PCIe 4.0 vs 3.0 for OS drive

adrichardson81 · 9 Jun 2019 at 13:52

Hi all

I'm currently getting things in order for my Zen 3k build. I'll carry over my 500gb WD Black for games but my 250gb 950 Pro (OS drive) is probably too old to be worth moving over.

It looks like I'll get about 4900 reads and 4300 writes if I go with a 1st gen 4.0 drive. Will I actually notice the difference compared to a 970 Evo Plus if I'm using it purely as an os drive?

Jokester · 9 Jun 2019 at 13:56

I’ve seen a video on Youtube I think it was, comparing NVMe, SSD and mechanical drives.

There was nothing between the NVMe and SSD drives.

Personally it’s not something I would be worried about.

bremen1874 · 9 Jun 2019 at 13:57

Compare the 4K reads and writes as that's what mainly matters for an OS drive. The peak transfer rate doesn't matter that much.

You're well into diminishing gains territory as well.

EsaT · 9 Jun 2019 at 14:01

When real world home use differences between NVMes and on paper lot slower standard SATA signaled SSDs are small, any differences between PCIe 4.0 and 3.0 NVMes are going to be even more meaningless:

Only very specific home use scenarios could benefit in any way from highest benchmarketing numbers.
Simply better to use that money for more capacity, or save it for something else.

james.miller · 9 Jun 2019 at 14:04

Not sure i follow the logic; moving the mechanical drive over but binning the 950 pro because it's too old?

You dont need the performance as you'd know if you did, so i would suggest forgetting about PCIE4.0 drives and buy a cheaper drive for the OS and another 1tb+ SSD to replace the 'old' 950 and that absolutely prehistoric WD Black. Not the the 950 needs replacing, IMO.

bremen1874 · 9 Jun 2019 at 14:10

james.miller said:
Not sure i follow the logic; moving the mechanical drive over but binning the 950 pro because it's too old?

There are WD Black SSDs. At 500GB capacity that's what the OP must be referring to (or at least I'd hope so).

Just checked and they do still sell mechanical drives that small, which surprised me.

adrichardson81 · 9 Jun 2019 at 14:16

Thanks! The 4k scores are pretty good on the Evo Plus 500gb so it seems like a good option.

james.miller · 9 Jun 2019 at 16:06

bremen1874 said:
There are WD Black SSDs. At 500GB capacity that's what the OP must be referring to (or at least I'd hope so).

Just checked and they do still sell mechanical drives that small, which surprised me.

Facepalm. I have a WD Green SSD in my laptop, should have twigged it lol

adrichardson81 · 10 Jun 2019 at 07:16

Sorry! Yeah, it's the NVMe version.