Intel 600p M.2 NVMe - good for basic desktop, or overkill?

[VirtualLarry]

Just curious.

I'm putting together a G3920-based basic desktop, and I decided to splurge on an Asus H110 board with an M.2 port, and a 256GB Intel 600p M.2.

I read the TH review on the 600p afterwards, and it was less than flattering. Essentially, what it boiled down to is, it doesn't perform that much better, overall, than a good SATA6G SSD, like the Samsung 850 EVO.

The 256GB 600p M.2 was ~$110, a 250GB 850 EVO SATA 2.5" was ~$100.

Ah well, hopefully I will post some benchmarks when I get it built.

 

[YBS1]

I can't give you an honest answer about the Intel specifically, but I have an M.2 950 pro in my 6700K rig and it's snappy AF. It's not like I have terribly sluggish drives in my other PCs I'm comparing it to either. Some of this may simply be down to platform differences as well, but I can't help but think the M.2 950 is a large part of that.

 

[Namo]

Just curious.

I'm putting together a G3920-based basic desktop, and I decided to splurge on an Asus H110 board with an M.2 port, and a 256GB Intel 600p M.2.

I read the TH review on the 600p afterwards, and it was less than flattering. Essentially, what it boiled down to is, it doesn't perform that much better, overall, than a good SATA6G SSD, like the Samsung 850 EVO.

The 256GB 600p M.2 was ~$110, a 250GB 850 EVO SATA 2.5" was ~$100.

Ah well, hopefully I will post some benchmarks when I get it built.

Overkill definitely for home use. Better go with any decent SSD which will give you a performance boost. My suggestion buy - Transcend SSD 370s 256GB

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, a few hours after I ordered the Intel 600p 256GB for $110, Newegg listed the Adata SU800 Ultimate 512GB SSD for $130. It's also a 3D TLC NAND drive, but SATA6G instead of PCI-E M.2 NVMe. Sigh. Maybe I should have waited.

Is the Intel 600p "really snappy", compared to a SATA6G SSD? Or is that feeling limited to the Samsung SM951 / 950 Pro M.2 drives?

I have some SM951 PCI-E M.2 AHCI 128GB drives in my other overclocked Skylake G4400 rigs, and they are pretty darn "snappy", at least I haven't noticed any lag. Of course, those are MLC, and Samsung.

 

[whm1974]

I will say way overkill for basic desktops, or for that matter anything that isn't high end. Your standard SATA SSD is good enough for the vast majority of use cases.

 

[nerp]

It's great if you ask me. Barely more expensive than a SATA SSD, much faster than a SATA SSD and half the price of the Samsung 950. I have the 512mb model and it's wonderful. I'd go for no less than 512mb for the extra cache and smoother operation during huge file transfers.

An added plus is no wires, no SATA connectors or power connectors. For a minimalistic build, it's great.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Thanks nerp. The 256GB Intel 600p M.2 NVMe was nearly as expensive as an 512GB Adata SU800 Ultimate SATA6G 2.5" ($110 versus $130).

Hope that it turns out worth it. Trying to build a moderate entry-level gaming rig with some "perks" (like a PCI-E M.2 SSD) to sell. And if it doesn't sell, well, I'll just keep it. I can always use another rig.

 

[whm1974]

It's great if you ask me. Barely more expensive than a SATA SSD, much faster than a SATA SSD and half the price of the Samsung 950. I have the 512mb model and it's wonderful. I'd go for no less than 512mb for the extra cache and smoother operation during huge file transfers.

An added plus is no wires, no SATA connectors or power connectors. For a minimalistic build, it's great.

I suppose M.2 SSDs wither SATA or NVMe are good for needing less wiring.

 

[Johnny Lucky]

Larry,

There have been a few more technical reviews of the Intel 600P. I've got the ssd and the links to the technical reviews in the ssd database I maintain. Here is the link:

http://www.johnnylucky.org/data-storage/ssd-database.html

Scroll down to the M.2 3.0 x4 section and follow the links to the technical reviews. Reviews were not very favorable.

BTW - How are you doing with ssd thermal throttling? Anything new to report? I noticed the newly announced Samsung 960 has a heatsink.

 

[nerp]

Reviews rely on benchmarks which do not equate to real world performance. This drive is fine unless you're in the habit of moving 20gb files back and forth at 150mb/sec sustained. And who does that? People who are buying enterprise class gear.

 

[Shmee]

They seem pretty good for the price, though 960 evo will be faster, but a bit more.

 

[Zer0b1ade]

Not over kill.....it's good for games and the o.s. ......that's about it...if your wanting to push data...i.e. large 1080p movies to say a flash drive. It gets really freaking slow. I've transfered 50gb file it went 200mb/s till it hit the 6gb cache mark then slowed down to 2mb/s. Gaming is awesome, file transfers not so much some times file transfers go 4-6mb/s even the ones under the 6gb cache. So if your turning your cup into a htpc....I would go for a more expensive drive.....if you gaming intel 600p is not overkill got mine for like 97 bucks on sale from microcenter

 

[shabby]

I've transfered 50gb file it went 200mb/s till it hit the 6gb cache mark then slowed down to 2mb/s. Gaming is awesome, file transfers not so much some times file transfers go 4-6mb/s even the ones under the 6gb cache.

Lets all thank intel for 2mb transfer rates on ssd's...

 

[Zer0b1ade]

But it works well for the gamer who isn't trying to transfer a bluray iso-rip to say another hdd, and I do start up windows 10 x64 ent. in under 10 secs with fast boot off....it's just what you want to do with it. Intel could fix the problem within the firmware but they did say it was for the typical pcer and if there's not enough complaints then it won't be fixed. Oh fyi one issue with the drive is that if you do go past the 6gb cache the drive will work at 100% trying to write it's little hard out.

 

[Zer0b1ade]

But it works well for the gamer who isn't trying to transfer a bluray iso-rip to say another hdd, and I do start up windows 10 x64 ent. in under 10 secs with fast boot off....

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Basically, I want a TB drive for the M.2 NVMe. But I don't want one that only performs like an SATA 3/ 6G with ~520MB/s sutained reads. The Intel 600P is definitely a price-point, even for a TEMPORARY M.2 NVMe.

The Plextor 1TB model is even on sale now, but for $600+. All the NVMe-ready drives seem to fall in that category, including the Toshiba-OCZ.

So I don't want to spend that money, but I could definitely prepare my dual-boot Win7/10 on a 512GB drive or approx. the same.

I have now got to the point of correcting my Win 7 UEFI install and MBR-GPT conversion, and downloaded the patches to make Win 7 NVMe-capable. I just don't know whether I should install those patches now, or wait until just before shutting down and adding the M.2 drive, then entering BIOS to change SATA mode to M.2. I'd think the patch would need to be installed before the cloning takes place.

I could worry that changing from "PCI Express" mode to "M.2" mode in BIOS might create some boot problem. But why would it, when the BIOS info says to "install M.2 device before changing to M.2 mode."

Somebody who has been through this likely could help me construct a set of sequential procedures.

 

[Zer0b1ade]

Basically, I want a TB drive for the M.2 NVMe. But I don't want one that only performs like an SATA 3/ 6G with ~520MB/s sutained reads. The Intel 600P is definitely a price-point, even for a TEMPORARY M.2 NVMe.

The Plextor 1TB model is even on sale now, but for $600+. All the NVMe-ready drives seem to fall in that category, including the Toshiba-OCZ.

So I don't want to spend that money, but I could definitely prepare my dual-boot Win7/10 on a 512GB drive or approx. the same.

I have now got to the point of correcting my Win 7 UEFI install and MBR-GPT conversion, and downloaded the patches to make Win 7 NVMe-capable. I just don't know whether I should install those patches now, or wait until just before shutting down and adding the M.2 drive, then entering BIOS to change SATA mode to M.2. I'd think the patch would need to be installed before the cloning takes place.

I could worry that changing from "PCI Express" mode to "M.2" mode in BIOS might create some boot problem. But why would it, when the BIOS info says to "install M.2 device before changing to M.2 mode."

Somebody who has been through this likely could help me construct a set of sequential procedures.

Yes they are very pricey aren't they, and a pain in the button to install.

Unfortunately, I did mine on a laptop and it's a bit different in a desktop, but I can share some info.

When you go uefi mode it basically block the bios from reading any drive but the nvme ssd.

Second you should not have any errors when switching back once it's switch on it will be like starting a cpu without any hdd.

Three every install is different I installed a fresh windows 10 on my ssd so the only thing used the cloning software with was to use the disk partition ability to format my drive into gpt.

Windows 10 doesn't need drivers so I didn't go through that hassle.

It took me 4 hours to actually get the install to work but once it did it was done in minutes. Oh and windows create a 500mb partition for recovery, just FYI. Sorry if I didn't cover everything if you got any more questions just ask and I'll answer whatever I can

Edit

I know this isn't a guide because my install is for a laptop so I can't help with the process but I can give you some tips if your bios doesn't see the drive when you switch modes you cloning software should have a way to make a uefi Bootable disk so you can flash your nvme to to gpt because u don't wanna run legacy , windows wont boot off of legacy installs.
Good luck

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Yes they are very pricey aren't they, and a pain in the button to install.

Unfortunately, I did mine on a laptop and it's a bit different in a desktop, but I can share some info.

When you go uefi mode it basically block the bios from reading any drive but the nvme ssd.

Second you should not have any errors when switching back once it's switch on it will be like starting a cpu without any hdd.

Three every install is different I installed a fresh windows 10 on my ssd so the only thing used the cloning software with was to use the disk partition ability to format my drive into gpt.

Windows 10 doesn't need drivers so I didn't go through that hassle.

It took me 4 hours to actually get the install to work but once it did it was done in minutes. Oh and windows create a 500mb partition for recovery, just FYI. Sorry if I didn't cover everything if you got any more questions just ask and I'll answer whatever I can

Edit

I know this isn't a guide because my install is for a laptop so I can't help with the process but I can give you some tips if your bios doesn't see the drive when you switch modes you cloning software should have a way to make a uefi Bootable disk so you can flash your nvme to to gpt because u don't wanna run legacy , windows wont boot off of legacy installs.
Good luck

No problem. I've thought it over. As long as I can clone the SSD successfully as it is now to an M.2 NVMe card, I can wait on this.

I had to go through a few hoops, but I shrunk my Win 7 logical volume "C:" to 250GB and used the unallocated space to install the free Win 10 download successfully.

I'm still troubleshooting some minor hardware quirks, mostly pertaining to recognition of USB devices and especially an external SATA DVDRW-burner. I am sure I set that port to "hot-plug" in the BIOS.

But it's done. GPT partitions, dual-boot Win 7 and Win 10 on a 480GB SP550 SSD, all booting in "Windows UEFI Mode."

I'm going to take time to think about either waiting for a good 1TB M.2/NVMe, buying something like the Plextor, buying the Intel 600P . . . or just waiting.

As long as I back up at major milestones like the one I've reached, it could be a question of spending the < $200 to get the 512GB Intel drive and knowing I'll want to replace it later, or just . . . . waiting.

I have a cheaper strategy for the interim. I need to move my PrimoCache license from the system I am selling to a friend, and put it on this Skylake box. Then find the 120 GB SSD I bought some months ago, install that, and then see if I have some spare 1TB WD Blue drive around here.

This could be shaping up to be a great system. It looks pretty good so far.

I would think every Z170 owner would go through some learning process with this, unless they've been busy with Haswell in recent years.

 

[Zer0b1ade]

Windows 10 is great... if you get rid of all the tracking and adds.....yes windows 10 comes with adds..and stuff that let's micro spy on everything you do. It's in the agreement when you install win 10 I own a sager laptop they're great no heating issues good vents and heatsink...my their support is pure crap however I had to take a piece of each guide I read to install this ssd into the system even though it's made for nvme. Well anything with skylark is nvme ready they were designed to go hand in hand. Oh and the bigger the intel 600p the faster and more stable it gets. The price range of these drives get crazy I've seen them go up towards the 2-3k range. 2.5gb/s read/write, the ones we have go around 1.7gb/s but that's in burst speeds. If windows 10 boot up is slow make sure secure boot is on and if it freezes during boot turn off fast boot in windows and for safemode screen you can go in from the os launch screen or hold shift down and click restart, hold shift till you see the restart menu pop up. So many issues with 10 sometimes but it is fast.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

The only hurdle I had was this screwed-up initial installation. The EaseUS people were very interested, wanted pictures of my BIOS screens. I just had to piece together the solution for Win 7 -- no secure boot, convert to GPT, get Windows to repair itself with the right "Win UEFI mode" settings in BIOS.

Somehow this thing seems blazing fast compared to how it ran before I got it sorted out. I expect to receive an L-angle-to-straight 3ft SATA cable in the mail on Friday. Then I'll reinstall a barrel fan, modify my motherboard duct and this Bad Boy is nearly finished.

I just wish I could get a good 1TB M.2 drive for half what they cost.

 

[Zer0b1ade]

Yeah same here nvme m.2 are new to us consumers so there's really no competition for the drives in the market wait a year or so and maybe we'll get our wish.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Yeah same here nvme m.2 are new to us consumers so there's really no competition for the drives in the market wait a year or so and maybe we'll get our wish.

In the meantime, I'm eager to share the thread I just started, which begins with "Must be the DDR4 3200: . . . . . . "

I'll come back and insert the link. But the program requires half as much RAM to get double the results! You could almost convince yourself to wait as long as it takes for the "$200 1TB M.2 NVMe SSD." I can get an ADATA 1TB SATA SP550 for just over $200 now. Sooner or later . . . . sooner or later.

Here's the link.