First look - Samsung SM951 M.2 SSD in a Supermicro SuperServer 5028D-TN4T

Posted by Paul Braren on Sep 23 2015 (updated on Oct 13 2015) in
  • Storage
  • HomeServer
  • HomeLab
  • Virtualization
    • NVMeStack

    Source: Intel

    Here's the temporary configuration of 2 SuperServers

    I managed to temporarily get 2 SuperServer 5028D-TN4T loaners. One of them already traveled 6,440 miles with me earlier this month, as I demonstrated the capabilities at Microsoft in Indianapolis, then over to the San Francisco Bay area to hang with a bunch of virtualization, storage, and Silicon Valley titans. The connections I made there, and VMworld, are pretty exciting, more details soon.

    The key feature that this brief first-look video covers is the M.2 interface, which is PCIe 3.0, with x4 lanes. This means I can get FULL speeds out of my future M.2 investments, such as this little guy that's been available in limited quantities these past few months:

    and I get to keep my triple 4K output AMD GPU in the PCI slot.

    Spec'd at 1,600 MB/s reads and 1,350 MB/s writes.

    I just ran ATTO Disk Benchmark from Windows 10, and I'm rather pleased with the results!* Onward to the next tests...for now, I'll just leave you to imagine the posssibilities that having 3 such servers (temporarily) affords me ;-)

    As you'll see in the picture, this is the:
    MZHPV128HDGM
    model. Had it started with MZVPV, that would be the elusive NVMe model. I knew what i was getting, with the accurate Amazon description.

    *Too bad these M.2 drives aren't seen by VMware's ESXi 6.0 Update 1, looking into that...and not sure why my writes aren't performing as fast as they're supposed to.

    Sep 25 2015 Update - Fixed! Just add the AHCI driver, discussed here.

    ATTO disk bench results M.2 Samsung SM951
    SM951-installed.JPG
    Takes all of 30 seconds to install, using a magnetized long phillips screwdriver.
    Here's a short video with my very first test run at home that exceeds 540MB/sec.

    Sep 24 2015 Update

    Sep 25 2015 Update

    See also at TinkerTry

    See also

    TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here, not my employer's.

    Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2024, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.

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    After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop selling them in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. So far, Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh looking a little better for 2024. More cores, but still just PCIe Gen4 and DDR4. Looking ahead, I'm glad it's Pat Gelsinger at Intel's helm. I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when Pat was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.

    Easily update VMware ESXi at TinkerTry.com/easy-update-to-latest-esxi