Question 1

Can i use this as a boot drive? because if not Im going to use a samsung 950 pro 512 gigabyte.

Accepted Answer

Yes it can be used as boot drive with UEFI bios, I believe the minimum is version 2.3 or higher. However, be aware that it is slower booting than the Samsung 850 due to ISOP's. These 750 drives are meant for throughput, like on video. I am using on Windows 7 Pro with a new skylake processor and legacy boot and it takes my PC 45 to 55 seconds to boot, maybe faster with windows 10. On windows 7 you must install special drivers, though they are included on windows 10 and maybe 8.1.

Question 2

What advantages does this product have over a standard SSD, which at the same capacity is less expensive?

Accepted Answer

This is "cutting edge" technology.  It reads and writes data up to 5 times the speed achieved with a traditional SATA SSD.  In terms of real world experience, can you actually tell the difference between 500 MBps and 2200 MBps? Not really.  Perhaps on really large file transfers. Some programs do seem to open a little quicker, but in terms of real world application, a larger SATA SSD for the same or less money would probably be more useful.  If you enjoy having the latest and greatest, and like tinkering to make things work correctly, this can keep you occupied for a few hours getting everything tuned and installed correctly, especially to use as a boot drive.  If you anticipate some huge performance boost that you'll be able to notice.....well.....beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  It is a great product, but I purchased it just to learn and get the experience associated with getting it to work in my system, it kept me busy for the better part of two evenings.

Question 3

I have the ASUS Z-170 Deluxe.  Other then the U.2 adaptor...Are any of  the required cables included?  ie: SFF-8643 (to U.2 adaptor) or SFF- 8639 (used as SSD).  Don't see them in the pics.

Accepted Answer

The AIO is designed be be plugged into a pci-e slot.  No cables are needed.  If you order a 2.5 inch version, you will receive a u.2 cable as an accessory. You will need to.purchase a u.2 to m.2 adaptor.

Question 4

after i install this drive and run windows,  will i be able to see the hard drive activity light working?

Accepted Answer

I think it depends on your motherboard.

On my system the motherboard connected case activity light does not activate.   There is an activity light on the back of the PCIe bracket - however - but based on it's location it is of limited value.

I was bothered by this a lot at first, but I have found that over time, I just don't care.   I don't look at the activity light to see if the computer is doing anything anymore.  if i really have to, I open the task manager instead.  It's a better indicator of activity anyway.

Question 5

I currently have an Asus z87 deluxe-dual mobo running windows 8.1 uefi mode (GPT partition) on Samsung 840 pro 256Gb. I also have a radeon r9 390x which is uefi compatible in order to enable asus hardware fast boot. I can perform a cold boot in about 7-9 sec and using samsung magician software with rapid mode enabled I can obtain sequential reads/writes of about 5250 and 4250MB/s and random reads/writes of about 120000 and 85000 IOPS. Are you able to install windows in uefi mode using the intel 750 ssd and can you enable hardware fast boot as well? Do you guys see any drastic speed improvements in terms of boot times and software applications when compared to samsung pro/evo using hardware fast boot and rapid mode enabled? I just want to see if it's worth the price to upgrade, thanks a lot for your inputs.

Accepted Answer

Kevin,
    The 750AIC will probably not reduce your boot time by any noticeable amount, but should speed up applications that utilize many small files or very large files. The 750 crushes the competition in the IOP/s department, and using 4 PCIe lanes allows it to transfer more data (much more) than a single SATA-III interface possibly can. The 750 spec for max read is 2200MB/s and the PCI x4 interface can handle much more. Your 840 specs at 540MB/s and that is near the limit of the SATAIII (6Gb) interface. I don't know what magic you're using to get 5250MB/s sequential reads when the interface cannot deliver this. (but I'd like some if it is true!). 
    One downside, maybe, is that it uses PCI lanes and will not allow the graphics card to run at x16, it will drop it to x8 and the 750 will run at x4. (unless you upgrade to a z170/skylake combo with more lanes).
    Is it worth the bucks? You'd really have to be hammering your system all the time to justify "needing" a 750 and paying the full price. I bought it (on sale) because I wanted the best, period. And it is pretty.

Question 6

Will this work as a boot drive for a PowerEdge R220?

Accepted Answer

Right now,  this only works with a few select motherboards. Z97 and Z99 chipsets. Don't Think it is compatible with that blade. There are other server grade but I am not sure of the model names.

Question 7

Does this have a full height bracket of half height...thanks?

Accepted Answer

The card is half-height half-length but the bracket is full-height.

Question 8

Will this work on the MSi X99s SLI PLUS MB?

Accepted Answer

yes, this will work with the MSi x99x.  It has the required slot of the pci express 3.0.   I have been very happy with mine, great performance.  You will have to check your settings in your bios to make sure you boot from this drive.  Of course you can set it up as a non boot drive too.

Question 9

Will this work with an Asus P8z77-V Deluxe intel z77 motherboard?  Can't seem to find any info on it.  I'm using Windows 10.

Accepted Answer

Your motherboard needs to have a PCI 3.0 slot for the card and the BIOS has to have NVMe boot support.  Check ASUS website for updated information of your motherboard.

Question 10

I have two Samsung 950 PRO Series - 512GB PCIe NVMe - M.2 drives in raid.  Is this any faster or better?

Accepted Answer

It depends. a Windows based software raid will actually hurt performance. the 950 Pro and 750 have very similar specifications, and it likely isn't worth upgrading.

Questions & Answers