• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Crucial Discovers Flaw in AMD X670E Motherboards: Gen 5 NVMe Slots Drop to Gen 1 Speeds, Cause Boot Issues

btarunr

Editor & Senior Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 9, 2007
Messages
47,171 (7.56/day)
Location
Hyderabad, India
System Name RBMK-1000
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix B450-E Gaming
Cooling DeepCool Gammax L240 V2
Memory 2x 8GB G.Skill Sniper X
Video Card(s) Palit GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GameRock
Storage Western Digital Black NVMe 512GB
Display(s) BenQ 1440p 60 Hz 27-inch
Case Corsair Carbide 100R
Audio Device(s) ASUS SupremeFX S1220A
Power Supply Cooler Master MWE Gold 650W
Mouse ASUS ROG Strix Impact
Keyboard Gamdias Hermes E2
Software Windows 11 Pro
Memory and SSD maker Crucial noticed an uptick in support requests by users claiming that their Gen 5 or Gen 4 NVMe SSDs would drop to PCIe Gen 1 speeds, besides being unable to boot into Windows after a restart. Crucial then did some digging, and localized the issue to users with motherboards based on the AMD X670E chipset, AMD's flagship Socket AM5 platform chipset. While not a function of the chipset itself, it turns out that there is a flaw in the way AMD designed the PCI-Express I/O of the X670E platform, specifically the PCIe Gen 5-capable M.2 NVMe interfaces that are attached to the CPU, causing them to drop in speeds to Gen 1. This problem isn't surfacing on the AMD B650 or the B650E, or even the X670—it is oddly specific to the X670E, despite the Gen 5 M.2 NVMe slots not being wired to the chipset.

While AMD made no public statement on the technical aspect of the flaw, if we were to guess, this could be a faulty implementation of PCIe ASPM (active state power management) at the firmware level, which reduces the speed of the PCIe link layer to reduce power. The default setting for PCIe ASPM in most motherboard UEFI setup programs tends to be "disabled," although there could be a bug in the firmware of X670E motherboards, causing it to engage, and in a buggy manner. Most UEFI BIOS setup programs tend to have two separate sets of PCIe ASPM settings—one for the CPU-attached PCIe root (which includes the x16 PEG and CPU-attached NVMe slots), and the other for downstream PCIe connectivity from the chipset.



Crucial suggested users to move their drives to the M.2 Gen 4 slots that are wired to the X670E chipset while they await UEFI firmware updates from their motherboard vendors. This works around the problem—at least you get Gen 4 x4 speeds if not Gen 1 x1. MSI is the first manufacturer to respond with UEFI firmware updates that correct the issue, letting users switch back to the faster CPU-attached Gen 5 NVMe slots. It remains to be seen if the issue affects the new AMD X870E, which launched earlier this week. The X870E is practically the same platform as the X670E.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source
 
Joined
Aug 20, 2007
Messages
21,405 (3.40/day)
System Name Pioneer
Processor Ryzen R9 9950X
Motherboard GIGABYTE Aorus Elite X670 AX
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 + A whole lotta Sunon and Corsair Maglev blower fans...
Memory 64GB (4x 16GB) G.Skill Flare X5 @ DDR5-6000 CL30
Video Card(s) XFX RX 7900 XTX Speedster Merc 310
Storage Intel 905p Optane 960GB boot, +2x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs
Display(s) 55" LG 55" B9 OLED 4K Display
Case Thermaltake Core X31
Audio Device(s) TOSLINK->Schiit Modi MB->Asgard 2 DAC Amp->AKG Pro K712 Headphones or HDMI->B9 OLED
Power Supply FSP Hydro Ti Pro 850W
Mouse Logitech G305 Lightspeed Wireless
Keyboard WASD Code v3 with Cherry Green keyswitches + PBT DS keycaps
Software Gentoo Linux x64 / Windows 11 Enterprise IoT 2024
That's oddly specific.
 
Joined
Aug 25, 2011
Messages
241 (0.05/day)
Location
Poznan, Poland
I have that issue on the ASUS X670E Gene, but only when I use the M.2 DIMM card. It works without problems on the first M.2 PCIe 5.0 socket.
I'm only surprised it's reported right now by Crucial and not any motherboard brand that reports full compatibility on their QVL lists. The issue has been around for over a year. I assume that barely anyone was using M.2 PCIe 5.0 SSDs because of ridiculous prices and not much better performance (out of synthetic benchmarks).
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
532 (0.27/day)
System Name Fractal
Processor Intel Core i5 13600K
Motherboard Asus ProArt Z790 Creator WiFi
Cooling Arctic Cooling Liquid Freezer II 360
Memory 16GBx2 G.SKILL Ripjaws S5 DDR5 6000 CL30-40-40-96 (F5-6000J3040F16GX2-RS5K)
Video Card(s) PNY RTX A2000 6GB
Storage SK Hynix Platinum P41 2TB
Display(s) LG 34GK950F-B (34"/IPS/1440p/21:9/144Hz/FreeSync)
Case Fractal Design R6 Gunmetal Blackout w/ USB-C
Audio Device(s) Steelseries Arctis 7 Wireless/Klipsch Pro-Media 2.1BT
Power Supply Seasonic Prime 850w 80+ Titanium
Mouse Logitech G700S
Keyboard Corsair K68
Software Windows 11 Pro
Is it just me or has MSI really upped their game the last couple years. Johnny on the spot with any and all updates and fixes that are popping up compared to the other mainboard players.
 
Joined
Aug 25, 2011
Messages
241 (0.05/day)
Location
Poznan, Poland
Is it just me or has MSI really upped their game the last couple years. Johnny on the spot with any and all updates and fixes that are popping up compared to the other mainboard players.

The last generation wasn't any special, but some models were overpriced. MSI locked some BIOS options like RAM OC profiles in selected motherboards. Motherboards also supported lower RAM than the competition. BIOS releases for Intel were delayed. I have Z790 Ace MAX and many updates/microcodes were skipped. ASUS was releasing everything on time for all higher models like APEX, while my MSI had 3 months without updates at some point.
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2008
Messages
1,997 (0.34/day)
Processor Intel Core i9 9900k @ 5.1GHZ all core load (8c 16t)
Motherboard MSI MEG Z390 ACE
Cooling Corsair H100i v2 240mm
Memory 32GB Corsair 3200mhz C16 (2x16GB)
Video Card(s) Powercolor RX 6900 XT Red Devil Ultimate (XTXH) @ 2.6ghz core, 2.1ghz mem
Storage 256GB WD Black NVME drive, 4TB across various SSDs/NVMEs, 4TB HDD
Display(s) Asus 32" PG32QUX (4k 144hz mini-LED backlit IPS with freesync & gsync & 1400 nit HDR)
Case Corsair 760T
Power Supply Corsair HX850i
Mouse Logitech G502 Lightspeed on powerplay mousemat
Keyboard Logitech G910
VR HMD Wireless Vive Pro & Valve knuckles
Software Windows 10 Pro
Is it just me or has MSI really upped their game the last couple years. Johnny on the spot with any and all updates and fixes that are popping up compared to the other mainboard players.

MSI have been denying that it's an issue or reproducible on the X670E MAG Tomahawk since they broke it last summer with a firmware update. It prevents WD and some samsung drives from being detected at cold boot, but apparently they couldn't replicate it despite it being a widely reported issue from quite a few users. Been stuck on a BIOS with much slower boot times waiting for a fix.

They've still not released an update for this on my motherboard yet (assuming it fixes the non-detected drive issue).
 
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
532 (0.27/day)
System Name Fractal
Processor Intel Core i5 13600K
Motherboard Asus ProArt Z790 Creator WiFi
Cooling Arctic Cooling Liquid Freezer II 360
Memory 16GBx2 G.SKILL Ripjaws S5 DDR5 6000 CL30-40-40-96 (F5-6000J3040F16GX2-RS5K)
Video Card(s) PNY RTX A2000 6GB
Storage SK Hynix Platinum P41 2TB
Display(s) LG 34GK950F-B (34"/IPS/1440p/21:9/144Hz/FreeSync)
Case Fractal Design R6 Gunmetal Blackout w/ USB-C
Audio Device(s) Steelseries Arctis 7 Wireless/Klipsch Pro-Media 2.1BT
Power Supply Seasonic Prime 850w 80+ Titanium
Mouse Logitech G700S
Keyboard Corsair K68
Software Windows 11 Pro
The last generation wasn't any special, but some models were overpriced. MSI locked some BIOS options like RAM OC profiles in selected motherboards. Motherboards also supported lower RAM than the competition. BIOS releases for Intel were delayed. I have Z790 Ace MAX and many updates/microcodes were skipped. ASUS was releasing everything on time for all higher models like APEX, while my MSI had 3 months without updates at some point.
Asus was like a week behind on the last couple Intel microcode updates on my Z790 ProArt vs MSI.
 
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
10,683 (1.72/day)
Location
Austin Texas
System Name Planet Espresso
Processor 13700KF @ 5.5GHZ 1.285v - 235W cap
Motherboard MSI 690-I PRO
Cooling Thermalright Phantom Spirit EVO
Memory 48 GB DDR5 7600 MHZ CL36
Video Card(s) RTX 4090 FE
Storage 2TB WD SN850, 4TB WD SN850X
Display(s) Alienware 32" 4k 240hz OLED
Case Jonsbo Z20
Audio Device(s) Yes
Power Supply Corsair SF750
Mouse Xlite V2
Keyboard 65% HE Keyboard
Software Windows 11
Benchmark Scores They're pretty good, nothing crazy.
Is it just me or has MSI really upped their game the last couple years. Johnny on the spot with any and all updates and fixes that are popping up compared to the other mainboard players.

They really have... I have had the least problems with their builds -- Im basically using MSI almost exclusively at this point.
 
Joined
Jul 13, 2016
Messages
3,251 (1.07/day)
Processor Ryzen 7800X3D
Motherboard ASRock X670E Taichi
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 Chromax
Memory 32GB DDR5 6000 CL30
Video Card(s) MSI RTX 4090 Trio
Storage Too much
Display(s) Acer Predator XB3 27" 240 Hz
Case Thermaltake Core X9
Audio Device(s) Topping DX5, DCA Aeon II
Power Supply Seasonic Prime Titanium 850w
Mouse G305
Keyboard Wooting HE60
VR HMD Valve Index
Software Win 10
That's oddly specific.

It's odd too because it seems to only effect certain motherboards. Some X670E users are reporting the issue while others have not. Not uncalled for though, could just be very odd bug behavior.
 
Joined
Jun 1, 2021
Messages
304 (0.24/day)
That is a pretty bad thing to be around for a year or so. Does this also happen to the dual chipset X870 variants(the chipset is exactly the same though the firmware might be slightly different)?
 
Joined
May 2, 2022
Messages
1,616 (1.76/day)
Location
G-City, UK
System Name AMDWeapon
Processor Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard X670E MSI Tomahawk WiFi
Cooling Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 ARGB with Silverstone Air Blazer 2200rpm fans
Memory G-Skill Trident Z Neo RGB 6000 CL30 32GB@EXPO
Video Card(s) Powercolor 7900 GRE Red Devil
Storage Samsung 870 QVO 1TB x 2, Lexar 256 GB, TeamGroup MP44L 2TB, Crucial T700 1TB, Seagate Firecuda 2TB
Display(s) 32" LG UltraGear GN600-B
Case Montech 903 MAX AIR
Audio Device(s) Corsair void wireless/Sennheiser EPOS 670
Power Supply MSI MPG AGF 850 watt gold
Mouse Glorious Model D l Pad GameSir G7 SE
Keyboard Redragon Vara K551P
Software Windows 11 Pro 24H2
Benchmark Scores Fast Enough.
Hmm, X870 comes out and then this is found. Dubious.
 
Joined
Apr 24, 2008
Messages
2,014 (0.33/day)
Processor RyZen R9 3950X
Motherboard ASRock X570 Taichi
Cooling Coolermaster Master Liquid ML240L RGB
Memory 64GB DDR4 3200 (4x16GB)
Video Card(s) RTX 3050
Storage Samsung 2TB SSD
Display(s) Asus VE276Q, VE278Q and VK278Q triple 27” 1920x1080
Case Zulman MS800
Audio Device(s) On Board
Power Supply Seasonic 650W
VR HMD Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest V1, Oculus Quest 2
Software Windows 11 64bit
That's gotta sting!!!
 
Joined
Jul 31, 2024
Messages
246 (2.54/day)
This problem isn't surfacing on the AMD B650 or the B650E, or even the X670—it is oddly specific to the X670E, despite the Gen 5 M.2 NVMe slots not being wired to the chipset.

Hard to believe it's only X670E specific.

Well done Crucial finding the issue.

Is it only CRUCIAL NVME specific issue with the AMD X670E cpu wired NVME slot? Are other NVME brands also affected?

--

I read it kinda often that some mainboards have issues with certain NVMes. I had the impression it was more an INTEL issue in the first place. Thanks for hinting out the bad NVME brands like WD (now SANDISK) and Samsung.

--

Regarding the claim that ASUS ...: ASUS barely releases any up to date uefi updates for my X670 mainboard. Some updates are totally skipped by ASUS. The definition which board qualifies as high end or not depends on the user. A620 based am5 mainboards in my point of view are not high end.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 25, 2020
Messages
2,203 (1.26/day)
System Name DadsBadAss
Processor I7 13700k w/ HEATKILLER IV PRO Copper Nickel
Motherboard MSI Z790 Tomahawk Wifi DDR4
Cooling BarrowCH Boxfish 200mm-HWLabs SR2 420/GTX&GTS 360-BP Dual D5 MOD TOP- 2x Koolance PMP 450S
Memory 4x8gb HyperX Predator RGB DDR4 4000
Video Card(s) Asrock 6800xt PG D w/ Byski A-AR6900XT-X
Storage WD SN850x 1TB NVME M.2/Adata XPG SX8200 PRO 1TB NVMe M.2
Display(s) Acer XG270HU
Case ThermalTake X71 w/5 Noctua NF-A14 2000 IP67 PWM/3 Noctua NF-F12 2000 IP67 PWM/3 CorsairML120 Pro RGB
Audio Device(s) Klipsch Promedia 2.1
Power Supply Seasonic Focus PX-850 w/CableMod PRO ModMesh RT-Series Black/Blue
Mouse Logitech G502
Keyboard Black Aluminun Mechanical Clicky Thing With Blue LEDs, hows that for a name?!
Software Win11pro
Hard to believe it's only X670E specific.

Well done Crucial finding the issue.

Is it only CRUCIAL NVME specific issue with the AMD X670E cpu wired NVME slot? Are other NVME brands also affected?
No. Crucial drives don't have anything to do with the issue. They simply found the x670e MB issue. It's not a problem with the drives, it's the MBs...as they clearly stated in the article.
 
Joined
May 8, 2018
Messages
1,559 (0.66/day)
Location
London, UK
The question is if this problem persists on the newly x870e because basically is almost the same as x670e.
 
Joined
Feb 1, 2019
Messages
3,522 (1.67/day)
Location
UK, Midlands
System Name Main PC
Processor 13700k
Motherboard Asrock Z690 Steel Legend D4 - Bios 13.02
Cooling Noctua NH-D15S
Memory 32 Gig 3200CL14
Video Card(s) 4080 RTX SUPER FE 16G
Storage 1TB 980 PRO, 2TB SN850X, 2TB DC P4600, 1TB 860 EVO, 2x 3TB WD Red, 2x 4TB WD Red
Display(s) LG 27GL850
Case Fractal Define R4
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster AE-9
Power Supply Antec HCG 750 Gold
Software Windows 10 21H2 LTSC
The question is if this problem persists on the newly x870e because basically is almost the same as x670e.
Ironically it might be ok as its more like the b650.
 
Joined
Nov 17, 2021
Messages
16 (0.01/day)
System Name CRAY_IV
Processor AMD Ryzen 7700x (UV 65W 70°C -20CO)
Motherboard Asus B650E-F
Cooling Noctua NH-D15S
Memory Kingston FURY 6000CL32 Renegade
Video Card(s) Asus RTX 4070 Dual (UV 2610@0.91V)
Storage Samsung 980Pro 2TB + WD Red 3TB
Display(s) NEC MultiSync EA244WMi
Case Lian Li PC-7HA
Audio Device(s) Topping E30+L50, AKG K550 / KEF Egg
Power Supply SeaSonic Platinum SS-660XP²
Mouse Razer Basilisk X HyperSpeed
Keyboard CM Storm QuickFire Ultimate
Info that other chipsets from the same generation like B650E are unaffected have been confirmed or it's too soon?
 

gerard.bow

New Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2023
Messages
12 (0.03/day)
the first slot on MSI did not work since day one of the X670X with a WD or Samsung SSD!
Let's hope that thanks to Crucial's help, the other SSDs will also become usable ;-)
Congratulations on finally being able to use your hardware after 2 years and "EOL" of the platform.
 
Joined
Aug 25, 2011
Messages
241 (0.05/day)
Location
Poznan, Poland
The question is if this problem persists on the newly x870e because basically is almost the same as x670e.

There is no issue on the Gigabyte X870E Pro ICE - the same max bandwidth is available on 3x M.2 PCIe 5.0 sockets with the Crucial T705 SSD.
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2017
Messages
8,972 (3.31/day)
System Name Best AMD Computer
Processor AMD 7900X3D
Motherboard Asus X670E E Strix
Cooling In Win SR36
Memory GSKILL DDR5 32GB 5200 30
Video Card(s) Sapphire Pulse 7900XT (Watercooled)
Storage Corsair MP 700, Seagate 530 2Tb, Adata SX8200 2TBx2, Kingston 2 TBx2, Micron 8 TB, WD AN 1500
Display(s) GIGABYTE FV43U
Case Corsair 7000D Airflow
Audio Device(s) Corsair Void Pro, Logitch Z523 5.1
Power Supply Deepcool 1000M
Mouse Logitech g7 gaming mouse
Keyboard Logitech G510
Software Windows 11 Pro 64 Steam. GOG, Uplay, Origin
Benchmark Scores Firestrike: 46183 Time Spy: 25121
NVME as a platform can be very fickle on X670E. I mentioned on another thread that I had to replace my WD AN 1500. I ordered a cheap 4TB 4.0 drive to replace it. When I took the AN 1500 apart I took the first drive and Windows recognized it as raw data (Using a USB C NVME external). I put the 2nd drive in and it registered as my G drive (NVME RAID 0). When I looked in Disk Manager I noticed that my actual NVME RAID drive was now unavailable. I unplugged it restarted and now only my SATA drives are showing. I had to go into the BIOS and change the ON board Device setting from PCIe RAID to Auto. That gave me my NVME drives back. I am using a PCIe adapter for the new NVME drive. I have one of those Supermicro RAID cards from 3.0 days so while I was waiting I plugged it into that and put it into the PC. Well now my NVME RAID drive is broken. I had to format them to get them back but no report of the new drive in Windows. Did a restart and once again no access to NVME. Not even in the BIOS. The only NVME I know in the BIOS is my boot drive. The adapter arrives. It is a 4.0 x4 adapter. I take the Supermicro card out. Install the NVME in the new adapter, plug it into the PC, turn it on and I get the pop up when I go into Disk Magmt that lets me know my drive is recognized. I have even seen issues when you change what slot a drive is in. F me I formatted a NV2 using USB C and no computer can recognize the drive. I actully had to plug that into an M2 slot on the MB to get it back. I even had an issue with the MP700 where if I put in one particular 5.0 slot the writes would be like what this post is describing. I know I am not the average user but for me it comes down to PCIe 5.0 being rushed to the desktop. As an example the drive I bought yesterday is as fast as my MP 700 in Crystal DIsk Mark even though it is a 4.0 drive.
 
Joined
Apr 24, 2008
Messages
2,014 (0.33/day)
Processor RyZen R9 3950X
Motherboard ASRock X570 Taichi
Cooling Coolermaster Master Liquid ML240L RGB
Memory 64GB DDR4 3200 (4x16GB)
Video Card(s) RTX 3050
Storage Samsung 2TB SSD
Display(s) Asus VE276Q, VE278Q and VK278Q triple 27” 1920x1080
Case Zulman MS800
Audio Device(s) On Board
Power Supply Seasonic 650W
VR HMD Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest V1, Oculus Quest 2
Software Windows 11 64bit
This is why we can’t have nice things.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2017
Messages
177 (0.07/day)
System Name 1080p 144hz
Processor 7800X3D
Motherboard Asus X670E crosshair hero
Cooling Noctua NH-D15
Memory G.skill flare X5 2*16 GB DDR5 6000 Mhz CL30
Video Card(s) Nvidia RTX 4070 FE
Storage Western digital SN850 1 TB NVME
Display(s) Asus PG248Q
Case Phanteks P600S
Audio Device(s) Logitech pro X2 lightspeed
Power Supply EVGA 1200 P2
Mouse Logitech G PRO
Keyboard Logitech G710+
Benchmark Scores https://www.3dmark.com/sw/1143551
I've been using a western digital gen4 nvme ssd in the gen5 slot on my asus x670e hero since i bought it and never had any issues. Thanks for the heads up.
 
Top