New Samsung NVMe SSD

512GB? Are you going to install this one or wait for the 1TB to be released next year?

We'll be adding these soon.

Hi DB ... you must think I'm one of those weird internet forum-type stakers posting after you posts .... but not to worry, I'm just a old tech guy that can tell you're a techie like me at heart.

And I would say "Ahh ... looks like I've ran across the thread where you are showing off the part you custom ordered and was awaiting the DS wizards to get into your system!!"

... I'm sneaky about finding these kinda' posts, once I find them referenced in another thread!

Yeah, this whole new PCIe NVMe SSD market has been rapidly advancing in light years jumps over the past year. It's amazing once a new hardware standard comes up, or gets built into the hardware we use these days gets adopted and then gets to take off so quickly with really good performance.

It ain't like it was back in the day.

You know, back then (15-20 years ago) I was the tech guy that always said " well, you can always tell who the pioneers are - they're the ones with all the arrows in their backs!" hehehehe

( no offense to any native americans, I'm 1/8th cherokee ... so, tip of the hat to all my fellow native americans out there in the DS community!)

Since I've been out of support side (since I went on disability) I'm still catching up on new hardware and new technologies and trying to stay as informed as I can on stuff like this.

This is one upgrade I can see myself moving to in another year, even right after I get my new Apollo system with the 500d HDD and all the space the 4GB WD Black edition mechanical HDD will afford me.

If you get some time, try posting some links you might think would be useful for me to get more info on the new drives and cards like this and performance/real world stats I could sink my teeth into, if you could.

Yeah ... these new ultra fast SSD's are intriguing me and have been at the top of my hardware tech reviews-list for some time now to get up to speed on.

thanks for posting this, and give us some feedback on how it works with your DS system when you get and have to time to evaluate it.

You should. You will just want to make sure you've updated your BIOS.

Using the M.2 slot in the combo adapter will drop the bandwidth to your GPU down to x8, but the performance loss will be minimal (1 - 2 frames per second less).

Thanks for the added links. I've seen quite a bit on Tom's Hardware and the forums there, but hadn't seen anything on Anandtech since I've been trying to find out more. Also, hadn't seen anything on the HardOCP site, thanks for bringing those to my attention, checking them out now!

More thoughts, random ruminations and questions regarding this thread :

from HardOCP :

As it was when we looked at the Intel 750 shortly after it was launched, specialized development tools and patterns to produce better end user experiences on NVMe are in their infancy, and the vast majority of users are not I/O constrained. Edge cases (such as games with huge assets such as high-resolution textures and expansive maps) that may load slowly are in focus, and as developers establish more targeted design patterns, NVMe will likely begin to make more of a difference.

- that's more where my interest lies, that and the fact I have a HUGE number of audio files and video files / movies and larger sized files that I think would benefit from having such an upgraded SSD drive like the new ones that are coming out.....

Samsung’s 950 Pro - The 1TB version next year will be nuts. Also, looking at New Egg : 349$ for the 500GB version out there ... makes for what linked in the HardOCP article around Price / GB = $0.68 - that's some crazy changes in just over a year with this kind of technology being developed, in my opinion.

Also, just because I'm not a math wiz : it looks like the M.2 standard specs are telling me the following (you might want to make sure I;m understanding everything ok, as I consider myself still a newb on these new SSd standards ...)

1. In dealing with something like the Samsung 950 pro's - they are a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 (12 lanes toal) situation. Installing them on something like the 40 lane Apollo system (an Asus x-99 a board with the 5930k CPU) with a sli setup with the 980ti 6GB cards (32 total lanes) and THEN installing one of these new NVMe PCI-Express 3.0 x4 cards (as I am understanding it with my genius math mind at work) making it a total of x16/x16/(x12) but since it's a 40 lane deal, then that leaves it with 4 lanes overhead (because my particular setup runs a x16/x16/x8 PCIe bandwidth for the total 40 lanes....

my misunderstanding of how it throttles the graphics back is in how it makes the graphics cards assigned PCIe lanes after such a change...

Does it drop it to a to a x16/x8 PCIe lane assignment? leaving the full x12 lanes for the PCIe SSD card when you update the bios for a mobo like an Asus x-99 a and sli 980ti 6GB card setup like the one I will have.

Or is it assigned some other combination like, dropping BOTH graphics cards to a x8/x8 and then leaving the full x12 lanes for the new SSD.

It's just that I get confused when trying to think of how it assigns the lane bandwidth in such a x16/x16/x8
then again, as I look at my match, dammit, somethings not right .... I simply can't keep the math straight in my head.

Can you help me to understand ? (See where my misunderstanding is coming from??)

Or, rather, am I understanding all of that right?

2. The nomenclature alphabbet soup is swimming in my mind and the manufacturers are bound to make it easy on old guys like me so my head doesn't explode? I know, I know, rhetorical question.... hehehe

3. Lastly, and my experience with SLI setups and how changes to the available badwidth (and geez, I hope by my using the term "bandwidth" where the PCIe lanes are concerned is a proper thing to do, and in the way I am thinking of it all ... !!) is still very limited because I have only built, like 2 of those before, and wasn't exactly sure when I did it, how all the permutations and scenarios could change all of that for the clients I built systems for ... but it wasn't an issue, they didn't know nearly a tenth as much as I had researched and know about it, and they would never ever have to worry about the questions and issues I had flowing into my mind when building such systems.

But I digress ...

My third issue is how it effects it in real-world experience, which you spoke to and in such a brief explanation makes me understand that it really is negligible and won't really even be noticed, except in raw, number crunching data specs ... Is that correct to think in those terms?

4. The other thing is, I'm ordering my new Apollo with the 850 Samsung EVO, which as the HardOCP article talks about at the end :

"For almost everyone else, we still like Samsung’s 850 EVO (currently $164 for the 500GB) or SanDisk’s Extreme Pro ($200 for the 480GB). The 850 EVO is a performance bargain, and its 3D TLC NAND shouldn’t be plagued by the same woes that affected the 840 EVO’s planar TLC. SanDisk’s Extreme Pro brings a great warranty and very solid performance. Spending the additional money on something like a Samsung 850 Pro ($230 for 512GB) doesn’t get much in the way of increased performance due to the constraints of the SATA bus, though the 850 Pro does have proven bulletproof longevity. Conversely, the pricing on the 850 EVO is low enough (thanks to Samsung’s excellent vertical integration and massive scale) that the few bucks you might save with less expensive SATA drives hardly seems worth it; particularly when considering that many of those offerings are saddled with old school planar TLC."

which is why I went ahead and got that in my new system. Sounds like, in the end, I went all around the correct way to go about things for a price-performance value.

Lastly ... and maybe fortunately, cause this turned into a HUGE post and Text-Wall that I, and everyone else HATES to have to go read thru (especially since I used cut and paste from the articles you linked)
- My whole philosophy is not necessarily adopt the latest, greatest technology and make a good target for the arrows in my back with my old adage that dictates

"you can always tell who the pioneers are, they're the ones with all the arrows in their backs ..."

but because once newer technologies mature, the price/performance always matures with them and makes it more easier to adopt and afford to be purchased by guys like me.

I prefer to get spend *just enough* of "a little more" or at a price premium for the mature technologies that come out, but also leave room in there for a "peace of mind" factor when (if) I were to buy from a Boutique PC maker or any OEM rig.

Since I've ALWAYS resisted the urge to buy from an OEM (or other) and this is really, buying from DS is the first per-made PC Ivein over 20 years, it makes me feel my philosophy still holds true and I made the right decision THIS TIME. At least, trying to get as much a future-proofed rig that I can upgrade with newer technology and have peace of mind, but with a high-end experience in quality of parts and with the DS guys doing the building for me.

Also, I don't feel like I have to be solely reliant on myself for all troubleshooting on all issues. I have the community to draw from, as well as the DS techs if need be for serious issues.

I want to thank you all for reading all of this, and keeping up with my "train of thought process" typing mode, and appreciate any feedback you can give me.

those links were (in a nutshell) precisely more information in a short and concise way for me to better understand where things are headed and where we are at in today's terms of technology!

MANY, MANY thanks.

Thanks as always, for the response DB.

Point #1 - yeah, that's why I went with the x99-a and CPU and also what I did with ordering those sweet 980ti 6GB cards...
Point #2 - LOL
Point #3 - Now I remember reading about that ... somewhere. Funny how getting into a 3+ graphics card setup actually can DECREASE performance in some games. VERY counter-intuitive. (and yes, eventually I'll get myself a new 4k widescreen monitor - or take the one I have now in the living room and use it .... but I prefer to still wait a tad longer, see the 4k prices come down on some really big, nicely outfiited with features and specs monitor come out, as well as seeing what that sweet spot may be in a few more months or even next year. I'm patient like that)
Point #4 - Totally agree. the only thing I've ever been (for the most part) willing to suspend my motto on that philosophy is with CPU's.

Only thing about that is the rest of the platform takes awhile with new CPU's to mature, and then it can be hit or miss for awhile (sometimes a LONG while) before mobos and platform specs catch up.

- another reason why I went with a mature x99 and cpu combo choice rather than dive on in for Skylake.

I always got frustrated when I'd quickly adopt what I thought was a solid CPU and take a chance with a good mobo that came out to support it and then get a bummer board.

REALLY hated that when building for a friend or my family, and then end up having to explain the whole upgrade / building process to them and why I had to RMA 3 of the exact same MOBO's until I got one that I liked and was proud to give to them with my stamp of approval. They always understood once I did that, but I always hated that when I had to do it for myself.

I figure my system will be more than future proof for me for quite sometime to come.

PS - stage 2 and 3 emails just arrived - just one day after placing the order .... makes me feel ....

SPECIAL ! lol

More cores may be coming to lower level consumer porcessors: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/09/29/intel-corporation-will-finally-be-upping-its-core.aspx

But we'll have to wait until Intel sorts out its 10nm production, which it has already delayed and added an unprecedented additional "tock" with Kaby Lake at 14nm.

After I had X58 and experienced issues with old, stale I/O, I figure I'm not going to rely on just upgrading the processor in the future, but the entire platform.