PCIe/M.2 NVMe Intel Vs Samsung for Heavy'ish Workloads

[N19h7m4r3]

I'm currently in the need of an upgrade as my current setup is struggling quite a bit with my average workload.

I've been perusing the net, although I'm at a bit of an impas. I can get one of these drives, either the Intel 750 or Samsung 950 Pro, and I'm really not sure which. After this I'll most likely get two 1TB SATA SSD's in RAID 0 for for the other project files, and to export to from the NVMe.

So I can have either the 750 or 950 Pro as the main drive for raw project files which are big.

In Heavy IO Intel seems to be alright, but everywhere else the Samsung drive is thrashing it, even the older Samsung AHCI version ( SM951) is besting it from what I've seen in raw performance. The main issues is the Samsung is only available at 512GB, and can easily throttle and reach 80+ centigrade.

Although the Intel card can get pretty hot as well, and as such I might opt for it's U.2 2.5" version.

When it comes to workload, which is the main reason for one of these I can easily reach and exceed 500GB writes a day, and on some days I reach 500GB in an hour alone for video work.

I need speed and reliability, and while Intel seems very good there, their warranty also only covers 70GB per day for 5 years. Something I fear I'll chew through in no time.

My current setup is in my signature, and the motherboard is the Asus X99 Deluxe, so I'd need to place the Intel 750 between my GPUs. Which is why I'm considering the U.2 2.5" Intel card if I opt for it. While the PCIe one is simply plug and play into 1 slot and now other faffing about.

Keep in mind I might* also decide to use this as my Main OS drive, and replace my Samsung 850 Evo with it.

Does anyone here have a recommendation between the two NMVe based solutions as to which might suit me better. Due to the size of files I'm working with the Samsung is a tight squeeze, but if it's speed is as good as it seems I might be able to simply make do; and it's surprisingly cheap.

Also would the PCIe Intel 750 throttle or have issues when in the slot above my lower 980Ti, or is it fine there?

Photo of cards in SLI and slot for 750.

Spoiler

My current drive setup inside the chassis is:
500GB Samsung 850 EVO for OS and applications, and the export to.
RAID 0: 6TB (2x3GB) HDD's for raw project files ( replace with either 1/2TB SSD's in Raid 0; and move to external enclosure for extra backup)
250GB Samsung 850 Evo for Caching

External 8TB for backups.

 

[crinkleshoes]

I have an Intel 750 400GB and 2x 950 Pro 512GB in raid-0.

I've been doing a bit of playing over the last few days... I was curious which would feel quicker to me as a boot drive... especially as I was a little underwhelmed by the SM951.

Bearing in mind it's only been a couple of days... my mind is made up and I've settled on the new boot drive.

The Intel 750... it just feels more responsive in general usage.

So the 950s are going to stay as fast-access drives.

Going from my limited experience with these drives so far... I would say...

If you are planning on putting this new drive as your boot drive - pick the Intel 750.

If you're going to keep it just for data... then the 950 Pro.

That way, I think you will get the most out of the drives.

Going from your Samsung 850 Evo -> Intel 750 400GB as a boot drive... you will notice the improvement in speed, I'm sure of it... it's a noticeable reduction in lag and that's even coming from an SM951

 

[N19h7m4r3]

Thanks, I've been doing more digging and it seems 750 for main drive with all my work applications, and then offloading my raw data project files to a even something like a 2x2TB SSD Raid 0 would be ideal.

My current setup is just not cutting it anymore with video work, and the old HDD RAID 0 is struggling too much now.

I'll probably get the 800GB 750 PCIe drive, as the 1.2TB is just too much at the moment considering the € > £.

I just hope the 750 doesn't throttle when up against the lower GPU when it's working on rendering projects for hours.

 

[N19h7m4r3]

I just noticed that in order to use a PCIe SSD, I'd most likely need to set my motherboard to 3-way SLI mode.

At the moment it's running the PCIe lanes at 16/8 for the graphics cards, and I'll need to set it to 8/8/8 and use the middle slot for the SSD, or hopefully the middle one is already working at x4 without issues. I certainly hope that works.

 

[crinkleshoes]

You don't need to enable 3-way sli to get it to function... it will still work in that slot.

With your 28-lane CPU, you shouldn't lose any PCI-E lanes I don't think.

16 for GPU 1 + 8 for GPU 2 + 4 for Intel 750 = 28

At least that's the way I hope it works... unless any lanes are used for the onboard sata controller or similar?

Don't change the switch when you put the SSD in... just plug it and try

I have the X99-S

Check your trust email

 

[N19h7m4r3]

You don't need to enable 3-way sli to get it to function... it will still work in that slot.

With your 28-lane CPU, you shouldn't lose any PCI-E lanes I don't think.

16 for GPU 1 + 8 for GPU 2 + 4 for Intel 750 = 28

At least that's the way I hope it works... unless any lanes are used for the onboard sata controller or similar?

Don't change the switch when you put the SSD in... just plug it and try

I have the X99-S

Check your trust email

Thanks, I've been going a bit mad searching online and I can't find out if the middle slot stays at x4 speeds when I have 2Way SLI enabled.

I read that the M.2 slot shares it's x4 PCIe lanes with the bottom most slot, which is unreachable due to my bottom GPU.

I'll certainly try the middle slots, and if that doesn't work I'll enable 3-Way SLI lane splitting. Otherwise I'm out of luck for this it seems, unless I get the Intel U.2 2.5" version and also buying the special Asus connector for it, along with hoping that works.

 

[pingu666]

pcie riser cable is another option

barnaclease nerdgasm got a 4 drive ssd raid for his video editing, think he got 75% of theortical performance from them, samsung drives but cant remmber if pro or evo

 

[N19h7m4r3]

pcie riser cable is another option

barnaclease nerdgasm got a 4 drive ssd raid for his video editing, think he got 75% of theortical performance from them, samsung drives but cant remmber if pro or evo

The issue is normal SSD's just don't cut it unless you use them for Caching or raw file access storage. Or just have A LOT of them, but that greatly increases the points of failure.

I'll be getting some of those for those purposes, but for the rest I want an NVMe such as the Intel 750. I've already made up my mind about it, especially since it has higher IOPs than the rest, and can handle a lot more.
Although Samsung's NVMe 1TB 950 Pro is due this year, so it might be worth keeping an eye on that.