7710 performance problems

Right, but you still have to have the RST drivers on the install media for Windows to 'see' it for formatting if your BIOS is set to RAID.
If the installer is not seeing your SSD then switch the laptop to AHCI and it will.

 

I also got an 7710 in December, but was not able to use it till recently.

its now running Windows7 on a M.2 NVMe SSD .

For the installation i had to use the image from the Dell-DVD, i also tried an original image from Microsoft but it didn't work.
On top i had to get a inject_driver tool from Dell because it i had issues with drivers at the beginning of the installing process.

But the POST and boot is horribly long something like 60 sec to the get to the login screen

Setting: AHCI

 

So you changed to AHCI becuase with the setting set to RAID in the bios boot was slow?

I am not clear if when installing Win 10 from scratch on a M.2 drive if the bios setting should be RAID or AHCI.

 

If you are not going to use RAID then set BIOS to AHCI and format using any version of Windows you want. You may have to convert the disk to MBR though (from GPT) which can be done using diskpart during the clean install. Google the diskpart commands for this, it's pretty easy.

If you want to use RAID then you will have to add the Intel RST driver to your install media, otherwise the format utility will not see your drive, unless you are using the DVD/USB that came with your DELL (which I do not recommend).

Do a full clean install of Windows using a downloaded (Win 10) or purchased (Win 7). After I did this every bug that these came with have disappeared.

 

Boot the install media using UEFI and you will not have to convert the disk to GPT. This has nothing to do with which mode you set the disk controller to (RAID vs. AHCI), only which method you use to boot the install media (legacy boot = MBR, UEFI boot = GPT). With Windows 8 and up you should use UEFI/GPT if possible, you'll get faster startup as well as SecureBoot protection.

 

This is only true if you if not have Legacy Mode enabled, which DELL has enabled by default.

Also, I did not say it had anything to do with the controller, I was just relaying info that I ran into when installing a clean WIn 7 instance.

 

This may be an ignorant question, if I were to install OS using physical disc media from an external USB optical drive, might that simplify the installation? Then we just set bios to RAID, plug in external USB optical drive and install the OS? Or am I oversimplifying? The USB thumb drive formatting considerations, BIOS considerations, CSM enabled/disabled, etc. seems easy to miss a step or sequence and ending with poor performing or a sporadic BSOD system. Would optical disc installation media make it all easier? I understand having to then install proper NVMe drivers, etc. But could physical disc media make life easier during the initial OS install?

 

If you're dealing with Windows 10, it doesn't matter if you use USB or DVD, just use the media creation tool from Microsoft to create your media and you won't have to worry about if your USB media is built right.

For older Windows, if you don't want to go through the hassle of getting the USB media created and being sure it is done properly, doing a DVD-based install might be simpler. Just burn the ISO to DVD and boot from it. (USB optical drive should be fine.)

 

@tijo, @Aaron44126 or who want to answer

Raid on in the bios is the default value Dell set on my 7710.
Installed win 10 on Samsung 950pro 512gb. But I just realized samung nvme driver can't be installed also sasmung magician has limited access to the drive.
Also the performance are very high but slower than referement value : my ssd matches 1500mb/s in writing but "only" 2000 for read instead of expected 2500.

If I try to install nvme driver from samsung I get the error "there is no nvme ssd" in the computer.

Is it because I had to set AHCI in bios?
Do I have to reinstall everything?
Any particular sagacity to follow?

I don't mind to get Any raid since there are only 3 Bay and the m2 are really fast so I will add a 2tb mechanical hdd and in the future a second 900 pro.

Thanks!!!

Ciao

Inviato dal mio LG-H815 utilizzando Tapatalk

 

I also have very slow boot up with Dell 7710. It has Toshiba 512GB SSD and 1TB HDD. Booting up till Windows log screen takes up more then 80 seconds. Boot sequence is
1. Windows boot manager, 2. Toshiba SSD, 3. HDD.
Boot list option is set to UEFI. SATA operation is set to AHCI. In Windows 8.1 event logger i can see its waiting 1 minute for something dont know what!.
My collague has same system and same problems. We tried to put SATA operation to RAID and even removed HDD but without result.

Anyone have suggestions?. Thx in advance.