Reddit mentions of Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E250BW)

I feel it's hard to justify this when you can get a 960 evo with 250 gb for $117 on amazon but if you really only need 120GB then I guess? Also there is no way this is worth $125 with my previous statement.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E500BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1506300581&sr=1-1&keywords=960%2Bevo&th=1

Processor - Ryzen 5 1600 - 17k

Motherboard - Any good motherboard which support AM4 socket. Dont choose the cheapest one. - GIGABYTE GA-AB350M-Gaming 3 AM4 - 7k

RAM - Any good 8GB DDR4 2400Mhz(or more) RAM HyperX FURY Black 8 GB 2400 - 6k

SSD - Get atleast 250GB. Nvme ssd is much faster than sata ssd. Samsung is the best in SSDs. - Samsung 960 EVO nvme - 11k

Power supply - Get a good power supply. Don't cheap out. This is the one thing keeping your other components safe. Bad power supply can even catch fire. Corsair VS650 - 4.5k

Cabinet - Get whatever you like. You can get cool looking cabinet for less than 2k to 3k. Iball Stallion - 2.5k


Hard disk - You can always buy more storage later- WD internal 2TB -5k

Graphic card - It is a must have because Ryzen doesnt have an internal GPU. Nvidia 1050 Ti - 1050ti -12k

Total - 65K

You will get better prices if you look around. In most cases, it is overpriced on Amazon. I have just mentioned approx prices.

If you want better performance than this, then just spend 5k more on the processor and get Ryzen 1600X + Coolermaster 212 cooler.

I think 960 EVO is a better bet. It costs $117.60 before tax new on Amazon right now and it comes with a 3 year warranty. I believe the performance is close to the 950 PRO. It has 6 gigs less space though.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E500BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1506266688&sr=1-1&keywords=960%2Bevo&th=1

NUC6i7KYK...

I've now installed about 2 dozen of these puppies. And plan to deploy another dozen or two within the next year.

It's a fantastic work terminal, mini-server, cluster-node. I can't recommend enough that if you go this route, you get a Samsung 960 Pro as the primary SSD. 960 Evo could also work for a workstation that won't be doing any server or VM hosting roles. So much of system performance these days is bottle necked by primary drives. The NUK6i7's biggest strength is the 2x PCIe capable M.2 slots.

A minor downside for "3 to 4 1920x1200 monitors" is that you'll need some dongles or daisy chains to get more then 2 monitors. The plus here is that the Thunderbolt3 port and miniDisplayPort gives you quite a few options for display adapters. The setup I use with it and setup others with usually involves 2-3 Ultrawide LG displays. Personally use 2x 25" Ultrawide stacked on top of each other on my left as tertiary monitors and a 29" Ultrawide as my primary.

Reasons not to go with the NUC6i7.

• At some point might want a GPU. The Iris Pro 580 still leaves a lot to be desired for dedicated GPU tasks.
  
• You want or want to expand to 2.5" SATA storage.
  
• You want to Overclock.
  
• You want a 6+ core beast of a workstation.
  
  We run a pure Windows shop. So I can't vouch for the Linux drivers on the NUC6i7 specifically. Though in the past Intel NUCs have have solid Linux support when I tried (Ubuntu and RHEL) with 2nd or 3rd gen NUCs.
  
  
  Here's our typical build, usually comes in @ $1100-$1200 depending on price fluctuations:
  
  
• $580 - NUC6i7
  
• $220 - 32GB 16x2 2133MHz CL13 RAM - Went with the 2133MHz CAS 13 instead of the 2400Mhz due to cost and availability when I first started experimenting with the NUC6i7.
  
• $340 @ 512GB / $620 @ 1TB 960 Pro - Choose your capacity as needed. 512GB should be around $350 but is in short supply at the moment.
  
  
• $130 @ 250GB - Need to drop to the 960 Evo if you want 250GB. - Killer value with PCIe performance compared to SATA M.2 Drives.

If Best Buy does Price Matching your friend could save a cool $100 right now. http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-envy-x360-convertible-laptop-15z-touch-1za07av-1 Then drop the savings on this https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/

I can confirm that the new High Sierra public beta nvme support works for booting and running a Samsung 960 EVO nvme drive in my 2015 Macbook Air. It requires a sintech adapter or clone (amazon) which are made to make the 80 mm m.2 ssd fit exactly into the original apple ssd space. Replacing the drive requires a 1.2mm penetalope screwdriver AND a T4/T5 torx. If you look around amazon you may find something that has both.

You will need to make a time machine backup to an external drive and also have room to put the high sierra installer on another usb drive to install it on the ssd.

During installation you will need to format the empty SSD to an apple readable format using disk utils, then you can install High Sierra on the drive. Transfer your information

Total cost: $155

Total time: ~8.5 Hours ( ~4 hours to make time machine backup, ~ 30 minutes to swap the drive. ~1 hour to install High Sierra, ~ 3 hours to restore from backup)

Happy Hacking!

EDIT:

I started getting kernal panics in the nvme driver today when I put the air to sleep. I will do some digging to see if there is a fix.

m.2 is a form factor, in itself it doesn't give you any kind of performance boost. If it's higher write/read speeds that you want, you're thinking of PCI-E SSDs. Those come in two variants, one being a PCI-E card kind of affair, such as Intel 750 series. The other form factor is M.2. Note that being an M.2 SSD is not the same as being a PCI-E SSD, there are also M.2 form factor SATA SSDs.

If you want the top speeds, you'll want an NVMe SSD. For these, Samsung 960 EVO is a popular choice. Cheaper, but with slightly less performance, you can get a Western Digital Black SSD.. If it's just the form factor you're after, go for something like Crucial MX300.

I've had this board for a couple weeks, so I'll give you a quick review if you're interested.

Some context : I got this board initially because I'm obsessed with smaller form-factor builds, didn't need WiFi, and completely understood Biostar's reputation among enthusiasts, but I didn't want to wait for ASRock, MSI, or the other brands. As much I would have liked a board that had a stronger looking VRM and such, I really didn't want to wait around for the expected release date of those boards only to find they're not coming for another month or something.

Here is my build : R7 1700, 32GB (16x2) Ballistix RAM, 1 M.2 SSD, 4x sata SSDs, GTX 1070, and a 600w PSU. ( <- links if you're interested in specifics)


Anyways, onto the board. Initial impressions were pretty good. Nothing looked cheap except the IO plate which is just a sheet of metal, but that doesn't bother me. What DID bother me was the audio jacks were blocked on the IO plate, so you have to remove bits to make it fit. Getting the prongs to line up properly was a bit of a hassle, too, but not the worst experience I've had with an IO shield.

Everything on the board looked pretty sound. It came with 4x sata cables, and that's about it. Setup couldn't have been easier. I plugged everything in and it booted up with no issues. This board (for me) does however have anywhere from a 5-10 second black screen before reaching the bios every single time. Not really sure what that's about. Also, with raid enabled, the bios will flash for a moment, show the raid console deal, then go back to the bios before booting completely.

I used a Samsung 960 EVO (250GB) M.2 on the back, and it immediately recognized it without any driver fuss. Has been working exceptionally. I have a raid 0 set up in the bios for my 4 other drives hooked into the sata ports. I had no fuss getting an image from my graphics card on the initial boot. Everything just worked.

The bios. It's not exactly sparse considering it's a cheap board, and it's a Biostar, but it's very vague about what everything does. Setting some things up was a bit of a hassle because the lack of documentation and the unhelpful descriptions on the right-hand side. Getting it into raid mode was easy, but fan control is still a bit of a mystery to me, and the overclocking didn't make much sense until I did some research.

The fan control doesn't make much sense in the bios. First off, the fans default to having PWM control off, so both headers will be running at 100% on first boot (which I'm actually glad they do). Manual control doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It gives you a min and max C for different fan speeds, but setting the fan speeds is a bit different. There is a lower percentage (?) speed, and... "speed sensitivity"? I don't know what it means, but manual mode hasn't yielded any results that I could make sense of. I've only messed with it a couple times, but I really don't know what I'm doing in that regard. If anyone has any experience with that, I'd love to hear from you.

Overclocking was a mystery to me for a while. There is no core multiplier settings on the first screen for OC tweaking, and the voltages work with an offset instead of a set value. Eventually I figured out the only real option is to set a P-state overclock (which I like, personally). The catch is, when you enable the P-state overclock, the only value you can change is the core multiplier. If you change the set voltage, it will default to what I assume is a lower P-state. When trying to set my own voltage, it wouldn't run any higher than 2.7GHz. After setting the core clock, you have to back out of the P-state settings and add voltage via the +vcore voltage offset instead. Another note, the P-state overclock is only for P0, I believe.

RAM overclocking seems fine. I haven't touched it hardly at all, but my 2400GHz RAM went up to 2667GHz without any extra voltage. The bios allows you to set timings, and the voltage offset for the RAM and SOC.

Windows setup was a little bit of a mess at first. After the fresh install, it kept crashing after 5-10~ minutes of use, and the only thing that fixed it was eventually making it long enough to install Windows updates (had to do error correction along the way because of a couple failed installs... slow internet is to blame). I think that is more of a Ryzen and Windows thing than it is the board's fault.

I've been running it at ~3.9 @ 1.38V on my 1700 for a couple weeks now. Trying to push it any further past 3.9 just isn't working for me. Not sure if that is a power limit of the 4-pin, or maybe the power delivery just isn't up to it? Maybe my CPU just doesn't like it? Either way, I'm quite happy even reaching 3.9 on my chip, and I'm even more impressed that the board has kept up with it so far.

Hmm... basic stuff. No WiFi, ethernet hasn't given me any issues, IO could maybe use an extra USB port here or there, but it's been enough for me. I'm very glad to see USB-C on there, but I haven't used it just yet. I haven't used the sound card at all. If that is a big factor for you, I can't really say how good it is. I have a DAC/AMP, and my phones definitely cannot be appropriately driven by the built in, so I can't say whether or not it's decent. If you want, I can borrow some other headphones from someone and try it out, but otherwise, not sure what else to say. I'm pretty happy with this little guy. Impressed, even.

If you have any questions, let me know!

EDIT : Added links to parts. Also here is my CPU-Z validation.

Buy this Samsung 960 M.2 SDD if you really love her

Having the OS on an SSD is a must on a modern system. An HDD can make even the most powerful systems feel old and sluggish. An SSD will make even the most underpowered systems feel new and snappy. The M.2 interface is then that much better than a standard SSD. And they are cheap.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1505048288&sr=8-2&keywords=960+evo

10$ more > allmost x2 speed > imo

Picked up a Samsung Evo 960 M.2 250GB for ~$87 before tax

Honestly, your life will be much easier if you just do a fresh install of windows when installing a new drive. While you can clone or migrate installations it's just not perfect.
From checking the spec sheet for the g7 it supports m.2 ssd (which goes over SATA) as well as pci 3 NVMe (which is i think around 5x faster than SATA and runs off of PCIe lanes).

A couple examples of what should work with that laptop NVMe and SATA-AHCI

This one seems to be only $17 more but have much quicker write speeds. I don't know too much about SSD's but can someone tell me which is better of the two?

Where are you getting $4000? These drives cost 1/4 that. Plus you don't need 1TB versions, or the PRO versions, nor do you need two for Raid 0. This setup is obviously built with more than Factorio in mind.

1.9GB/s writes for $117: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E500BW/dp/B01LYFKX41?th=1

That will easily be fast enough to move the bottleneck to your CPU. If you don't have a M2 slot, you'd have to buy a PCI-E card.

Just giving you a heads up that you probably won't sell that NVMe here for that price. That's what they retail for now on Amazon, and eBay has them about $78 brand new. Sadly, and thankfully, all SSD prices have dropped significantly. I actually just picked up a 1TB NVMe for $179.

EDIT: I admit I did forget the links. That's my own fault.

Recent sale for used drive, another one, and one more

Price policing only applies if you don't provide links, which I admit I did forget at first. Updated now to follow the rules.

EDIT: My version of your build, much smaller with more storage, I just threw in a cheaper keyboard but whatever.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/H2CgJ8


I see you're going all out here.

I'm ignoring peripherals, because that's preference.

• Your case is big and expensive, but you don't have the hardware internally to necessitate it. If you can try to get a mid tower as that is basically the smallest form factor that allows you to keep a full ATX motherboard. Coolermaster, Fractal Design, NZXT all have cheaper mid towers with windows, which will probably save you around $200.
  
  
• I'm not sure of your storage needs, but your storage setup is not very optimal. I would suggest getting a single, extremely fast but small, 128 or 256 GB M.2 NVME SSD to house my OS and frequent programs (broser, steam, Microsoft Office, etc.). Then I would get a cheaper 2.5inch SSD, either 512GB or 1TB. Finally, I would get a 1 or 2 TB hard drive for pictures, videos, and large games that you play infrequently. Some easy choices that I just found for these components might be:
  
  128GB NVME SSD: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41
  
  1TB 2.5in SSD: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-240GB-Solid-State-SDSSDA-240G-G26/dp/B01LY5ZZ4P /ref=pd_lpo_vtph_147_bs_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=3GK2PGXJS2QFXET07H84&th=1
  
  1 or 2TB HDD: Lots of options, probably best are going to be Seagate (Barracuda or Firecuda drives), Western Digital (Blues or Blacks for better performance), or something like HGST.
  
  
• You can get a bigger AIO for your case, you know, and you can also get more fans. I would get more fans that would match the ones in your case (140mm rgb ones from coolermaster). Again, I would really say get a smaller case, your build is going to look a little funny especially with the AIO, no hdds, and only one expansion card.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B01LYFKX41/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

There's a couple cosmetic damaged item 960 evo M.2s in stock if you want to snag them instead. $99.96

Thank you for your help!!! Thanks for explaining everything as well. This is very interesting stuff to me so I think I will try to learn more myself. I was able to find this site here https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-your-own-pc,2601.html so I think I will try to learn more about the parts to know what they do. But if there's something I don't understand I will ask :)

For the cpu is there another alternative like intel? My two buddies keep mentioning to go with a intel 8600k? And my other question was if you know the difference between the SSD you mentioned and this one. My buddy was saying choose the NVMe version but I had a hard time understanding his reasoning because english isn't his first language.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E500BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1526377361&sr=1-1&keywords=samsung%2Bevo%2Bnvme&th=1

If you don't need AMD/Nvidia graphics, you might consider a NUC. It's really hard to find a smaller form-factor PC than that. You still would need to pack a monitor (although you could mount it to the back), mouse, and keyboard, but the PC itself would be super-small. You could get (e.g.) a 7i5 for less than $350, then add 8 GB of RAM ($80), and an M.2 NVME SSD for (Samsung 960 EVO M.2) for $115. Obviously you could choose to spend more on RAM, or the SSD, or add a 2 TB HDD (for the tall version).

I have this model as the family PC and it handles the likes of Guacamelee and Grow Home without issue. I haven't tried anything more demanding on it.

Looks like a pretty solid build. The only thing I would change is your main storage. I would do a NVMe M.2 to replace the 860 Evo. I personally have the 256GB 960 Evo and absolutely love it. It's not 500GB, but I haven't had any low space issues with it yet almost a year in.

And for future posts, PC Part Picker has a button to copy your build in markdown so it plays nice with reddit :)

Maybe i'm getting old, but I don't see how people game on a 15" laptop. I'd say the 17 and throw an SSD in there. You can get a 256GB Samsung 960EVO SSD for 120 bucks. There's also a 500GB for 220. Download the migration software from Samsung's website to clone your OS and you're good to go. Make a windows backup on a flash drive before you do. An 8GB stick of ram is 60 bucks (G.Skill Ripjaws). For 180, you can have thee same specs and a bigger screen for 30 bucks more.

SSD

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1504974470&sr=8-2&keywords=ssd+960

RAM

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232153

Obviously, these could all be straight spitballing, but I see varying dates:

Amazon claims Jan 1st for the 1TB/2TB 960 Pros and Dec 11th for the 250GB Evo

Newegg claims Jan 2nd for the 960 Pros and Dec 13th for the Evos

B&H claims Dec 8th for all of them

Info | Details
----|-------
Amazon Product | Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E250BW)
>Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. By using the link above you get to support a chairty and help keep this bot running through affiliate programs all at zero cost to you.

There's nothing wrong with it overall just two things to look at:

• 1.) The motherboard doesn't support DDR4 3200 so if you decide to drop a R.7 in it in 3 years you'll be mem speed bottle-necked.
  
• 2.) I'm not a fan of only having a spiny drive in 2017. The motherboard supports one m.2 drive so I would at least get a 250gb. I'd get a M.2 like the Samsung 960 EVO Series M.2 for your Win10 install. The M.2's are light-&-day faster than a spiny drive and a bit faster than a standard SSD.

1. You should get an ATX motherboard instead of an ITX. ITX motherboards are much smaller and designed for small cases, which means they also have less features than full ATX motherboards.
   
   
2. I've never heard of that case before. Why not get a better one? EDIT: Oh shit, that case is a mini-ITX... That's dumb. Get a case that fits ATX. It's dumb to pay for a full or mid tower, then have it restricted to only ITX/small form factors, and have to deal with the issues that come with it consequently (i.e. airflow, spacing, expansion, cable management)...
   
   
3. I've never heard of that CPU cooler before. Maybe go for a more reliable brand? I don't know anything about liquid cooling, sorry, but for air coolers, you can't go wrong with a Cryorig H7 or Cooler Master 212.
   
   
4. Depending on the motherboard, you may be able to get higher-frequency RAM. They're barely more expensive than non-overclocked RAM, so there's no reason not to if your motherboard supports it...
   
   
5. The SSD you have listed there is a SATA III SSD. You could get an m.2 PCIE SSD instead. They're pricier, but also about 4-5 times faster than basic SATA SSD's. Your motherboard has an m-keyed m.2 slot, so it does support them. Example
   
   
6. What specific model of HDD is that? I see no reason to get one with a 32MB cache when 64MB caches are so readily available... For HDD's, a Seagate Barracuda 2TB or 3TB is optimal.
   
   
7. I'd avoid the RM series if I were you. They have a fairly bad reputation among PSU's. For power supplies, the best you can get are the EVGA SuperNOVA G2 series. For your build, a 650w would be more than enough: Link

That's perfect really, if you wanted to save a bit of money you could also get the Dark rock 3 non pro, in the UK there's about a 30GBP difference, otherwise if you're happy with paying extra the PRO is fine, they're equelly as good.

The MSI board is good too because with that board you will be able to OC your ram quite easily to 3600MHz which is what I have done with my 3000 ram as well.

Your motherboard also has an M2 slot so I would suggest switching out the Corsair SSD for this https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1493821134&sr=1-4&keywords=samsung+ssd

Samsung makes the best SSD's in the market and this one will be perfect for your system in terms of reliability and speed.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E500BW/dp/B01LYFKX41?th=1
Check out the read/write comparison of this to the traditional SSD. This is one of the big reasons that MOBO I suggested is amazing. But you can definitely wait for this.

I know it's super hard to wait, but if you're planning to buy more ram in 2 weeks, then I would save the money and just get 16gb in 2 weeks and hold off on this build.

But to answer your question, 1 stick will work just fine in the mean time. Don't waste the money on a 2x4gb setup, 16gb is pretty much the sweet spot for gaming right now. 32 is unnecessary and overkill for gaming.

However, you've got a real nice pc build planned out! Congrats

Another word of advice, most pc enthusiasts will tell you to clean the thermal paste off the cooler and reapply before mating it with the CPU but if yours is anything like mine was, it came from the factory perfect. Plus it hasn't had enough shelf life to affect the paste on the cooler itself. Leave it and save yourself a step. I just booted my pc after getting off work, my CPU idles at 31 degrees Celsius with the Wraith cooler and factory applied paste.

Have you considered going from an SSD to an m.2 NMVe? Not too sure if that MOBO has a slot, but holy shit are they blazing fast. I picked up a 500gig and will never go back to standard SSD. I can reboot in like 12 seconds, and everything just seems so snappy. Perhaps you could go with 16gigs and go with an NMVe... Others jump in if you think anything different.

Ok since your friend needs it mainly for editing, he's going to need a good CPU, good amount of RAM, an ok-to-decent GPU, and as much storage as he can get.

Ryzen 1700 processor - Rs. 25,100/-

Asus X370 Pro mobo - Rs. 12,900/-

GSkill Trident Z 32GB 3000 MHz RAM - Rs. 28,000/-

Asus Strix GTX 1060 6GB GPU - Rs. 25,450/-

Samsung 960 EVO 250GB m.2 SSD - Rs. 12,975/-

Seagate Barracuda 3TB 7200 RPM HDD - Rs. 7,950/-

Thermaltake 500W 80+ Gold PSU - Rs. 5,125/-

Corsair 100R Case - Rs. 3,300/-


Total - Rs. 1,20,800/-
This should be able to handle editing even up to 4K pretty comfortably. The X370 board is simply so your friend can put in an additional GPU for SLI later if he feels the need. I've read that even editing programs are getting increasingly GPU dependent nowadays, so that might be helpful later. If this configuration is too far past the budget, then you can get 16GB RAM at 11K and get a B350 mobo for about 8K. This particular B350 supports only Crossfire, so if you still want the option of a dual GPU setup later, you can change your GPU to a RX 580, which retails for about 24k (but is currently out of stock everywhere). The total cost then will come to around 98 99K.



EDIT: See u/ReddyPs' comment below. Stick with an Nvidia card for now.

Get an NVMe drive:

For the reviews: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=psdc_1292116011_t1_B01M4OO1FT?th=1REG/samsung_mz_v6e250bw_250gb_960_evo_nvme.html

This looks fairly solid for both of your intended goals. I might suggest using a Samsung 850 EVO instead of the Crucial drive. I would also recommend adding a Samsung 960 NVMe drive for your OS drive.

I would recommend a 128GB or higher. The reasons you will want at least 128GB would be one for SSD health you want to over provision the drive about 10% using the software. This ensures fast performance even during max capacity. Windows install itself will be just under 20GB but it will want to update from time to time and you need space for the updates, not only for the download of the updates themselves but for it to actually unpack and install the updates.

I'll list a couple of SSD's I would recommend. M.2 will be more expensive but has over 4 times faster performance. Honestly you may not notice it though as the SATA SSD is already really fast.

For SATA:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-500GB-Internal-MZ-76E500B-AM/dp/B07864WMK8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1518232438&sr=8-1&keywords=860evo&th=1

For M.2:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E500BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1518232593&sr=1-1&keywords=960%2Bevo&th=1

If you can spend the extra $30 you should consider going with a NVME drive instead of a 2.5" SSD.

Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E250BW) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_kNHFAbR549TJ4

$750...... you win this one, comrade. Keep this, Best Buy's refurb should be protected by warranty.

The only problem, however, is the absence of an SSD. For a high end laptop like this, an SSD is almost a requirement. However, you can buy and install one on your own.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41

I'm planning on a very similar build as yours! The list seems pretty good to me.

If I had to point one thing: the mobo supports NVMe drives, so at the $100-150 price range I'd recommend bumping up to a Samsung 960 Evo for faster read and write speeds. It's not as much of a day-and-night difference as jumping from a HDD to SSD, but it's still an improvement without paying not too much more (unless the Kingston SSD goes on sale, that is).

Once you finish building, check the GPU temps and then determine whether you will need additional slim 120mm fans under your GPU.

If you're wanting to be fully satisfied, I'd get this and forgo the 2 hard drives he's listed. It's a bit small, at 250, but you'll be able to fit several titles on it before you need to worry about a storage drive and it's blazing fast for about the same price. It'll plug right into that Gigabyte mobo he has listed: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1509638666&sr=8-3&keywords=samsung+evo+960

Bam 250 gigs of stupid fast storage for ~100 bucks. And if you don't have an M.2 on your motherboard you can always get a PCIe riser for like 15-25 bucks.

TL;DR: If the computer that you're looking for has support for an M.2 SSD, you can have both the SSD and the HDD. Otherwise, you'll have to change the HDD for an SSD. Getting an SSD will be expensive, but if you opt for the laptop that already has an SSD, you will be completely unable to upgrade the graphics card. You may want to employ your local nerd to help you change your OS data over to the new SSD. Expect to spend about $300 on the upgrade, but realize that adding an SSD makes the laptop feel faster, not game better.

_____

Look to see if the laptop has support for a m.2 SSD slot. If so, you can have both an SSD and the 1TB HDD for storage/games.

The major improvement for having an SSD is reduced loading times of data that would typically be on the HDD. This means you computer boots in seconds (usually <5 seconds, after the splash screen/logo goes away), has minimal lagging after boot, and storage of any large files are infinitely faster.

However, you are looking at some major costs for an SSD drive: a 1 TB drive looks like it will run you just shy of $300 for either the m.s or a traditional SSD. However, a traditional 1TB laptop HDD will run you as little as $50, and if you step up to a higher performance drive, the price will almost certainly stay below $70.

It is worth noting that with most computers, the HDD will make them feel slow, as loading programs bogs the drive down, especially at startup. However, for gaming, there is no impact on performance aside from loading times. Certainly, the graphics card will have a much larger impact on gaming performance.

As far as how easy the upgrade will be, it should be noted that whether you change to a traditional SSD or to an M.2 SSD, you will have to migrate your OS files over to the SSD in order to see any improvement in speed. This can be a marginally difficult process, so ask your local computer nerd for any recommendations. Generally, the moving of the data is the most difficult part, and swapping the physical drives is no more difficult than upgrading the RAM would be.

A person who can come over and do the process for you will almost always be more helpful than a stranger on reddit. (Especially since said person/friend can see and touch the laptop, here on reddit we only have this forum-text stuff to go by ;)

*Note: The links given are for reference only. I do not endorse any of the brands, and I'm almost certain that you can find better deals and/or higher quality products out there if you search around.

I got this NUC i5 with this 16GB RAM (though it was on a sale when I got it), and this SSD which is crazy fast.

As far as storage space goes, I have only used about 6gb of storage space on my SSD because of how incredibly lightweight the ubuntu server .iso is and that is while I'm running all of the things I mentioned. I have a Synology DS918+ that houses all of my media files for plex and I would be able to use that as an offsite storage by mounting it in ubuntu if I ever needed more space (which I doubt I will).

The NUC that I linked is the tall version which means that you can add in that SSD as the bootdrive for lightning fast speeds and then it also has space for a 2.5" drive as well so you could add a 4TB HDD or whatever else you would choose, and you could also use external storage through USB 3.0 (I keep a 128gb USB backup plugged in at all times that I use to backup important files (automated through home assistant to get my entire config every night) in case of any failure.

> The M.2 slot is 2280-sized, SATA III with B&M key. (I have no idea what that means)

m.2 connector

22x80 mm (the dimensions of the SSD)

SATA III - interface

The SSD you want to buy, has to meet these requirements. For example this one would fit:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-850-EVO-Internal-MZ-N5E500BW/dp/B00TGIW1XG/

Just be aware that there also m.2 SSD (22x80 mm) out there which have a PCIe interface, and not a SATA III one:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/

What would be the better option between these two SSDs?

Samsung 2.5" 256GB

Samsung M.2 250GB

I've tried to do research on the topic and it seems like M.2 are the faster option; for the same price it seems like I should go with the latter option, but what are the pros/cons of going with a 2.5" vs M.2? Are there other SSDs that come highly recommended in this price range?

that is a very valid point but if you wanted very crazy speed you probably should have gone with NVMe. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=twister_B01N78T39B?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
But even at that the performance is not very noticable between normal SATA and NVME even at 5x the benchmark speed, I highly doubt it would be noticable between two SATA III drives since they saturate the SATA bandwidth easily

Is this motherboard, the msi z270-a pro

https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16813130993

Compatible with Samsung evo internal SSD m.2?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01LYFKX41/ref=mp_s_a_1_1

Doing a lot of upgrading, swapping out motherboard, processor, ram, and installing my first ssd. I've always wanted to try the ssd. But I've never seen one like this. I don't understand the difference other than it's faster and just slightly more expensive. I think it plugs in the pci-e ports

I have ordered the drive (500GB version), at several places in hopes of getting one in the next few days. Here's what I've heard so far:

According to this comment, B&H Photo will have them in stock today (Dec 16th). The support rep I spoke to didn't have such details and they're now closed for the day.

The Samsung retail site says "Product will ship after 12/25" and even very early preorders are now being told "will ship during the week of 1/2/17" - not a good sign!

Amazon is now defaulting to other sellers. Contact with their customer support has offered nothing in the way of a timeframe. I've yet to receive anything but a "your order is delayed, we'll get back to you" email since my preorder. Most of the other sellers list Dec 29th to Jan 3 as the target ship date, but their are a few that seem to allow you to checkout with expidited shipping (would arrive Tues the 20th for me), but you'll end up paying ~$60 to ~$100 more, before the cost of shipping and potential tax.

Newegg is the same deal as Amazon. "Sold out" and no communication about preorder ETAs. There's one seller on there that isn't "out of stock", but again, you pay a premium and the estimate for that vendor is "ships in 4 to 10 days"

Thankfully, this isn't the last part I'm waiting for. My plan, while visiting family over the holiday, is to make a pitstop at a nearby Microcenter for the 6700K+Z170-MoBo deal. It's $429.58 there while $493.97@Newegg and $516.67@Amazon (all includes tax and shipping).

If, before I get to Microcenter, we get word that the 500GB 960 EVO is going to be pushing mid-January, I will strongly consider picking up a 512GB Intel 600p instead. Intel's SSDs are not nearly as well-performing, but outside special cases, I doubt anyone using this machine would notice - and it's about $100 cheaper than the same-size EVO 960 (512GB version is $153.99, but I could also be persuaded into the 1TB version at $281.19, since it's only ~$30 more than what I intended to spend on the 960 EVO)

Another question: nvme SSDs are usually much faster than their SATA counterparts, so I replaced it with one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LYFKX41/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3O8MGUOH6PWUV&psc=1

Is there any reason I shouldn't?

I also swapped out the Mid tower for a Full tower by the same company -- found here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K6S1B3Q/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

I just prefer full towers to mid towers as there's more room. Is there any reason to go with a mid tower in particular?

And lastly I swapped out the DDR4-3000 RAM for some DDR4-4133 RAM for a small performance bump (for non-gaming tasks). Anything wrong with that decision?

Could someone take a look at my choices of components?

CPU: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B06XNRQHG4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=A1HU0UETW2PFPN&psc=1
Motherboard: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B06WVFFXXL/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1
Cooler: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0065SFEE8/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A27FJEHHGNYHHY&psc=1 (I know I need a special bracket for AM4)
Storage: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01LYFKX41/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=A1HU0UETW2PFPN&psc=1
RAM: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0143UM4TC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1

I already have a GPU, case and PSU

Do you know about NVME SSDs? I would aim for that if disk access is important enough. The speed benefit is quite impressive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJCHx7mZEKo

That video explains it well.

As far as RAM, I am still a little confused. I recently built a ryzen 1600 and put in 3200. I am yet to fully feel confident that I made the right choice.

I don't have a build complete post, but here is my motherboard and ram.

Hey /u/Simpsoid, I took a look at the SSD and you are definitely right my intention was to opt for the faster drive. I believe Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E250BW) is the correct solid state drive and the one I will be going with, thank you!

EDIT: To anyone checking out this build this is the same SSD as in the original post.

Really they are similar but an SSD is a Solid State Drive which is much faster than a typical hard drive. In fact the 1TB hard drive that came in the Flex 5 was horribly slow and I would have returned the whole thing if I did not like the overall laptop as much as I did and do.

The SSD I added is this one

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LYFKX41/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is basically the same price as your ssd but its an m.2 nvme drive which is even faster.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1525424638&sr=1-3&keywords=samsung+960+evo+m.2+ssd

This product will be an internal SSD, not external. Sorry for confusion. (Windows 10)

1) You know what... I totally already knew that (the existence of M.2 SSDs using SATA) and somehow TOTALLY just forgot/blanked, so holy crap THANK YOU! $9 extra for a cable-free option doesn't seem all that bad to me.

2) that Samsung 960 EVO - NVMe M.2 you linked to at the bottom is a great deal, and "only $12 more" sounds great. However, that's when it's being compared to the 850 EVO 2.5". I was originally looking at the 860 EVO 2.5", which (despite being the newer model) is actually about $30 cheaper. SO the real comparison to make is between the 860 EVO 2.5" and the 960 EVO - NVMe M.2 which, well, there's that $40 difference that I dunno is necessary for me

EDIT - With all that in mind, ANOTHER question then arises. If I'm looking at the 860 EVO options, there IS an M.2 SATA version of that, but it's approx. $15 more than the 2.5" version. So is $15 more for no cords worth it? I thought $9 wasn't too bad. But $40 sounds troublesome.

UGGHHH. This is the part of PC building I hate. Incremental upgrade options are the effing kryptonite to my Type A personality

You can also buy SATA SSDs that plug into an m.2 port, and they're cheaper than an NVME SSD. The price difference between a 2.5" SATA drive and an m.2 SATA drive is relatively negligible.

EDIT - Here's an 850 EVO m.2

Compared to an 850 EVO 2.5"

So it's a $9 difference to get rid of the cables.

EDIT AGAIN - Oh snap, the 960 Evo is only $12 more than the 2.5". Go with the NVME.

I recommend the following ssd: Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E250BW) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_har8AbYV0QBYM

yea storage is upgradeable, as long as it is an m.2 format like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1526868897&sr=8-2&keywords=samsung+m.2

I picked up one of these for my G7. I would definitely go NVMe if you have a little bit of extra money. The normal m.2 they put in these laptops is garbage.

​

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=twister_B01N78T39B?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

​

EDIT: The NVMe 970 Evo+ is actually a lot cheaper than the 960 Evo with better specs. Would recommend this:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-970-EVO-Plus-MZ-V7S250B/dp/B07MG119KG/ref=dp_ob_title_ce

First up, you'll want something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-M-2-SATA-External-Enclosure/dp/B00T8F298Y?tag=linus21-20


That will allow you to actually clone the drive as IIRC the X270 only has one slot for a PCIe NVMe drive.

Second, if you want the actual Lenovo drive - this should be what you want:

https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-ThinkPad-PCIe-NVMe-256G-OPAL/dp/B018I4X8IU/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1504960540&sr=1-1&keywords=opal2.0+pcie-nvme


Now that's ridiculously pricey unless for some edge case you actually need the "Lenovo" drive. Most of the x70 Line we've been getting in (T470 and T570) have been shipping with SanDisk SSD's. Big difference is the OPAL 2.0 - which is simply some on-drive encryption and other security measures.


Otherwise if you want to save a few hundred bucks, get this:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1504960675&sr=1-4&keywords=256gb+pcie+nvme


In the event your computer fails it would boot just fine off the above.

would switch ssd from sata to m.2 so no need to deal with cables and no occupying of sata ports, also its bit safer .

like 960 evo, even if going from pro line to evo. Random reads are better.

If you're going to get an M.2, I'd recommend at the least to spend the extra $30 for the performance and get the Samsung 960 EVO.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?CompareItemList=-1%7C20-147-593%5E20-147-593%2C20-250-081%5E20-250-081

Also, the M.2 960 EVO on Amazon is cheaper than Newegg. https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506100750&sr=8-1&keywords=960+evo+250

I'll drop in here
If I googled the right board
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-ProSeries-Motherboard-B350M-MORTAR/dp/B06XP1L1VG

It has an M.2 slot
so I would reccomend this
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1506805064&sr=1-3&keywords=samsung+m.2

One of the faster on the market because it uses Nvme and PCIe

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41

Shouldn't be an issue then.

BTW you mentioned looking at the hyperx predator 250gb. The price I'm finding on them isn't great. You may want to consider buying a pcie to m.2 card and getting a different m.2 drive to put into it. I've seen them with dual m.2 drives as well. Just make sure it's for a pcie m.2 and not just a sata m.2.

Cheap converter for single M key M.2 and a Good M.2 drive would be $136 vs $168 for the Predator

The Samsung drives offers 3,200 MB/s read and 1,500 MB/s write speeds while the Predator only does 1400MB/s read and 600MB/s write.

You might be able to find a converter with a proper fan or heatsink to keep the SSD nice and cool. Also you may want to look into compatibility with your system and NVMe. A lot of the newer ones are NVMe and I don't know how older systems work with it. Might check for BIOS updates on your motherboard as well.

As others have already mentioned first thing to try is adjusting your page file size. It's free - and might help.

I'm running an older I5-3570K and have no load or gameplay problems so that's not likely your issue. SC like all betas is a unholy gory mess optimization-wise so if you can spring for 8gb+ of RAM you might gain a little there.

An SSD is by no means "required" for decent performance - however that probably is your easiest addition that will improve performance by the most for the state SC is in currently and everything else you do on your computer. I have small SSD for windows and run SC on a 2TB hybrid drive(part SSD, part HDD). Crusader loads up for me in about 3 to 5 minutes or less each time and I manage 25-35 fps on High graphics settings once in. I'm running a liquid cooled 1070Ti 8gb so you likely won't be able to push the performance quite that high. You also probably have no intention of upgrading from a 1060 unless money is no object. The SSD is just going to be the far less expensive option.

Your CPU uses the LGA 1155 socket like mine does so you probably don't have a motherboard with a M.2 slot for the new NMVe SSDs. However if you're feeling adventurous you might be able to find a BIOS upgrade for your mb to add NMVe support.

If you've got an empty PCIe 3.0 video card slot, get yourself one of these or better
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41

and something like one of these

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-PEX4M2E1-M-2-Adapter-Profile/dp/B01FU9JS94

Nearly the same cost as getting a regular SSD but instead of 500 MBps it's over 3000 MBps data speed.

Definitely. Plan on getting 2 of them. Do you think 2x 250 GB are enough?

Thinking of this one: Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E250BW) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_VwjOAbY81Y9H5

Could I use one of these with my motherboard?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41?ref=emc_b_5_t&th=1

While all SSDs are faster than HDDs, not all SSDs are created equal. If you have an NVMe m.2 slot in your mobo, I would recommend looking for an NVMe M.2 SSD as opposed to a SATA SSD. You can't go wrong either way when upgrading from an HDD, but NVMe m.2 SSDs are much faster than SATA. You can get a 250GB Samsung 960 EVO for ~$130. This will be more than enough foir your games and OS.

You can get it here: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_147_bs_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=469R12FPZHHYHMZKPPJD&dpID=41VsuUzjcjL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail
Also, if you scroll down, there's a table that shows the speed differences. Happy SSD hunting!

Didnt notice that. Thanks :)
What about a Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD? Would this fit?
And yes, I drop my storage to 4TB, it really is too much

First and foremost, every ASU student gets a free OEM license of Windows 10 Pro and Office, so don't factor this into the price. I'm going to assume OP either used his ASU license or pirated it... If he didn't, his loss.

Windows 10 licenses are dirt cheap and shouldn't be factored into the cost of a computer, you can buy licenses from bulk OEM keys on ebay for < $10 anyway:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Microsoft-Windows-10-Pro-32-64-BIT-GENUINE-LICENCE-KEY-PRODUCT-CODE-win-10-pro-/173148179959?hash=item28506f8df7

Someone looking to play games should really stay away from this build with a ~$700 budget. Any old intel computer with even a modest graphics card like a 1050ti will far outperform this build.

I advise anyone with this budget to stay away from APU gaming, it really doesn't perform too well given the price.
Check out these benchmarks:
https://cdn.wccftech.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AMD-Raven-Ridge-3DMark-11-Graphics-740x497.png

https://offerup.com/item/detail/432098607/?ref=Search
You can get this and drop $220 into a 1050ti and have something far nicer with little effort and less cost.
Even if it doesn't have an SSD, you can purchase a 120gb SSD for $45 these days.

The motherboard has an NVME port, so you could take this as an opportunity to purchase an even faster drive:
https://www.amazon.com/ADATA-SU800-M-2-128GB-ASU800NS38-128GT-C/dp/B01M9K0N8I/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1521707714&sr=8-3&keywords=120gb+m.2

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1521707741&sr=8-3&keywords=pcie+ssd+m2

The GPU market is slowly getting calmer, should be able to get a 1060 for $250 if/when prices return to normal.


_____

If you insist on getting everything new check out this build for ~$60 more:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Mh6GfH

It includes the z370 chipset, support for overclocking, and a 240gb ssd you can actually fit some games on it

It should outperform his build in every reasonable way, (cpu performance, storage, and of course gpu performance)

I mean... a 256GB WD Black NVMe SSD is the about same price as a 250GB Samsung 850 EVO, and the 960 Evo is only $20 more.

He didn't really specify what motherboard he has or whether or not it already has an M.2 slot that can support an NVMe SSD, but if he does have one it wouldn't be a very expensive upgrade over a regular SSD if he doesn't want something huge.

> user above me was arguing that samsung nvme drives are only slightly more expensive

B&H Photo:

250 GB Samsung Evo 960 M.2 NVMe drive: $128

256 GB Samsung Evo 850 Pro 2.5": $137

...

Amazon:

250 GB Samsung Evo 960 M.2 NVMe drive: $147

256 GB Samsung Evo 850 Pro 2.5": $135

...

etc...

etc...

I hate this sub sometimes...

would this ssd work? https://www.amazon.ca/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502175604&sr=8-1&keywords=nvme+m.2+ssd

I am currently searching for an ssd to buy, and i want to know if the one i am looking at will be compatible with my motherboard. My motherboard is an msi Z77A G41, and its specs are here: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/Z77A-G41.html#hero-specification

I am looking to buy this SSD: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1503696532&sr=1-1&keywords=960%2Bevo%2B250%2Bgb&th=1

But wait, there's more!

Home->System->Notifications & Actions: all off

Windows Update Settings->Advanced Options->Choose how updates are delivered: off

OEM bloat, just don't try. A new computer needs to have windows re-installed as step #1.

1. Go to Download Windows 10 and download the media creation tool.
   
2. Run the media creation tool which will allow you to create a windows 10 installation usb.
   
3. Visit Lenovo Support and lookup your model then download the network drivers. Shouldn't need them but put them on a different flash drive for if WiFi doesn't work after install.
   
4. I'm just going to ext link you the rest, there are also plenty of threads in this sub describing the rest. How to Clean Install Windows 10 from USB
   
5. Windows should just activate itself and do a lot of updating, safe to start the stuff above as soon as it first boots.
   
   Owning macs for the past 3-4 years you are coming from a SSD to a slow HDD. It will get better after a week and significantly better after you do what pokebud said. Best case though is it rearing its ugly head daily at least a few times.
   
6. Replace 2.5 HDD with 2.5 SSD
   84USD Generic SanDisk 250
   Lose 750GB
   -10-20% drive power consumption
   
7. Add NVMe SSD
   120USD 960 Evo 250
   Gain 250GB
   +15-30% drive power consumption
   I don't think this machine supports m.2 AHCI so you need to buy a NVMe. Apparently option is in BIOS but drives aren't working? If you return it for a model with a SSD it will come with hynix at a cost to you of 160, the samsung is faster and cheaper.
   
   On a 5400 drive you shouldn't be using superfetch.
   
8. Open services.msc
   
9. Open properties of Superfetch
   
10. Change startup type to disabled
    
    Between resmon and Process Explorer you should be able to see what is accessing the drive.

I think it should work. that machine is identical to my VX 15. the SSD M2 you show is SATA interface (has two little openings on the connector, vs. one opening nvme as in the https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1504938211&sr=1-2&keywords=m2+nvme).
the Acer Aspire VX 15 has on M2 slot and the space for a 2.5 in disk for which the caddy you need to ask from Acer (at least in US). the M2 slot does not require anything special, in my ACer VX 15 accepts both SATA and the faster NVME interface.

I don't mind in this case paying the extra money for i7 as I want to have 8 threads for running my tests.
The problem for me with P50/P70 is the weight, I also want to have an ultrabook, P50/P70 weight starts at 5.6 lbs (2.5kg) and T460s is 3.0 lbs (1.4 kg)


Is this the SSD you previously mentioned? Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E250BW)
December 11th, works for me! thanks!

16x the storage for less than 2x the price. not sure what your needs are though. Right now optane seems like cash grab until they figure out what to do with it.

Where do you see a 960 EVO costing less than an 850 Pro? Using Amazon and Newegg as references:

• 250GB/256GB. Cheapest 960 EVO is $139 USD, at Amazon. Cheapest 850 Pro is $140 USD, at Newegg.
  
• 500GB/512GB. Cheapest 960 EVO is $256.65 at newegg and 850 Pro is $249.99 at Amazon.
  
• 1TB. Cheapest 960 EVO is $502.14 from Amazon sellers. 850 Pro is $486.95 at newegg.
  
• 850 Pro has the only 2TB I see readily selling. $999.45 at newegg.
  
  Seems prices raised today; I had the 960 EVO 250GB for $129.99 on newegg and I refreshed and it's now $158.something and I can't even find the $130 page in history. Some Samsung pages on Amazon that I looked at yesterday have raised in price too.
  
  The M.2 interface reduces warranty (3 years 850 EVO vs 5 years SATA, 3 years 960 EVO despite costing as much as 850 Pro with a 10 year warranty, 5 years 960 Pro that costs approximately 120%-150% more than the 850 Pro), has less memory cells (afaik this is supposed to make it a bit harder to hold perf under load and possibly reduce endurance, but I've been told it makes no difference on endurance at one point; so leaving it out there that it may or may not), NVMe runs very hot and needs heatsinks or other heat management techniques, adding also to the cost of it.
  
  The read/write values that matter for about 95% of all operations you would be using on a SSD is 4K QD1-4. 4K QD32 and sequential data legitimately doesn't matter for almost everything. 960 Pro with its like 3000+ sequential read and 2100+ sequential write? That's just benchmark-inflating numbers for the most part when it comes to using the drive. For the most part, you could ignore those. 960 EVO vs 850 Pro? There should be no contest with which to buy.
  
  If you got 500GB EVOs for your games then cool, keep em, good choices. But for your OS I suggest a 256GB 850 Pro at least.

If it were me I'd save up extra money to add this SSD to the 1TB drive. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41/

I know you're on a budget, maybe this would be easier. I still prefer the samsung

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-120GB-SDSSDA-120G-G26-Newest-Version/dp/B01F9G414U/

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E500BW/dp/B01LYFKX41?th=1 is what i mean

16gb is the sweet spot for gaming atm. Some games are moving to a min of 8gb ram (mass effect) so itll be a while til you'll need to upgrade. Go 2x8 and you can double that down the line if you wish.


960 Evo is about $125 on amazon atm.

Debating getting a Samsung 960 EVO m.2 NVME vs a Samsung 850 EVO SATA III

The difference is about ~$20 but the performance benchmarks are hugely different. Is there this type of difference in real world use as well?

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488269665&sr=8-1&keywords=Samsung+960+Evo+250GB

So I can go ahead and order this? lol

Could go with something like the 960 evo if you want an m.2 or the 850-evo for a standard form factor.
960 evo: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41/?tag=pcpapi-20
850 evo: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1498655785&sr=1-1&keywords=850+evo

The ssd will be much faster for general operations than another hdd, and you shouldn't have to worry about any samsung drive failing on you.

basicly m.2 ssds are about 7 times faster than normal ssds.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1498486316&sr=1-2&keywords=m.2+ssd

This is $30 more, at twice the size. It's also one of the best on the market.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1498056555&sr=1-1&keywords=950+evo

You have an M.2 port for a SSD:

http://imgur.com/a/RLFb6

So you should start looking around for a M.2 SSD, this one is very popular:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497597416&sr=8-1&keywords=M.2+960+evo

It is just an example, you should look around for some reviews showing M.2 SSDs. I would not go below 250gigs though, as it will be used for your system.

As for the RAM the rule are the following: it should be the same voltage, same frequency, same timings and same type (here DDR4). So to be sure you'd need to give me the full designation of the module.

You need a case.

I just bought a Phantek, great for the price:
http://www.phanteks.com

In my case's case, it had one built in exhaust fan. I put two intake fans on the front of the case to create positive airflow. Basically, more cold in, pushes more hot out the back. Chances are you will need fans. The mm or size of the fan and its placement will depend on the case.

Having just purchased the AMD Ryzen5 1600, I would recommend it. I imagine the i7 is great, but I would still recommend going AMD at the moment.

People often talk about edging out percents of power and performance, when overall the increase is not worth the extra money.

When I look at the AMD Ryzen7 1700 I see several benefits over the CPU you picked:

-Cost. You save $25 on the actual CPU.
-Cost(again). The Ryzen comes with a Wraith Spire CPU Cooler.
-Coes. Four more cores.
-Overclocking. You can OC the AMD and get the same speed as the Intel.... with four more cores.

It looks like you're going for water-cooling, but I don't see why looking at the games you posted: it won't hurt!

A M.2 SSD by Samsung is $30 more, and faster:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1497621489&sr=1-1&keywords=samsung+m.2

Your motherboard supports it, so I would recommend it!

I've never heard of either of those brand before. Why not spend a little more on a $155 [Samsung 960 Evo] (https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1487563224&sr=1-3&keywords=m.2+ssd) with a industry standard warranty and quality?

Are these worth the money? I have a Samsung 850 EVO right now but saw that these 960 EVOs fit into the DDR slots on your motherboard and read 4-5x faster. Are they worth the upgrade? Do I need a mount or are they plug and play? Will they work with my ASUS Z170-A?

https://www.vmware.com/go/get-free-esxi

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-BOXNUC7I3BNH-NUC-Kit-Components/dp/B01N4EOJNG/

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Single-PC4-17000-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B015HQ9TGW/

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/

That is weird. I think the way they should have set it up is using the 32 GB SSD as a "cache" drive for the 1TB drive. This should be mostly transparent to you, the user, but it seems they misconfigured it during the re-install. If configured properly, you would only see a 1TB drive, and you would have no clue it was a SSD+HDD hybrid.

It takes quite a bit of time to install fresh windows. Maybe 1-2 hours somebody experienced. If you aren't, then contact their premium support team, which you should have had. They should send someobyd within the week for this kind of job. If you aren't experience, seriously consider returning it, and buying an other one (to restart the clock on your 30 day return policy).

If you want to continue with your current hardware, you will want to:

1. Update your bios very early ones had bugs. I have 1.6.2. Works. The even newer ones seemed problematic.
   
2. Download the intel RAID driver, and put it on a USB.
   
3. Download an updated version of Windows 10.
   
4. Within bios, set your hard drives to RAID mode. This will erase everything.
   
5. Install Windows 10. It will likely have a hard time finding your hard drive, that is because it needs the RAID driver. So you will need to find that driver.
   
6. Continue with the install as normal.
   
   Now honestly, this is ALOT of work for very little reward. Modern operating systems are almost built around SSD with their "search for everything" paradigm. Without one, you are basically living in 2010.
   
   I suggest you buy a 256GB SSD from Samsung $120, and just install all of windows and your main programs in that. Only use yoru 1TB for storing things you don't need. If you have the $$$, just buy the 512GB or 1TB SSD drive. There are also other brands, but price to performance isn't as good IMO.
   
   You could also buy this SSD for $140, but it would take the space of your 1TB SSD. The SSD is also much slower than the other one I mentioned. With this one, make sure you remove the smaller 32GB from your system.
   
   All the best.

I was considering this laptop and am planning on upgrading it with a 4GB stick and an m.2 SSD (Some reviewers mention it having an empty M.2 slot hence I'm going with that over SATA). I've been searching for M.2 SSDs but there seem to be way too many pins and form factors and whatnot.

Which type of socket should I be looking for? There's B, M and B&M, which one would fit?

I had my eyes on this and this SSD, but the former seems to have a different pin layout than the latter. I would love some insights on this!

Edit: Are the upgrades worth the extra money or should I just go for something like this?

Thanks! Would something like this provide much more speeds over a 2.5 ssd, I've never used an ssd like this before. https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_147_bs_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=64CT8B94M6CMJ4H24FCC

I dont want to go over 250gb as I like having windows on the SSD and all my games on the Hard Drive. If I could get a 1tb SSD I would, but I have so many games installed I would max it out pretty quick.

Here is the post for archival purposes:

Author: nynjawitay

Content:

>Hey everybody! I've been a part of the Bitcoin community since 2011. I write this in the hopes that people see there are actual people supporting Bitcoin Cash. I believe cryptocurrency is the greatest invention since the Internet. I believe that a well designed cryptocurrency can give us the ability to send money (be it pennies or millions of dollars) nearly instantly with a fee of a cents or sometimes even free. I believe cryptocurrency can also do way more than this, but this is the most important first step to me; if it can't do this, I don't think it can do other things very well. I hope Bitcoin Cash can be this cryptocurrency.

>Because of the whole blocksize debate and fee market madness, I ignored Bitcoin for a while and looked at other cryptocurrencies. Now that Bitcoin Cash has forked and continues to survive, I want to help it.

>I hear constant FUD about how initial sync times are destroying Bitcoin's decentralization. The common response is that most people don't need to run fully validating nodes; they are fine with SPV nodes since if they aren't mining they can't meaningfully contribute to consensus anyway. I agree with this.

>I recently read https://medium.com/@peter_r/on-the-emerging-consensus-regarding-bitcoins-block-size-limit-insights-from-my-visit-with-2348878a16d8 where Peter relays the message from BitPay and Coinbase that "we need more genetic diversity in nodes that are ready and willing to accept larger blocks."

>Well I'm a professional programmer and I have a powerful home server with plenty of room. Since I want Bitcoin Cash to succeed, I figured I should setup a node that people can actually get some use from. I bought https://smile.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ and my goodness it made initial sync times with txindex=1 go WAY faster than last I did this. I started yesterday evening and Bitcoin Classic is already at block 457,235 and electrumx (which I started an hour or two later) is at 394,602. Once It's synced, I'll update this post with the DNS information although it looks like electrumx has proper peer-discovery built-in.

>I'm especially happy with host fast this sync is going considering that the system is also loaded with an archival parity node, monero node, and zcash node. It's also serving Whonix and Tails torrents. If anyone has any suggestions for other applications I could run to help the community, I'm all ears.

$400 for a 1060 3GB, makes me sick.I will jump into traffic if you buy that. Save yourself $200 and get a GTX 1050ti 4GB that are everywhere for $160-200. Maybe one with a 6PIN plug and overclock the shit out of it. Divert that money into an i5-8400 or just save it.

That PSU is an absolute rip off. Get this $20 cheaper and better
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N3OAFHD/?tag=pcpapi-20

Drop that SSD and get a Samsing 960 EVO NVME drive for the same price it is waayyy faster 4x or more. https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1518344729&sr=1-8&keywords=samsung+ssd

Intel changes their Motherboard sockets every TWO generations, so far at least. So as far as history tell us you will be able to do a bios update and put a 9th gen intel cpu in your mobo, but who knows.

Is this one better for $20 more ??

Samsung 960 EVO Series - 250GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V6E250BW) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_oUeLAb9QA8A2Y

If under 200 then:

 

Samsung 960 Pro NVME m.2
Note that if getting this you would want an m.2 slot or a PCIe riser card with m.2 so that you can use the PCIe bus for the drive.

Adorama has the 256 for 130

https://www.adorama.com/ssg960e250.html#source=productOptions

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E500BW/dp/B01LYFKX41?th=1&psc=1

Also amazon

I think the WD Blue is a NAND drive where if OP gets a Samsung EVO, same size same price he gets a NVME drive which is faster. Plus the warranty is better on the Samsungs.

However, you can get a WD Black NVME 256 GB on sale at Amazon for $100.

https://www.amazon.com/Black-256GB-Performance-SSD-WDS256G1X0C/dp/B01MS6BYJD/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1520553798&sr=8-3&keywords=western+digital+m.2

The Samsung EVOs are $120:

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1520553666&sr=8-4&keywords=samsung+250gb+ssd+m.2

The WD Blacks have a 5 year warranty and Samsung EVOs have a 3 year warranty.

I found out that it is my HDD that is the limiting factor. Using my SSD for the download directory jumped my DL speed up to 120MB/s or so. But even then, my SSD takes about two minutes to unzip the downloaded movie, so I actually just purchased a Samsung 960 Evo 250GB PCIe NVMe SSD which will be my temporary/download folder so that the download can be full speed, and the unzip should take hopefully only a few seconds. I will still have it copy to my HDD, which will take about a minute, but it will be worth it to have that NVMe SSD for the download/unzip.

Some may think it doesn't save much time, but I often download entire seasons/series, and this will dramatically reduce the time it takes.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41

https://www.newegg.com/amp/samsung-960-evo-250gb/p/N82E16820147593

PLEASE get an nvme drive man: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1491686158&sr=8-2

something like that..huge improvement over SATA ssd's