Optane SSD as Boot drive - SQ Nirvana?

[lmitche]

19 minutes ago, sig8 said:

Larry: Is there any SQ benefit in using ASUS card vs installing directly on the MoBo? Is there benefit in using x16 vs x8 vs x4 PCIe slots? Thanks.

Sig8, it depends on your motherboard.  If you have a motherboard with an empty ≥4x cpu direct pcie slot for the Asus, then it helps by avoiding conflict with the PCH. It certainly sounds better here as well.

[sig8]

Larry: As the manual for my board says, if x8 slot is used it will share bandwidth with x16, and both will run at x8. So far Optane has not worked in x8 slot, even if it did, it will share bandwidth with x16, so don't know what is best. I will try installing directly on MoBo and see how that goes.

 

On another topic; last night had a brief session listening to music stored on a local HDD in StarTech box connected via Adnaco S3B. I think I liked it over music stored on NAS. All PS were stock so far, HDD was some old WD I had sitting around, 4tb WD balck should arrive today. Do you have another thread to talk about this?

 

[lmitche]

Did you check your bios.  The second pcie port isn't switching to x8 mode for some reason.  Maybe you need an update or a call to gigabyte?

 

No I don't have another thread to discuss the Adnaco. Feel free to start one if you like, or we can use this one.

[rickca]

@sig8 you said that in the PCIEx8 slot the green LED on your Asus card did not light up.  Does that mean it wasn't getting power from the slot?  If so, that's a much more basic issue than the slots not working in x8/x8/x4 mode.

 

You said you have a 2-port fiber NIC in the PCIEx16 slot right now.  Will it work if you put it in the PCIEx8 slot?  If not, I'd conclude that your PCIEx8 slot is bad.  

[sig8]

I have Adnaco S3B working in the x8 slot as of yesterday, so the port is working. Any other suggestions  I am willing to try, but ted_b also had same issue with same motherboard.

[ted_b]

Yes, but by then (once I moved Optane from M2 to Asus) the Optane may have already been dead, so not sure about led, etc.  IOW< when I moved Optane back to M2, after Asus idea failed, the Optane wouldn't work there anymore either.  I have a tracking number on the new replacement  Optane from Intel (Sat or Mon) so I am debating whether to simply do M2 again (which worked) or start with Asus.

 

Edit:  Optane will be here tmrw. 

[rickca]

53 minutes ago, sig8 said:

I have Adnaco S3B working in the x8 slot as of yesterday, so the port is working. Any other suggestions  I am willing to try, but ted_b also had same issue with same motherboard.

Then the problem seems to point at the Asus card, doesn't it?  It works in the x4 slot but not in the x8 slot.  Other than talking to Asus tech support, I'm out of ideas.

[lmitche]

5 hours ago, rickca said:

Then the problem seems to point at the Asus card, doesn't it?  It works in the x4 slot but not in the x8 slot.  Other than talking to Asus tech support, I'm out of ideas.

Me too, im out of ideas as well. The asus works great here.

[sig8]

I removed fiber NIC (used for iPXE boot and network access including NAS) from x16 and moved Optane/ASUS there, it works fine. I have Adnaco S3B in x8 with a USB HDD and a network adapter connected to the USB ports. For some reason Optane/ASUS does not work in x8 port.

 

I do not know if Optane boot is better than iPXE remote boot (technically speaking), if someone can shed some light on that. Earlier iPXE certainly sounded better than SATA connected SSD. 

 

Still experimenting with combinations to see what sounds better in my system.

[wushuliu]

Hm, not able to use 32gb for OS but wonder if it's worthwhile nonetheless for caching with my 200 board...

[lmitche]

On 9/23/2017 at 8:58 AM, sig8 said:

I removed fiber NIC (used for iPXE boot and network access including NAS) from x16 and moved Optane/ASUS there, it works fine. I have Adnaco S3B in x8 with a USB HDD and a network adapter connected to the USB ports. For some reason Optane/ASUS does not work in x8 port.

 

I do not know if Optane boot is better than iPXE remote boot (technically speaking), if someone can shed some light on that. Earlier iPXE certainly sounded better than SATA connected SSD. 

 

Still experimenting with combinations to see what sounds better in my system.

Sig8,

 

Strange that Asus m.2 won't work in the x8 slot.

 

How are you powering the Adnaco USB box? What cabling are you using?

 

Remember to disable the unused devices in the BIOS, including data ports, USB ports and onboard nics. Disabling in Windows is not enough.

 

Set your nic to 100 gbps.

 

Having run ipxe boot for years, I am thrilled with the sound of optane boot.

[sig8]

Larry: I am using an LC-LC Multi-mode from Adnaco PCIe board to the USB hub. Which other cable you are asking about?

 

So far Adnaco and HDD box on supplied SMPS, I will change that soon, but not yet.

 

How you set the NIC to 100 gbps? My NIC is hanging from Adnaco USB hub like you.

[lmitche]

11 hours ago, sig8 said:

Larry: I am using an LC-LC Multi-mode from Adnaco PCIe board to the USB hub. Which other cable you are asking about?

 

So far Adnaco and HDD box on supplied SMPS, I will change that soon, but not yet.

 

How you set the NIC to 100 gbps? My NIC is hanging from Adnaco USB hub like you.

I was asking about the power cable to the Adnaco USB.  I use a 5.5 x 2.5 mm DC to DC Barrell adapter between the lps-1 and usb device for this purpose.

 

You can set the ethernet speed in Windows from the config button on the property tab of the nic.

[Johnseye]

@lmitche do you know if the Optane SSD can be used with a board that doesn't support NVMe?  Do you know what the M.2 key is for the Optane?  It looks like B & M so it could work with either keying?

[lmitche]

9 hours ago, Johnseye said:

@lmitche do you know if the Optane SSD can be used with a board that doesn't support NVMe?  Do you know what the M.2 key is for the Optane?  It looks like B & M so it could work with either keying?

Optane is NVME only, and will not work in a SATA only m.2 slot.

[Robert van Diggele]

A few questions to those who work with the pcie cards and Optane memory.

 

- do you keep up with W10 updates? The last Fall creators update created a 20+ Windows.old folder on my desktop pc. Together with Windows, this would be larger than the 32 GB Optane memory

- will adding a pcie to sata card for connecting 3.5" HDD will give benefits as well?

 

thanks.

[lmitche]

 

3 hours ago, Robert van Diggele said:

A few questions to those who work with the pcie cards and Optane memory.

 

- do you keep up with W10 updates? The last Fall creators update created a 20+ Windows.old folder on my desktop pc. Together with Windows, this would be larger than the 32 GB Optane memory

- will adding a pcie to sata card for connecting 3.5" HDD will give benefits as well?

 

thanks.

Over here, I disabled windows update long ago. My guess is that my OS is a 2 year old version of Windows 10.  If I were to upgrade I'd do a clean install to an SSD, run all the updates, and then shrink the result to fit in the Optane.

 

Having experimented with a pcie based SATA controller, I wasn't impressed. I am now using a USB 3 hard disk and the Optane.  No need for more.

[Robert van Diggele]

Thanks.

[Solid-State]

You can ask mr Google

 

https://www.google.se/search?q=Windows.old+folder&oq=Windows.old+folder&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i65&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[Iving]

Hi Larry,

Was led here after your input on Bob's Audio Mart thread :-)

I have a i7 6700 CPU on Asus Z270-WS so have been rehearsing possibility of o/s on 32Gb Optane in M.2 (but not for hd caching). I have Windows 10 on a 256Gb M.2 in M.2_1 presently. I have my carefully tagged flac (c. 600Gb of EAC CD rips) on a Samsung SATA SSD with LPS and (joyfully) noted remarks of @joelha in this thread re noise of M.2 in comparison to SSD with LPS.

Here's the rub: Probably you know we can get now or shortly Optane to 280Gb or 480Gb as PCIe Add-in Card e.g., https://www.scan.co.uk/products/480gb-intel-optane-900p-aic-ssd-hhhl-pcie-30-x4-nvme-3d-xpoint-2400mb-s-read-2000mb-s-write.

Now whilst this is too small for Library, I can easily use Filter in fb2k to copy selections from Library (i.e. favourites - most of the stuff I am likely to play - but always modifiable anyway) from the SATA SSD to such a larger Optane drive where o/s could already be installed. In other words a 280Gb or 480Gb Intel Optane PCIe AIC could accommodate an o/s + an abbreviated Library where such abbreviation of the Library would not inconvenience me greatly.

I could disable SATA prior to play having all drive requirements - o/s and music - on a single Optane drive on one "direct to CPU" PCIe slot. (My other "direct to CPU" PCIe slot I would use for the ethernet card I use for AOIP.)

The 280Gb Optane card is "only" £350. I could sell my current o/s 256Gb M.2 to reduce to £300 net.

This isn't a great deal more of an outlay than a 32Gb Optane M.2 card - and not at all if one considers bang for buck - for in comparison to a 32Gb M.2 Optane card I would get to short-circuit the PCH plus eliminate M.2 "noise"? (Bonus: I have a direct LPS 6-pin PCIe supply to mobo from Larry's new 400W HDPLEX as well as 24-pin and 12V to CPU + 5V to Samsung SATA.)

Any helpful remarks appreciated. Hope you don't mind me sharing pre-purchase thoughts.

Thanks for the Optane heads up!

[baconbrain]

On 12/5/2017 at 9:43 PM, Robert van Diggele said:

A few questions to those who work with the pcie cards and Optane memory.

 

- do you keep up with W10 updates? The last Fall creators update created a 20+ Windows.old folder on my desktop pc. Together with Windows, this would be larger than the 32 GB Optane memory

- will adding a pcie to sata card for connecting 3.5" HDD will give benefits as well?

 

thanks.

Just a side note: After deleting the Win 10 hibernation file and moving the swap file to a non-OS drive, I had enough space to also install the fall creator’s update on my 32 GB Optane. During the install, Windows prompted me to place the temp installation files on a USB drive and everything worked like a charm. Up and running.

[lmitche]

8 hours ago, Iving said:

Hi Larry,

Was led here after your input on Bob's Audio Mart thread :-)

I have a i7 6700 CPU on Asus Z270-WS so have been rehearsing possibility of o/s on 32Gb Optane in M.2 (but not for hd caching). I have Windows 10 on a 256Gb M.2 in M.2_1 presently. I have my carefully tagged flac (c. 600Gb of EAC CD rips) on a Samsung SATA SSD with LPS and (joyfully) noted remarks of @joelha in this thread re noise of M.2 in comparison to SSD with LPS.

Here's the rub: Probably you know we can get now or shortly Optane to 280Gb or 480Gb as PCIe Add-in Card e.g., https://www.scan.co.uk/products/480gb-intel-optane-900p-aic-ssd-hhhl-pcie-30-x4-nvme-3d-xpoint-2400mb-s-read-2000mb-s-write.

Now whilst this is too small for Library, I can easily use Filter in fb2k to copy selections from Library (i.e. favourites - most of the stuff I am likely to play - but always modifiable anyway) from the SATA SSD to such a larger Optane drive where o/s could already be installed. In other words a 280Gb or 480Gb Intel Optane PCIe AIC could accommodate an o/s + an abbreviated Library where such abbreviation of the Library would not inconvenience me greatly.

I could disable SATA prior to play having all drive requirements - o/s and music - on a single Optane drive on one "direct to CPU" PCIe slot. (My other "direct to CPU" PCIe slot I would use for the ethernet card I use for AOIP.)

The 280Gb Optane card is "only" £350. I could sell my current o/s 256Gb M.2 to reduce to £300 net.

This isn't a great deal more of an outlay than a 32Gb Optane M.2 card - and not at all if one considers bang for buck - for in comparison to a 32Gb M.2 Optane card I would get to short-circuit the PCH plus eliminate M.2 "noise"? (Bonus: I have a direct LPS 6-pin PCIe supply to mobo from Larry's new 400W HDPLEX as well as 24-pin and 12V to CPU + 5V to Samsung SATA.)

Any helpful remarks appreciated. Hope you don't mind me sharing pre-purchase thoughts.

Thanks for the Optane heads up!

Hi Iving,

 

Seems to me that you know exact what you are doing. 

 

I don't know much about the big Optane PCIE SSD cards, and would be pleased to learn from any experience you are willing to share.  I have all my peripheral devices, nic, HDD and DAC connected via a 4 port Startech USB 3.1 gen 2 card in a direct to cpu x16 slot. The only other devices in the case are the Optane SSD card, ram and of course the two power supplies.

 

Other people with very good ears have validated the benefits of the Optane SSD in an m.2 slot. I can think of no reason why your approach would not deliver the same results.

 

Larry

[lmitche]

5 hours ago, baconbrain said:

Just a side note: After deleting the Win 10 hibernation file and moving the swap file to a non-OS drive, I had enough space to also install the fall creator’s update on my 32 GB Optane. During the install, Windows prompted me to place the temp installation files on a USB drive and everything worked like a charm. Up and running.

That's a cool approach. I usual do a clean install to a SSD, shrink things down there and then do an image copy to the Optane.  It never occurred to me that a direct install was possible. I recently did a fall creator clean install in this way.

 

How do you delete the hibernation and swap on the installation media? Or did I miss something?

 

 

[baconbrain]

7 hours ago, lmitche said:

That's a cool approach. I usual do a clean install to a SSD, shrink things down there and then do an image copy to the Optane.  It never occurred to me that a direct install was possible. I recently did a fall creator clean install in this way.

 

How do you delete the hibernation and swap on the installation media? Or did I miss something?

 

 

Hi Larry,

 

In my case, this was an MS initiated update from a previously installed version of Win 10 on my Optane. How to’s for the deletion of the hibernation file and reduction / relocation of the swap file are a “dime a dozen” via the web.

 

Tom

[Iving]

As a follow up to my previous post, my reports on "conversion" to Optane are circa here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/audio-over-ip-rednet-3-16-review-aes67-sets-a-new-standard-for-computer-audio.806827/page-228#post-14094391.

NB: I am using a 280Gb PCIe AIC not M.2.