From what I've read NVMe doesn't add a huge performance gain for most client workloads. I could be off base though. Of course I'm sure some client/power users would surely benefit, but for most I think it's not a major issue right now.
The main benefit of NVMe is the reduced latency and reduced CPU load. It's all well and good for a drive to hit massive I/O when nothing else is going on, but if your I/O starts bottlenecking on your CPU, something is clearly amiss.
Quite possibly true, but I've not seen any head to head comparisons yet (mainly because the drives TO test this haven't been made available). If the SM951 can be made available at a noticeable discount compared to the Intel 750, then great, but the $1/GB price of the Intel seems show no big price advantage for the Samsung. We'll have to see what the prices stabilize at after regular availability, of course. The Intel needs to be made available in that 800GB capacity, though I think I'd be more than satisfied with the 400GB version for a boot drive. The 256GB SSD I have now is getting fairly tight, but 400GB would be ample for me.
Now if regular 1TB SSD prices will come down, I can replace all my storage with SSD. That will be a very nice day. I noticed the Mushkin Reactor 1TB is down to about $350 at Newegg...
Honestly surprised that a 2.1GB/s SSD is coming out at under $1/GB. Still expensive... but for the availability and performance I honestly expected it to cost more out the gate and have the price fall over time as there is more availability.
Stuff like this is really making me wonder what the use of a full tower is for a modern desktop. I mean 512GB is more than enough local storage (when paired with a NAS for bulk files), and with DDR4 it is going to be perfectly normal to have a 2 stick 32GB config for RAM... I mean, the biggest things in a computer anymore are the GPU, PSU, and tower cooler on the CPU; everything else is getting down right tiny or integrated.
you still get the best bang for your buck, upgradabilty, expandability and absolute performance in a desktop form factor, so if those things are of interest, a desktop is still the way to go.
that said, it's nice that you can get the highest end cnsumer drive even in a mobile form factor, but this has been more or less the case since we have SSDs.
The same reason fanless laptops will always have 5W or less for CPU and GPU. You can make a fast laptop but you can always make a faster desktop because there's more thermal headroom. Sure it isn't sexy but if you use the performance then there's still a reason to have a desktop.
Tell me about it, i got rid of all my cases except 2 mid towers. The problem currently is no good mini/micro atx boards out that could replace ATX ones. You have two price points..real cheap not much options, real expensive with questionable upgrade paths.
Will this work as a bootable drive in a Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI (rev. 1.1)?: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx... Quote: "1 x M.2 PCIe connector (Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe SSD support)" Gigabyte's latest beta bios version F8a mentions "Support future NVMe SSD drive". But: this Samsung SM951 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD is not an NVMe drive.
We've had customers boot the XP941 in this mobo for some time. The AHCI SM951 *should* work, but so far I'm seeing limited support for Z97 platforms while the manufacturers get bios updates released.
This is stupid old-fashioned expensive because they're still using old process, old-school 64-bit NAND from years ago. There's no reason to not use 128-bit, no reason not to use 16nm, and really no reason not to use V-NAND unless Samsung doesn't have any faith in it.
The price premium TWO TIMES over the Evo 850 M2 and that price delta comes down to the NAND, not the controller. It feels like they're clearing out old inventory or something, it's criminal to still be producing 64-bit 19nm dies in 2015 when you have at least three more technologically advanced processes ahead of it at your disposal.
Samsung doesnt have a 16nm NAND process, so there is really only 2 better NAND processes (unless you count both gens of V-NAND, but V-NAND gen 1 isnt used in consumer stuff, only some enterprize stuff). Also it's 64/128 Gbit -- not bit.
I have an early 2008 Mac Pro (3,1) and am wondering if there is any advantage to buying the SM951 and Lycom DT-120 combo (512GB) over OWC Accelsior E2 (480GB)? The SM951 is only about $40 more.
According to Intel, the 750 requires the full bandwidth of PCIe 3.0 lanes, and can not be run in a 2.0 slot, whereas Samsung's M.2 PCIe units are backward compatible withn 3.0 x2, 2.0 x4 and 2.0 x2 slots (using a PCIe slot adapter, at reduced performance levels, natch), making them much more attractive to those of us whose systems' mobos have only one PCIe 3.0 slot -- especially AMD APU-based system owners!
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Laststop311 - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Amazing have been waiting for over half a year for this sucker. Putting my pre order in for 512GB NOW.tyger11 - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Unfortunately no NVMe on this. :(ATC9001 - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
From what I've read NVMe doesn't add a huge performance gain for most client workloads. I could be off base though. Of course I'm sure some client/power users would surely benefit, but for most I think it's not a major issue right now.makerofthegames - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
The main benefit of NVMe is the reduced latency and reduced CPU load. It's all well and good for a drive to hit massive I/O when nothing else is going on, but if your I/O starts bottlenecking on your CPU, something is clearly amiss.tyger11 - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Quite possibly true, but I've not seen any head to head comparisons yet (mainly because the drives TO test this haven't been made available). If the SM951 can be made available at a noticeable discount compared to the Intel 750, then great, but the $1/GB price of the Intel seems show no big price advantage for the Samsung. We'll have to see what the prices stabilize at after regular availability, of course. The Intel needs to be made available in that 800GB capacity, though I think I'd be more than satisfied with the 400GB version for a boot drive. The 256GB SSD I have now is getting fairly tight, but 400GB would be ample for me.Now if regular 1TB SSD prices will come down, I can replace all my storage with SSD. That will be a very nice day. I noticed the Mushkin Reactor 1TB is down to about $350 at Newegg...
gattberserk - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
NVMe SM951 will be out in July 2015 earliest... Look out for model number: MZVPV512HDGL-00000The key is MZVPV which denote NVMe variant, while MZHPV denote AHCI variant
Jasmij - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
All MSI X99 Motherboards come with an Gen3 x4 M.2 slot.Cygni - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
The standards mess for these SSDs is really turning into a pain. Really hope a single standard emerges sooner rather than later.CaedenV - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Honestly surprised that a 2.1GB/s SSD is coming out at under $1/GB. Still expensive... but for the availability and performance I honestly expected it to cost more out the gate and have the price fall over time as there is more availability.Stuff like this is really making me wonder what the use of a full tower is for a modern desktop. I mean 512GB is more than enough local storage (when paired with a NAS for bulk files), and with DDR4 it is going to be perfectly normal to have a 2 stick 32GB config for RAM... I mean, the biggest things in a computer anymore are the GPU, PSU, and tower cooler on the CPU; everything else is getting down right tiny or integrated.
fokka - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
you still get the best bang for your buck, upgradabilty, expandability and absolute performance in a desktop form factor, so if those things are of interest, a desktop is still the way to go.that said, it's nice that you can get the highest end cnsumer drive even in a mobile form factor, but this has been more or less the case since we have SSDs.
willis936 - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
The same reason fanless laptops will always have 5W or less for CPU and GPU. You can make a fast laptop but you can always make a faster desktop because there's more thermal headroom. Sure it isn't sexy but if you use the performance then there's still a reason to have a desktop.imaheadcase - Wednesday, April 8, 2015 - link
Tell me about it, i got rid of all my cases except 2 mid towers. The problem currently is no good mini/micro atx boards out that could replace ATX ones. You have two price points..real cheap not much options, real expensive with questionable upgrade paths.mark0409mr01 - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Kristian, could you ask Ganesh to run some numbers on the NVMe version he received? I would be interested in a comparison between this and the 750Freakie - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Hey Kristian, the Intel 750 doesn't seen to be in Bench yet, any particular reason why?Morawka - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
will these ssd's work in 2014 or newer Apple MBP or MBA?RamCity - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Neither the XP941 or SM951 will work in any MBP or MBA. Apple use a proprietary connector which makes a non-Apple third party upgrade not possible.Morawka - Thursday, April 9, 2015 - link
gg apple. cant afford Sales Tax, Adapters, Upgrades, and Apple Care all at the same time.dasmoothride - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
If I use the PCIe adapter, will I be able to use this as a boot drive?RamCity - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
It all depends on your motherboard. A lot of our customers have had success booting the XP941 with an adapter in X99-chipset motherboards.vailr - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
Will this work as a bootable drive in a Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI (rev. 1.1)?:http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx...
Quote: "1 x M.2 PCIe connector
(Socket 3, M key, type 2242/2260/2280 SATA & PCIe SSD support)"
Gigabyte's latest beta bios version F8a mentions "Support future NVMe SSD drive".
But: this Samsung SM951 PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD is not an NVMe drive.
RamCity - Thursday, April 9, 2015 - link
We've had customers boot the XP941 in this mobo for some time. The AHCI SM951 *should* work, but so far I'm seeing limited support for Z97 platforms while the manufacturers get bios updates released.Samus - Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - link
This is stupid old-fashioned expensive because they're still using old process, old-school 64-bit NAND from years ago. There's no reason to not use 128-bit, no reason not to use 16nm, and really no reason not to use V-NAND unless Samsung doesn't have any faith in it.The price premium TWO TIMES over the Evo 850 M2 and that price delta comes down to the NAND, not the controller. It feels like they're clearing out old inventory or something, it's criminal to still be producing 64-bit 19nm dies in 2015 when you have at least three more technologically advanced processes ahead of it at your disposal.
extide - Wednesday, April 8, 2015 - link
Samsung doesnt have a 16nm NAND process, so there is really only 2 better NAND processes (unless you count both gens of V-NAND, but V-NAND gen 1 isnt used in consumer stuff, only some enterprize stuff). Also it's 64/128 Gbit -- not bit.Atari2600 - Wednesday, April 8, 2015 - link
I got a 512GB SM951 from here a few weeks back:https://www.flexxmemory.co.uk
Worth a check to see if they've any in stock.
danjw - Wednesday, April 8, 2015 - link
It is down to $459.99 for the 512GB this morning.aggiechase37 - Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - link
Unless that permanently fix the EVO issue, there is absolutely no reason to buy another Samsung SSD again. Buying Samsung is just asking for trouble.kenburg - Thursday, April 23, 2015 - link
I have an early 2008 Mac Pro (3,1) and am wondering if there is any advantage to buying the SM951 and Lycom DT-120 combo (512GB) over OWC Accelsior E2 (480GB)? The SM951 is only about $40 more.geekfool - Thursday, April 23, 2015 - link
According to Intel, the 750 requires the full bandwidth of PCIe 3.0 lanes, and can not be run in a 2.0 slot, whereas Samsung's M.2 PCIe units are backward compatible withn 3.0 x2, 2.0 x4 and 2.0 x2 slots (using a PCIe slot adapter, at reduced performance levels, natch), making them much more attractive to those of us whose systems' mobos have only one PCIe 3.0 slot -- especially AMD APU-based system owners!Dustproof - Tuesday, May 5, 2015 - link
I have one in an Apple MacBook Pro, it has valuable data on it. Is there a reader to connect this SSD to to retrieve the data?