Will I need to do an SSD firmware update?

[Sammyjo20]

When my Samsung SSD Arrives (850 Evo) should I update the firmware or should I just leave it as it is?

- Sam

 

[Sammyjo20]

All works fine. Used Magician to update firmware and everything you said worked. Works fast and perfect. It's been a little weird though while doing heavy stuff. I was doing about 4 different transfers to my HDD from my SSD and it froze for like 20 sec and then rebooted explorer.exe, but I think it's because there's so much going on. What do you guys think?

- Sam

 

[Darkbreeze]

Make sure you also install the latest chipset and storage controller drivers for your motherboard model as outlined on it's manufacturer product page. If you do a lot of large file transfers, I'd opt for enabling RAPID mode in magician as well. I would also recommend that you enable and configure at least a 5% over provisioning in Magician. 10% would be better.

http://www.samsung.com/global/business/semiconductor/minisite/SSD/global/html/whitepaper/whitepaper05.html

 

[Sammyjo20]

Okay. Would this be the driver?

 

[Sammyjo20]

All good

I get about 4.5gb/s read with Rapid mode on but there seems to be a lot of RAM usage (50-70% usually) is this okay? What about when I go into games that require lots of RAM?

- Sam

 

[helpstar]

Run "as ssd" and post a screenshot of it

 

[Sammyjo20]

Is this okay?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Yes, RAPID uses system memory to speed up throughput during file transfers, that's normal. If you have a lot of RAM it's worth using, if you don't, you might not want to use it. For anybody with more than 8GB of RAM I say it's up to you. If you have less, probably not recommended.

No, that preinstall driver is not the right one. It is possibly part of the .inf drivers. What is your motherboard model number?

 

[Sammyjo20]

Gigabyte GA-H81M-DS2V running Windows 8.1 at 64bit

- Sam

 

[Darkbreeze]

http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Driver/mb_driver_intel_me_8series.exe

http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Driver/mb_driver_chipset_intel_8series.exe

http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Driver/mb_driver_intel_irst_8series.exe


Those for sure. The other drivers, for LAN, audio and onchip graphics are up to you but are likely different from the MS supplied versions. Not always, but often.

 

[Sammyjo20]

Okay is it safe to install all of them then?

- Sam

 

[Darkbreeze]

I would only install those three above unless there is a problem with your LAN or audio, or if you're using the onboard CPU graphics rather than a discreet graphics card, then you can install those three. Any others are unnecessary.

 

[helpstar]

http://www.techspot.com/downloads/6014-as-ssd-benchmark.html
Please run this, it will show the installed installed driver and sata mode too

 

[Darkbreeze]

I wouldn't worry, at all, about the SSD benchmarks. It rarely represents real world usage anyhow. Unless you're seeing wildly underperforming scores, and you know you have the correct drivers installed, it's pretty rare to have an issue that you can't "feel" or see. A few points here and there, even in the tens of points, can't be related to other factors like system hardware and OS condition.

 

[helpstar]

Are you sure the alignment, driver and sata mode is correctly installed?
I think it's a very good way to look up those things in hi time. Don't want to see just numbers 😉

 

[Darkbreeze]

True, those factors certainly won't hurt to look at. I do check alignment but it's been a long time since I found a unit that was not aligned properly.

 

[Sammyjo20]

So I think everything is sorted, with those drivers installed I don't get random cursor freezes like before occasionally, but it's too early to say how reliable it is. I have rapid mode on and get some insane read and write speeds.

I just want to say to everyone a huge thank you. You guys didn't have to spend your time helping me out, but you did. It's people like you guys who help the techie world go around.

Have a great day.
- Sam

 

[Darkbreeze]

Glad to hear it Sam. Good luck to you bud.