Installing Windows 10 on Samsung 970 Evo Pro question

So... I've never used a m.2 drive and I'm getting one delivered tomorrow. Only a 250gb to use as a system drive.

I've been looking up the correct way to do this but I'm getting confusing messages so I thought I'd ask.

Pretty much everywhere I go, I see that the m.2 drive should be the only drive plugged in when doing this. So I'm going to have to unplug all the other drives, leave only the m.2 drive plugged in, then use the USB stick to install Windows. Then, once Windows is installed, plug in the other drives.

Still seeing a lot of people having various issues, from the m.2 not being recognised, to it not even showing up in bios (which I think could be a bad connection or dead drive).

So... My question is, is there a "protocol" to follow when installing a m.2 drive and installing Windows 10 on it and run it in NVMe mode?

I already looked up the correct m.2 slot on my motherboard (Maximus IX Hero), it's the bottom one near the SATA ports.

So... I'm thinking, open up the case, unplug all the drives, boot from USB drive, install Windows on the m.2 and then plug in the other drives.

I'm f*cking mumbling to myself haha.

 

I never had to unplug any device when switching to nvme mode (and x4 for the m.2 drive in bios) back when I was running on Windows 10 with my 970 Evo and multiple SATA devices.

 

So just leave all the drives plugged in, boot to Windows installation USB and select to install on the m.2 nvme? Because that would save me a bit of hassle.

 

When I added my 970evo as a boot drive I left all of my other drives attached with no issues. Windows always asks where you want to install.

 

No, you don't have to unplug anything (though you should always keep a backup of all data or important files), just make sure to select the correct drive/partition to format and install.

 

That's what I thought, it seemed weird that the entire internet says to unplug all the other drives. Of course I'll select the right drive to install on Thanks mate for the confirmation.

All important files are backed up in cloud or my backup drive

 

That's what I thought, thanks for confirming.

 

However you probably should format your old windows drive/partition (remember to move or backup your files) before installing on your 970.

 

Yeah, I will definitely be formatting my current OS partition.

Current OS is installed on a 120gb partition of my 500gb SSD, I'll be formatting the OS partition and then merging the 2 partitions together. I'm pretty sure this is doable before I install Windows on the 970. This Windows installation is over 2 years old now so I can't even remember if this is doable haha.

Worst case, I'll be doing it all in disk manager once Windows is installed.

 

My very first nvme install was back in January when I did my last full system build. I have a Samsung 970 Pro. I had all drives plugged in when I installed windows: the samsung nvme, 3 HDDs, and two opticals. No issues.

Once you get Win 10 installed and up and running, switch it from using the Microsoft nvme driver over to using Samsung's driver to get some better performance: https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/samsung-nvme-ssd-driver-download.html

 

Installed yesterday, one little niggle but all up and running. Tested with crystaldisk and got over 3.5k read and over 2k write, overall higher numbers than seen in Hilbert's review.

Happy days. Will install the Samsung drivers later, when I have more time

 

Same, I will only have windows and all the apps on the nvme, rest on SATA SSDs and backup on HDD. Previously I had windows on a 80gb partition of one of my SSDs with only like 15gb left so having a 250gb nvme gives me a lot more space to play with.

In hindsight, I could have gone with a 500gb nvme for the same price, or cheaper, had I gone with something other than a 970 but meh, done now.

 

I just installed a 970 Evo Plus on my X470 ROG Gaming F, and didn't disconnect any drives when I did.

I must say it's definitely a lot faster than the Corsair Force 240 LE I used beforehand, not just on paper (granted that Sata disk wasn't the best choice, but still). My Windows 10 is a lot more responsive now, besides the much shorter boot times.

 

I wish I could say the same. The Windows experience from 850 Evo to 970 Evo Plus is similar in every way, even the Windows logs for boot/shutdown are similar.

 

the user experience of an OS on a nvme or ssd is down to the access times, not the throughput.

you hit limits on how many things can be concurrently processed by the cpu during boot up.

 

But I didn't change my CPU (Ryzen 2700X). Even small things like browsing the internet are much faster for me. I can play open world games like Skyrim without (loading)-hitches, whereas it did 'hitch' when installed to the SATA SSD...

 

that suggests a problem with the sata ssd, never had such issues with skyrim on my end, ssd or hdd.

 

It seemed like CPU overhead on the SATA bus, which is gone apparently by the move to M.2.
Witcher 3 had it less though with the Sata SSD. Just some particular DX9 games were affected worse.

 

sounds like a problem with the sata SSD as Astyanax said.

 

Well that's probably it. I've read some reviews of the Corsair Force LS 240 of the time (I should have done that before I bought it ofcourse), and it was one of the worst. Almost as terrible as the ones with a Sandforce controller. Only the sequential read performance was 'in line' with the rest (like Samsung's 840 series).