Optane 900P vs Samsung 960 Pro for Windows 10

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braxus

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Jan 1, 2018
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I want to get a new SSD drive to be used to install Windows 10 onto it (as the boot drive). It will be running the system, while other hard drives will store files I have.

I have narrowed the choices to the Intel 900P 280GB SSD and the Samsung 960 Pro 512GB SSD drives. The Optane drive will either be PCI-E card or the U.2 connection connected to a M.2 to U.2 adapter.

What is the best solution for running Windows 10? The system will be used with a X299 Socket 2066 motherboard which will be new. CPU for now will be the 7800X and later a new 10 core i9 CPU coming out late this year (new series not out yet). Will the Optane outperform the Samsung for loading up Windows? Or will the difference be negligible? The Samsung is twice the capacity and 100 dollars cheaper then the Optane drive, but Optane is the newer technology. Any thoughts on which one I should go with?

And last question- what is the procedure to install Windows 10 onto these types of SSD drives? Anything in the bios I should check and correct before install?
 
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I acutually am currently running a 280GB Optane via Pci-e 4x and also 2 Samsung 960 Pro 512gb drives for other operating systems on my server. I had the 960 Pro M.2 drives becore I picked up the Optane. Yes, it can be said that in burst sustained transfers the 960 Pro is faster, however most of the work isn't done in that way and even if you were only looking at that as your metric, that 960 Pro will be throttling after 30sec or so. The Optane however will not, it has a large heatsink and doesn't have this issue. The larger part of this equation is the fact that 4k random reads and writes are what make your operating system and all...
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J_E_D_70

J_E_D_70

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Mar 21, 2012
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I’d also ask why? Why are you booting so often that a couple of seconds cramps your style?

Even the pro over the Evo is negligible on typical consumer workloads.

Sleep vs shutdown also obviates the need for fast boot. Anyway, if you have to go all out the Pro is the way to go. Optane remains a gimmick for now.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Saving a couple of seconds on the boot time is a total waste for sacrificing half the drive space, and spending more money doing it.

The difference between an HDD and an SSD might be 5 minutes vs 20 seconds.
The difference between a SATA SSD and an NVMe drive might be 20 seconds vs 15 seconds.
The difference between an NVMe drive and Optane might be 15 seconds vs 13 seconds.
(not ACTUAL numbers, but in the range)

Most of the stuff that you, I and the OS does is in 4k blocks of tiny file segments. There, the SATA, NVMe, and Optane are all pretty similar. They are way faster than an HDD due to the near zero access time to find the next block.

An NVMe or Optane would shine over a SATA SSD if you were routinely transferring large blocks of sequential data. Which is NOT what happens when booting or gameplay.

And blowing all that extra money on 1/2 the drive space? No thanks.

Just because a thing exists, does not mean it is useful or beneficial in all use cases.
 
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braxus

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Ok. I wasn't aware how much access starting an OS uses when loading up. I think I will be fine with the 960 Pro then. I can always partition it to two separate drives (one for OS and one for spare files). I always shut my computer down because the person I live with gets really cranky about the computer using power when not in use. So I turn it off to save piece of mind.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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OK.
Idling 12 hours/day, a PC uses about $3.50/month at average US prices. Less than a typical incandescent lightbulb turned on for the same time.
In Sleep, far less.

But yes, if it eases the residential stress level...turn it off...:)
 
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ssoniccomputers

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Feb 2, 2018
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I acutually am currently running a 280GB Optane via Pci-e 4x and also 2 Samsung 960 Pro 512gb drives for other operating systems on my server. I had the 960 Pro M.2 drives becore I picked up the Optane. Yes, it can be said that in burst sustained transfers the 960 Pro is faster, however most of the work isn't done in that way and even if you were only looking at that as your metric, that 960 Pro will be throttling after 30sec or so. The Optane however will not, it has a large heatsink and doesn't have this issue. The larger part of this equation is the fact that 4k random reads and writes are what make your operating system and all functions fast, and the Optane is about 400% faster in these areas. It will blow your doors off!. Also you get a game code w it that you can sell on Ebay (as I did for $180 within the 1st hour of listing).. This puts the two in a much closer space. I do like both drives very much but the Optane owns the 960 Pro all day long, in Linux and Windows 10 both. Night and day difference.
 
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ssoniccomputers

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I also have a 512GB 960 Evo which I also think is a nice quick drive that I use in my laptop. All of my gear is Kaby lake with 32GB+ DDR4.. This stuff is so fast and silent it kinda seems crazy that I'm getting ready to go to 8th series 8 core server to start, also picking up an Oracle server with 196GB of ECC ram and 14 1.6TB Intel P3700 Pci-e ssd's and some conventional 10TB drives all Enterprise grade. Lots of things to do around here!
 
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braxus

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I ordered both the EVO and Optane 900P then. If the one user here confirms the Optane is faster for Windows, then that is all I need to know. The EVO will be relegated to backup drive.
 
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ssoniccomputers

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Yes they are both very good drives and the Optane is the fastest drive currently available in the consumer area, also it has Enterprise class daily write capabilities, I use mine to run Linux Mint Cinnamon 18.3, and Windows 10 Dual boot. Also due to the design of the heatsink it will not have throttling issues as the M.2 drives do. Sequential transfers are a bit slower than Samsung 960Pro (before throttling) but Windows and general operating system performance, installs, program launches, ect value randon 4k reads and writes, not sequential speeds. This is where the Optane really shines! ~4x the 4k random speeds vs the best on the market. Also, be sure to sell your game code that comes with it on Ebay for ~$180-$200, I listed mine for $180 and it was sold within the hour.
 
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ssoniccomputers

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ssoniccomputers

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WIth a theoretical maximum of 600MB/sec over sata vs the 3300MB/sec and 400% the 4k random reads and writes I really don't agree that it's going to be 13 seconds instead of 15. The only way it would be is if you really didn't know how to set up your system or were running some old slow AMD or Cyrix setup with very little and slow memory. My system boots into Windows 10 with Thunderbird and Firefox with 5 tabs fully loaded from power on in 1.8 seconds.
 
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