951 nvme or 950 pro?

[Gdourado]

Hello, how are you? 

In order to get a cleaner build and get rid of some cables, I am considering getting an m.2 ssd. 

My build is ITX. Board will be an Asrock z170 gaming that has an m.2 slot at the back. 

 

I looked around and the 951 nvme is cheaper by a yet considerable amount. 

With that said, are there any reasons to choose the 950 instead besides a faster write speed? 

 

Also, my case is a bitfenix prodigy. Is there enough of a gap between the board and the tray to allow some airflow from the front 230mm intake fan to cool the ssd? 

I read that these drives throttle under high temperatures. 

 

Thank you for your input. 

Cheers 

[Samfisher]

There is no reason to choose either cos you'll never use the full capability of these SSDs.

[TidaLWaveZ]

The 950 is retail, so you get a warranty and support from Samsung.

[Gdourado]

Just now, Samfisher said:

There is no reason to choose either cos you'll never use the full capability of these SSDs.

Main reason is really to clear out the drive cage, Sata power and Sata data cables from my case. 

The speed is an added bonus I guess.

 

Cheers 

[TidaLWaveZ]

7 minutes ago, Samfisher said:

There is no reason to choose either cos you'll never use the full capability of these SSDs.

 

You're right a tiny form factor drive with better performance than a normal 2.5" SSD of at least four times it's size for a good price is never a good choice.

[ExozeGD]

depening on the difference in price i would go with the 950 since i belive they fixed the overheating and you'll also recieve warranty with it

[Samfisher]

1 minute ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

 

You're right a tiny form factor drive with better performance than a normal 2.5" SSD of at least twice it's size, for a good price is never a good choice.

Performance that you will never even tap into cos to utilize ANY of the speed increases of the 950, you'll need an equivalent speed storage to transfer to/from in the first place.  And you will NEVER use even 10% of the IOPS capability of the 950 Pro.

[stealth80]

8 minutes ago, Samfisher said:

Performance that you will never even tap into cos to utilize ANY of the speed increases of the 950, you'll need an equivalent speed storage to transfer to/from in the first place.  And you will NEVER use even 10% of the IOPS capability of the 950 Pro.

Op has already said that is to clear space in ITX build, what does performance have to do with that?

[Samfisher]

4 minutes ago, stealth80 said:

Op has already said that is to clear space in ITX build, what does performance have to do with that?

Also price TBH.  A 950 Pro is significantly more expensive than a 850 Evo that will more than serve regular day to day functions.  Not sure that's worth having 1 less cable IMHO.

[stealth80]

1 minute ago, Samfisher said:

Also price TBH.  A 950 Pro is significantly more expensive than a 850 Evo that will more than serve regular day to day functions.  Not sure that's worth having 1 less cable IMHO.

Well it's 2x cables, and to be honest I agree with the OP that a m.2 drive makes for a much cleaner looking build and the performance gains are there to be used if it can be utilised

[Gdourado]

I read that the 951 does not have nvme drivers and it does not support magician software. 

Are these any real issues? 

Using Windows 10, will the lack of a driver harm performance? 

[TidaLWaveZ]

5 minutes ago, Gdourado said:

I read that the 951 does not have nvme drivers and it does not support magician software. 

Are these any real issues? 

Using Windows 10, will the lack of a driver harm performance? 

 

The 951 works with the 950 drivers

[TidaLWaveZ]

Plus windows 10 has built in Nvme drivers and I think Samsung magician will work with the sm951.

[OddsCrazyStuff]

29 minutes ago, Samfisher said:

Performance that you will never even tap into cos to utilize ANY of the speed increases of the 950, you'll need an equivalent speed storage to transfer to/from in the first place.  And you will NEVER use even 10% of the IOPS capability of the 950 Pro.

There are certain workloads that uses the full potential of it.

Rendering is one of them (as long as CPU and RAM keep up). Working on several 4k or HD videos can also do that (I have needed to re-render the time line to not max out the SSD I used at the time).

[Gdourado]

1 hour ago, ExozeGD said:

depening on the difference in price i would go with the 950 since i belive they fixed the overheating and you'll also recieve warranty with it

Price is 210 for the 951 or 270 for the 950.

Both the 500gb versions. 

Doesn't the 950 throttle with high operating temperature? 

[ExozeGD]

Just now, Gdourado said:

Price is 210 for the 951 or 270 for the 950.

Both the 500gb versions. 

Doesn't the 950 throttle with high operating temperature? 

i just checked it out half an hour ago or something and the sm951 will overheat when the 950pro wont. however in my case the sm951 wont because there's a fan right on the m.2 slot. 

[Gdourado]

45 minutes ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

Plus windows 10 has built in Nvme drivers and I think Samsung magician will work with the sm951.

There seems to be issues with the built in driver:

http://www.legitreviews.com/samsung-sm951-nvme-m-2-pcie-ssd-review_162219/9

[TidaLWaveZ]

1 hour ago, Gdourado said:

There seems to be issues with the built in driver:

http://www.legitreviews.com/samsung-sm951-nvme-m-2-pcie-ssd-review_162219/9

 

Looks like this issue was tied to early firmware versions and has since been fixed via firmware update.

 

Mine has always worked great(granted I've only had it for a couple months), I've been using the nvme driver for the 950 pro.
 

I have heard about heat problems with the sm951, so if you don't have good airflow where your m.2 slot is you might go for the 950 pro.

[Gdourado]

1 hour ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

 

Looks like this issue was tied to early firmware versions and has since been fixed via firmware update.

 

Mine has always worked great(granted I've only had it for a couple months), I've been using the nvme driver for the 950 pro.
 

I have heard about heat problems with the sm951, so if you don't have good airflow where your m.2 slot is you might go for the 950 pro.

My case is a bitfenix prodigy itx. 

The ssd would be on the backside of the board. 

I have a front 230mm spectre pro intake fan. 

I don't know if any airflow will reach the ssd. 

[mark fuckerberg]

Like one person already commented, the 951 is for OEMs and does not have a warranty. Get the 950.