MSI X99 - need a fast boot drive - m.2 SM951 (ahci) or 950 Pro (nvme)?

R3MF

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 14, 2006
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Just ordered myself a 960GB Sandisk Ultra II for the trifling sum of £150 (my 2010 Crucial C300 128GB cost £314), and now I want a super speedy 256GB m.2 PCIe boot drive to go with it.

Only problem is: I intend to use Win7.

So, the questions:
1. Will the SM951 (ahci) drive install and boot Windows 7 with no problems?
2. Is installing the 950 Pro (nvme) simply a matter of loading a driver from USB during install?

Given the above, would you recommend going for the SM951 or 950 Pro for a Win7 X99 system with the latest Bios?

Thanks
 
1) yes
2) yes

I would go with the 950 pro for 2 reasons. faster (although not all that much faster, but faster nonetheless) and you get real support and customer service if something happens as the 951 is OEM. you're not going to get any support if it fails or if you have driver issues.
 
cheers.

i had heard stories of people being unable to boot some of the samsung oem drives, but unsure if that was the previous version or the nvme version of the SM.

delighted to hear a simple usb key with the driver is enough to get win7 working on a 950 Pro.
 
I think the biggest thing is bios support and it seeing the device as bootable. I have an X99S SLI Krait Edition, very similar to yours (A or S model?) and from what I've read it'll support M.2 as bootable.
 
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