How to check NVME driver for HBM capability?

Sdodeezy said:

Now that things are stable in my system and I have done more research, here is what I know:

1) HP has disabled advanced mode in BIOS for my and many laptops. Different methods I have read to get into advanced mode have failed. Therefore, I cannot disable RST in BIOS. The BIOS must be set to AHCI mode in order for the Microsoft NVMe driver to work with the Samsung 980. So I have to stay with RST.
2) RST does support NVMe and HMB and Intel's RST Software says HMB is enabled on my machine, so that is good.
3) My 980 is only reading at about 1700 MB/s according to Magician, which is about half its capability. I set it to full performance mode and that did nothing. This could indicate that the PCIe is working at X2 instead of X4, but I read that all PCIe ports are X4 capable. Could this be a BIOS setting (which again I would not be able to change because HP locked it) or is there another reason I am only getting half speeds? My CPU is an intel Gen 8.

Click to expand...

Correct on all
That is puzzling - that read speed is about right for a 2x PCI 3.0 lane,s though I do not know if that is the issue.

geneo said:

Correct on all
That is puzzling - that read speed is about right for a 2x PCI 3.0 lane,s though I do not know if that is the issue.

Click to expand...

Intel RST App reports this

If I read this correctly and this is to be trusted, the PCIe is running x4, so something else s causing the bottleneck. But it is suspicious that it seems like a x2 speed.

abactuon said:

Enable write caching on the device - On
View attachment 56308

Enable write caching on the device - Off
View attachment 56309

Click to expand...

Thanks but I don't think that's the same caching as HMB enables. HMB is a replacement for an SSD DRAM cache and used to cache the drive's mapping tables or FTL, not user data.

Also, I understand this cache to be bit risky with buffer flushing disabled unless the system is on an UPS. So while it may be good for laptops it's not necessarily so for all desktops.

You don't need to know anything else.
The disc installs and works as it was made.
Only a new firmware can make a difference.

abactuon said:

You don't need to know anything else.
The disc installs and works as it was made.
Only a new firmware can make a difference.

Click to expand...

As it turns out, I did need a Storage Controller driver provided by the NVME's manufacturer to enable HMB. It's a Crucial P3+ NVME which is DRAM-less. The default Windows NVME Storage Controller driver did not enable the HMB.

It may be a different case for other drives but anyone owning a DRAM-less MVME should definitely install any drivers the manufacture provides for it to be sure it's properly supported.

Buddywh said:

As it turns out, I did need a Storage Controller driver provided by the NVME's manufacturer to enable HMB. It's a Crucial P3+ NVME which is DRAM-less. The default Windows NVME Storage Controller driver did not enable the HMB.

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Hello Buddywh,

may I ask how you determined that HMB was not working and it is now with the Crucial driver?
I'm kinda surprised, because the Microsoft driver should actually support HMB.

Thanks and greetings,
Martin

mfessler said:

Hello Buddywh,

may I ask how you determined that HMB was not working and it is now with the Crucial driver?
I'm kinda surprised, because the Microsoft driver should actually support HMB.

Thanks and greetings,
Martin

Click to expand...

Install and run Crucial's Storage Executive utility. In the Drive Details screen it shows whether the drive supports HMB and is enabled. Storage Executive is for Crucial's drives and provides limited information for others so if your drive isn't one it may not show it. It's also the tool for updating drive BIOS code, for testing the drive and for setting up drive Over-Provisioning as well as several other things. It's similar to Samsung's Magician utility.

I've been told the default Win11 NVME driver does support HMB but that doesn't mean Crucial drives exploit it's full functionality. But then, there's no other utility I've found that reports HMB status so if Storage Executive simply refuses to tell me HMB is running with the Win11 driver, even though it is, I couldn't say for certainty.

Buddywh said:

Install and run Crucial's Storage Executive utility. In the Drive Details screen it shows whether the drive supports HMB and is enabled.

Click to expand...

Since the OEM tools often only work properly with their drivers, I was hoping you have found another way to determine that HMB was not active with StorNVMe.

Unfortunately, I don't have an appropriate SSD at hand at the moment, but I'll test it in the future.
It would have been interesting what the tool (nvme-hmb.rar) which was already mentioned would have shown.
With the registry key "HMBAllocationPolicy" it should be possible to control and also deactivate HMB which would then allow using a benchmark to determine if it is or was active.
Also this key should lead to an entry in the windows event log with HMB allocation information.
The registry key "HostMemoryBufferBytes" is mentioned less frequently, which apparently (also?) allows to set the HMB size.

But actually, as I said, it should work properly "out of the box".
It would be a shame if some manufacturers really do their own thing again to impose their drivers instead of sticking to the NVME standard, especially since I otherwise really appreciate Crucial hardware.

But thanks for the reply and info!
Regards, Martin

Hi,I know this is an old thread but my issue is related to this. I recently upgraded from a SATA Crucial MX-500 M.2 SSD to a Crucial P3 2TB Gen. 3 NVMe SSD (my Mobo supports upto Gen. 3 so to use NVMe SSD as a 'boot drive' MSI support team recommended to stick with Gen. 3 only).

Drive clone process was successful.

But I don't see a significant performance increse as an 'NVMe' should give.
I have installed Micron NVMe Storage Controller and Storage Executive software. Also enabled Momentum Cache.

Even then, speeds are ok-ish...as you can see from the screenshots.
Ideally, the read-write speeds should hover around 3500 value but here, the difference is too much.

Visually, in day-to-day use, I don't see a huge performance increase...boot time is same. App load time is same. Might be very little difference like 0.3 seconds faster for apps but boot time is exactly the same as my previous SATA SSD so I am worried a bit about this SSD.

About HMB...Storage Executive says it's 'supported' but Enabled = No



How to enable this manually?

AHCI is already enabled from BIOS -



Crucial support India team said Mobo & BIOS must support it then only it will work.
I have asked US team also because it was a different mail chain...awaiting their reply.

I think my BIOS supports HMB...so what can I do from my end?
Do I need Crucial's Micron NVMe Storage Controller or am I better off with the default Windows Storage Controller?

Any help / suggestion is appreciated...thanks in advance!

saarang007 said:

Do I need Crucial's Micron NVMe Storage Controller

Click to expand...

hdmi said:

Question - Host Buffer Memory - HBM -

So...anyone know what it takes to turn off HBM for one of the new DRAM-less NVME drives...or turn it on if it should be defaulting to off. These seem to be a pretty common feature for the new budget PCIe Gen4 NVME's that are popping up. I've read where it's a good idea to not use it, though...

forums.tomshardware.com

Click to expand...

Thank you!
I enabled HMB through registry and now Crucial software shows HMB Enabled = Yes



For now, I've set it to '3' = Firmware controlled (as I've installed Crucial drivers - Micron NVMe Storage Controller).

In real usage, I am definitely experiencing a snappier performance than before, so I think it's working!
My system is old so I guess this is the best I can get out of this NVMe SSD.

Thank you :)

Windows 24H2 has a problem with HMB size allocation over the default 64Mb.
you can check for firmware updates from the drive manufacturers
or use this registry change setting the default HMB allocation for Win 11 24H2.

this registry change applies to all drives using HMB.
best of luck, Steve ..
edit, spelling

XxXxX said:

Windows 24H2 has a problem with HMB size allocation over the default 64Mb.
you can check for firmware updates form the drive manufacturers
or use this registry change setting the default HMB allocation for Win 11 24H2.

Fixing Windows 11 24H2 BSOD Issues with WD SSDs: A Registry Hack Solution

The world of Windows is teeming with excitement—or rather, a fair bit of consternation—as users of Windows 11's latest feature update, version 24H2, grapple with some pesky bugs. If you've updated your system and noticed those dreaded blue screens of death (BSOD) cropping up, particularly if you...

windowsforum.com

this registry change applies to all drives using HMB.
best of luck, Steve ..

Click to expand...

Thanks! But I am on Windows 10 22H2 (my i7 7700 HQ Intel CPU does not officially support Win 11 upgrade).
So I guess a value of '3' works on Windows 10? I think '3' means HMB will be controlled by firmware / manufacturer driver, which I have installed.

Or do you still suggest '2' a good value even on Windows 10 instead of 'firmware controlled' ?

i dont believe Win 10 suffers with the HMB allocation fault the HMB fault only came to light for Win 11 24H2.
in saying that a lot of updates for Win 10 have been back ported from Win 11.
but it is worth checking for firmware updates.

you could set the registry setting to 2 to test the drive and then change it back if there is no improvement.
just to note if you use Rufus 4.6 from the MS store you can do an in place upgrade to Win 11 if required.

best of luck, Steve ..

XxXxX said:

i dont believe Win 10 suffers with the HMB allocation fault the HMB fault only came to light for Win 11 24H2.
in saying that a lot of updates for Win 10 have been back ported from Win 11.
but it is worth checking for firmware updates.

you could set the registry setting to 2 to test the drive and then change it back if there is no improvement.
just to note if you use Rufus 4.6 from the MS store you can do an in place upgrade to Win 11 if required.

How to create Windows 11 bootable USB to bypass requirements with Rufus - Pureinfotech

To create a bootable USB to install Windows 11 bypassing system requirements use the Rufus extended option. Here's how.

pureinfotech.com

best of luck, Steve ..

Click to expand...

Ok, cool.
Thanks a lot!

• On Windows 10 and versions of Windows 11 older than 24H2: Windows 11 Reg fix for SN770, SN580 (and other) HMB force to 64M
• On Windows 11 version 24H2: Windows 11 Reg fix for SN770, SN580 (and other) HMB force to 64M

Here is some interesting info about HMB allocation and the bug that was fixed a while ago that was causing BSOD, etc. on 24H2 with the WD SN770, SN580 and some other NVMe SSDs whose controller can support HMB sizes >64MB: Windows 24H2 + WD = blue screens