Area 51 R2: Where is the M.2 slot on the motherboard?

Hi.

you're right. there is no M2 Slot on the Board. i installed my Samsung 960 Pro with a Aquacomputer Kryo M2 Adapter + passive heatsink.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA9F94T42618

you can keep the Hynix SSD and use it as a secondary Drive. i do the same with my Crucial SATA SSD.

one important thing. you should update your BIOS to the latest version.

the SSD works fine. here is my new Benchmark from few hours ago.

setup is easy. you will need to use one of the PCIe x16 Slots. the actual PCIe x4 Slot is only Version 2.0 and not 3.0 like all the other Slots. why you ask? because Dell said so!

just install the SSD, hit F12 during Boot Up and pick your Windows installation Device. (Edit) after first reboot during windows installation enter the BIOS by hitting F2, go to Boot Menu and pick Windows Boot as the 1st Boot Device. then hit F10 and click Yes to save the changes and exit.

once you're done with Windows Setup, install all the other Drivers. don't forget to install the Samsung NVMe driver.
http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/product/consumer/960pro.html

and that's it. enjoy.

if you have other questions, go ahead. i'm almost everyday here.

Edit:

one more important detail. you should delete your old Windows Installation from your Hynix SSD. Windows 10 does not like to be installed twice on the same Computer. if you accidentally load the old Windows Installation, the Fast Boot Feature kicks in and tries to load wrong Files. you will very likely end up with an error or BSOD.

Hi. Thanks for the Badge.

the cooler works great. the SSD idles under 30 C° and never goes above 40 C°. that's what i saw atleast.

installing Windows from USB worked for me. it is actually really fast. 20 minutes and i was done.

Yes. BIOS looks.... welb.... yeah.... . but the Boot Menu should work. your Secure Boot option is enabled. right?

this is my gaming PC. and yes!! the performance is great. all games i tried boot up much faster. i notice less texture pop ins. i love playing fighting games and the loading times in those games are almost non existing.

when i installed the SSD for the first time i used AS SSD Benchmark. and my first few attempts looked horrible. 2200 MB read and 1400 MB write i believe. i was dissapointed and complaint somewhere here on the forum. but after few days the results improoved. i almost feel bad for complaining now.

by the way, Samsung released new Firmware for the Samsung 960 Pro. if you want to upgrade, you have to install Samsung Magician Software. you can download the software from the same link i posted above.

cheers.

Carbon,

Thanks so much for the informative & detailed reply. That PCIe adapter you recommended is much better than the one I was considering buying from Amazon. I read somewhere that these M.2 NVMe drives do run a little hot, so was a actually worried about how to keep it cool(er). Looks like that adapter solves that problem right off the bat.

Yes, I'll definitely be sure to wipe the Hynix drive before trying to install Windows on the 960 PRO. Ideally, I'd like to install Windows 10 off a USB drive. My BIOS are up to date with A10. The BIOS overall look pretty sparse for a system like this, but I do recall seeing the boot sequence. Hopefully, it's not locked, or anything.

Those benchmarks are phenomenal. I don't know if you game or not, but if you do, have you noticed any appreciable performance improvements with the 960 PRO over your Crucial SATA SSD? I would imagine load times for most smaller apps are probably instantaneous.  

Thanks again!

I have a Samsung 1tb 960 Pro M.2 PCIE and am thinking about using it in my Alienware Area 51 R2 with a M.2 PCIE adapter. Do you think i should install it or just put my SATA 1 and SATA 2 SSD's  in raid. They are 1tb Samsung 850 Pro's.

Unless you have somewhere else to install it, I say install that puppy as bootable Windows. As you can see above, it should do >=3100 mbps. 

Use the Samsung 850 pro's as stand-alones (at 600 mbps). Best they could do raided is 1200 anyway, Games, storage, whatever. Maybe a different machine needs one of them.

Hi. i agree with Tesla1856.

use the 960 Pro as your Boot Device and run other two Drives without RAID. if you switch your A51 to RAID you will not be able to install Samsung Drivers and Software. you can create MS Software RAID if you want later.

Do you think the Samsung 960 Pro M.2 PCIE SSD will show up in the Samsung

Magican App when I install it my Area 51 R2? My Alienware 17R4 have 2

Samsung 950 Pros in raid and its not detected?

yes tesla. what do you think about it? is it possible?

regards

JKTRRT wrote:

1. Do you think the Samsung 960 Pro M.2 PCIE SSD will show up in the Samsung

Magican App when I install it my Area 51 R2?

 

2. My Alienware 17R4 have 2 Samsung 950 Pros in raid and its not detected?

1. Possibly.

IIRC, Samsung Magician only works with Samsung Retail drives (non-OEM). Also, I've only seen it detect them when on straight-SATA port. Not sure about Retail M.2 drives (I don't have one here to test, my Samsung M.2 is a OEM). I also don't have your machine/motherboard.

2. I thought when you RAID-ed drives, all/most control shifts over to Intel Controller (and Intel-RST if installed) ... see above paragraph.

Hey,

I just purchased an alienware area 51 r2 and it only has a 2TB HDD inside of it.

I was planning on purchasing a 256GB 960 pro m.2 ssd but I'm still confused on how/where to install it? Will it go into the same slots as the graphics cards?

Also, how do I install the ssd as the boot drive as opposed to the HDD? Can you please explain it to me as if I'm 5 because I'm still pretty lost on everything. (pictures would help!)

Thanks!

Yeah I heard a lot about the heat issues with people reporting 15-20° differences with and without heatsinks. 

A 1tb pro is super expensive for a very very minimal increase in day to day usage. I feel like you could use the money elsewhere.

Also what does it mean to put an SSD in raid 0?

So I couldn't justify paying $180 CAD for a 250 GB 960 EVO so I purchased a 500GB WD blue 2.5 SSD.

I know it's slower by quite a bit but I've heard that this wouldn't really be noticable compared to a faster m.2 SSD.

And I'm just confused as to what to do with the harddrive after?

Should I clone the harddrive to the SSD? Do I need to wipe the SSD? When/how?

I been going back and forth about installing my Samsung 1 TB 960 Pro with

the M 2 adapter in my Area 51 R2 alot people have said that I should just

put my Samsung 850 Pro's in raid 0 and that I will run into heat issues

mounting the 960 Pro that way? What do you think about The new Alienware 25

in Gsync monitor?

Hi petrified1.

one Thing before we start: Samsung 960 Pro 256 GB does not exist, only 960 Evo 250 GB. Evo SSDs are a bit slower than the Pro but you wouldn't notice the Difference outside of Benchmarks.

Yes. that is correct. the Kryo M.2 Adapter should be installed in the lowest GPU Slot. the M.2 Adapter is shorter than the PCIe x 16 Slot but it doesn't matter..

the Kryo M.2 Adapter comes with Quick Guide. it shows you how to install the M.2 SSD and the Passive Heatsink.

there is nothing Special about installing Windows on an M.2 SSD. have you installed Windows 10 from a USB Flash Drive before?

JKTRRT wrote:

I been going back and forth about installing my Samsung 1 TB 960 Pro with

the M 2 adapter in my Area 51 R2 alot people have said that I should just

put my Samsung 850 Pro's in raid 0 and that I will run into heat issues

mounting the 960 Pro that way? What do you think about The new Alienware 25

in Gsync monitor?

the "too high Temps" Claims are nonsense. new Samsung Drives don't get as hot as previous Generation M.2 SSDs, especially after installing Kryo Heatsink.

since you already own the M.2 SSD, why don't you just try it and see if you like it or not? disconnect all current installed Drives and install Windows on your Samsung M.2 Drive. keep it if you like it or remove it if you don't. really not a Science....

i posted the Link to show you the Dell Monitors. you turned it down and said 1080p is not good enough. what do you want me to say now?

Edit:

Edited some Stuff.