# Just ordered a Samsung 960 EVO M.2 NVMe PCI-E



## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

To put on my X470 Aorus, based on a combination price and reviews.(about 215. Canadian)

Anything in particular I need to know...??

Thanks.


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## Toothless (Jun 24, 2018)

Just use it. Nothing special is needed to be known.


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## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

Cool, thanks. My first ssd and a little excited/anxious....

And tips and/or tricks to be aware of....??

I wanna use it, of course, as my boot drive.


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## Toothless (Jun 24, 2018)

If you're transferring the os via Samsung magician, follow all the steps on the screen to the dot. If installing fresh make sure all other drives are unplugged until install is finished.


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## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

Samsung magician huh, didn't know about that one, thanks again....


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## Toothless (Jun 24, 2018)

Yeah I used it on my 850 EVO when I got it. Worked fast and no issues afterward.


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## jsfitz54 (Jun 24, 2018)

Rickkins said:


> Samsung magician huh, didn't know about that one, thanks again....



Update the Firmware first if it is not on the newest out of the box.  Prior to clean OS install.
Keep this link handy:  https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools/


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## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

Cool, thanks.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 24, 2018)

It runs really hot, try to make sure you give it some air to breathe, don't put it directly the GPU for example.

I prefer my SSD still just because I never see temps above 38 celsius, but with my 960 evo I saw 90 celsius and higher (laptop, so it had no air to breathe).


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## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

I have a fan, a noctua 120 that will be almost directly under it.....


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## jsfitz54 (Jun 24, 2018)

lynx29 said:


> It runs really hot, try to make sure you give it some air to breathe, don't put it directly the GPU for example.
> 
> I prefer my SSD still just because I never see temps above 38 celsius, but with my 960 evo I saw 90 celsius and higher (laptop, so it had no air to breathe).




They make heat sinks like these, some  now have little mini fans.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...cooler&name=Fans & PC Cooling&Order=BESTMATCH


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## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

Cool, thanks. If I find it's running too hot I'll likely consider a heatsink. No fan though, building for silence....


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## Space Lynx (Jun 24, 2018)

jsfitz54 said:


> They make heat sinks like these, some  now have little mini fans.
> https://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006648&IsNodeId=1&Description=nvme cooler&name=Fans & PC Cooling&Order=BESTMATCH




I have the EK heatsink, but its too big to fit in my laptop. raises my keyboard up some sadly.


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## GhostRyder (Jun 24, 2018)

Rickkins said:


> Samsung magician huh, didn't know about that one, thanks again....


Yea definitely use it!  It does make a difference in performance I have noticed from my personal experience.  I put one in my HP Omen laptop and its like lightning.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 24, 2018)

GhostRyder said:


> Yea definitely use it!  It does make a difference in performance I have noticed from my personal experience.  I put one in my HP Omen laptop and its like lightning.



It is worth noting that Samsung does state in ToS that you click I agree on when installing Magician, something along the lines of they can collect a ton of data and every program you use, obviously not things like passwords, but if you do anything you want kept secret, I would avoid magician. THe NVME samsung driver is really the only thing you need to install. Magician is just icing on the cake really.


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## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

lynx29 said:


> It is worth noting that Samsung does state in ToS that you click I agree on when installing Magician, something along the lines of they can collect a ton of data and every program you use, obviously not things like passwords, but if you do anything you want kept secret, I would avoid magician. THe NVME samsung driver is really the only thing you need to install. Magician is just icing on the cake really.



Seriously...??
That kinda blows. 

Alternatives..?? (not that I have any great secrets to keep, I'm already on faceturd......)

I will be doing a clean install once ltsb 2018 comes out...


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## jsfitz54 (Jun 24, 2018)

lynx29 said:


> It is worth noting that Samsung does state in ToS that you click I agree on when installing Magician, something along the lines of they can collect a ton of data and every program you use, obviously not things like passwords, but if you do anything you want kept secret, I would avoid magician. THe NVME samsung driver is really the only thing you need to install. Magician is just icing on the cake really.



Use it to update the Firmware, then uninstall it.


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## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

jsfitz54 said:


> Use it to update the Firmware, then uninstall it.



Brilliant, I love it...


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## Toothless (Jun 24, 2018)

Rickkins said:


> I'm already on faceturd.....


So stealing "faceturd" from now on.
Magician has it's tradeoffs. If you sport enough ram you can use it's rapid mode which has the SSD use system ram as a sort of cache. I run applications off my SSD and it's a decent difference in loading and boot times. Not required though and all of my data is useless for Smamsmung to see anyway


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## Space Lynx (Jun 24, 2018)

Toothless said:


> So stealing "faceturd" from now on.
> Magician has it's tradeoffs. If you sport enough ram you can use it's rapid mode which has the SSD use system ram as a sort of cache. I run applications off my SSD and it's a decent difference in loading and boot times. Not required though and all of my data is useless for Smamsmung to see anyway




I almost bought a 860 evo SSD and did the rapid mode thing, but there was a huge sale recently on 64 layer 3d nand Micron 1100 2TB SSD's for $230 free ship no tax. so i went with that. I have no regrets, its been running rock solid for me, 220 MB/s transfer of large files over a Sata3 external HDD connection with no drops in performance even on 500GB transfers. can't complain one bit


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## Toothless (Jun 24, 2018)

lynx29 said:


> I almost bought a 860 evo SSD and did the rapid mode thing, but there was a huge sale recently on 64 layer 3d nand Micron 1100 2TB SSD's for $230 free ship no tax. so i went with that. I have no regrets, its been running rock solid for me, 220 MB/s transfer of large files over a Sata3 external HDD connection with no drops in performance even on 500GB transfers. can't complain one bit


I'll get 700mb+ on mine from the rapid mode. So worth it.


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## biffzinker (Jun 24, 2018)

Rickkins said:


> Cool, thanks. If I find it's running too hot I'll likely consider a heatsink. No fan though, building for silence....


Its the controller that doesn't like the heat. The NAND chips actually benefit from some heat strangely enough.


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## Space Lynx (Jun 24, 2018)

Toothless said:


> I'll get 700mb+ on mine from the rapid mode. So worth it.



I have owned a 960 and 970 EVO before, and even with those top NVME speeds, I honestly don't notice a real world difference, just regular usage / gaming over the 2TB SSD. NVME is sort of icing on the cake at this point, or for people who do specialized workloads which I don't do, just a gamer.


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## Toothless (Jun 24, 2018)

lynx29 said:


> I have owned a 960 and 970 EVO before, and even with those top NVME speeds, I honestly don't notice a real world difference, just regular usage / gaming over the 2TB SSD. NVME is sort of icing on the cake at this point, or for people who do specialized workloads which I don't do, just a gamer.


I enjoy the boot and application loading. Games are on my WD Blacks so it works either way. I have the extra ram to use for caching, it's being used, all happy around. We should probably get back on topic.


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## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

biffzinker said:


> Its the controller that doesn't like the heat. The NAND chips actually benefit from some heat strangely enough.



Oh, IC...

Apparently, my motherboard seems to come with a built in heatsink on it which to this very moment I didn't quite understand how it would help.

And now I know....(I feel so smart...)

Thanks.


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## FordGT90Concept (Jun 24, 2018)

If you've never installed an M.2 before, there's a riser and a screw in it.  If the riser is in the correct position, all you need to do is remove the screw.  The screw actually doesn't push down on the M.2 card at all.  It's so snug that the card can't escape.

I highly recommend a clean install and make sure to boot into the OS via UEFI.


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## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

So, here's a picture, taken from the net that seems to show the heatsink that comes with the mb.







Do I understand correctly that my card will fit under this...???


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## moizesml (Jun 24, 2018)

You're going to like, don't worry. On the first usage you'll see the power of it. Good deal!


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## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

Peaking in at my actual board, looks like the slot with the heatsink is quite literally underneath my videocard.






You can see where the slot is here...


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## DRDNA (Jun 24, 2018)

move the GPU to the other slot if there is clearance issues. If you do the GPU will pull air across the M.2 Cooler.. win win. after looking better at the pics it will not but still there would be the needed clearance if you do need it.


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## ap4lifetn (Jun 24, 2018)

you'll be fine installing the SSD under the heatsink. I run a much hotter GPU on top of the SSD using the same board across 950/960's.


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## Mussels (Jun 24, 2018)

Rickkins said:


> Cool, thanks. My first ssd and a little excited/anxious....
> 
> And tips and/or tricks to be aware of....??
> 
> I wanna use it, of course, as my boot drive.



make sure you install windows in UEFI mode and not legacy/CSM, the faster boots are what NVME is all about, after all


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## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

Pretty sure mine is installed in legacy...

Edit: yes indeed, upon checking it is indeed installed in legacy.
Now what, I guess I have to change that...

So, I posted the question in 'software"....


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## Toothless (Jun 24, 2018)

Rickkins said:


> Pretty sure mine is installed in legacy...
> 
> Edit: yes indeed, upon checking it is indeed installed in legacy.
> Now what, I guess I have to change that...
> ...


You honestly could've just kept going here instead of making a new thread.


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## Rickkins (Jun 24, 2018)

Either way, I have achieved Eufi...


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## Caring1 (Jun 25, 2018)

Depending on the length of the drive, it could possibly be installed in the second M2 slot.


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## Rickkins (Jun 26, 2018)

So, of course, now I'm flirting with the idea of doing a fresh install. Found a couple guides, and all I can say is, "are you freakin' kidding me"...???

Seems a little more complicated than simply poping my win10 install disc into the dvd player....


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## Fangio1951 (Jun 26, 2018)

Here's my cooling solution....


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## $ReaPeR$ (Jun 26, 2018)

nice! a fellow samsungite  i have been using the 250GB version for the past two weeks with my x470 taichi board which also has a cooler for it. what temps are you getting? im getting 40-60 approx. also compared to my previous kingston v300 120GB i cant say that im feeling a UGE difference.. but that could just be me..


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## Octopuss (Jun 26, 2018)

I own the PRO version.
There is only one thing you *really* need to know: *It's fkin awesome!!!!*


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## DRDNA (Jun 26, 2018)

Rickkins said:


> So, of course, now I'm flirting with the idea of doing a fresh install. Found a couple guides, and all I can say is, "are you freakin' kidding me"...???
> 
> Seems a little more complicated than simply poping my win10 install disc into the dvd player....


It may read as a bit complex but it really really is NOT. The install of WIndows 10 fresh or upgrade holds your hand with what to do exactly to complete the install or upgrade. Just be sure to reinstall your mother board drivers especially the Chipset, actually do the chipset first thing after installing windows then reboot and do the rest of the mobo drivers...good luck and happy sailing with that new drive!


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## Rickkins (Jun 26, 2018)

"On truck for delivery".....


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## fullinfusion (Jun 26, 2018)

Toothless said:


> So stealing "faceturd" from now on.
> Magician has it's tradeoffs. If you sport enough ram you can use it's rapid mode which has the SSD use system ram as a sort of cache. I run applications off my SSD and it's a decent difference in loading and boot times. Not required though and all of my data is useless for Smamsmung to see anyway


You can't use rapid mode on the nvme drive, that option is grayed out. It only works on regular Samsung ssd's.. to the OP @Rickkins  goto the Samsung site, download the driver, install it and reboot.. install magician and it'll probably prompt you to update the firmware. After that you can leave it installed and disable it in start up.. 

That's it your done.. enjoy it 

And don't worry about temps as mine is covered my the ROG cover and gets no air and the most I seen it hit was about 40c under heavy loads..


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## Rickkins (Jun 26, 2018)

Well, I'm about to go in and try it.
If ya don't here from me in 24hrs,  send help....


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## HammerON (Jun 26, 2018)

It won't take long to install Windows
Enjoy your new drive!!!


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## bonehead123 (Jun 26, 2018)

I have the EK sinks listed on that newegg link, and they work great.  Dropped my temps from ~38-40c to 28c, but I also have a buttload of airflow in my monster case too (a 140mm fan blows directly on the drives which are on pcie cards) , so that helps


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## Rickkins (Jun 26, 2018)

Well, I'm back already, a lot of fretting for nothing it seems. Love the speed.

Thanks for the help, gang...


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## Rickkins (Jun 27, 2018)

One little thing that puzzles me, I would have expected the heatsink to go on the back of the stick, not the front.

Is that normal...???


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## bonehead123 (Jun 27, 2018)

Rickkins said:


> One little thing that puzzles me, I would have expected the heatsink to go on the back of the stick, not the front.
> 
> Is that normal...???



normal is as normal does 

so yes the sink goes on the front........


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## Rickkins (Jun 27, 2018)

Dunno why, but it seems counter intuitive to me.


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## Fangio1951 (Jun 27, 2018)

$ReaPeR$ said:


> nice! a fellow samsungite  i have been using the 250GB version for the past two weeks with my x470 taichi board which also has a cooler for it. what temps are you getting? im getting 40-60 approx. also compared to my previous kingston v300 120GB i cant say that im feeling a UGE difference.. but that could just be me..


hi m8,

Temp is a constant 25-26 C

With the customer water loop temp = 19-20 C

regards


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## Vayra86 (Jun 28, 2018)

FYI you dont need magician for anything. Check if AHCI mode is enabled (tends to auto detect and apply) and ur done. Firmware? Overrated unless there are known issues fixed.


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