Recommend an NVME please
- Thread starter Drake5
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It'll be for OS + Gaming. The 1TB Blue will be moved to a different slot on the motherboard and just used for additional storage if it's needed
For a boot drive I'd look for any of these higher-tier PCI-E 4.0 drives: SN850X, T500, KC3000, 980 Pro/990 Pro, M480 Pro, P44 Pro, Exceria Pro, Firecuda 530.
I definitely would not buy a QLC drive for a boot drive (e.g. Crucial P3), but a second tier drive like the SN770 (no DRAM) shouldn't be a problem if the price is good.
Thanks for the suggestions
I can find the SN850X for around £150, which was the absolute top end of my budget really, but you've also listed several other models. Is there a certain model out of those that tops everything else?
If you don't mind SH, a 2TB 980 pro is for sale on the MM. (heatsink version though)
Man of Honour
If your putting it in the primary m2 slot on your board that already has a heat shield so you won't need one.
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Excellent thanks. Mobo manual says VRM & M.2 heatsinks so I think that's what I'm looking for. I'll order the non heatsink version
Cheers
I'd agree with the above that the SN850X or 990 Pro are probably the best in terms of their recognition & reputation, but it isn't that important.
This is copied from newmaxx's reddit resources, but most of these drives have been upgraded (or just varied) at some point with different controllers and newer NAND, so I wouldn't pay too much attention. The read/write figures are the highest quoted, but it does vary depending on capacity and the flash and not all of these drives have a 4TB version which may give them lower numbers overall.
Drive, controller, DRAM, NAND, speed, TBW (2TB capacity):
SN850X, WD ?, Yes, 112-layer SanDisk TLC, 7300/6600 1200 TBW
T500, Phison E25, Yes, 232-layer Micron TLC, 7400/7000, 1200 TBW
KC3000, Phison E18, Yes, 176-layer Micron TLC, 7000/7000, 1600 TBW
M480 Pro, Phison E18, Yes, 176-layer Micron TLC, 7400/7000, 1400 TBW
Solidgm P44 Pro, Aries, Yes, 176-layer Hynix TLC, 7000/6500, 1200 TBW
Exceria Pro, Phison E18, Yes, 112-layer Kioxia TLC, 7300/6400, 800 TBW
Firecuda 530, Phison E18, Yes, 176-layer Micron TLC, 7300/6900, 2550 TBW
980 Pro, Samsung Elpis, Yes, 136-layer Samsung TLC, 7000/5100, 1200 TBW
990 Pro, Samsung Pascal, Yes, 176-layer Samsung TLC, 7450/6900, 1200 TBW
Soldato
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100% This^
Man of Honour
Sorry to jump in but I need 2 drives, one for the OS and another for games and backups, now I've picked up 2 x 1TB WD Black SN770's and from reading reviews they seem to punch above their weight class but what has me second guessing is the lack of DRAM?
Is this going to be an issue or any other problems I need to be aware of? Should I return them (only just received them) and get 2 SN850X's (these work out at £20 more per drive)?
The lack of DRAM mainly impacts certain workloads, so for a productivity heavy build I'd get the DRAM drive, but just for gaming I doubt you'll care enough to make it worth returning them. Anecdotally I've seen some users say that the latency is noticeably higher on DRAMless drives even when on the desktop, but DRAMless drives aren't all made equal, I mean some are real bottom of the barrel drives with poor controllers and low quality NAND, while the SN770 would be one of the best.
Man of Honour
Thanks, that's interesting, as one of my pet hates is an OS that's not snappy, so I may have to look into this?
I do more on the OS than I do with gaming.
Also I wonder how they compare to the Samsung 970 EVO Plus drives they are replacing?
You could describe them as a lower tier drive to the Samsung, but realistically I don't think you'd notice much difference.
TPU does have some benchmarks on it here:
WD Black SN770 1 TB Review - What Magic is This?
The competitively priced Western Digital WD Black SN770 achieves impressive performance results that match the more expensive Samsung 980 Pro, WD Black SN850, and Kingston KC3000. It seems WD has found a solution to overcome the limitations of DRAM-less designs—very impressive.
I don't think those kind of differences are noticeable, but I suppose it depends on what you're doing and the status of the drive (e.g. higher latency can be observed in some workloads and if the drive cache is exhausted and needs to recover). But, then, high refresh monitors are not supposed to be noticeable either and a lot of gamers say they are.
Man of Honour
Decided to send the SN770s back and have ordered 2 SN850X's.You could describe them as a lower tier drive to the Samsung, but realistically I don't think you'd notice much difference.
TPU does have some benchmarks on it here:
WD Black SN770 1 TB Review - What Magic is This?
The competitively priced Western Digital WD Black SN770 achieves impressive performance results that match the more expensive Samsung 980 Pro, WD Black SN850, and Kingston KC3000. It seems WD has found a solution to overcome the limitations of DRAM-less designs—very impressive.www.techpowerup.com
I don't think those kind of differences are noticeable, but I suppose it depends on what you're doing and the status of the drive (e.g. higher latency can be observed in some workloads and if the drive cache is exhausted and needs to recover). But, then, high refresh monitors are not supposed to be noticeable either and a lot of gamers say they are.
I don't want to worry about speeds declining especially as the drive fills up over time.
Thanks for your time and info
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Associate
Just the thread I am looking for, having just discovered that I can in fact install two NVME drives into my X470-F board (albeit with the second drive at x2 speeds).
I almost bought a P3 Plus 4TB earlier, but now know that QLC isn't really the best for an OS/Games drive.
Am looking to get back into using Linux on my desktop and would like a large drive for game storage etc.
At the moment I've got a 2TB Sabrent, but am undecided as to whether to leave it there or put the 4TB in its place.
Have drives got more expensive recently, I'm sure I recall 4TB drives being under £200!
Is there a drive tier list somewhere?
I almost bought a P3 Plus 4TB earlier, but now know that QLC isn't really the best for an OS/Games drive.
Am looking to get back into using Linux on my desktop and would like a large drive for game storage etc.
At the moment I've got a 2TB Sabrent, but am undecided as to whether to leave it there or put the 4TB in its place.
Have drives got more expensive recently, I'm sure I recall 4TB drives being under £200!
Is there a drive tier list somewhere?