Q: Do you need Windows 10 In order to use the M.2? I Tried to install using windows 7 but it didn't show the M.2 NVM.

No it won't work with Windows 7. This is one of the a few drives which comes without the Windows 7 boot driver, meaning Windows 7 installation can be very tricky. Furthermore, on a Windows 7 machine with NVME hotfix pre-loaded, I tested this drive and ended up with a blue screen at every boot. If you don't want to be stuck with this Microsoft-Corsair marketing conspiracy pushing you to Windows 10, look for other drives with Windows 7 ***BOOT DRIVERS***.

Q: Could I use this as the only storage in my PC? (I only plan to use my PC for games)

Yea you technically can. But once you add your operating system, games, and any other programs you'll fill it up quickly. I have this m.2 ssd for my operating system and a few games/programs and then a 500g sata ssd for the rest of my games, music, documents etc.

Q: On manufacturer's product page, it specifies "Mac OS X" compatibility. None of the NVMe SSDs I have tried will mount on Mac OS X. Have any of you buyers tried this product under Mac OS X?

I have not used this on any Apple devices but with my understanding you can use it on certain devices with a special adapter that is required. But only on a select few products.

Q: Will this drive work with a Lenovo thinkpad x1 carbon?

This requires a m.2 slot on the board... From the specs from Lenovo I believe that you Unit doesn't have that ability.

Q: I bought this product and am only getting half the speeds that are advertised. Im using Crystal Disk Mark and am getting a read/write speed of 1600/1400MB/s. My motherboard is the MSI Z170A SLI Plus. I do not know if it is the motherboard, the SSD or maybe my bios settings? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

My only suggestion would be to update you bios to the latest version and download the latest drivers from MSI if you haven't already. I know the latest bios has improved NVME device compatibility, or at least that's what they say.

Question 1

Will this work in the Asus 970 pro gaming/aura motherboard?

Accepted Answer

Officially it looks like the answer is yes. But it may turn out to be no in reality. I would recommend you doing some deep homework before trying to pair these two. I tried w msi version of pretty much same board and came up dry eventhough it was supposed to support it. Had to send back after a lot of time trying to figure it out and got.charged a restock fee. Issues are NVMe is supported by some intel chip sets. It seems msi and asus have tried to include their own support but it didnt work with this drive and msi pro carbon 970. Be prepared to know what u r doing in bios settings if decide to try it.   If u are ok with trying it and going 2.5 ssd instead if it doesnt work then go for it.  Would be super sick to have that little tiny speedster w no wires in there. It looked beautiful installed on board. It's supposed to work..?  Samsung evo 950 might be more plug n play. Haven't tried though. Wish i had $ and time to try all 4 of these components and find a pair that worked together  :)

Question 2

Several users say in their review that this product runs hot. Yet, no one mentions whether they have a side panel fan blowing on it, and almost no one mentions if it's mounted flat on the motherboard surface or raised off the board on, say, a riser card where it would surely run a bit cooler. Also, several who mentioned getting a bluescreen  didn't tell us which operating system, or motherboard, or if they have up-to-date BIOS/UEFI. How can we judge the product fairly without that information? Obviously, this is more of a grumble than a question, but can Newegg offer an updated Review Window with the option to fill in more details?

Accepted Answer

On my Asus X99 motherboard it is mounted flush to the board and typically runs around 61 degrees Celsius. I have no special cooling for my drive aside from my 3 chassis fans (two 140mm fans forward, one 140mm fan aft.) Currently running Windows 10 home 64 bit. Never had a blue screen, never had a hiccup...

Question 3

Will this work in an HP Elitebook 840 G3?

Accepted Answer

Yes it will actually... Unknown as to what "quick search" the recent reply has done... But here it shows a few of the ones compatible....

? M.2 (2280) 512 GB SATA-3 TLC
? M.2 (2280) 256 GB PCIe-3×4  (Corsair MP500 falls into this catagory) <------
? M.2 (2280) 256 GB SATA-3 self-encrypting (Opal 2) MLC
? M.2 (2280) 256 GB SATA-3 TLC
? M.2 (2280) 240 GB SATA-3 MLC DS
? M.2 (2280) 180 GB SATA-3 self-encrypting (Opal 2) MLC
? M.2 (2280) 180 GB SATA-3 MLC
? M.2 (2280) 128 GB SATA-3 TLC

Question 4

Do you need Windows 10 In order to use the M.2? I Tried to install using windows 7 but it didn't show the M.2 NVM.

Accepted Answer

No it won't work with Windows 7. This is one of the a few drives which comes without the Windows 7 boot driver, meaning Windows 7 installation can be very tricky. Furthermore, on a Windows 7 machine with NVME hotfix pre-loaded, I tested this drive and ended up with a blue screen at every boot. If you don't want to be stuck with this Microsoft-Corsair marketing conspiracy pushing you to Windows 10, look for other drives with Windows 7 ***BOOT DRIVERS***.

Question 5

Could I use this as the only storage in my PC? (I only plan to use my PC for games)

Accepted Answer

Yea you technically can. But once you add your operating system, games, and any other programs you'll fill it up quickly. I have this m.2 ssd for my operating system and a few games/programs and then a 500g sata  ssd for the rest of my games, music, documents etc.

Question 6

it is will work for ASUS CROSSHAIR VI HERO?

Accepted Answer

yes at blazing speeds

Question 7

On manufacturer's product page, it specifies "Mac OS X" compatibility. None of the NVMe SSDs I have tried will mount on Mac OS X. Have any of you buyers tried this product under Mac OS X?

Accepted Answer

I have not used this on any Apple devices but with my understanding you can use it on certain devices with a special adapter that is required. But only on a select few products.

Question 8

Will this drive work with a Lenovo thinkpad x1 carbon?

Accepted Answer

This requires a m.2 slot on the board... From the specs from Lenovo I believe that you Unit doesn't have that ability.

Question 9

I bought this product and am only getting half the speeds that are advertised. Im using Crystal Disk Mark and am getting a read/write speed of 1600/1400MB/s. My motherboard is the MSI Z170A SLI Plus. I do not know if it is the motherboard, the SSD or maybe my bios settings? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Accepted Answer

My only suggestion would be to update you bios to the latest version and download the latest drivers from MSI if you haven't already. I know the latest bios has improved NVME device compatibility, or at least that's what they say.

Questions & Answers