defect in AMD X670E motherboard causes PCIe 5.0 Solid State Drives to operate at PCIe 1.0 speeds
In recent times, a troubling issue has emerged for users of AMD X670E motherboards, particularly those who have populated both the first PCIe 5.0 slot for graphics cards and the first M.2 slot with a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface. Some users have reported experiencing random system crashes and being unable to boot into Windows.
This problem has been observed across multiple X670E motherboard brands, including Asus and MSI, and affects various drives, such as Crucial's T700 and T705. The issue seems to be systemic, as Crucial engineers have confirmed its persistence on various motherboards and drives, suggesting it's not specific to actual hardware but rather to the platform itself.
Asus has claimed that the issue lies with SSDs, not with the motherboards. However, troubleshooting has shown that reverting SSDs to PCIe 4.0 speeds or using PCIe 4.0 drives entirely can resolve these issues. Some MSI motherboard users have reported success after applying a BIOS update (version 1.0c), which resolves the speed and stability issues, but this fix is not universally successful.
The root cause of the issues with AMD's X670E remains unknown, but it is believed to be related to firmware or BIOS compatibility problems that affect the negotiation and lane speeds of PCIe interfaces. Motherboard manufacturers like Asus and MSI typically release BIOS updates to address these PCIe compatibility and speed negotiation issues, restoring correct PCIe 5.0 scaling with supported SSDs. AMD also collaborates with motherboard vendors to release chipset microcode and firmware updates to fix such PCIe lane speed problems, improving SSD performance on X670E platforms.
For users experiencing this issue, it is recommended to check the Bus Interface speed of your SSD in the Device Manager or Tools (like GPU-Z or CrystalDiskInfo) to see if it shows PCIe 5.0 @ x4 5.0 or if it remains stuck at PCIe 1.0, which indicates the problem remains active.
At the time of writing, AMD and other motherboard makers have yet to officially weigh in on the problems. Regularly updating your motherboard BIOS and chipset drivers is the recommended way to resolve such issues. For the most recent and exact status, users are advised to refer to official announcements or BIOS update changelogs from Asus and MSI regarding the X670E motherboards, or AMD's support updates on their chipset firmware.
Users experiencing issues with AMD X670E motherboards may find resolution by checking their SSD's Bus Interface speed, as reverting to PCIe 4.0 speeds or using PCIe 4.0 drives completely might alleviate the random system crashes and booting problems. Technology advancements in data-and-cloud-computing have brought the emergence of fast SSDs like Crucial's T700 and T705, but these gadgets seem to be facing compatibility problems with the AMD X670E platform, potentially due to firmware or BIOS issues.
