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    Upgraded XPS 15 9550 to Samsung 950 Pro SSD, getting slow performance

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by Billy Cantor, Dec 14, 2015.

  1. Billy Cantor

    Billy Cantor Notebook Consultant

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    I upgraded a brand new XPS 15 9550 from the supplied PM951 drive to a Samsung 950 Pro SSD. And then installed Windows 10 from scratch.

    But when running Crystal benchmark and Samsung's Magician software, I'm only seeing about 800MB/sec write and read speeds.

    Additionally the Samsung Magician software doesn't seem to detect the drive as a 950 Pro. And when I try to run Samsung's NVMe driver installer, it says that no Samsung drive could be detected.

    Is there some special voodoo necessary to install the Samsung driver for this drive? To detect it? To achieve its awesome promised speeds?
     
    Billy Cantor, Dec 14, 2015
    #1
  2. ijozic

    ijozic Notebook Deity

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    Last edited: Dec 14, 2015
    ijozic, Dec 14, 2015
    #2
  3. Billy Cantor

    Billy Cantor Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks ijozic.

    I tried installing the Intel Rapid Storage drivers, but Windows Update had actually installed a slightly-newer version already. Maybe I need to force-downgrade these?

    Over in the Precision 5510 Owner's thread, someone already benchmarked the factory-installed PM951 at 1435MB/sec read, 907MB/sec write. So assuming the Precision 5510 uses the same number of channels, etc. everything should work here for the Pro 950. We just have to figure out the process to get the drivers/support software installed...

    Precision 5510 thread (with benchmark near bottom of first post)
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/dell-precision-5510-owners-review.784464/
     
    Billy Cantor, Dec 14, 2015
    #3
  4. pokenguyen

    pokenguyen Notebook Enthusiast

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    To install NVMe Samsung driver, you need to switch from RAID in BIOS to AHCI first. Use msconfig to change boot mode to Safe mode, then restart and go to BIOS (before booting to Safe mode), change RAID to AHCI. After booting to Safe mode, restart to normal mode and install driver.
     
    pokenguyen, Dec 15, 2015
    #4
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  5. Billy Cantor

    Billy Cantor Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks ijozic and pokenguyen! Switching to AHCI mode let me install the Samsung NVMe drivers and everything is happy now. While I was able to get higher speeds on a later benchmark test under RAID mode, I am now getting 2300+ MB/sec sequential read results in AHCI mode with the Samsung drivers now. Huzzah :)
     
    Billy Cantor, Dec 17, 2015
    #5
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  6. lancorp

    lancorp Notebook Virtuoso

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    This really works! Thank you for figuring this out!
     
    lancorp, Mar 12, 2016
    #6
  7. SocratesCoder

    SocratesCoder Newbie

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    Just to clarify.
    1) Install Windows 10 initially with Raid settings enabled
    2) msconfig to safemode
    3) Reboot change to ACHI
    4) Install Samsung Drivers
    5) Reboot change back to RAID?
     
    SocratesCoder, Aug 23, 2016
    #7
  8. NYCtech

    NYCtech Notebook Consultant

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    odd, pice m.2 with the best SSD.

    at least you have one of the best out of the box screens :)
     
    NYCtech, Oct 30, 2016
    #8