Windows 10: NVMe SDD bootable drive through the PCI express slot??

Would it be possible to make a NVMe ssd through the PCIe slot on a dell OptiPlex 960 sff? I have the slot but don't know if the the bios would support a boot drive of that nature. Or should I just convert my HDD to a 2.5inch SDD instead?

:)

 

Windows Freezing at Welcome Screen when Adding GPU to PCI Express Slots

Hi, I have a 4 GPU mining rig I'm trying to put together. Initially I tried to get these set up and had a lot of trouble and have spent nearly 10 hours this Labor Day weekend struggling with this.

My motherboard is the Asus M5A97 R.20

GPUS: 4x EVGA Geforce GTX 1070 SC

RAM: Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (1x8 GB Module) 1600MHz 240-pin DDR3 Non-ECC CL10 Desktop Memory KHX1600C10D3B1/8G

CPU: AMD Sempron 145

PSU: Corsair RM850 watt gold certified

Monitor: Just hooked to my Vizio TV by HDMI cable

Hard drive: 64GB SSD

I'd also like to point out that I am using this same MB for another rig powering 3 cards. So, I am using at one of the PCI express ports. I am using Windows Home on that build however and Windows Pro on the build I am having trouble with right now.

Initially, I plugged one card into the MB and ran the other 3 cards to USB risers and booted. Windows began to find the Hardware. The GPUs in regular PCI slots were found under display adapter and the 2 GPUs in Express slots were found hidden in Other Devices.
The GPU found under display adapters found the drivers and installed them no problem. When Windows tried to install the driver to one of the GPU's in a PCI express slot the install froze and the screen went black (usually this means success as the screen will
flash back on). However, in this instance it froze that way and I had to hard boot back.

After rebooting I put my password into Windows and the my computer froze while it was loading in the welcome screen. The only way I could get the computer to not freeze was to remove the GPU's from the PCI express slots.

I am having trouble just even booting to the Bios with Windows 10. It will boot regular but when I push delete after booting it will just freeze on me and I have to hard boot it. I've tried safe mode but that's even worse. It will only boot with one GPU.
I reset the CMOS and can only boot that way with one GPU.

So, I did a clean install of windows where it erases everything including the drive. Success, or at least I thought. It again repeated the same issue where during the installation of the PCI express driver the screen went black and I had to hard boot. Anyway,
I am running now with 2/4 gpu fine but I am struggling with next steps.

So, in short, things I've tried:

-Clean install of Windows including all drives

-Flashing the Bios with the latest update from Asus

-I've tested all the pci risers in the non pci express slot and they all power on and will work in that slot. So, it's nothing like that.

-Uninstalling and reinstalling all the drivers.

-resetting the CMOS and popping out the memory

What I think it could be?

-I've read there may be some issues with the frequency of TV screens and possibly PCI-E compatibility. But also, my other build just uses a smaller Vizio TV as a monitor.

-Is it Windows Pro? I have PCI-E slots working in my other build with Windows Home

-Are BOTH my PCI-E slots bad? I could see one but not both. I've tested both.

What I'm contemplating trying next.

-I want to do another fresh clean install of windows. But I'd rather go to Home edition but can't figure out how.

-I ordered a pci splitter. Perhaps if I run the splitter out of the good pci slot it can be a work around for me instead of using the pci-e slots.

-I really really don't want to order a newer motherboard but am contemplating this because it has been a freaking nightmare weekend for me.

-Considering purchasing Linux ethos because I know this board will work with another OS. I use to run 4x 270x off the same board in Linux.

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Powershell - PCI/PCIe slot occupation

I happen to know you get get this for network cards using:

Using the module suggested by @Lenniey above you It looks like you can find the location of devices by looking for those with a LocationInfo starting "PCI bus", and a non-zero UINumber:

In the above, I've got my network card in slot 5, and my wifi in slot 4.

You can then compare this with the list of PCI Express Root Ports:

That will tell you that I have a third slot with nothing plugged in, which agrees with what I see in Device Manager.

Caveat; I'm not a hardware expert, I just guessed this based on what I can see on my machine.

To confirm this isn't just related to network adapters, if I remove the filter on 'UINumber -ne 0', I can see all other devices connected to the PCI bus, however, since they are all built in, they don't have a slot number:

 

Need to identify correct pci express socket


Thanks

so I can use this card in one of the other pci Express slots .?

so if I use the pci Express slot on the left side, near the two USB sockets then it looks like the sound card will still present the audio ports at the case side as it would have done with the X1 slot .....does that make sense ?

the video card is I think in a X 16 slot !!

ps the Amazon reviewers comments are a bit old , I think.....checked the website and Windows 10 32 & 64 bit drivers are there.....will check elsewhere for reviews as suggested....but does look good, there is a cheaper version....
Creative Blaster Audigy Fx 5.1 PCIe Sound Card with SBX Pro Studio: Amazon.co.uk: Computers Accessories

which is 5.1 instead of 7.1......not sure if for gaming it would be as good ?

the link you gave me to pci Express slots was very interesting....thank you.....so my graphic card is in a pci Express 16 slot, hope it uses all 16, if available.....not just 8