Use Intel 750 NVMe as OS drive or Re-use my Samsung 850 Pro SSD

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dschur

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Oct 20, 2015
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So I am building a new computer (specs at end if it matters). I ordered an Intel 750 (400GB) for this project, and have a MB that supports NVMe as the boot drive. I still have a perfectly decent Samsung 850 Pro SSD from my old computer I can re-use. No loss on the old one as I will probably use it as a server, and it will run fine with a re-purposing of the Hybrid HDD there to a system drive. So the Samsung is genuinely "free" to use.

Based on everything I have read, it seems the Intel drive is not going to be any faster to boot than the Samsung. Is there then any real advantage to using the Intel for my OS? Basically I save 11GB on the Intel, plus the additional crap that just refuses to work anywhere but C: (thankfully much less of this these days). Is there any actual performance benefit to having the OS on a faster drive once it is actually loaded?

Then I would use the Intel as my Application drive. Games I play frequently, plus Photoshop and Lightroom, Transcoding, etc go on the Intel as D: The 4TB Ultrastar is for data (Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos.

OS - Windows 10 Home 64bit
CPU - 6700K i7 Skylake
MB - ASUS z170 Deluxe (confirmed NVMe bootable)
RAM - Gskill TridentZ DDR4 16GB (8x2)
SSD - Intel 750 400GB PCIe NVMe
HDD - HGST 7K4000 4TB 7200RPM SATA 6gb

Spare SSD is a 256GB Samsung 850 Pro

Appreciate any thoughts or insight on the SSD setup
 
Solution
TbsToy
Final answer. The Intel is the fastest workstation PC drive there is. By a long shot. It is way faster than any of my 5 sata ssds pros and evos . . . . . . . It does everything instantly except boot. See my other comment. Even the 2 850 1TBs in Raid 0. or the 950 Pro. Read the real specs. Fact, the Intel is the best boot/system PC drive there is! A no brainier! The truth. It is not slow to boot. Intel fixed that with the firmware update.
Sincerely,
Walt Prill

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JohnnyLucky

JohnnyLucky

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May 30, 2007
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The general rule of thumb is if you work with files larger than 1GB or do a lot of video rendering or heavy duty professional work, then go with the Intel 750 as your primary drive. If you work with files smaller than 1GB or don't do much video rendering, then go with the Samsung 850 Pro as your primary drive. The vast majority of consumers (90%) work work with files smaller than 1GB.

There have been consumer complaints that the Intel 750 is slow to load Microsoft Windows. Recently Intel released a firmware update that is supposed to fix the problem.

There is a new model from Samsung that might be of interest. The Samsung 950 Pro is an M.2 3.0 x 4 NVMe ssd that will be released in a couple of weeks. It will probably be the fastest consumer ssd for a while. There are no technical reviews yet but it should speed up video rendering and transcoding.
 
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dschur

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Oct 20, 2015
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My 850 is a bit small to be a primary for much real work. The 750 is a bit of a luxury just to get fast load times. As you say, for real performance I probably couldn't really justify it. Sounds like it might be wasted as an OS drive, especially if it is actually going to be slower.

Is the Samsung 950 really going to be quicker than the Intel by a noticeable degree?
 
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JohnnyLucky

JohnnyLucky

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The Samsung 950 Pro NVMe ssd has not been released yet. Temporarily there are no technical reviews. However, there were technical comparisons of the Intel 750 NVMe ssd with the Samsung SM951 NVMe OEM ssd. The two ssd's kept trading the top spot. The results led to the 1GB general rule of thumb. The new 950 Pro NVMe is supposed to be improved so it is expected to take top honors. Only time will tell.
 
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dschur

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After completing the build, and even without updating the firmware on the 750, time from Post to Desktop is about 15 seconds. I can live with that. Once they release the updated firmware for the normal tool I'll update it, and maybe save another 5-8 seconds. At this point it is pretty close to meaningless, and once loaded the 750 performs like an absolute dream.
 
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TbsToy

TbsToy

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Oct 19, 2015
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Yeah, I just updated the firmware, (Intel Toolbox), from version 3.3.1 to 3.3.2 and it improved, shortened the post to desktop time by 15 secs. with the ASUS boarded X99 machine. The blue light to desktop time, with a fingerprint reader, is now 40 secs. Great job Intel. Hoooray:bounce:
Walt Prill:pt1cable:
 
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TbsToy

TbsToy

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Oct 19, 2015
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Final answer. The Intel is the fastest workstation PC drive there is. By a long shot. It is way faster than any of my 5 sata ssds pros and evos . . . . . . . It does everything instantly except boot. See my other comment. Even the 2 850 1TBs in Raid 0. or the 950 Pro. Read the real specs. Fact, the Intel is the best boot/system PC drive there is! A no brainier! The truth. It is not slow to boot. Intel fixed that with the firmware update.
Sincerely,
Walt Prill

 
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