Question Is this a good NVMe drive ?

[knowledge2121]

I am looking at TEAMGROUP MP34 4TB. I wanna use this for my gaming drive. The product description says that this is a TLC drive with DRAM.

Questions:

Is this really a TLC drive ?

How much DRAM does it have ?

Amazon reviews say that once the drive is 75% full, the speeds drop down to HDD speeds, is this true ?

This drive costs $250 CDN before tax, Are there better 4TB options in this price range ?

Can NVMe SSDs with DRAM also use HMB ?

 

[thestryker]

Sounds like the issue with this drive is that they changed controllers and DRAM cache after launch. It's a low end drive with the only thing really going for it is a fairly good TBW figure. It sounds like the Realtek controller is to blame for most of the issues going on. Unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised if the above 75% advice was accurate as you do need to leave space on SSDs to maximize performance but for good drives it's a lot lower more like 90% full before issues start to arise.

From a quick look at PCPartPicker there's no other drive in that price range.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I am looking at TEAMGROUP MP34 4TB. I wanna use this for my gaming drive. The product description says that this is a TLC drive with DRAM.
Questions:
Is this really a TLC drive ?
How much DRAM does it have ?

Here's the review.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/team-group-mp34-nvme-ssd,6181.html

Can NVMe SSDs with DRAM also use HMB ?

No.

 

[knowledge2121]

Unfortunately I wouldn't be surprised if the above 75% advice was accurate as you do need to leave space on SSDs to maximize performance but for good drives it's a lot lower more like 90% full before issues start to arise.

Do you know at what percentage the speed starts to decrease and by how much for MP34 4TB ?

 

[USAFRet]

Do you know at what percentage the speed starts to decrease and by how much for MP34 4TB ?

There isn't a hard line where it might start.
Like....82.7%.

The general rule for SSDs still applies...don't fill it up too much.

 

[knowledge2121]

if you fill it up too much, how much does the speed drops ? it drops to HDD speeds ? or is it still fast ?

 

[USAFRet]

if you fill it up too much, how much does the speed drops ? it drops to HDD speeds ? or is it still fast ?

There is no definable - "how much".

It also depends on exactly what you're doing. Simply accessing data on the drive, copying lots of small files, copying a couple of very large files...I expect any change in performance would be different in each circumstance.

 

[knowledge2121]

It is mainly for gaming: Steam, GOG and console game emulators ....

 

[USAFRet]

It is mainly for gaming: Steam, GOG and console game emulators ....

Don't fill it up too much, it will be fine.
The above mentioned 75% is probably a good dividing line.

 

[knowledge2121]

Don't fill it up too much, it will be fine.
The above mentioned 75% is probably a good dividing line.

Is this the case for all SSDs ? or just the one I am trying to buy ?

 

[USAFRet]

Is this the case for all SSDs ? or just the one I am trying to buy ?

Is what the case?

Don't fill it up too much? Yes.

Slowing down when it gets too full? That varies.

Some drives go right down to near HDD performance in a long copy process, when the cache fills up.
Some do it better.

And no, I'm not going to give you a comprehensive comparison, of all available solid state drives.

For a gaming system, this doesn't really matter that much.

 

[thestryker]

Here's the review.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/team-group-mp34-nvme-ssd,6181.html

That review is no longer applicable as they changed parts unfortunately.

Is this the case for all SSDs ? or just the one I am trying to buy ?

This drive is not a good drive there is a reason it is cheaper than everything else. The only positive about it is that it has high TBW rating and decent warranty period, but typically home users aren't going to get near maximum writes on even lower QLC based drives.