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HP Recommended

@MtothaJ wrote:

@Thurisaz wrote:

I have Windows 7 SP1 Ultimate x64...  I should pray the driver to work with Sandy Bridge processors....
Thank you again, MtothaJ! 🙂
If someone has any experience with the driver... please, share it with me! 🙂


I am using the same drivers (I have a  950 Pro) with a Sandy Bridge E5-1650 v1 and they work fine so no need to worry.

The more serious problem may be Win 7 since this does not have native NVMe support. I think that installing the drivers at the WIn 7 installation stage should do the trick ad make the drive appear as a installation destination for your operating system but this is just speculation on my part since I have not tried this myself.



Thank you for the reply, MthotaJ!
Well, the Samsung NVMe Driver v. 2.1 offically has support for Windows 7. It shouldn't be a problem to be installed.
I sent an e-mail to the technical support of Samsung about this  Haswell / Sandy Bridge case, which I have.
What version is the Samsung NVMe Driver, you have on your PC?
Greetings

HP Recommended

@Thurisaz wrote:
Thank you for the reply, MthotaJ!
Well, the Samsung NVMe Driver v. 2.1 offically has support for Windows 7. It shouldn't be a problem to be installed.
I sent an e-mail to the technical support of Samsung about this  Haswell / Sandy Bridge case, which I have.
What version is the Samsung NVMe Driver, you have on your PC?
Greetings

 

I am using v2.1, and previously have used the earlier versions.

With regard to the CPU, this is a non-issue. My feeling is that with a drive of this calibre they do not recommend using an old / underpowered processor since this might bottle neck the SSD, however the E5 Xeon processors -while not the newest - are anything but undepowered and comfortably keep up with newer CPU's - I am getting the full read / write speed on the 950 Pro as advertised by Samsung. There might also be the question of that earlier CPU's lack the bios support for NVMe, however in our case - at least with this family of NVMe SSD's - this is also not a problem.

 

Just so that you are assured further:

 

- 950 Pro in my Z420 as seen in HP Performance Advisor:

 

 

- Crystal Disk disk speed benchmark (960 Pro will obviously be faster):

 

 

HP Recommended

Hi Thurisaz,

 

I'm going to buy above disk for my Z820. Could you confirm whether you bought Samsung Pro 960 and it works in your Z820? Thanks.

HP Recommended

@mateuszfr wrote:

Hi Thurisaz,

 

I'm going to buy above disk for my Z820. Could you confirm whether you bought Samsung Pro 960 and it works in your Z820? Thanks.


Mateusz, Pozdraw! 🙂 Stilll I'm waiting for my Samsung Pro 960 to be delivered /I hope next week/. So, I cannot confirm anything... According to MtothaJ's comment about Samsung Pro 950... we suppose that it should work well and I hope that everything will be alrigh. I'll let you know.
You should buy some good M.2 to PCI-E adapter... I already bought Angelbird Wings PX1, but there is Asus Hyper M.2 x4 Mini.. and other much cheaper, solutions... Keep in mind that the performace of the SSD also depends on this adapter! 🙂

HP Recommended

Mateusz, Pozdraw! 🙂
I already installed my Samsung Pro 960 1TB via Angelbird Wings PX1, on PCIe3 x8 (x4) Slot 1, and it works on my HP Z820, but slower than expected, just aroung 2300MB/s  Seq Read and around 500MB/s Random Read. I didn't perform Write tests.
I have no idea what's the reason about the slower speed?!
I'm not using it as OS boot device, so I can't tell you more about this.
Greetings! 🙂

UPDATE Info: I decided to change the PCI-E slot from PCIe3 x8 (x4) Slot 1, to PCIe3 x16 Slot 6... I got these results from two READ performaces with CrystalDiskMark...
Samsung Pro 960 Perf.pngSamsung Pro 960 Perf 2.png


HP Recommended

@Thurisaz wrote:

Mateusz, Pozdraw! 🙂
I already installed my Samsung Pro 960 1TB via Angelbird Wings PX1, on PCIe3 x8 (x4) Slot 1, and it works on my HP Z820, but slower than expected, just aroung 2300MB/s  Seq Read and around 500MB/s Random Read. I didn't perform Write tests.
I have no idea what's the reason about the slower speed?!
I'm not using it as OS boot device, so I can't tell you more about this.
Greetings! 🙂

UPDATE Info: I decided to change the PCI-E slot from PCIe3 x8 (x4) Slot 1, to PCIe3 x16 Slot 6... I got these results from two READ performaces with CrystalDiskMark...
Samsung Pro 960 Perf.pngSamsung Pro 960 Perf 2.png



That is an excellent set of results. WHat about your WRITE speeds - benchmark is only showing READ?

Have you tried installing your drive as a system drive or is your intention to have it just as an additional drive?

HP Recommended

Thusisaz,

 

I think it may be possible to use a Samsung 960 Pro in a z820,  and there are a number of Passmark results for z820's with NVMe drives - Samsung SM951 and Intel 750.  However, to use NVMe as the boot drive, loading the driver is not sufficient, there is a required NVMe BIOS module that is very advanced technically to accomplish. It's possible to use NVMe as a data drive however,

 

However, the Samsung 950 Pro was designed to allow installation of M.2 NVMe on older systems.  This also uses a BIOS module, that is called a "Leagacy BIOS" and as long as you have a UEFI BIOS on the z820,  a 950 Pro should work. 

 

http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/product/consumer/950pro.html

 

http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/global/file/insight/2015/08/NVMeSSD_User_Installation_Guide_whi...

 

There are three HP's using Samsung 950 Pro's: a z240 and two z620's.  These have Passmark Disk scores of: 15145, 12605, and 10898. Notice that the z240, a current design runs at top speed, while the z620 seems not to have full performance.

 

Be aware that the 950 Pro runs quite hot and every review I read mentioned thermal throttling under stress tests.  There are M.2 cooling solutions including heatsinks or fans. and there are also PCIe fans if you have a spare slot next to the drive.

 

Another solution would be to use an HP Turbo Drive, AHCI version.  These have a Samsung SM951 AHCI inside and there is a very effective heatsink cooler.  The z620 has one a 256GB  Z Turbo which produced a Passmark Disk score of 12460. For comparison, the fastest M.2 drive in a z820 is a Smasung SM951 NVMe 512GB and that has a Passmark score of 14843.

 

__________________________________

 

While the M.2 produces impressive benchmark numbers, I'd say that I haven't noticed any significant difference in any disk function as compared to the Intel 730, or only perhaps a second or two.  The CPU is the bottleneck and if there are mechanical drives, everything slows down to those- the weakest link scenario. Given the cost and potential heat problems,  I would prefer  a 1TB Samsung 850 Pro than a 512GB M.2 for a similar cost, or more usefully, have a 512GB 850 and more RAM.

 

Cheers,

 

BambiBoomZ

 

CAD / 3D Modeling / Graphic Design:

HP z420 (2015) (Rev 3) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz)  / 32GB DDR3 -1866 ECC RAM  / Quadro K4200 (4GB) / Samsung SM951 M.2 256GB AHCI + Intel 730 480GB + Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX  1TB> 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H
[ Passmark Rating = 5581 > CPU= 14226 / 2D= 838 / 3D= 4694 / Mem= 2777 / Disk= 11559]  [6.12.16]  Single-Thread Mark = 2098 [3.24.17]                
[
Analysis / Simulation / Rendering:

HP z620 (2012) (Rev 3) 2X Xeon E5-2690 (8-core @ 2.9 / 3.8GHz) / 64GB DDR3-1600 ECC reg) / Quadro K2200 (4GB) + Tesla M2090 (6GB) / HP Z Turbo Drive (256GB) + Samsung 850 Evo 250GB + Seagate Constellation ES.3 (1TB)  / 800W / Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > HP 2711x 
[ Passmark System Rating= 5675 / CPU= 22625 / 2D= 815 / 3D = 3580 / Mem = 2522 / Disk = 12640 ] 9.25.16   Single Thread Mark = 1903
[ Cinebench R15: CPU = 2209 cb / Single core 130 cb / OpenGL= 119.23 fps / MP Ratio 16.84x] 10.31.16

HP Recommended

@MtothaJ wrote:

@Thurisaz wrote:

Mateusz, Pozdraw! 🙂
I already installed my Samsung Pro 960 1TB via Angelbird Wings PX1, on PCIe3 x8 (x4) Slot 1, and it works on my HP Z820, but slower than expected, just aroung 2300MB/s  Seq Read and around 500MB/s Random Read. I didn't perform Write tests.
I have no idea what's the reason about the slower speed?!
I'm not using it as OS boot device, so I can't tell you more about this.
Greetings! 🙂

UPDATE Info: I decided to change the PCI-E slot from PCIe3 x8 (x4) Slot 1, to PCIe3 x16 Slot 6... I got these results from two READ performaces with CrystalDiskMark...
Samsung Pro 960 Perf.pngSamsung Pro 960 Perf 2.png



That is an excellent set of results. WHat about your WRITE speeds - benchmark is only showing READ?

Have you tried installing your drive as a system drive or is your intention to have it just as an additional drive?


MtothaJ, Pozdraw! 🙂 I did only READ tests. I'm using this SSD only as additional drive to keep my heaviest virtual music instrument libraries for faster loading of my projects and templates /usualy they use around 50GB Ram/ into Cubase Pro, or Pro Tools.
I have Intel SSD SC2BW24 as system boot drive, which is enough fast for my Windows 7... 🙂
Thank you for all your help and kindness about my case! 🙂

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