SAMSUNG SM950 PRO NVMe SSD

[Redstorm]

It is 30 of october tho.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-216-SA

You missed the point. We have someone from toms hardward stating a NDA is inplace till the 10th. So their is no way overclockers will have them on the 30th.

 

[Johnny Lucky]

Excalibur PC in Fremont, California is taking pre-orders for the Samsung 950 Pro 256GB and 512GB ssd's:

http://www.excaliberpc.com/products/products.html?search=Samsung+950+Pro

 

[mw8t]

Excalibur PC in Fremont, California is taking pre-orders for the Samsung 950 Pro 256GB and 512GB ssd's:

http://www.excaliberpc.com/products/products.html?search=Samsung+950+Pro

Will we see a 128gb drive eventually?

 

[Johnny Lucky]

mw8t - There will not be a 128GB version. Capacities will be 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 4TB. The 1TB and 4TB versions will not be available until next year. The 1TB and 4TB versions require Samsung to change from 32 layer 3D V-Nand flash memory to 48 layer flash memory which is not in mass production yet.

RedStorm - Here's what I am seeing on the Overclockers page:

Pre-order
ETA: 30/10/15

That is October 30th, not September 30th.

 

[Hellhammer]

mw8t - There will not be a 128GB version. Capacities will be 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 4TB. The 1TB and 4TB versions will not be available until next year. The 1TB and 4TB versions require Samsung to change from 32 layer 3D V-Nand flash memory to 48 layer flash memory which is not in mass production yet.

There will not be a 4TB 950 PRO; only 850 EVO and PRO will get a 4TB model next year.

 

[Redstorm]

RedStorm - Here's what I am seeing on the Overclockers page:

Pre-order
ETA: 30/10/15

That is October 30th, not September 30th.

Ahh, missed the 10. my locals ETA is around the 15th so happy days.

 

[jkauff]

I'm going to buy one of these, but only because I want it, can afford it, and have the M2 slot on my motherboard. I honestly don't know what I need all that extra speed for. Maybe I need to get into video editing.

 

[Soulkeeper]

mw8t - There will not be a 128GB version. Capacities will be 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, and 4TB. The 1TB and 4TB versions will not be available until next year. The 1TB and 4TB versions require Samsung to change from 32 layer 3D V-Nand flash memory to 48 layer flash memory which is not in mass production yet.

RedStorm - Here's what I am seeing on the Overclockers page:

Pre-order
ETA: 30/10/15

That is October 30th, not September 30th.

funny cause sept 30th is the pre order for the toshiba x300's
maybe someone mixed those two up

 

[R0H1T]

There will not be a 4TB 950 PRO; only 850 EVO and PRO will get a 4TB model next year.

Will they continue with the same 850 model numbers, with 48 layer 3D V-Nand it makes sense to bump up the model number as well plus 860>850

 

[Hellhammer]

Will they continue with the same 850 model numbers, with 48 layer 3D V-Nand it makes sense to bump up the model number as well plus 860>850

It will be a silent change, so the model numbers will remain unchanged. With V-NAND a change in NAND generation doesn't have the same performance impact as with planar NAND because the lithography doesn't change. Because the performance will be the same, launching a whole new series would merely create confusion.

 

[Redstorm]

Johnny Lucky, its now the 11th here and still no NDA lifted.

 

[VirtualLarry]

It will be a silent change, so the model numbers will remain unchanged. With V-NAND a change in NAND generation doesn't have the same performance impact as with planar NAND because the lithography doesn't change. Because the performance will be the same, launching a whole new series would merely create confusion.

Still just as sleazy as OCZ doing it. Only, now we have Samsung, joining PNY, Silicon Power, and Kingston in the bait-and-switch party.

Edit: I would have thought Marketing would have thought a change to an "860" moniker would have been a good idea. Could have charged a premium at introduction, even as it would cost Samsung less to produce the NAND.

 

[Hellhammer]

Still just as sleazy as OCZ doing it. Only, now we have Samsung, joining PNY, Silicon Power, and Kingston in the bait-and-switch party.

Edit: I would have thought Marketing would have thought a change to an "860" moniker would have been a good idea. Could have charged a premium at introduction, even as it would cost Samsung less to produce the NAND.

I don't see anything sleazy with the change since there's no loss in performance. The 32-layer 128Gbit die that's currently used in the 850 EVO is a single-plane design, whereas the 48-layer 256Gbit die is going to be two-plane. Each plane can handle one IO operation (read, program or erase) at a time, so one 48-layer 256Gbit die is as fast as two 128Gbit dies, thus resulting in equal performance.

I would see 860 as being more problematic because people would automatically assume it's better than the 850, so they would feel cheated when they pay a premium for a newer model with the same performance as the cheaper predecessor.

 

[meloz]

What are the expected capacities for the new 850 series drives, the ones with 48-layer 256 Gbit die? Will it double the capacities over current generation?

Toshiba made that bold claim about >100TB drives in 2017. Or was it 2018? Anyway, I wonder how realisitic those claims are considering the current rate of progress.

Of course one thing missing from the picture is an all new generation of controllers, I cannot see current generation being adequate for addressing capacities >10-20 TB. Samsung -and Toshiba- at least have the advantage of being vertically integrated, others........not so much.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Speaking of controllers, will Samsung be moving to a LDPC ECC mechanism in whatever newer controller they come out with, in conjunction with their TLC V-NAND?

 

[R0H1T]

What are the expected capacities for the new 850 series drives, the ones with 48-layer 256 Gbit die? Will it double the capacities over current generation?

Toshiba made that bold claim about >100TB drives in 2017. Or was it 2018? Anyway, I wonder how realisitic those claims are considering the current rate of progress.

Of course one thing missing from the picture is an all new generation of controllers, I cannot see current generation being adequate for addressing capacities >10-20 TB. Samsung -and Toshiba- at least have the advantage of being vertically integrated, others........not so much.

128TB by 2018 :awe:
www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/anton-shilov/toshiba-128tb-ssds-will-hit-the-market-in-2018/

If NVMe controllers can handle 2GB/s (or more) & up to a theoretical limit of 4GB/s (Ultra M.2) then there's no reason why SATA based controllers wouldn't handle less(er) speeds, though the SSD density would still have to grow massively for'em to fit such capacities in desktops or notebooks. I don't see M.2 drives with such high capacities unless they come with active heatsinks & even then the (tiny) form factor will limit their maximum size.

 

[sam_816]

good people of anandtech. i have a noobish question if you guys can help me. i have seen many ppl excited about this ssd. i wish to know if this one will be less pain in the bottom to install on older mobos.
i have maximus vi gene and was wondering is i can use this ssd with one of those lycom adapter. so far i was only able to make plextor m6e work as a boot drive. samsungs xp941 and sm951 were no-go.

 

[Redstorm]

good people of anandtech. i have a noobish question if you guys can help me. i have seen many ppl excited about this ssd. i wish to know if this one will be less pain in the bottom to install on older mobos.
i have maximus vi gene and was wondering is i can use this ssd with one of those lycom adapter. so far i was only able to make plextor m6e work as a boot drive. samsungs xp941 and sm951 were no-go.

You can use it on older motherboards that dont have Ultra M.2 ports by using an adapter, just remember you wont be able to use it as a boot drive as the bios will not support it. It is unlikely that vendors will update older bios's as they would rather you brought a new board.

Z97, Z170 and X99 are your current chipsets that support using NVMe drives for booting off.

 

[larryccf]

Redstorm is correct - the 950 PRO is NVMe protocol, and your Z87 chipset does not show a BIOS update enabling NVMe

the xp941 (as well as a SM951 AHCI variant) should have worked but i suspect you ran into the same issues i did but i finally got my xp941 to work, after 18+ hours of head banging searching the internet for installation instructions. Even then, the instructions were "iffy" - installing win 7 x64 didn't go thru until i clikked on the "next" button, even though it was greyed out. Have seen other reports indicating similiar experience, where the greyed out "next" icon would occasionally work. I state that as the Asus specifications page for your mobo shows "1 x M.2 (NGFF) Socket 2 on mPCIe Combo II expansion card(s), black", so apparently it came with a M.2 expansion card

but if you're inclined to upgrading your motherboard to a newer model (Z97 or higher), the 950 PRO, per samsung's announcement, will come with drivers / boot files and in samsung's words, to make the user experience more positive.

 

[sam_816]

Redstorm is correct - the 950 PRO is NVMe protocol, and your Z87 chipset does not show a BIOS update enabling NVMe

the xp941 (as well as a SM951 AHCI variant) should have worked but i suspect you ran into the same issues i did but i finally got my xp941 to work, after 18+ hours of head banging searching the internet for installation instructions. Even then, the instructions were "iffy" - installing win 7 x64 didn't go thru until i clikked on the "next" button, even though it was greyed out. Have seen other reports indicating similiar experience, where the greyed out "next" icon would occasionally work. I state that as the Asus specifications page for your mobo shows "1 x M.2 (NGFF) Socket 2 on mPCIe Combo II expansion card(s), black", so apparently it came with a M.2 expansion card

but if you're inclined to upgrading your motherboard to a newer model (Z97 or higher), the 950 PRO, per samsung's announcement, will come with drivers / boot files and in samsung's words, to make the user experience more positive.

The m.2 pcie combo thing is only for shortest ssd lengths (40mm) I think n wifi cards of similar length. Which mobo do u have?(can't see signatures in tapatalk)

I was thinking of Asus z97m-plus or gigabyte GA-Z97MX Gaming 5, former is available easily and cheaper here in Brazil. Sometimes I feel I should sell my 4790k/vi gene and go for i5 6600k+ maximus VIII gene. It has m.2 port with x4 lane speed to fully access the speed of sm951. But it will blow my budget

Will my corsair h90 cooler and ddr 3 ram(vengeance 1600hz ) work with z170 chipset? Any ideas, anyone ?

 

[larryccf]

The m.2 pcie combo thing is only for shortest ssd lengths (40mm) I think n wifi cards of similar length. Which mobo do u have?(can't see signatures in tapatalk)

I was thinking of Asus z97m-plus or gigabyte GA-Z97MX Gaming 5, former is available easily and cheaper here in Brazil. Sometimes I feel I should sell my 4790k/vi gene and go for i5 6600k+ maximus VIII gene. It has m.2 port with x4 lane speed to fully access the speed of sm951. But it will blow my budget

Will my corsair h90 cooler and ddr 3 ram(vengeance 1600hz ) work with z170 chipset? Any ideas, anyone ?

you just named my mobo - Z97M-Plus - and on the newer 170 chipset boards, i keep reading reviews / reports where folks are indicating they're not seeing the speeds they expect, plus there was one indicating while it does allow for 20 lanes, half are used by sata ports - so if you use extra SSDs, you give up some lanes - plus the expense of DDR4 mem, i don't think it's worth the expense or effort

 

[sam_816]

you just named my mobo - Z97M-Plus - and on the newer 170 chipset boards, i keep reading reviews / reports where folks are indicating they're not seeing the speeds they expect, plus there was one indicating while it does allow for 20 lanes, half are used by sata ports - so if you use extra SSDs, you give up some lanes - plus the expense of DDR4 mem, i don't think it's worth the expense or effort

Yea. It's way too costly right now.

I have decided not to go z170 way.

How is your experience with z97m-plus? Have you tried sm951 with an adapter? Here a Brazilian version is available(made in Brazil) some ppl have reported issues with them. Primarily that mobo wont boot windows if ram dimms are installed in dual channel config(1-3 or 2-4 slots) it works fine when installed in 1-2 slots.

Will you be getting new 950 ssd? Any idea if it will get supported?

 

[Redstorm]

So much for that NDA lifting on the 10th, now the 14th here. Johnny Lucky not as well connected as he thought he was.

Just frustrated as i want to get my hands on one and see some benchmarks.

 

[Hellhammer]

So much for that NDA lifting on the 10th, now the 14th here. Johnny Lucky not as well connected as he thought he was.

Just frustrated as i want to get my hands on one and see some benchmarks.

His info was correct, but the NDA lift was postponed. It will be very, very soon, though

 

[larryccf]

Yea. It's way too costly right now.

I have decided not to go z170 way.

How is your experience with z97m-plus? Have you tried sm951 with an adapter? Here a Brazilian version is available(made in Brazil) some ppl have reported issues with them. Primarily that mobo wont boot windows if ram dimms are installed in dual channel config(1-3 or 2-4 slots) it works fine when installed in 1-2 slots.

Will you be getting new 950 ssd? Any idea if it will get supported?

This was my first DIY computer at the age of 66 and it went beautifully - only issues were installing a few drivers and it actually took 3 attempts with one (audio driver) but the mobo itself was flawless. I'm not sure i understand the installing dimm boards in 1-2 or 3-4, i installed mine in what ASUS refers to as DIMM A2 & B2 - see the 2nd pix below

i don't know about the sm951 but can say the xp941 (first gen) installed - albeit, it took 18+ hours of researching on the web and trying different "tricks" - the oddest one was that during the windows install, even though windows would see or recognize the xp941 drive, the "next" icon was greyed - one time i finally clikked on it out of desperation and it installed

and yes i am waiting to order the 950 PRO - i'm hoping, with the fact that samsung is shipping it with drivers and/or boot files, it will go easier, installation wise - what doesn't help is I'm running windows 7 x64, which isn't the "friendliest" to running PCIe SSDs as boot drives

I'll probably wait for a few weeks to see what others report in terms of experiences - not really interested in being a "beta" tester, and especially since the NDA termination date has been extended some, indicates the possibility of early production issues

The Z97M-Plus, like all the Z97 mobos, dis-ables two sata ports when a M.2 SSD is installed in the M.2 socket. Even installed in the M.2 socket, as it's only two lanes or "x2" (which samsung marketing does a great job of camoflaging in their literature) it only gave me transfer speeds of 770 MB/s read and 580 MB/s write so I installed the xp941 in an expansion card (addionics) and transfer speeds jumped to 1180 MB/s read, 870 write, which is what samsung specifies.

I will be using the M.2 socket for the xp941 and installing the 950 Pro in the expansion card - main reason is i do a lot of video rendering, and just the xp941 reduced rendering times 55-60% (avg takes 65-75 minutes, dropped to 30-35 minutes) and that's reading from a sata SSD and writing to the xp941. I'm real interested in what happens to those times when i reading from one M.2 PCI SSD and writing to a second (the 950 Pro).

I'm actually entertaining changing the video card as it covers the 2nd expansion slot - with a non-fan cooled card, i could install that xp941 in the 2nd slot and enjoy full speed on both SSDs. I don't watch a lot of video on the computer, and don't game any, so running that first slot at x8 wouldn't be a big deal to me.

here's a shot of the xp941 installed in the addionics card

one tip on installing the z97M-plus if you do go with it - READ THE ENTIRE MANUAL TWICE BEFORE THE INSTALL

there was an installation instruction on approx pg 31 that didn't make sense until i got to page 90 - and obviously, i didn't read the manual first so i ended up scratching the already bald spot on the back of my head even balder