SamSung 960 Evo Firmware Update 3B7QCXE7 and 2.3 NVME Drivers

Hey guys,
I just got a notification about this update and have installed it. I've not seen this posted around anywhere just just more of a heads up for users and to see if anyone knows what they might have changed or fixed.

Also on a side note incase anyone doesn't know they also released an updated NVME driver at the end of Oct version 2.3 that adds Support encrypted drive. I didn't see this posted anywhere here, but sorry if it's already been said.

 

I did install the 2.3 driver when it was available. But I'm not seeing the firmware update. Mine is listed as latest available and is version 2B7QCXE7,which is also on the Samsung homepage ( http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/download/tools.html )

 

Like I said, it popped last night, not sure what's been changed or fixed, but thought I would give this a throw out there since nothing's been posted about it.

 

I have encrypted drive "ready to enable" since installing the 2.3 driver, is this for real!
I am scared to reboot in case it goes away

 

Same. Everything works fine.

 

Same here. Update was super easy, and super fast! In the latest Samsung Magician, just click update, it takes a second or two, shuts down (turns off the computer), and upon reboot ready to go. No long convoluted making a boot disk etc. Not available as a separate download currently (as a boot disk method), only through Samsung Magician.

 

It turned out I needed to install Samsung Magician 5.1 to get the firmware update. I was running version 5, but when I checked for a new version it said I was using the latest one.
I had to download it manually form their web-page.

 

No joy enabling bitlocker hardware encryption after setting it to encrypted drive. Anyone else tried?

*this will also f**k up any chance in using secure erase every again.

 

It's not clear what they mean by Encrypted Drive for NVMe. I think it just toggles TCG Opal capability on and off. BitLocker is still impossible on all NVMe drives since there is no UEFI spec for booting it.

 

Tech can't tell me anything apart from the fact they only way out of this is to RMA it, they are happy to do that so they can reset it.

 

Yeah their software never tells me when a new Magician update is out, I'm always checking their site every few weeks just to see if anything new has released.

 

Hello can anyone confirm if there is a problem with the latest firmware. When trying to copy a large file it starts at 1.6GB/s for a minute and then falls down to 350MB/s. When Reading from the 960Evo there are no problems speed stays stead at 1.5 - 1.6 GB/s but when i writing performance drops.

 

Mine reports new update.

 

Depends on source and destination.

 

Its not a problem with the firmware. Thats what makes the evo cheaper. It doesnt sustain the 1500+ mb write after 20GB. It will drop to 300mb. Which honestly isnt an issue unless you are using it for large storage or content creation and need very fast write speeds. For an OS drive, its bitching.

 

I also have a 950 Pro which works perfectly fine and sustains the speeds. I want to use it for content creation but i guess i can only use it as the source drive for the footage since the read speed is sustained (at least) and use the 950 Pro for the writes/exports/previews.

 

Do you mean per file? If i copy 10 files of 10GB will it sustain the speeds?

 

They can get pretty warm with frequent writes, those integrated heat spreaders that some motherboards have aren't there just to sound good . Not sure how many GB written is required before throttling occurs.

 

I dont know if its 20GB total or per file. Im using it as an OS drive and havent writtent anything bigger then 11GB while testing speeds.

Ofcourse doing a benchmark in Samsung Magician, I got 2k read and 1350mb rite. The test before the new firmware was 1676mb read, and 1501mb write.

As for temps, mine hasnt ever gone over 36c while Copying the 11GB file from my 550mb/read ssd. But I do wanna put a heat spreader on it because it sits right above my fury. But most of the time the Fury doesnt go above 63c, and I have an exhaust fan under the fury and a rear 120mm exhaust fan. 960 evo 250Gb right now idle is 27c as I type this.

So I ran Crystal Disk Benchmark. Just read and write with 32GB file.
Here is what I got with 1 file selected. I saw the write peak for a bit at 1700mb then it dropped to 300 and went back to 600 for the rest of the test.

 

That's normal as EVO drives use cache to get good write performance. After a threshold is reached it goes to a much lower sustained write speed.

Bigger drives have more cache and it will take longer to get the performance drop off.