All the data written to the drive is encrypted and the key is saved on the SSD always. To make it useful you set an ATA password to encrypt the encryption keys.
You can set it with most BIOS, but some of them (I think it is mostly OEMs) do weird things to your password, which would make putting the drive in a different PC and entering your password not work. You can also set it with software that lets you do ATA Security commands.
If you search for self encrypting drives you will find more info.
typically the bios will need to be in CMS mode (legacy mode) not sure UEFI boot mode supports ATA password (it should)
some motherboard makers are removing the option to set the password via bios so should check before buying motherboard (most will still ask for ATA password at boot if set if not the drive will be incassable)
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