again for your help! Appreciate it!