7710 performance problems

Going on 24 hours with a 7710 here. Zero issues or hesitation so far. Zero crashes or hangups. Running W10 Enterprise 64. BIOS is 1.3.10.

 

BSODs, lockups, and slowness with M.2 drives are likely related to re-configuring the BIOS and OS when you install them.

Do NOT switch it out of RAID On mode to AHCI mode. NVMe is the REPLACEMENT for AHCI. Leave RAID ON so that you can get the rapid start tech to work right.

M.2 drives require the system to be UEFI mode.
Win7 should be UEFI + Legacy option rom on
Win8.1 & 10 should be UEFI with Legacy option rom off.

 

NVMe drive have their quirks, found that out when I clean installed Windows on my XPS 15, would have liked to go for the 5510, but unfortunately, the canadian dollar being where it's at, everything is pretty expensive right now as in over 500$ more kind of expensive.

Anyways, I found out that if you want to install Windows properly under UEFI with safe boot on as well, you will need to install under GPT and create the install media under UEFI as well. It's not an issue if you use the default factory image, but if either you or your IT department needs to flash a new image of Windows, things are a bit more complicated. Once I figured all that out, Windows 10 Education installed flawlessly and the drive is performing up to specs. As an aside, Education is the same as Enterprise, it's basically volume licensing for universities and such.

In short, if you don't set up your BIOS and drivers properly, your NVMe drive will end up wonky.

If people express an interest for it, I could do a writeup tutorial on how to install Windows on a NVMe drive with UEFI and secure boot working.

 

If you have a Windows 8.1/10 ISO file, here is how you make a UEFI bootable USB drive to copy it to -


1. Verify that the USB key can be erased and is at least 8GB.

2. Insert the USB key into an available USB port.

3. Open an Administrator command prompt.


4. Windows 7

1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Accessories.

2. Right-click Command prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

3. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.

Windows 8.1 and Windows 10

4. At the desktop, right-click the Start button and select Command Prompt (Admin)

5. Type diskpart and press Enter.

6. Type list volume and press Enter.

7. Determine the volume for the USB key, which should be marked Removable

8. Type select volume #, where # is the number obtained in the previous step.

9. Type clean and press Enter.

10. Type create partition primary and press Enter.

11. Type format fs=fat32 label='OS install' quick and press Enter.

12. Type active and press Enter.

13. Type exit and press Enter.

Copy data from the ISO image to the USB key

1. For Windows 8.1 or higher, right-click the ISO and select Mount. Copy the contents of the ISO to the USB key.
2. For Windows 7, third party software will be required to copy the contents of the ISO file. (Winzip is a popular option.)

 

There is a free utility called rufus that can let you burn isos to USB drives with UEFI, it's pretty easy and doesn't require the use of a CLI. It basically does the same thing you suggested Bokeh, just more user friendly.

http://rufus.akeo.ie/

Very important: the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool will make your UEB or DVD using MBR and NTFS rather than GPT and UEFI which will not let you install Windows under UEFI and GPT.

Another thing as well, better grab the Intel RST SATA driver from Dell's website and extract it to the USB drive if you plan to install on a NVMe drive. the windows installer might tell you it hasn't found any drives and you have to load the Intel RAID driver 64-bit or 32-bit depending on your version of Windows for the installer to actually see the NVMe SSD.

 

I don't see where they mention this?

 

@steeevan
you are saying win10 boot with 950 pro is not like a "thunder" ? I mean expected boot time: max 10s (worst case). And your time is... ?
Did check bios option like Bokeh suggested in #12 ?

Ciao

 

My 7710 won't load Windows Aero because of an incompatible AMD driver. Disabling that driver is disabling dynamic switching between the AMD and Intel GPUs.

 

I have ordered a 7710 with a small spin drive. It comes with Windows 10 DVD

I will replace the spin drive with two new NVMe drives (likely the Samsung 950 Pro) in Raid 0. I will follow the recommendations mentioned here for BIOS settings.

Will I be able to install Windows 10 on the NVMe drives using the Windows 10 DVD in an external USB DVD drive?

I am asking because I don't know if the BIOS will recognize the external USB DVD drive before the operating system is installed.

Or should I order the Windows 10 media in USB format?

I have installed the operating system in Raid 0 in my previous Dell Workstations but always had an internal DVD drive.

Thanks.

 

You can create your own Windows 10 media (DVD or USB) using the free tool from Microsoft here.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
I would recommend creating USB media and using that if you have a spare flash drive sitting around.

However, yes you should also be able to boot from a USB DVD drive without any trouble. Press F12 at boot to get to the boot menu. Make sure to use the UEFI boot option (it will show options for both UEFI and legacy boot).

If you order the 7710 with Windows 10, the product key will be burned into the BIOS so the media should detect it and not even prompt you during the install.

You might also have to load the Intel RAID drivers during Windows setup before you can see the drive. Not sure if they are bundled in Windows 10.