As for m.2 drives, if they're using PCIE lanes, I don't think there's a method to check whether TRIM is actually functioning, I suspect that's set via the drivers needed from the OEM before the drive has the OS installed.
Nope, as I said...it checks for whether or no TRIM commands are being passed onto your drive or no. That's really all the OS can do, the rest is up to the firmware of the particular drive in question.
The drive in question here has what is likely the best windoze driver of any m.2 manufacturer...Samsung's drivers are quite good. Most of the issues with m.2 drives that do not come with a custom driver can trace their problems back to the default Microsoft driver. I've even read entire threads devoted to getting the Samsung m.2 driver to work with other manufacturer's drives for the purpose of circumventing the default windows driver.
If TRIM isn't functioning then eventually write performance will noticeably degrade as more and more cells are marked as dirty by the firmware and not erased for new data.
I went through the procedure to check and it says that TRIM is indeed enabled (supposed to be automatically in Windows 10 like was said, but even Microsoft says it's a good idea to check.).
The topic of changing the Windows page file (or swap file) to another drive is often cited for optimization. In theory it would be nice to move it off the SSD to a HDD so the SSD is used less. But, I've seen a couple of references that say don't move the page file to another drive unless the destination drive is as fast or faster (I guess you'll lose performance if the page file is on a slower drive).
For the most part that will only affect you if you're running out of physical RAM. Anywho you can always move the page file to an old 2.5" SSD...they're cheap and the difference in speed between your nvme and SATA based SSD for pagefile purposes won't be the least bit noticeable even if you are running low on ram and using virtual memory. Since performance of even fast drives degrades when doing multiple read/write operations, I prefer to not have windoze wasting my best drive's clock cycles by paging/fetching stuff that won't ever get accessed. This way I'm staring at an hour glass less often when I need to move large files around. That is after all what these silly fast nvme drives excel at.
Your suggestion about using a cheap SATA SSD is intriguing. The funny thing is, while I have one SATA connection left, I'm out of places I can put a drive (even a 2.5" one). Well, I have an axillary HDD cage I could put back in, but I like it better with it removed (better air flow and less crowded in the case). I do have another m.2 NVMe socket on the motherboard though. Maybe just the thing for a cheap 128 GB m.2 drive to use as a page file drive. I'm going to order the Asus Hyper PCIe card that mounts a m.2 onto the adapter card and then I'll use the third PCIe slot (bottom slot) which is only 8x lanes anyway. Another Samsung 960 Pro will go there (where there is good air flow) and will eventually get striped with my first one (tentative plans which are subject to change).
P.S. I ordered a half a dozen 25mm fans in different speeds (one pair is rated 9,000 RPM). These should fit the "ghetto" heatsink better and I can mount 2 side by side. I current have a 40mm fan on a 20mm heatsink, so half the fan hangs off the sink.
Your suggestion about using a cheap SATA SSD is intriguing. The funny thing is, while I have one SATA connection left, I'm out of places I can put a drive (even a 2.5" one). Well, I have an axillary HDD cage I could put back in, but I like it better with it removed (better air flow and less crowded in the case). I do have another m.2 NVMe socket on the motherboard though. Maybe just the thing for a cheap 128 GB m.2 drive to use as a page file drive. I'm going to order the Asus Hyper PCIe card that mounts a m.2 onto the adapter card and then I'll use the third PCIe slot (bottom slot) which is only 8x lanes anyway. Another Samsung 960 Pro will go there (where there is good air flow) and will eventually get striped with my first one (tentative plans which are subject to change).
This is precisely why I prefer to reserve the m.2 drives for tasks in which they're well suited. Sure you can use them for boot drives and to launch minecraft/solitaire...no judgment lol ...but if you really want to take advantage of the speed and save your precious m.2 slots for something useful, then boot off a relatively cheap 2.5" SATA SSD and use the nvme drives for source/destination/scratch disks. The benefits from letting windoze dump useless swap/page/prefetch data all over your pricey nvme drives are virtually nil.
They're cheap and free up a bunch of space. Beats the heck out of double sided taping SSDs to the inside of your case. Cramming a 3.5" rust drive and two 2.5" SSDs into a single 5.25" drive bay is gold.
Oh man, now you want me to give up the 3.5" floppy drive?
I took another peek into my case because I knew there was space behind the fan controller. Confirmed, a little double sided mounting tape and a zip tie or two and a 2.5" SSD could easily go there. Plenty of room down on the bottom of the case if a guy could figure out how to mount them. Then, I looked at the hard drive and two optical drives... huh? There were 2 hard drives. I had a WD Raptor that was a leftover, but I had pulled it out. I looked over and saw the Raptor laying on top of the bookcase. I had to remove the cage and unscrew the drive, but when I finally got a look at the dusty drive it was an old 320 GB that I had used for a backup drive way back when I ran dual 10,000 RPM Raptors striped together. They made some noise when they spun up. But, back to the 320 HDD. It's been 5-6 years since I've powered up this drive. I'm curious to see what's on it now.
Standard OP. lol I do that every single build, but eventually get sick of bumping them or having them in the way.
THIS dood explains precisely why nvme drives can be worth their premiums(for some users), why TBW matters for some, and also goes into why the Sammy PRO >>> EVO for heavy usage. What he does, unfortunately, leave out of his review is nearly every reasonably priced MLC competitor to the 960 PRO...but what can you do.
I have a Plextor nvme arriving later today, so hopefully when the weekend officially gets rolling I can get a chance to check it out.
Edit: Someone got a new toy...
Not sure if it's visible in the pic, but because of the mounting mechanism the drive is suspended about 1 centimeter above the board. This should allow for some airflow on the backside of the drive. This whole rig is still on a test bench at this point though, so airflow on that end of the motherboard at least is minimal to non-existent.
The drive was immediately recognized by the BIOS and shows up in the OS normally...unlike the BPX drive that would seem to be confirmed defective and/or not compatible with x399 at this point. Weirdly the black aluminum of the heatsink on the drive has a brushed finish that precisely matches the faux brushed look of the Enthoo Pro case this rig is going to call home.
Some early benchmarks:
The drive's performance comes in right where I was expecting. The firmware is supposedly optimized for "gamers" which seems to indicate that it puts off housekeeping tasks for extended periods during heavy usage. That can be good and bad, but it also means the drive could see benefits from overprovisioning if/when it begins to get somewhat filled. Monitoring the drive using sensor readings provided by Aida Engineer, it never got above 48c...even during full capacity write testing. This seems unrealistically low, though there was zero evidence of throttling. I'll monitor the temps with more or different solutions when I have moar time to test.
At this point the drive looks like a screaming buy with an endurance rating roughly equal to the 1TB 960 Pro...most of the performance of said drive, and a price tag that's nearly $200 lower(-33%). Coincidentally it can also be had for $40 or 10% less than the 960 EVO...which to me causes the EVO to make zero sense...at least in 1TB capacity. Also because of the compact and seemingly very effective included heatsink, the drive may be the best option for applications in which space and/or airflow are limited...such as m.2 slots that live under video cards. I personally think the powder coated heatsink looks gorgeous and it'd be a shame to cover it with an ugly video card, but it should remain effective in that role.
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Cramming a 3.5" rust drive and two 2.5" SSDs into a single 5.25" drive bay is gold.
