Just bought Samsung 840 Evo 1TB

[dmoney1980]

OP - don't forget to go to Power Setting in the control panel and set to high performance. You can also tweak sleep / hibernate settings there. Another thing I do is disable hibernate, which frees up space on the SSD (you may not need to though). It typically frees up about the same amount of space as your system RAM (10-16GB in your case).

This is what I do:

To make hibernation unavailable, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
In the search results list, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as Administrator.
When you are prompted by User Account Control, click Continue.
At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate off, and then press Enter.
Type exit, and then press Enter to close the Command Prompt window.

source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920730

In summary:
Install RST / all drivers / Samsung Magician software
Disable index / fetch / defrag
disable hibernate / tweak power settings
check if trim is enabled - http://www.lancelhoff.com/how-to-check-if-trim-is-enabled/

I've been using SSD's for over 2 years now and that's all that I've always done

 

[Carfax83]

OP - don't forget to go to Power Setting in the control panel and set to high performance.

Is there a reason for this? I've usually left it at default, which is balanced, minus never shutting off my HDD and telling my display to go to sleep after 3 minutes.

You can also tweak sleep / hibernate settings there. Another thing I do is disable hibernate, which frees up space on the SSD (you may not need to though). It typically frees up about the same amount of space as your system RAM (10-16GB in your case).

Yep, already disabled hibernate.

source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920730

In summary:
Install RST / all drivers / Samsung Magician software
Disable index / fetch / defrag
disable hibernate / tweak power settings
check if trim is enabled - http://www.lancelhoff.com/how-to-check-if-trim-is-enabled/

I've been using SSD's for over 2 years now and that's all that I've always done

Those are good recommendations, and I've already done most of them. However, after doing some research, I discovered some conflicting information when it comes to defrag.

Apparently, Windows 8/8.1 uses Trim commands instead of defragment for optimization if it detects an SSD. I tried it just a few minutes ago and it worked.

So there's no point in disabling defrag/optimization I guess..

And I didn't install the IRST package software, I just installed the AHCI driver when I installed Windows. Perhaps I should though, as I still see that the system is using Microsoft drivers from 2006 for storage controllers.

 

[sze5003]

I used this guide to optimize my ssd.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1240779/seans-windows-8-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

Windows 8 and 8.1 are smart enough to disable defrag and mess with the trim support on the ssd's. Enjoy it, how much did you pay for it?

I have a 256gb model right now and use a 1tb regular hdd for some games and other apps. When the price is right I'll move to a bigger model ssd.

Even after I got a 256gb model I kept the 128gb ssd for a Linux partition.

 

[Carfax83]

I used this guide to optimize my ssd.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1240779/seans-windows-8-install-optimization-guide-for-ssds-hdds

Now that's a handy guide. It cleared up my confusion about whether I should disable write cache buffer flushing or not. I guess on SSDs, there is a much lower risk of data loss compared to HDDs..

I have a UPS anyway, but when I had my raptors, I experienced data loss when my PC froze a few times (from overclocking too high) and I had to do a hard reset..

Windows 8 and 8.1 are smart enough to disable defrag and mess with the trim support on the ssd's. Enjoy it, how much did you pay for it?

I bought mine on Amazon for 518 USD, but I had to pay taxes so it came out to 550 something if I recall. Looks like they lowered the price again as well, because it's at 499! :thumbsup:

 

[Carfax83]

Well I don't know how accurate Samsung magician's benchmark is, but if it is accurate, then I guess I can't complain too much. Curiously enough, disabling write cache buffer flushing caused a performance hit. Maybe it's because I have RAPID mode enabled perhaps?

 

[Carfax83]

I noticed some pauses at times, particularly during log in and after long stretches of idling. After researching it a bit, I installed Intel RST package software and I noticed there's an option for enabling or disabling Link Power Management.

I disabled it, and it seems to have fixed the pausing issue. Has anyone else encountered this issue?

It appears that some SSDs have problems with Intel's Link Power Management and that it can lead to increased I/O latency.. There's a registry fix floating around the internet as well.. Anyone ever tried that?

 

[sze5003]

I have Intel rst installed but I haven't even set it up. It wants me to set up sleep profiles and such for things and I don't want to do that. My pc never sleeps when it's on, monitor just goes to sleep but I never use sleep if I'm on an ssd.

I didn't notice any link power management but maybe I haven't messed too much with it.

 

[tweakboy]

Do you know if Samsung has any software to maintain SSD performance and extend lifetime?

NO!

You will not notice difference. With a SSD its still the best upgrade.


Use Crystal Disk Info

That will tell you your errors and your SSD speed. Also in Win7 and 8 the drive C ,,, is highlighted out. No option to defrag it. Only mechanical HDs you need to defrag.....

I recommend getting latest bios upgrade for your Evo before you do anything else. gl

 

[Carfax83]

I have Intel rst installed but I haven't even set it up. It wants me to set up sleep profiles and such for things and I don't want to do that. My pc never sleeps when it's on, monitor just goes to sleep but I never use sleep if I'm on an ssd.

I didn't notice any link power management but maybe I haven't messed too much with it.

I've never seen Intel RST ask for sleep profiles. That's usually a Windows function..

Anyway, for my subjective opinion. I think my purchase was definitely worth it. Between that Rapid mode function and disabling write cache buffer flushing, this thing flies..

I haven't officially measured boot times or anything, but if I had to guess, it's probably 10-12 seconds or so.. And I love the fact that I no longer have to spend time defragging. Trim is so much nicer!

That issue with AC IV has also been taken care of, and BF4 now loads very fast.

One thing I find confusing though is the wide spread when it comes to benchmarks. I don't know if it's just the Samsung benchmark, but I get very different results at times.

That said, I don't really pay too much attention to benchmarks to begin with, and prefer real world performance metrics.

 

[spat55]

Congratulations I was very pleased when I got mine about 8 months ago 🙂. Nice to have that speed for when your booting up!

 

[Carfax83]

Congratulations I was very pleased when I got mine about 8 months ago 🙂. Nice to have that speed for when your booting up!

Yeah... But I have to take back my early statement about disabling write cache buffer flushing. After doing some more testing, it's definitely better to leave it enabled..

 

[Carfax83]

Yeah... But I have to take back my early statement about disabling write cache buffer flushing. After doing some more testing, it's definitely better to leave it enabled..

Scratch that statement. I seriously think the Samsung benchmark is bugged, because it's just too unpredictable. Tried the AAS benchmark, and disabling write cache buffer flushing got me some minor gains, but they were gains at least:

I'm not going to bother with rapid mode anymore. From what I've read, it helps mostly for benchmarking and doesn't really help for real World scenarios..

 

[Makaveli]

Automatically, assuming Windows 7 or newer; AMD or Intel SATA controllers; and MS, AMD, or Intel drivers; as single drives, or in an Intel RAID 0, 1, or 10 on 7 or 8 series chipsets (not sure about RAID 5, nor JBOD arrays, nor any AMD RAID).

Trim works on Raid 0 on older chipsets than 7 or 8 series but it requires you to load a modded raid rom in your bios. Pretty easy actually I have it TRIM working on Raid 0 on X58.

And Carfax it is recommended to install the RST drivers glad you did.

 

[sxr7171]

Great purchase. Been eyeing it now that's it's $0.50/GB.

 

[Carfax83]

Trim works on Raid 0 on older chipsets than 7 or 8 series but it requires you to load a modded raid rom in your bios. Pretty easy actually I have it TRIM working on Raid 0 on X58.

And Carfax it is recommended to install the RST drivers glad you did.

Makaveli, I've read that with some RAID setups, TRIM may seem that it's enabled, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily working as intended.

There is an app called TRIMcheck which you can get from here that actually makes sure Trim is not only functioning, but working..

You just run it, then exit. Wait about 40 seconds or so, then run it again, and it will tell whether TRIM is working properly.

And yeah, RST is definitely required to get maximum performance 😎

 

[Carfax83]

Great purchase. Been eyeing it now that's it's $0.50/GB.

This sucker is fast as hell now that I've got it fully tweaked the way I want ^_^

And yeah, it's a great buy. The price is still dropping, so I'd jump on it if I were you, because you never know when they may start rising again.

 

[sze5003]

Im going to get one soon. What's the resale of a 128 and 256gb models...not much since I looked on eBay? Figure I'll sell the 128gb once I get a 1tb ssd and keep the 256gb Samsung for Linux.

 

[Fernando 1]

Makaveli, I've read that with some RAID setups, TRIM may seem that it's enabled, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily working as intended.
There is an app called TRIMcheck which you can get from here that actually makes sure Trim is not only functioning, but working..
You just run it, then exit. Wait about 40 seconds or so, then run it again, and it will tell whether TRIM is working properly.

Makaveli knows all that and has used the TrimCheck tool to verify, if TRIM is really working - and it is working within his X58 RAID0 array.
Look >here<.