Samsung 850 EVO M.2 compatibility with ASUS Maximus VII Hero

shiva92 · Apr 16, 2015

I am looking forward to purchase ASUS Maximus VII Hero for my new build. Will the new BIOS update support Samsung 850 Evo 250 GB M.2 drive? I am planning to use that as my boot device. Help is much appreciate.

Darkbreeze · Apr 16, 2015

As long as it's an M.2 Socket 3 for M Key, type 2260/2280, it should work fine. Keep in mind though that the use of M.2 devices "steals" some of the PCI lanes, so if you're using multiple GPU cards, you may find one of them limited or lose the use of some SATA headers.

shiva92 · Apr 16, 2015

Darkbreeze :

I have a GTX 970 and would play games only in 1080p for a couple of years from now. So what do u think is the best normal SSD or M.2 ?

Darkbreeze · Apr 16, 2015

If gaming is your main priority, an SSD of any type isn't going to benefit you much except for in other general use areas like applications that access the disk often or the OS itself. Gaming derives little to no benefit from an SSD aside from map and level loading.

If however you have OTHER reasons for installing an SSD, whether a SATA or M.2 version, then the M.2 is clearly way faster.

StupidComputers · Apr 21, 2015

WHOA! Slow your roll there boys. The ASUS MAXIMUS VII HERO does not, i repeat DOES NOT support m.2 sata which I believe the the 850 and most other m.2's are. The VII Hero ONLY supports m.2 pcie x2. There's a plextor and like two other drives right now. And they're way expensive vs performance increase... but it's a hell of an increase lol. Anyway, you can't run no m.2 sata on the vii hero, but you can on other boards, like one of the formula's and other manufacturer boards. U MUST CHECK that everything matches or you'll be one sad panda.

P.S. m.2 sata doesn't do any faster than typical sata as I understand it, probably y they're the same price.
P.P.S. Do urself a favor and steer clear of Samsung. 830s, 840/evo were a horror show, and now the 850 evo seems to be heading that way, FW bricks etc, not to mention they don't seem really care about their customers

Darkbreeze · Apr 21, 2015

It's supported and doesn't affect the x16 slots.

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54470-Maximus-VII-hero-and-M-2-SSD-usage-only-one-PCIE-slot-active

StupidComputers · Apr 21, 2015

It was fancy tech that came out with early optimism. Yes it's cool, but no it doesn't really fit the market. It seems that we're going to be looking at m.2 pcie x4 when it becomes popular, so the board kinda hobbled itself, but who knew?

StupidComputers · Apr 21, 2015

Yes an m.2 pcie drive up to x2 is supported and you can either use the m.2 OR the pcie x4 slot. but it WILL NOT support an m.2 sata drive. I didn't see a contradiction to this fact in your link.

Darkbreeze · Apr 21, 2015

You can with an adapter.

shiva92 · Apr 22, 2015

StupidComputers :

I thought the problem in 840 evo is fixed by a firmware update. Can you please justify your answer?

Darkbreeze · Apr 22, 2015

I have an 850 EVO and have had ZERO issues with it since day one. The 840 has had two patches and I'm uncertain as to the success of the second as it hasn't been too long since it was addressed. The 850 is in the same price range now anyhow so there's really no reason to go that route anyhow. The 850 series should be fine. In reality, if you can afford it, the performance of the 850 PRO blows doors on every other consumer SSD on the market that I'm aware of and should be a really good choice.

Of course I'm talking about the standard SATA SSD versions. As mentioned previously, on that board, it's probably better to just avoid using M.2 altogether and simply opt for using a regular SATA III SSD. I'd recommend this if your budget allows it.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($142.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $142.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-22 03:21 EDT-0400

shiva92 · Apr 22, 2015

Thanks darkbreeze. 850 pro is expensive here in India. The price difference between evo and pro is 48$. And I don't see much performance difference between both at least in gaming. So I am going to buy 850 evo. Thanks for helping out mate.

http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Samsung-850-Pro-256GB-vs-Samsung-850-Evo-250GB/2385vs2977

shiva92 · Apr 22, 2015

Thanks StupidComputers for your suggestion.

Darkbreeze · Apr 22, 2015

Anytime bud. And you're right, for gaming an SSD isn't extremely helpful except in map and level loading for the most part.

StupidComputers · Apr 24, 2015

The 850 evo's were already subject to one firmware update that bricked them. Most people just didn't notice the update, and Samsung pulled it fast. No explanation given for the going from 19nm to 40nm NAND, as everyone else is going smaller to 16nm (like my sandisk atm). Samsung is not a consumer friendly company, and they don't do much about their new technologies if and when anything goes wrong. Unless forced to by a third party/government intervention. Their software won't support your devices in RAID either.

The crucial MX100 and MX200 series are pretty good choices. I used the refund I forced samsung to give me (for my 840s) to get a Sandisk Extreme Pro 480gb. Hell of a drive, but expensive, I got it on huge sale for $10 more than what my refund for the 2 840 evo 250gbs was.
I was intending to get the mx200 500gb, but to go pro for $30 more? No contest, as it's the only drive that can trade blows with the 850 pro.

Honestly, would steer clear of samsung for a couple years til they get themselves sorted. Don't be taken in by their pretty pretty benchmarks. Real world performance is a whole other story.

I suggest the Crucial MX200, It's loaded with features and everyone who has it loves it. Ppl said the mx100 is good too, but they're about the same price I think. Also I'm told it's better to get the 500gb mx200 as DWA (new tech again) will probably get an update, but they only use it on the 250 and 120. If you can't afford the 500gb, maybe look at the mx100 or m550.

Crucial, OCZ seem to be very good choices right now. Remember all of Samsung's tech is new and untested, and testing poorly as it goes forward, unless you wanna pay their prices for pro. Which is probably where they put their good silicon.

And don't forget the Hero has built in RAMDISK (in bios) which you probably want to look into.

StupidComputers · Apr 24, 2015

shiva92 :

Can't fix hardware flaws with software. That simple. I'm pretty sure after installing the second patch for kicks this morning that their pumping more power into the drive, and it's short life TLC is gonna get a lot shorter.

Darkbreeze · Apr 24, 2015

While I don't necessarily believe that to be true, after all, there are MANY cases of fixing hardware issues using a motherboard bios update since the beginning of flashable bios, I do believe that if anything like that ends up happening there will be a series of lawsuits or a class action lawsuit of proportions significant enough to cripple the company considering the number of units sold due to the EVO's popularity.

StupidComputers · Apr 27, 2015

Mobo bios is more about compatibility and efficiency, not errant design. It's like if your mobo sound keeps blowing, there could be a bios to turn down the voltage, streamline the power wand attempt less variance, but the sound chip is still a bad design, and likely will have to be RMA'd for a new revision. As was the case with a top end (for it's time) MSI I have.

Most mobo updates are just fixes improvements of flashy features, or code support for new technology to make the mobo compatible. If they made the PCB circuits and connectors out of copper instead of gold to save money and it all went wrong, no firmware or bios can fix that lol.

Nbhamilt · Jun 4, 2015

hmm, I just posted a help on this, having bought an EVO 850 M.2 for a new system with the Maximus VII hero.
Honestly, whats the bloddy poiint of including an M.2 slot in teh board if most M.2 drives wont work!

Is this true?

just found

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?54470-Maximus-VII-hero-and-M-2-SSD-usage-only-one-PCIE-slot-active

which suggests I may be better off sending it back..

Samsung 850 EVO M.2 compatibility with ASUS Maximus VII Hero

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