XPS 15 9550 SSD AHCI or RAID Mode

Hello everyone,
I've just received my new SSD 1TB 960evo and it's time to reinstall win on my xps 15.
Now I've read a lot of discussions about AHCI VS RAID mode but most of them were about months ago.
Now with the newer BIOS, especially 1.2.18, currently installed on my notebook, I would like to know what it the status about the settings:
- RAID mode and Intel RST driver
- AHCI and using Standard MS NVMe driver
- AHCI using Samsung 2.1 driver.

My focus is on stability not squeeze out last once of performance.
Would like to hear experiences and suggestions.
thanks a lot.

 

If you use the 960 EVO only (w/o a Second Drive) go for AHCI using Samsung 2.1 Driver. The RST Driver can be removed.

I'm Running the 960 PRO 1TB that way and its rock solid.

 

Some have reported random freezing issues with Samsung 2.1 on 9550 AHCI Samsung 950 Pro. Had odd behaviour myself, not sure if due to it, but made a system restore to 1.4.sth. 2.0 is supposedly okay, but older versions are not available at Samsung.

 

thanks.

 

Use of Samsung NVMe Driver v2.1 with Samsung PM951 SSD drive cause random system halts and blackouts. I have switched back to v2.0.
And right now I'm using neither RAID nor AHCI modes. Have set SATA Operation: Disabled and removed all drivers at all.

 

Meaning you are in AHCI mode

 

Not sure that this is exactly AHCI mode, can't see anything similar in Device Manager.
Previously with SATA Operation set in AHCI mode I had crashes and blackouts if Samsung NVMe drivers was not installed, but not I'm not.

 

Hi,

Is there any thread in the forum talking about that? I think I had experienced that in mid Jan but I couldn't find the reason. The symptom was that sometimes the system freezes suddenly (I could move my mouse but couldn't click on anything). I've never thought it could be a problem of the NVMe driver (after a few days I restinalled the system in RAID mode )

 

Sorry I don't recall where exactly I read this, but I think it was at least two independent places. I was having sleep issues and was testing what to do about it, then I started getting freezes in addition. I stumbled upon a report of freezes with Samsung NVMe driver v2.1 and i recalled updating it recently. Googled up at least one more complaint over it. It didn't fix the sleep issue. So I rolled back using a restore point. But I'm not sure what it was, could have been caused by sthe lese, because I didn't debug in detail. I have updated BIOS soon after and messed with boot, things are okay again.

 

That's what my 950 pro did with version 2.1. I could move the mouse but couldn't click. Install 2.0 and you'll be fine.

 

Was your sleeping issue about cold boot when recevering from hibernation?

 

I had sleep issue with 2.0 (actually since 1.0)

 

From sleep. It woke from hibernation a couple of times, but I didn't try it out much.

 

Has to be chipset related as my games PC has a 950 in with 2.1 and no issues at all. Might be worth hunting down a newer chipset driver.

 

I'm far from the only one having that issue though. I just did a fresh install of windows in December and used the latest drivers from Intel...

 

I know you're not the only one, has me thinking it is the 100 series chipset to blame though.

I would give this driver a go. https://mega.nz/#!tJEUETQB!ZUEasSI_mnIz2dNpMaSJvyYryLjavhTqvsAs2ub--6A