Windows won't boot into Samsung EVO 850

Got my Alienware 15 R2 today and I've been trying to install windows 10 on a Samsung 850 EVO I got for about 8 hrs now. Here's what I've tried

1. Disabling secure boot and enabling legacy
2. Unplugging the HDD entirely - returns the error no media present
3. Main BIOS page recognized Samsung 850 EVO, but boot priority doesn't
4. Already made a clean install of windows on the SSD
5. Swapping SSD between drives on my laptop

When I enable legacy mode, I can hit F12 and select the SSD to boot up from, but once that gets disabled the drive isn't seen as a boot option.
Windows also recognizes the drive immediately I boot into the HDD, no issues there, and on the main BIOS page, first page with system info, the drive is seen in the second hard drive spot (although there are two M.2 spots there that both say they're empty even though it's an M.2 drive)

If it helps, I created a recovery ISO using the Windows Media Creation tool then made a bootable drive with RUFUS, so the OS on the SSD is a clean install of Win 10

I'm getting pretty frustrated, I'd really appreciate if I can get some help here.

 

common issue with firmware and bios on R2, use rufus to create windows 10 iso, select UEFI only for GPT partition, and make a USB disk.. after that reset ur BIOS settings, stick with version 1.2.2 for now.. set to AHCI, UEFI secure boot ON, clear all partitions in windows 10 setup, install, now it should work like charm.. do not install intel RST driver for now on BIOS 1.2.2, or samsung 950 pro driver from website.. let me know how it goes..

 

I had done that, tried several times and it still didn't work, wasn't able to see SSD in boot options, even when the HDD was disconnected.

This is what I've done to be able to boot into the SSD:

Disabled UEFI, enabled legacy mode, set boot priority to keep second hard drive (SSD) at the top. System boots into the SSD now, only thing is the alienware head screen stays about 4secs longer, outside that, I have a working windows installation, just installed drivers.

Question now is, will I do damage to my system leaving it in legacy mode? This is the only setup that worked for me so far

 

there is no thing as damage or anything, but UEFI is simply secured ones, nothing much.. it boots bit faster.. no problem using legacy mode.. but did u try that one step. which is the main one.. burn iso using UEFI for GPT and not MBR.. i gave this suggestion to many users.. it worked.. try once more, cuz MBR partitions fails sometimes to get detected.. and do this before installing
http://www.dell.com/Support/Article/us/en/19/SLN301252

 

Yeah, I had seen many threads where the GTB was suggested over MBR, so I made sure to do that from the start, still didn't work for some reason. Made sure to delete all partitions before starting out too... the drive just wasn't responding. Boot time from power button to desktop is now about 20sec

One other thing though, the system gets a bit warm on idle, the keyboard gets warm and the bottom plate is quite warm too. I have a Havit cooler under it now, but it still gets warm on idle.

Is there a fan setting I'm missing?

 

its normal.. even my laptop gets hot under idle, they will release new bios in coming week, with better fan profile.. i hope they sorted out all kinda ssd bugs and other issues..