M.2 SSD as boot drive for new build

[star987]

Hey,

I have the ASRock X99 Extreme4 LGA 2011-v3 Intel X99 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard and purchased M.2 Samsung SSD for my boot drive. I've seen a bunch of posts and videos saying I need to change this or that in the bios for the M.2 for work correctly. Can anyone confirm/deny/point me in the right direction before I install Windows 10 OS?

Thanks!

 

[greens]

If it is just a standard SATA SSD, but in m.2 form factor - no action will be required on your part. Just seat it and proceed as you normally would.

The reason you see mixed statements is because NVME pcie based SSDs do exist and can be used as boot drives with some extra steps.

 

[star987]

The specific drive I've got is the Samsung 500GB 960 EVO NVMe M.2 Internal SSD. Any thoughts on that particular one?

 

[greens]

The specific drive I've got is the Samsung 500GB 960 EVO NVMe M.2 Internal SSD. Any thoughts on that particular one?

That is an NVMe drive and i would not advise it be used as a boot drive. their boot performance is actually not great... I don't have one personally, but it has something to do with loading drivers prior to boot. And yes, it is the kind of drive that will require additional steps to get it bootable at all.

They are blazing fast in databases, but honestly not worth the cost in day to day use.

The only place i see an NVMe being of great utility is for large databases with TONS and TONS of read/writes.

 

[star987]

That is actually what I use it for, statistical analysis. So you would recommend using my 7200rpm hd as my boot drive over this m2? just using the m2 for my read/write analysis?

 

[greens]

Nooo NVMe > the HDD for sure.

But given the build and cost, why not just source a little 120GB SSD for the OS? You don't want your data and your OS on the same drive anyway, really.

 

[star987]

Am I able to install programs on the m2 ssd drive or just keep my data there and run programs off of the non m2 ssd with the os?

Nooo NVMe > the HDD for sure.

But given the build and cost, why not just source a little 120GB SSD for the OS? You don't want your data and your OS on the same drive anyway, really.

 

[greens]

You can mix and match it all you want, however you want. The computer doesn't care.

I would avoid the OS being on the NVMe due to dependence on PCIE compatibility and drivers - boot times are important to me though, and may be of no concern to you.

Having a program installed on an SSD will make it fast - regardless of whether or not the OS is on the same drive. Same with data, anything on the SSD is going to be fast, regardless of the OS location.

I hope this answers your question, if not ask again and maybe i'll get what you mean

 

[star987]

I'll shoot you a private message with my extra questions if you don't mind.