NVMe alphabet soup QLC vs TLC - price vs performance?

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lchiu7

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#257275 23-Sep-2019 19:27

I thought I would add a NVMe drive to my PC and get some speed.

Initially I thought I would get this drive from PBTech but there were out of stock.

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/HDDINT4279494/Intel-SSD-660P-3D2-QLC-1TB-M2-2280-NVMe-PCIe-Gen-3

So the guy recommended this one which is cheaper

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/HDDCRU32600/Crucial-P1-1TB-NVMe-PCIe-M2-2280-Gen-3-X-4-SSD-Up

Then I started to read up on these drives and discovered that the Intel and Crucial are the first of the QLC flash drives which use caching technology to increase write speed but when the cache is full speed drops off dramatically (relative).

More research and it would seem a much better choice would be this

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/HDDSAM971501/Samsung-970-EVO-Plus-500GB-M2-2280NVMe-SSD-RWMax-3

even though it's twice the price.

The reviews say

Samsung’s 970 EVO Plus can dish out up to 3.5GB/s of sequential read performance and up to a staggering 3.3GB/s write. It also delivers up to 620,000/560,000 random read/write IOPS.

I don't think I need 1TB of storage but the speed of the Samsung is quite attractive. It uses TLC V-NAND versus QLC in the Crucial.

Just wondering what folks think about the new generation NVMe drives and whether it's better to go for greater speed versus lower cost and potential shorter life?

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#2323510 23-Sep-2019 19:31

So get a smaller EVO. If you want to drop from TLC (three bits per cell) to MLC (two bits per cell) with the Samsung pro range you get even more reliability and possibly more speed. I go for the pro versions because I tend to keep equipment a long time - they work great with my i7 2600K :)

richms

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#2323513 23-Sep-2019 19:39

Do you need that much write speed on a huge amount of data often? The people I know with quad layer drives have reported no probems in normal use with the machine feeling any different to other machines. Perhaps if you start to download 20-30 gig games on steam all the time it may be an issue but a normal desktop PC workload? Doubt it.

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lNomNoml

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#2323514 23-Sep-2019 19:40

This should help answer your question. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OffzVc7ZB-o

lchiu7

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#2323538 23-Sep-2019 20:21

Thanks to all. That video was interesting but created more doubt for me :-(

I think I am going to get the Samsung 970 Evo Plus (assuming PBTech allow me to return the Crucial) and know at least that I got the drive with the fewest compromises.

I might be editing large video files so writing larger files is not beyonds the realms of what I might be doing.

Thanks to all

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allio

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#2323577 23-Sep-2019 21:50

The EVO is not great value.

Last I checked the Adata XPG 8200 Pro was the best deal in NZ. 1TB is $270 vs $375 for the Samsung, and significantly faster on every metric (though both drives are so quick you'd never notice a difference in real-world use). To get faster than the XPG you're looking at the Samsung Pro at almost twice the price.

Jase2985

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#2323629 24-Sep-2019 05:29

you are looking way to deep into things. the critical will be fine, the intel will be fine, the samsung will be fine if not expensive.

you just need to weigh up if the cost is worth it. 2x the space for the same $$ or slightly better performance (no where near 2x)

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#2323645 24-Sep-2019 07:26

I brought one of these Intel drives when I built my rig. It's quite likely overkill but it's a smokingly fast drive :-)

Not quite the same performance specs as the Samsung drive you're looking at but was cheaper than the Sammy (at the time - not now) and has the same 5 year warranty.

lchiu7

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#2323685 24-Sep-2019 08:40

Probably right looking into this a bit too deeply. The Adata looks really good but the problem is Pbtech don't carry it so I would have to return the Crucial and see what restocking fee they charge me. I will probably just keep the Crucial and given it it was only $170 if it works fine for a couple years then I have achieved a return of my investment.

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ratsun81

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#2324169 24-Sep-2019 19:14

lchiu7: Probably right looking into this a bit too deeply. The Adata looks really good but the problem is Pbtech don't carry it so I would have to return the Crucial and see what restocking fee they charge me. I will probably just keep the Crucial and given it it was only $170 if it works fine for a couple years then I have achieved a return of my investment.

Ive got a Intel 660P 1TB, it works very well until it gets past 80% full.

I dont do video editing and i really dont notice poor performance unless i really fill the drive up.

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#2324297 25-Sep-2019 07:50

Its pretty hard to go past the Sabrent Rocket or Silicon Power P34A80 off Amazon at the moment in terms of performance per $.

lchiu7

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#2324547 25-Sep-2019 12:15

Great tip. I managed to get a full refund on the Crucial and so bought the Silicon Power. Great reviews also. Thanks

The only downside I saw in the reviews was a slightly lower endurance factor but for my use that is not relevant

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#2337076 15-Oct-2019 04:03

As previously stated: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro has the best price/performance and operates in the range of the both Samsungs 970 and the WD Black. :-)

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#2337140 15-Oct-2019 08:06

The only time I've noticed a slow down with them was after the initial install of the new drive and I was transferring a bunch of stuff to the new drive.

lchiu7

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#2337203 15-Oct-2019 09:39

Well I'm replacing a 128GB SSD with this NVMe. My plan is to install the new drive and then enable it in the bios and then boot up Windows. Hopefully the new drive will show up as needing initialisation and formatting etc. I will do that and then use some tool to clone the SSD to this new drive Then go into the bios, alter the boot device and restart Windows. Hopefully it will be working fine.

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richms

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#2337355 15-Oct-2019 12:21

Ive had to use some cloning tool that I had to buy inorder to enable the nvme driver when cloning over from sata to nvme. I will have to look on my junkroom computer what the software was called tonight if you cant find it. Otherwise it would just loop around booting to errors and offering to repair and then saying it couldnt repair it.

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