Samsung Launches 950 Pro SSD with NVMe and 3D V-NAND

[CRamseyer]

Yes, any slot that is advertised as 32Gb/s will work. That is just code for PCIe 3.0 x4 connectivity.

 

[geofelt]

Will the Samsung SSD migration tool be supported for the 950 PRO?
It does not currently support any M.2 devices.
I can't bear the thought of reinstalling my accumulation of apps on a new "C" drive.

 

[PROnvme]

Strange that Tom's didn't mention X99 in the main article, one of the first chipsets that came out with M.2 slots connected to 4xPCIe 3.0 lanes, many of the Z97 board are only connected to 2 lanes so sub optimal for this drive.

 

[CRamseyer]

I tend to overlook X99 and it skipped my mind. Yes, it will work with X99.

As for the migration tools, I will know in a few days what tools work. Samsung has a few tools and a new NVMe driver that is inbound. My drives arrive on Saturday but you will have to wait until the NDA lifts on October 10th for detailed performance information.

 

[gbenninger]

I'm an owner of the 951. The major concern with the new M.2 drives is heat. They perform extremely quickly but if subjected to the long term stresses from video rendering for instance they bog down and become slower than tradional drives because they overheat. Has this been addressed with these new drives? 256 and 512 are ideal for system boot up and programs which load once to make the system snappy then you use a traditional drive for everything else.

 

[CRamseyer]

We asked about throttling and Samsung told us it was addressed with this drive. They did not elaborate on how it was addressed. I'll spend some time during testing on the 950 Pro drives and see what comes out of the other side.

I didn't have any issues with throttling in my SM951 retail drive but the Lenovo model had issues before the firmware update. Then again my test systems are in rackmount cases with very good front to back airflow without video cards over the m.2 SSDs.

 

[geofelt]

I am not comfortable with the M.2 socket typically located under the main graphics card.
It would be helpful it the new devices had a way to mount the device elsewhere.
Perhaps a 2.5" format with a M.2 adapter cable.
Or, perhaps a slot mount with either a pcie x4 adapter or even a simple m.2 extension cable to get it away from the motherboard and into the case cooling airstream.

And... a question: I am more interested in latency times than sequential benchmark rates.
Do you m.2 devices see anything magical in latency times?

 

[CRamseyer]

There are PCIe adapter cards. Some even come with functional heatsinks to keep the controllers cool. Just google PCIe m.2 adapter.

NVMe is all about latency. You can read more about the protocol here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-750-series-ssd,4096-2.html

 

[capd72]

I have read that if you would like to use the samsung 951 M2 Drive as a boot drive, you can not install windows OS using the traditional OEM Disk, instead you need to create a UEFI PEN Drive an istall the windows OS from it.

does this new samsung 950 M2 Drive have the same problem?

 

[CRamseyer]

Yes, you need to install Windows NVMe boot drives in a UEFI environment. Microsoft has free tools for this and the ISO images are available from Microsoft to make the USB drive. Look for Microsoft's Media Creation Tool.

 

[neiljwd]

Novatech now have the 512GB(and 256) available for Preorder at a very reasonable £274.99, pricey sure but if you want it, it's much cheaper than the £320+ delivery the few other retailers are offering.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/harddrives-internal/ssdsolidstate/m.2ssd/mz-v5p512bw.html

Already got my order in, and am super pumped tbh!

 

[Karlos101]

can someone explain to me what the compatible motherboards need to be able to support the full speed capabilities of these SSDs? thanks in advance!

Enough PCIe Bandwidth to support the x4 PCI-e connection. I think. <_<
All Z170 (skylake) boards will, and some z97 and many x99.

Thank you sir.

 

[Danny Lim]

I don't think Z97 and Z170 North Bridge Chipsets only support NVMe protocol. X99 and maybe even X79 chipset should also support NVMe protocol since installing Intel 750 NVMe SSD works well in either Z170, Z97, or X99, but not sure about X79 chipset since Intel hasn't validated the X79 chipset.

 

[yapchagi]

it's october 21st now and they are no where to be found.