SSD fail

[zero_tolerance_s]

Hello!

I've recently installed an SSD hoping to load games faster. It worked partially. I'm loading the OS (windows 10) in like 10 seconds vs 120 secs before SSD. Its even faster then my Ubuntu on laptop. But somehow PR2 load even slower then before. Initially I thought  it might be a CPU performance issue as I'm using an outdated one. But... other more recent games are working just fine even they are more demanding performance wise. 

Here are some metrics, from desktop shortcut click to effectively deployed on the map :

bf4 - 90 secs vs 140 secs before SSD
squad-  63 secs vs ~120 secs before SSD
PR2 - game loading 82 secs, loading map 148 secs, total 3,52 mins

 

Processor: AMD A10-5800K APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics   (4 CPUs), ~3.8GHz

 Memory: 8192MB RAM

Card name: AMD Radeon R7 200 Series Dedicated Memory: 2029 MB

What do you think? Forums are not very informative regarding this issue. How can I improve the loading time? I heard about people using SSD being bounced to desktop for loading too fast!  

Thanks,

ZT

[=VG= keed]

Which SSD are you using? Win 10?

[TEDF]

Problem is propably caused by your CPU. PR uses only one core, so to improve loading speed you propably need to improve the single core performance.

[zero_tolerance_s]

2 hours ago, =VG= keed said:

Which SSD are you using? Win 10?

Western Digital Green 240 GB on  SATA 3/6GB /sec port. Windows 10, yes.

[zero_tolerance_s]

2 hours ago, =VG= keed said:

Which SSD are you using? Win 10?

Western Digital Green 240 GB on  SATA 3/6GB /s port. Windows 10, yes.

[zero_tolerance_s]

1 hour ago, =VG= TEDF said:

Problem is propably caused by your CPU. PR uses only one core, so to improve loading speed you propably need to improve the single core performance.

Hm.. it does make sense. Im not sure if this old CPU can support this kind of improvement tho'.. I'll do some research. Thanks. 

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

With Windows 10 you may want to be sure you have the correct drivers installed to ensure your SSD is performing at it's stated speeds.  I've had a terrible time trying to get proper speeds out of my secondary SSD's since I switched from Windows 7 to Windows 10.  If you google the problem "windows 10 slow ssd speed" you will find a number of articles and posts, many with different solutions.  I tried many myself with no success before giving up and dealing with inconsistent SSD speeds.  You can get technical and get some actual speed data using the Event Viewer I believe, but I've forgotten the method.  There are also third party tools that can give you the actual speeds so you can see if you are getting the 540MB/s read speed that SSD is capable of.

 

[=VG= kiwirambob]

Dump the windows 10 ....

[zero_tolerance_s]

OMG!! My comp sux!!

Try this tool guys: http://www.userbenchmark.com/Software 

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

Wow - that is an impressive tool!  Should be able to use the SSD section to review your actual SSD speeds.

I knew I had a decent gaming PC, so was expecting a decent score - but what is most impressive is that you can use this tool to analyze which components are under-performing or even bottlenecking the PC.  I built my own PC from parts I spent months researching, and not everyone has that time or technical know-how to build a PC out of the better components on the market.

That website and tool make it easy to see which components are the fastest on the market and worth investing in, from SSD's through CPU's and Graphics Cards as well.  I'll probably come back to that site when it's time to upgrade components because it's list of parts sorted by performance is easier to read than the many articles on Tom's Hardware.

It seems my Gaming PC is a "Battle Cruiser"  (5th highest rating) which means that out of 100 computers with similar configurations, only 38 of them outperform my gaming PC.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/4323037

I was also able to identify a serious speed problem with my 2TB Documents drive - gonna see if there is a missing driver update or something; or maybe I can review my SATA ports to ensure my fastest drives are on 6Gb/s connections as appropriate.  I might have just connected them all willy nilly and I might not be getting the best speed because the drive is only connected to one of the 3Gb/s SATA connections.
So, with their comparison builder, you can see your current build, and tweak a few items to see where you can improve -- if I were to change my i5-4690k to the i7-4790k and my GTX 970 to the 1070, use a better set of RAM, I'd see a serious performance boost up to "Nuclear Submarine".  This comparison section of that site is VERY helpful:
http://www.userbenchmark.com/PCBuilder/Custom/S9109-M11612.14719.1478.1305.89932vsS5175-M11601.141989.1478.1305.90080?tab=MBD

 

zero - don't be modest - all our PC's, even the good ones, have parts that could use an upgrade; after a few years, all parts tend to lag behind and what was a killer system becomes just another PC.  Would love to see your results, we may be able to find small places where you can affordably upgrade it to eliminate bottlenecks or to get the most out of the PC without completely replacing it.

[zero_tolerance_s]

My gaming comp rated "surf board" .  That's second to last :D. But its much much better as a workstation which was its primary function. Strangely enough I can play demanding games on medium or even high settings. Probably thanks to the 2GB dedicated memory GPU. Unfortunately in my case the bottle neck is indeed the CPU and the motherboard cannot support anything faster. And if I get another MBD i'll need a new Windows licence for aprox 200 $. 5 years ago, when i've build this comp it was pretty badass.  8GB ram and quad core CPU ment something back then.   Maybe its time for a new machine but to be honest besides this issue with the PR loading time I have no problems with it. 

 

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

8 hours ago, zero_tolerance_s said:

i'll need a new Windows licence for aprox 200 $

...only if you lost your current Windows product key.  It is not a "per motherboard" license, you can reinstall it again and again.  I got Windows 10 Home for $120 digital download online at NewEgg.  They still have Win7 if you lost your key (or other reasons).

[Diguelo]

SSD THE TRUTH.

Ok ive read the posts and seen the issues. Im a PC Engineer (Repairman) by trade. Solid State Drives or SSD's for thos e who know abreviations have one huge issue, they overheat badly.

I see a lot of people try to use these for gaming, so it gives them the edge. Nope, if want speed in your games then upgrade your memory to a point where it can hold the Operating System Windows 7 up you may need to find seperate drivers for that os.

OK for the lesson, heres my system

250GB M2 SSD used to hold office software and the operating systems as well as the visual c++ runtimes and other little housekeeping programs.

Asus z170-A Intel Motherboard Intel Based

Intel 6700 Skylake Processor capable of 4.185 GHZ but kept at 4GHz makes it last a whole lot longer

Memory 32GB of DDR4 2400MHz in a 4 x 8 configuration. (Rememebr im an engineer i need this much for my work)

NVIDIA GTX 980, was going to have a titan, but the difference is negligable and the compatability is questionable, so stick with what you know to work, 4GB of DDR5

3 WD Black 3TB hard drives

750W Corsair PSU

Saitek Pro x52 HOTAS

7 port USB3 Card

Oh and a Corsair gaming keyboard

Now then all this added together makes one hell of a (to coin an american phrase) Kick A** machine. However. how is this set up and this is where you should take note, the advice is good. Learned by experience.

Ive had no end of people call me up since the birth of SSD drives and say "My PC / Laptop is smoking, thats smoking as in smoke coming out of it not its like smoking hot and brilliant. Always the same problem. Games and stuff poured into an SSD to get the EDGE in gaming. WRONG all it does is cause the drive to heat up unless you happen to have a liquid CO2 box to keep it in or have a ducted aircon system to keep it cool and by cool thats under 50 degress centigrade. Most of the SSD's on the market today have the capability to of S.M.A.R.T. or basically self monitoring and reporting technology on board and that will tell you if youve been overcooking it.

SO whats my system setup and how is it my little M2 drive manages to cope with a haul A** machine, simple it doesnt.

As mentioned its for the OS and other low rent processor apps, my games are stored and used from the WD Hard drives. My core temperature of the processor never goes over 40 because all the data used by my computer is loaded into memory and only accesses the drives when needed, and yes it gives me a edge. BUT SSD's were not invented for having the latest games stuck on them, you wish to fry your drive then by all means do so, stop reading and walk on by, nothing to see here. Or read on

Ok so you chose to stay, thats great. So you want to make your machine bigger and better and spend as little as possible, no worries

So your SSD designed and built for low rent software and not high end games, thats what memory is for, more memory or faster memory, more speed.

How to setup your system for the SSD to make a huge difference and not set fire to your house

 

First install just the SSD and your DVD drive only.

Check the SSD is on a flat cooler panel usually in the base of the drive bays and stick it there or in a bay where a fans blowing over and under it

Make sure the wires in your computer are cable tied to allow for maximum cooling. A fan in the front to pull and a fan in the back to drag it out is fine, mine only has Two 120mm fans in the front cooling the Hard Drives and the M2 drive

ok some cases have a channel in the back, but try to get them so everything gets moving air under and over the motherboard, drives etc.

Just dont get tempted to plug in any other drives thatn your SSD at his time.

Now turn on your machine and go into the BIOS to make sure it recognises you have the drive in slot 0 of your SATA ports and the DVD in either port 0, 4 or whatever the last slot in the SAATA block is, this leaves you the main 6GB/sec connectors free for your other drives. Note if your using an M2 SSD make sure its set up in the raid section of your machines settings or it wont be seen, on reboot itll say found M2 drive

Hit F10 and return to reboot your PC

Insert the OS disk and install your system and windows partitions all on the SSD. Now you can see the difference straight away, itll load in a lot faster than before.

If you had time to make the dinner and walk the dog, last time, this time youll barely have time to make and drink a coffee.

When installed, power down and remove the power lead, (YES IT IS NECESSARY) leave it for 30 seconds and continue

Ok important part, feel the ssd drive once the machines done installing the Operating system, it shouldnt be burning your fingers, just a touch on the top is fine. It might need a duct making out of cardboard (DONT LAUGH) lol to force air onto its surfaces if its too hot to touch.

Ok now you can go ahd plug in the rest of your drives. the first one you plug in your going to make it your games drive how will be revealed shortly. Make any mods to the RAM configuration at this time too the reason its left till now, momory sockets attract dust like flies on S**T. So t may be an idea while you have it apart to give it a once over with a vacuum cleaner to clean out the dust and critters that get in and yes on a couple of occasions mice that got in through an open cable hole in the case.

So seal up your case BEFORE you plug in the mains lead and turn it on, all your drives should now be found if theres one that has an old windows install on it then save what you want off it and delete all partitions and create a new master one on it. Once your in desktop you can make a folder on the drive and return your data to where it was, except some games which will need to be reinstalled and heres where you save your SSD, DONT INSTALL THEM ON THE SSD.

First make up a pair of folders called Program Files and one called Program files (X86)

So now when you install games, rather than installing them on the SSD or C drive you store them in the appropriate folder on the drive you just added the folders too. The root directory for old games is the one containing the two folders, x86 is for most 32bit  games and the Program Files is for 64Bit stuff. If you want you can change the system variables to point at  the folders, but for most folk this method is far easier.

On my machine I have my games and steam repository on one of the three Hard drives, the others are for work, storage, programs and virtual drives.

So now tell me this hasnt made a difference to your system. On most youll get a small increase if no components were changed, but it will boot in under 20 seconds, not ten minutes like the old drives. from power on to be in full operation on desktop with the M2 it takes just over 10 seconds every time and shutdown around 5 or so, never really timed it to be honest.

Now as for the difference between SSD SATA plug in and M2 SATA can give a maximum of 6GB/second data transfer just like a SATA 3 Hard Drive. Just using it for low rent programs for housekeeping and office stuff it will let it run cool all day.

This is all advice from an engineer with over 40 years of experience building computers so Moses could play his DVDs, Ive been at this since I was 14 and made a career and my own firm too. Advice is free and its up to you if you want to take it, check it out or just walk on by. You need any other help dont be afraid to PM me i dont bite, much. I hope this enlightens you all as to the proper and careful use of what can be a potential fire risk and one that most insurers dont cover in the UK.

Regards Dig

I host my tag so i dont use others server space

 

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

On 7/17/2017 at 8:37 PM, Diguelo said:

Now as for the difference between SSD SATA plug in and M2 SATA can give a maximum of 6GB/second data transfer just like a SATA 3 Hard Drive.

I thought the big draw of the M.2 SATA was speeds around 32GB/s (or more) and SSD SATA (3) port is 6GB/s -- with some motherboards still having a few SATA 2 ports at 300MB/s.  Maybe I'm reading the above sentence incorrectly.

I don't have the money for an M.2 SATA drive myself, I use 2x120GB 850 EVO SSD's in RAID-0 for my OS and another much larger 850 EVO SSD that holds all my games.  I run ALL of my games off of my Programs SSD, and it's decreased my load times immensely, and with the OS on the RAID-0 volume, I get boot times of less than 12 seconds.  My case is an NZXT S340 which has very decent airflow, but the only liquid cooling is on my CPU.

 

My SSD's never have a problem with heat outside the acceptable range, and they don't have any special cooling or anything.  In fact, my 500GB SSD holding my games is in the lower bay of the S340 with less airflow than the main body of the case where the other two SSD's sit (the RAID-0 volume).  The main body is certainly cooler, as the lower bay contains the PSU and 2 other HDD's.

I installed my 2 RAID-0 SSD's first and created my RAID-0 volume in the BIOS, then shut it all down and connected ALL other drives, SATA II and SATA III SSD programs drive, at the same time.  Then I booted from USB to install Windows 7 (then again recently, Windows 10 to take advantage of the Touch Control games of Oculus Rift CV1).  (*EDIT: I have the PSU disconnected from the A/C wall outlet during this part, but...) I took no extra steps in removing the powerline of any of my drives during any installation, it was all connected at once after my RAID was built.  Not sure about all these extra steps you have listed regarding the installation of storage drives to the motherboard... I'll re-read it again after I write this, but I'm confident I am confused (*EDIT: but I would like to know more, to know if and/or why I may be doing this wrong).  I'm also a PC Tech, had my own business for years until I retired back in 2010.  Never had to take so many steps to install a multi-drive system in Windows; all drives visible by Windows OS when I tell it to install on the RAID-0 array.

 

I do understand what you are saying above, and that heat can certainly be an issue -- and I'd love to have enough RAM to run a proper RAM Drive for the execution of some of my more demanding PC Games, but I cannot afford 4x16GB or 4x32GB to make it large enough for the overhead and still have space for the game.  My main games are too large to be feasible at this time; Arma 3, Fallout, and Skyrim are between 30-40 GB, GTA V is a 70GB game, ARK Survival Evolved is a 50GB+ game (and constantly updating each damn week as they push new models instead of fixing bugs), and the rest are so old and small that they already perform tip-top with no excess heat from the SSD's running them.

For my less demanding games like Falcon BMS or Project Reality, I'm not sure a RAM drive would benefit any increased load times or even streaming data from the RAM instead of SSD's as these games are already performing optimally with FPS over 100 FPS at Ultra High settings.  I could see a maximum of 144 FPS with this 144Hz monitor, but only older games come close to this.  Not a super-system, by today's money, I could spend about $800-900 to rebuild this entire system from scratch - but it is a well optimized gaming PC with well thought out parts and configuration.

 

 

Here's a live report from AIDA64 of my temps as I play GTA V on HIGH settings, driving around in dense traffic during a cop chase in the rain - plenty of explosions going on, reflections, particles, smoke, etc - a most demanding live test, more applicable to this gaming system than any virtual test program such as 3DMark -- FTR my ambient room temp is 21 C (70F):

(*EDIT:  In my setup,) SSD's don't seem to have any issue whatsoever with temperatures, and I don't see why they would.  (*EDIT: I don't see what I've done so differently to achieve such manageable temperatures when as stated SSD's run unreasonably hot).  When I use ALL of these drives during a video rendering, the MOST demanding task this system can perform, renders that take upwards of 6 hours at times with my CPU usage pinned over 90% and data streaming to or from all drives, they barely add 5 degrees of heat, again with ambient temperatures at a reasonable 21C (70F).

SSD Heat is certainly a factor to monitor, I fully agree with you on that!  I've just never noticed SSD overheating to be a such constant problem, or one that requires as much attention as, say, GPU overheat (usually due to dust bunnies in the fins).  An SSD for decreased load times, and increased texture loading performance, is much more affordable than a RAM set that can run a RAM drive capable of holding these modern games that tend to be at least 20GB and up to 80GB.  SSD's are more affordable than RAM, and they perform way better for PC gaming than HDD's.  (*EDIT: I would love to learn more if I am mistaken in this understanding - I don't want to promote mis-information as I recommend to my friends that they get an additional SSD to hold their PC games for decreased load times and possibly increased data streaming performance for games that stream a large amount of data from the storage drive during gameplay)

[zero_tolerance_s]

After I've read Diguelo's post I've tried to put some stress on SSD running 3 games in the same time: Squad, BF4 and Argo. Temperature was steady between 32 and 35 Celsius. But write/read speed didn't go above 380 megs/sec!! 

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

1 minute ago, zero_tolerance_s said:

After I've read Diguelo's post I've tried to put some stress on SSD running 3 games in the same time: Squad, BF4 and Argo. Temperature was steady between 32 and 35 Celsius. But write/read speed didn't go above 380 megs/sec!! 

Are you sure that your motherboard supports SATA 3 speeds that can allow your SSD to reach 6GB/s?  If so, are you sure your SSD is connected to a SATA 3 port on your motherboard?  I ask because SATA 2 ports are a 300 "megs/sec" speed range which is close to what you are reporting.  The ports look the same, but some motherboards color the SATA 3 ports differently than the SATA 2 ports...

[Zadra]

To get the full speed of the ssd drive must be enabled AHCI Mode in the BIOS.
Note: Requires the driver installed on your system.  !!! Read Google !!!

[zero_tolerance_s]

2 hours ago, =VG= SemlerPDX said:

Are you sure that your motherboard supports SATA 3 speeds that can allow your SSD to reach 6GB/s?  If so, are you sure your SSD is connected to a SATA 3 port on your motherboard?  I ask because SATA 2 ports are a 300 "megs/sec" speed range which is close to what you are reporting.  The ports look the same, but some motherboards color the SATA 3 ports differently than the SATA 2 ports...

I only have SATA 3. 6 of them. Maybe the SSD is broken or something. I'm thinking to return it.

 

[zero_tolerance_s]

53 minutes ago, Zadra said:

To get the full speed of the ssd drive must be enabled AHCI Mode in the BIOS.
Note: Requires the driver installed on your system.  !!! Read Google !!!

All my drives are on AHCI mode.

[Diguelo]

If your SSD is a new one and you bought it within the last 8 months therees been a compatability Firmware upgrade to be applied to it.

I love how folks rip stuff apart, The M2 is a caseless plug in card about the size of a credit card or longer depends on the memory and yes it does chich out around 30 - 32GB / second, but theres no way I would use one for gaming just to hold the OS and housekeeping tools.

To get your mits on the firmware update, first visit your BIOS and get the drives exact make and model as the computer sees it. Theres more than likely a firmware id in there

Now go to the manufacturers site and get the correct download for the model you have. Crucial, Samsung have both done an update in the last few months to upgrade the SMART onboard.

As for the SSD fires, have a look on google theres only about a couple of million on there. The one deciding factor in running them is WHO is tunning them, my daughter nearly burned her bed by leaving the laptop on the bed turned on with all the power features set to on. I didnt know it has a crucial SDD in it and when the smell of burning plastic hit my nostrels, sure enough someone had taken a standard hard drive out and replaced it wioth a SSD. Teenagers and some of the rest of humanity dont realise the slits cut in the bottom of a laptop are for ventilation. This is the root cause of most fires.

Sorry if my post put you ff and I apologise for the data speed error. M2 capable of hitting 32GB/sec (M3 in development), Sata 3 capable of around 10GB/second on a good day and a prevailing wind. Far be it from me to argue with such a fine collection of experts we have in here. Ive only been doing this now for oh around 40 years and hold a excessive amount of qualifications on both Electronics and Computer studies as well as a few in programming.

As was said in the post its advice, its up to you if you want to take it but the omissions were my fault and I apologise.

The USB 3.1 5 port board on my computer requires a SATA power lead to provide for the special needs of the board and to take the load off the motherboard.

Once again Im sorry for the mistakes, it shows where your mind wanders too when your up till god knows what time doing posts to try and help. I think from now on ill take my mates advice and give advice when its asked for.

Sorry to have caused a stir.

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

7 hours ago, Diguelo said:

Sorry if my post put you ff and I apologise for the data speed error. M2 capable of hitting 32GB/sec (M3 in development), Sata 3 capable of around 10GB/second on a good day and a prevailing wind. Far be it from me to argue with such a fine collection of experts we have in here. Ive only been doing this now for oh around 40 years and hold a excessive amount of qualifications on both Electronics and Computer studies as well as a few in programming.

...

Once again Im sorry for the mistakes, it shows where your mind wanders too when your up till god knows what time doing posts to try and help. I think from now on ill take my mates advice and give advice when its asked for.

Sorry to have caused a stir.

No, I am the one who is sorry.  In no way did I mean to discount your advice or to minimize the importance of what you state.  I very much understand that heat buildup is a major issue, particularly in confined spaces with little airflow.  I completely respect your many decades of experience, I only had some questions and differing opinions based on things I have gathered from articles and posts I've read over the years, and reports from utility programs on my own PC (which of course may differ greatly from other PC's).

Please accept my apology. I did not intend to make you feel that your advice and your post is unwanted or not helpful when I asked those clarifying questions about SATA and M.2 port speeds.  I was merely confused thinking we may not be on the "same page", and often times, bits of knowledge we gain is by asking other professionals in the community who may in return raise our level of understanding.  I cannot possibly know everything, and I've only been working with computers seriously for half the time you have been -- there is much I can yet learn.  I will be more mindful of how I state my opinions or current understanding of a topic, and iterate where I would like clarification or correction in what I know to be correct.

 

I was only asking the clarifying question about the SATA/M.2 port speeds as I thought M.2 was >=32GB/s and SATA III at 6GB/s MAX and SATA II at 300MB/s MAX.  On my motherboard, I could install an M.2 drive, but it would nullify 2 of the SATA III ports (out of 6 total on this board), decreasing the number of storage drives it can support.  In my setup, I use a 2-disk RAID-0 array, a Documents Drive, a Programs Drive, and a Recording Drive.  Obviously, the M.2 would/could take the place of the 2-disk RAID-0 array and perform 60-80% faster, but the price per GB is just a bit too high (or was at the time I built this) for me consider that huge speed increase as a fiscally responsible option based on the budget of this disabled American with a kid heading for college.  I considered it, for sure, but in the end I spent that additional money on other options (I believe it allowed me to go for the 80+ Gold Certified option for my PSU at the time - a component that may survive more than one PC build over 5+ years).

Also, I felt it appropriate to present some data regarding the installation of my storage drives with regards to their physical installation during the system build and OS installation because I did not understand that I may be doing something wrong by installing them all at once pre-OS install but after my RAID-0 array was defined in the BIOS.  If your method as described in your post is a preferred method for "x" reason, I very much want to know the value of that "x" reason so I can learn something new perhaps.

 

We very much value the experience of others here, and if anything I wrote seemed less than a question or opinionated statement and more like some kind of slight against your post, I deeply apologize.  I went back over my post and added a few EDITS to clarify my meaning as text is so terrible at conveying inference in the manner which one intends.  I want to know more, and wanted to keep the discussion going regarding the health & performance quirks of SSD drives.  I was under the impression based on the info I provided that given standard airflow, SSD's should have no problem with overheating, provided that the case is frequently cleaned and the blanket of dust is removed from the components inside.

I also have an important question that only an expert such as yourself may be able to answer, and I don't always trust my google search skillz:  I most certainly should update the firmware on my Samsung 850 Evo's, and regarding the pair in the RAID-0 array, I wanted to ask if I should be concerned at all about damaging the array or any data on those drives by applying a firmware update?  I understand that the firmware data is not necessarily occupying the same data blocks as my drives use for storage, and my array is backed up very frequently, but still I wanted to confirm that there is no probable risk as I have never updated the firmware of SSD's in a RAID array before.

 

I had presented a temperature report during a nearly full load after 30 minutes on this PC so that an expert such as yourself may provide insights as to why my temps may manageable now, as your post makes me worry that I may have more heat issues to deal with if there is something else I may be missing.  If I understand correctly, you are recommending that SSD's not be used for PC Gaming as additional drives, and based on what I know now I understand SSD's to be helpful in decreasing load times and increasing performance of data streaming off the storage drive as textures load to RAM, etc.  and if what I know is wrong, I would most definitely like to know why so I can spread that more correct knowledge than what I currently understand (which again, is that SSD's are good for PC Gaming) as I do not want to spread mis-information.  Arma 2 and 3 particularly stream a large amount of data from the programs folder, whatever drive that may reside on - and we were seeing decent performance increases in that game (where it is difficult to get greater than 45FPS and avoid dips below 20FPS during high action scenes - even on rather capable gaming PC's).  Again, being that RAM of a size/configuration capable of holding that game with overhead to run it would cost more than a fast SSD (and these days, an M.2 drive) made it the thing to recommend to our gaming friends here.

Many of us have these SSD's now for PC gaming, and I am concerned that some may not be monitoring their temperatures and may have the problem you described with smoke literally coming out of the PC as the first notification that something is wrong with this method of improving our PC gaming experience.  I wonder if you've seen fried drives of all sizes and brands, or if it was a set of brands in particular that were so badly overheating. Am I safe with this Samsung 850 EVO brand? As shown, I have consistent temperatures under load and during gameplay for hours on end and they've been in service for 2 years now.  Am I just one of the lucky ones? I really want to know, because I do not always keep AIDA64 running, as I started to feel safe with my setup.  I definitely want to know if I'm just lucky, or if I'm holding a false sense of safety and security with these Samsung EVO's.

 

You are MORE than welcome to post up in any of these forums, and just because a young buck such as myself has questions or differing opinions or knowledge, that is no reason to pack it in.  I appreciate someone with more experience passing along new knowledge on the topic, I was just under a different impression regarding the use of SSD's for PC Gaming, the speeds of SATA ports, and the delicate tipping point of SSD heat tolerance.

Once again, sorry if my post made you feel unwelcome.  You are most welcome, and we all value advice on these topics, and we do want to discuss it and present what we may have thought was the case, and you should feel free to point out where that may be incorrect or outdated knowledge.

[PBAsydney]

On 7/19/2017 at 5:21 PM, =VG= SemlerPDX said:

I was only asking the clarifying question about the SATA/M.2 port speeds as I thought M.2 was >=32GB/s and SATA III at 6GB/s MAX and SATA II at 300MB/s MAX.  On my motherboard, I could install an M.2 drive, but it would nullify 2 of the SATA III ports (out of 6 total on this board), decreasing the number of storage drives it can support.  In my setup, I use a 2-disk RAID-0 array, a Documents Drive, a Programs Drive, and a Recording Drive.  Obviously, the M.2 would/could take the place of the 2-disk RAID-0 array and perform 60-80% faster, but the price per GB is just a bit too high (or was at the time I built this) for me consider that huge speed increase as a fiscally responsible option based on the budget of this disabled American with a kid heading for college.  I considered it, for sure, but in the end I spent that additional money on other options (I believe it allowed me to go for the 80+ Gold Certified option for my PSU at the time - a component that may survive more than one PC build over 5+ years).

There are two commonly used types of M.2 drives. There's the B&M keyed M.2 SATA drives which use AHCI, these are still running on SATA, just through the M.2 connector and therefore are limited to 6Gb/s Then there are the M keyed M.2 drives that use NVME. These are the pure PCI-E drives that use the 32Gb/s interface. 

Rule of thumb: If it has two notches on the connector, it's an AHCI M.2 drive, if it was only one notch it's a NVME M.2 drive. 

If you plug an M.2 drive into your motherboard and it disables some SATA connectors on your motherboard it means you are running a AHCI M.2. If you were running a NVME M.2 you would still have all your SATA connectors enabled, but your system would lose 4 PCI-E lanes instead. 

Then there's SATA Express....don't even get me started on that shitshow

[PBAsydney]

Decided to run the user benchmark as well and absolutely creamed it

http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/4375803

[zero_tolerance_s]

1 hour ago, =VG= PBAsydney said:

Decided to run the user benchmark as well and absolutely creamed it

http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/4375803

HAX!!

[=VG= SemlerPDX]

2 hours ago, =VG= PBAsydney said:

Decided to run the user benchmark as well and absolutely creamed it

http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/4375803