Samsung SM961 and PM961 NVMe SSDs

Finally, 1 TB NVMe SSDs coming in the 2nd quarter! About freakin' time heh!

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10168/samsung-shows-off-sm961-and-pm961-ssds-oem-drives-get-a-boost

 

So we need a 960 pro

 

Also note that the SM961 uses MLC NAND while the PM961 uses TLC NAND

 

Nice IOPS! Hopefully they actually launch, unlike the 2015 Mushkin Hyperion that never happened.

Also, didn't Samsung say a 950 Pro 1tb is due for Q3 2016? If that's the case it will already be inferior to these new SSDs they are actually launching before it... I guess the difference being that these new ones are gonna be available on eBay only, whereas the 950 will be available at retail stores.

 

As far as I'm concerned? These are not coming, yet.

These are OEM drives. Software won't support them, etc. - next to useless for my customized systems. (Not that I'm advocating magician here...).

The interesting stuff will be the retail versions. But those are not even on a timeline anywhere... sigh...

 

The retail ones will come in Q3/Q4 like the 950 pro I guess...

 

The Samsung PM961 is already available on some of Lenovo's Thinkpad line (P50, P70, T460s, X1 Carbon & X1 Yoga) in 3 flavored: 256GB, 512GB and 1 TB. Select the "PCIe NVMe" option.

 

I've been looking for the 1TB SM961, but looks like no where to buy except Ram City in Australia, and they are in back ordered. :/

 

Wait a bit, in 2-3 months should be possible to get them much more easily... I think they are just being released into the market now, it's usually slow and then you have a massive glut like with the SM951..

 

The pase of the 950 Pro 1TB makes me wonder when we'll see the 960 Pro. But maybe Samsung will never release a 1TB and jump right to the 960 Pro - would make sense imo.

SM961 vs 960 Pro. Full warranty, and the ability to run Samsung Magician?

Still think it's cheap or rather fair priced. Any rumors about 960 Pro?

 

Magician is a waste of time anyway. Really serves no purpose for the 950 pro.

 

Soooo any recommendations for the current lineup? Got PM950 drives today.

SM961 (3200/1800 mbps)
EVO 960 (3200/1900 mbps)
Pro 960 (3500/2100 mbps)

EVO would maybe have better drivers than the SM?

 

+1, there is nothing special about it, no OS tweaks, no RAM caching, the only thing you can do is overprovisioning which can be easily done yourself

 

how much overprovision do you need for 1tb?

also just leave the free segment unformatted and that serves as overprovisioning right?

 

look at the total available space then multiply it by 0.2% for a 20% OP or 0.3% for a 30% OP

Then subtract that space from the total available space, and that is the amount you can use whether you want it on a single C: Partition or split across 2 partitions is up to you, the important thing, is to leave 20-30% unpartiitoned/unallocated space that is

 

What is the benefit of over provisioning (leaving unpartitioned space)?

Any opinion on what drive to choose?

 

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/why-over-provision.760922/#post-9766709

Buy the biggest capacity 2.5" SSD you can and OP it by 33% or more. For most 'real' workloads, greatly preferred over M.2 drives today...

Less heat, less throttling, more sustained performance over time, cheaper too.

You don't state your workload/workflows, but an M.2 NVMe drive will give you the feeling of being fast and then throttle itself very quickly (and possibly other components depending on your specific notebook's chassis design and cooling...), while a 2.5" SSD properly configured will give you sustained performance day in and day out (almost) no matter what your workloads are.

See:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10833/the-samsung-960-evo-1tb-review/2


Look at the last two graphs in the link above.

Even with 25% OP'ing sustained performance doubles (or more...).

OP'ing is the 'cost' of using SSD's even today. If you want to experience the benefits they offer (well, at least some of them...).

Running an SSD without OP'ing is like booking a Ferrari in to a Walmart Auto center for a tune up with 89 octane gasoline.

Yeah; it'll get you to Walmart and back home. But it may as well have been a horse and buggy instead.

 

Thank you for the reply!
My workload is primary Adobe Photoshop (big images) and Premiere (video rendering).
I offend see the PM951 hit 85-100% usage when I do daily business, but unsure how much of an improvement I can expect - if none.

 

Because of OP I'm now waiting for the 960 2tb to land on my desk. Have you any experience with 10% vs 20% vs 30% OP?
Like if I OP 20% on a 1tb SSD, could I just do 10% on a 2tb - and still get vastly better performance? Or do I need to push it closer to +20%?

 

to be honest with you, I haven't noticed a difference between my previous 30% OP and the Samsung recommended 10% OP but again, that's probably because I have a lot of free space.

But if you can afford the space, the more the better

 

I've played with OP'ing for half a decade (when Intel first hinted about it in a video... so long ago...).

What OP'ing by different %age's does is increase the 'performance' time of the SSD, ime. At 33% or higher (depending on any real world workloads/workflows), is where I start to see diminishing returns for the loss in capacity vs. the increase in sustained performance over time.

That doesn't stop me from using 50% and up to 67% OP'ing on my most used systems (the SSD's there are used only as PS' Scratch disks...).

It seems outlandish that a 2TB (nominal) SSD should be used at a maximum usable capacity of 1.25GB (for a 33% effective OP...). But that is the reality today, still.

Even data centers and other massive storage capacity and storage performance sensitive companies use cheaper, but bigger, 'consumer' SSD's OP'd by large %age's with more reliability and performance than the so called 'enterprise' level SSD's (and people here keep asking me why I don't use the appropriate SSD for my workflows... ...). There's a reason for OP'ing; sustained performance over time. And that includes more reliability too.

Will you get 'vastly' better performance? Probably not (I know from past experience that I'm much more sensitive to slow/laggy systems than most - to me, it is 'vastly' better...). What you will get is the most performance and reliability possible from the specific SSD you OP by 33% or more for your workflows and workloads, (almost) no matter what they are (just stop the useless benchmarking, please...).

Hope that helped.

Good luck.

 

Just to be sure, you're talking about Photoshop scratch disk?

 

Yeah. With LR's database and PS's Scratch disk using (separate) SSD's that are OP'd past 50%, the workflow rhythm isn't interrupted by any internal clean up routines the SSD may 'need' to do while I'm (still) using the system(s)...

I've seen much worse with the technically superior M.2 NVMe SSD's (albeit, in notebooks - with their less than inspiring heating/throttling issues under sustained performance...), even if the BM 'scores' would (initially...) let even a two year old choose them over a much bigger and effectively faster 2.5" 1TB or larger MLC model that is OP'd by what the last 7 years or so of my experience demands (OP... 33% or more... yeah; not optional).