Looking for fastest most reliable M.2 256+ GB drive compatible with asus z97-a board. any tips?

[Supporter]

Looking for fastest most reliable M.2 256+ GB drive compatible with asus z97-a board. any tips?

 

[sharndowg]

New Samsung 950 M.2 NVMe drives out in October look great. unbelievably quick.

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/ssd950pro/overview.html

EDIT: Make sure Mothboard BIOS is up to date. I think ASUS relased a BIOS with their NVMe support a while back. Check it out 😀

 

[Supporter]

cant seem to find it on newegg is there a retailer that has it in stock?

 

[bootcher]

Currently the Samsung SM951 is the fastest m.2 pci express SSD that is readily available. Reliability is not really an issue with current SSD's, it is safe to say that even under heavy usage they will work for 5+ years, or better said, untill your current drive becomes too small/slow/up for replacement.

 

[sharndowg]

cant seem to find it on newegg is there a retailer that has it in stock?

Should be out later this month! Worth the waiting. If not there are the SM951 NVMe drives out just now which are also incredibly quick but they can be hard to find as they are not for retail sale. Are you from the UK? I could show you a site which sells them and is where i bought mine.

 

[Supporter]

cant seem to find it on newegg is there a retailer that has it in stock?

Should be out later this month! Worth the waiting. If not there are the SM951 NVMe drives out just now which are also incredibly quick but they can be hard to find as they are not for retail sale. Are you from the UK? I could show you a site which sells them and is where i bought mine.

nah im in the states so i guess i wait

 

[TonyRoma]

Does your M.2 slot support 4x PCIe speeds? If so, you want either of these...

Samsung SM951 MZVPV256HDGL-00000 NVME
Samsung SM951 MZHPV256HDGL-00000 AHCI
Samsung 950 Pro MZ-V5P256BW

 

[The Original Ralph]

TonyRoma raises a good point - you might want to check your mobo's manual - my asus Z97M-Plus, the M.2 socket only supports 2 PCI lanes or "x2" and that will limit your transfer speeds. With my xp941 (first gen) i was only seeing 770 MB/s read and 580 MB/s write. When i moved the xp941 to a PCI expansion card, like the addionics card http://www.addonics.com/products/adm2px4.php, and put it in the last PCI expansion slot (PCI x4) my speeds jumped to full specs, 1200 MB/s read and 870 MB/s write

another reason to use an expansion card on a Z97 board, the M.2 slot dis-ables two of the sata ports - check your mobo manual, all the mobo mfgrs like to euphimistically state the "M.2 socket shares bandwith with sata ports xx & xxx" - the sharing is euphimistic at best - if using the M.2 socket, you're going to use those sata ports

fwiw

 

[Supporter]

Does your M.2 slot support 4x PCIe speeds? If so, you want either of these...

Samsung SM951 MZVPV256HDGL-00000 NVME
Samsung SM951 MZHPV256HDGL-00000 AHCI
Samsung 950 Pro MZ-V5P256BW

this is all it states M.2 Socket 3, , with M Key, type 2260/2280 storage devices support (PCIE mode)

 

[Supporter]

TonyRoma raises a good point - you might want to check your mobo's manual - my asus Z97M-Plus, the M.2 socket only supports 2 PCI lanes or "x2" and that will limit your transfer speeds. With my xp941 (first gen) i was only seeing 770 MB/s read and 580 MB/s write. When i moved the xp941 to a PCI expansion card, like the addionics card http://www.addonics.com/products/adm2px4.php, and put it in the last PCI expansion slot (PCI x4) my speeds jumped to full specs, 1200 MB/s read and 870 MB/s write

another reason to use an expansion card on a Z97 board, the M.2 slot dis-ables two of the sata ports - check your mobo manual, all the mobo mfgrs like to euphimistically state the "M.2 socket shares bandwith with sata ports xx & xxx" - the sharing is euphimistic at best - if using the M.2 socket, you're going to use those sata ports

fwiw

no idea where to check for speed specification all it says is : M.2 Socket 3, , with M Key, type 2260/2280 storage devices support (PCIE mode)

 

[TonyRoma]

A quick look at your motherboard spec and I noticed it does not seem to mention 4x PCIe or Ultra M.2 suggesting it is 2x. That being the case you can buy a M.2 add on card to run in an actual PCI-e slot (as suggested by Ralph), that will you you full performance of the SM951 or 950 Pro should you choose to buy one.

 

[The Original Ralph]

i'd suggest the 950 Pro, as it comes with drivers / boot files. Samsung actually stated in their release announcement they wanted to make the user experience as positive as possible, and considering the mental gymnastics i had to go thru with the xp941, and they seem to be the same with the sm951, even more so with the sm951 NVMe variant, the 950 Pro is the smarter choice