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Hiya-
So I just put together a new build:
- i7-6700k (no OC) (yet)
- Gigabyte Z170X Gaming 7 mobo (F6 BIOS)
- 16GB G.Skill DDR4 3000 RAM
- Corsair RM750i PSU
- Corsair H115i water cooler
- Samsung SM951 256GB M.2 NVMe SSD boot drive
- WD Caviar Black 1TB game drive
- Fractal Design Define R5 case
- overclocked Gigabyte 660Ti GPU (waiting on Pascal for a new GPU)
- Windows 10 Pro
- lots and lots of fans

So, everything went together pretty well (except for the H115i not _quite_ fitting in the roof of the R5, that's another post), except I can't figure out one thing: I don't think the SM951 NVMe SSD (for which I paid a pretty penny) is running in NVMe mode. I'm booting into Windows 10 installed on the SM951, but two things are sticking in my craw:

- In Device Manager, it says the SM951 is using the Microsoft driver, not the Samsung driver.
- In the BIOS, under "Peripherals", there's supposed to be an item called "NVMe Configuration" that, according to the mobo manual, "displays information on your M.2 NVME PCIe SSD if installed". This is not available in my install.

I have installed the native Samsung NVMe drivers, and "Samsung NVMe Controller" is listed under Storage controllers in the Device Manager.
I have tried, with trepidation, to switch the SM951 driver to the Samsung one manually. No love.
I have tried the newest beta BIOS from Gigabyte (F7g). No love.

Now, I have all the SATA stuff set to AHCI mode... the only thing I can think, do I need to set to RAID mode, even though I'm not technically using a RAID setup? Dunno. Anybody got any ideas?

Thanks for any help!

Is possible you have the AHCI version instead of the NVMe? I see it also listed as Samsung SM951 256GB AHCI MZHPV256HDGL-00000 the description also lists "Support Standard AHCI driver."

You sure you have this one? Samsung SSD NVMe MZVPV256HDGL-00000

Ya, my drive is definitely the NVMe one... the label on the drive and the device properties in Computer Management both identify the drive as MZVPV256.

I have a Z170 build with the exact same drive.
I think I am using the MS driver, but I heard you can easily switch to the Samsung driver as well.

Download HDtune, run the speed test, and post your results.
http://download.cnet.com/HD-Tune/3000-1 ... 74407.html
I have HDtune and can do the same.

Also, let me know if you use any other software to run a speed test; I'll download that and run that test too.

Drewstre wrote:

- In the BIOS, under "Peripherals", there's supposed to be an item called "NVMe Configuration" that, according to the mobo manual, "displays information on your M.2 NVME PCIe SSD if installed". This is not available in my install.

This does sound like a UEFI issue. Are you sure you don't need to browse to the drive in the UEFI and manually switch it from AHCI to NVMe before that menu will show up? I'd expect it to be automatic but again one never knows...

Removed for less scrolling through thread. It's starting to bug me.

Have you run the speed test that dposcorp requested? That will settle the issue nicely, I think. If it's performing right, that's the most important thing, IMO.

What I have is a Samsung SM951 256GB (NVMe) MZVPV256HDGL OEM. (came out of a HP server in a PCI-E card)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 12K3KA7506


Get CrystalDiskMark.

http://download.cnet.com/CrystalDiskMar ... 30576.html

Make sure top line reads 5, 1GiB, and click the "all"

Check these review results and get a idea of what a NVME Drive should perform like.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/10/ ... e-monster/

http://www.cdrlabs.com/Reviews/samsung- ... -ATTO.html

http://www.legitreviews.com/samsung-sm9 ... w_162219/3

Screen shot of my results (this is the OS Drive, the only drive in the system, with lots of stuff running in the back ground, and half the drive used.........just a quick test)

Samsung states the NVMe driver on their download page is only for the 950 Pro.

Samsung NVMe Driver Installer
The software for this "950 PRO NVMe Driver Installation" only supports the Samsung NVMe SSD 950 PRO.

Samsung Downloads For PC

For CrystalDiskmark I'd be careful which version your downloading, the homepage has this about Opencandy adware.

[2016/02/10] Removed Ads (OpenCandy) from Installers of CrystalDiskInfo & CrystalDiskMark.

Crystal Dew World Homepage

I use the zip version of CrystalDiskMark - no Opencandy on that one.

Hiya folks, thanks for all the replies! I ran AS-SSD, Crystal, ATTO, and HDTune benchmarks... I rarely post images in forum posts, and haven't in a long time. I put the images in Dropbox, anybody wanna give me a quick primer on posting images in this forum? Thanks

Drewstre wrote:

I put the images in Dropbox, anybody wanna give me a quick primer on posting images in this forum? Thanks

Create a "share" link in Dropbox and paste it here between image tags (the Img button above this text input window). Change the "dl=0" at the end of the link to "raw=1" and you'll be set. Please resize really big images (Irfanview works wonders here & it's free) down to a size that will fit in most browser windows, say 1280 pixels wide or smaller.

Thankee-sai, Cap'n. Let's try it...






I know those are pretty good numbers, but I have read that Microsoft's NVMe driver can be a little flaky, so I wanted to try Samsung's drivers.

Biffzinker- In the first image you posted from Samsung's site, it looks like the SM951 is listed in the section titled "M.2 PCIe NVMe"... I checked all that stuff before I splashed for the drive

Kougar- I don't see anywhere in the UEFI where I can switch the drive to NVMe... I did just update to the F7 BIOS that just came out, so I'll look again.

Thanks again for everybody's help.

Hey Dposcorp, I just noticed, in your screenshot of HD Tune, it looks like your drive is listed as the MZHPV one... you sure you got the NVMe model?

The numbers check out, so that answers whether the Samsung SM951 is running at peak performance.

I don't have any options for NVMe in the uEFI on this Asus Z97 even though it's listed as supported. The only options are to switch from Auto to re-assigning PCIe from SATA Express to the M.2 slot PCIe 2.0 x2, I'm guessing it'll auto detect either NVMe (PCIe) or AHCI (SATA) if your using the M.2 slot or SATA Express.

Two Intel 2.5" SSDs (older 525 with 535 both 120GB) in RAID 0 with a 16KB stripe block nets me these results.



Edited post to reduce size.

Drewstre wrote:

Hey Dposcorp, I just noticed, in your screenshot of HD Tune, it looks like your drive is listed as the MZHPV one... you sure you got the NVMe model?

I can only go by the part number listed in HD Tune, on the drive itself, and what Samsung, Newegg and Amazon say:

MZVPV256HDGL

http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/pr ... DGL?ia=831

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-MZVPV256H ... B015CWQY4Q
Form Factor M.2 , Interface PCIe Gen3 8Gb/s x4, NVME

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 12K3KA7506
Samsung SM951 256GB (NVMe) MZVPV256HDGL-00000 MZ-VPV2560 Gen3 M.2 80mm PCIe 3.0 x4 256G SSD OEM - OEM

I am gonna download AS-SSD and run some tests after I reboot and have nothing running in the background.
In the meantime, here are some good links comparing the NVMe model to the AHCI model, using some of the same software, and can help you see where you stand.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9396/sams ... -review/10

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7181/s ... ndex5.html

http://www.legitreviews.com/samsung-sm9 ... w_162219/3

http://www.thessdreview.com/our-reviews ... ormance/3/

Drewstre wrote:

Hey Dposcorp, I just noticed, in your screenshot of HD Tune, it looks like your drive is listed as the MZHPV one... you sure you got the NVMe model?

Well, I got pair of these in tradel, and was told they were NVME. I didnt really care, and the first time I looked them up I thought they were NVMe.
Now I am not so sure.
Looks like those with "HP" in the part #, like mine, are AHCI.


http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/pr ... lient-ssd/

For those that done want to click on the link:

SM951
MZVPV512HDGL
512GB NVMe PCIe M.2
Read more

SM951
MZHPV128HDGM
128GB AHCI PCIe M.2
Read more

SM951
MZHPV256HDGL
256GB AHCI PCIe M.2
Read more

SM951
MZHPV512HDGL
512GB AHCI PCIe M.2
Read more

SM951
MZVPV128HDGM
128GB NVMe PCIe M.2
Read more

SM951
MZVPV256HDGL
256GB NVMe PCIe M.2
Read more


Edit:

Per Samsung, specs are pretty close:

MZVPV256HDGL (NVMe) SPECIFICATIONS
Model SM951 Interface PCI Express Gen3 x4
Form Factor M.2 Capacity 256GB
Sequential Read Up to 2,150MB/s Sequential Write Up to 1,260MB/s
Random Read Up to 300K IOPS Random Write Up to 100K IOPS


MZHPV256HDGL (AHCI) SPECIFICATIONS
Model SM951 Interface PCI Express Gen3 x4
Form Factor M.2 Capacity 256GB
Sequential Read Up to 2,150MB/s Sequential Write Up to 1,200MB/s
Random Read Up to 90K IOPS Random Write Up to 70K IOPS