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Is there a chance to boot from NVMe with the Optiplex 780 mT?
OptiPlex 780
Hi there, I have a Dell Optiplex 780, with only legacy boot and without support for UEFI boot and therefore apparently not NVMe boot either , the main boot Windows 10 SSD drive is MBR obviously, there is a chance to modify the BIOS legacy to somehow boot from NVMe or boot from NVMe using Clover like this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsC4oHRUSz4 ?, thank you
Chino de Oro
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May 10th, 2023 18:00
OptiPlex 780 should be able to boot with CLOVER. Just make sure to create the boot disk (USB) properly. Instructions to create NVMe boot in legacy BIOS can be reviewed here.
For BIOS modification method, instruction for OptiPlex 790 and 990 is also available.
tonschk
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May 20th, 2023 03:00
Yes the Optiplex 780 is Booting with NVME Samsung 970 Pro 1TB and Clover installed in a USB drive, the Clover interface came relatively easy after set up clover into such USB and also another different USB with the Windows 10 Pro installation ISO file, what was a bit difficult was booting only the first time before installation of Windows, My only guess so far the problem that Clover at that point was not able to find the NVME drive was caused may be because I formatted the drive as MBR but finally after Windows installation and booting the NVME drive now show to be miraculously working as GPT and not MBR and I dont know how the computer or Clover or Windows was able to change that, below a screenshot with Cristal Disk Mark showing the read speed of the drive currently at about 822 MB/s which is reasonable because before with Windows installed on a Samsung 860 Pro 1 TB such speed was about 200MB/s , The Very best explanation how to install or set up Clover on a USB is with in the Youtube video >>>>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh-rGQih8m8 <<<<<<< Because many other Youtube videos or Website were not fully clear understandable or with poor and not step by step full explanation on how set up or installation of Clover
redxps630
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May 10th, 2023 06:00
780 has Q45 chipset which has PCIe1.1, 250 MB/s per lane. it seems nvme ssd in 780 is limited by the old PCIe infrastructure speed.
tonschk
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May 10th, 2023 14:00
Hi and thanks for reply, well as long if there is a chance to use and install a NVMe even at PCIe1.1 speed I am ok with that, but do you think that there is a chance with the Clover trick or similar tricks?, I did some research abbout the possibility to extracting and modifying the microcode inside the BIOS but that looks even more difficult because apparently DELL microcode inside the BIOS is not as easy to extract and modify as other BIOSes like AMI or Award Phoenix, thank you very much
Tesla1856
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May 10th, 2023 14:00
If the Optiplex 780 MT is fully UEFI-based, maybe.
If only Legacy-BIOS/MBR ... not likely. However, while a SATA-3/600 SSD is not as fast as a NVMe-SSD, they are still about 5-times faster than a spinning HDD.
tonschk
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May 10th, 2023 18:00
Hi and thanks for reply, yes of course the SATA SSD everybody know is faster than HDD, now I have installed a Samsung PRO 1TB SSD into the PCIe X1 of the motherboard which offer quick instant responce from the Boot and everything else, at the moment with a AMD Radeon PRO W6400 with 4GB DDR6 and 16GB DDR3 is fast enough to play at medium settings World of Warships game, I currently keep trying to boot from NVMe and researching checking now two youtube videos .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsC4oHRUSz4 .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUs7k-OPHdE or may be this website https://msendpointmgr.com/2016/12/21/convert-from-bios-to-uefi-during-windows-10-deployments-with-configmgr-current-branch-introduction/ lets see if I can manage or not, thank you
tonschk
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May 10th, 2023 20:00
Amazing, thank you very much "Chino de Oro", Do you think I need to keep permanently connected the USB with Clover to be able to boot normally from NVMe?, thank you
tonschk
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May 10th, 2023 21:00
Very good "Chino de Oro" , your second suggested alternative to create the CLOVER as a small partition on an internal SSD, can such small partition be created inside the same NVME it self from which I am trying to boot?, I am not expert with this sort of software issues but my guess the answer of my question is "No" or in other words such idea is impossible, Thank you a very lot
Chino de Oro
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May 10th, 2023 21:00
A small USB drive occupied one of the port in the back of the computer together with other cables should not be a problem or noticeable.
Other alternatives were to create the CLOVER as a small partition on an internal HDD or SSD in the same machine. Some would plug the CLOVER USB to an internal USB port on motherboard. Whichever a creative mind can come up with, they are all ending with the same result, booting NVMe drive using CLOVER.
Chino de Oro
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May 10th, 2023 22:00
Correct, CLOVER partition can't be on NVMe drive. The CLOVER bootable partition needs to be located on SATA or USB controller which is natively bootable by the machine (BIOS). Then CLOVER will act as a bridge to the OS on NVMe drive.
Chino de Oro
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May 20th, 2023 14:00
Glad to see another successful story. With the age of that machine, you have managed to achieve x2 the speed of a SATA ssd on a modern current system.