Laptop memory issue/ Performance problems

[artxxxx69]

VB91EC900715k - Samsung laptop 900x - core inten i5

I was looking at this mini chip for extra memory to help my pc to play games more smoothly and less lag: https://shop.sandisk.com/store?Action=DisplayPage&Locale=en_US&SiteID=sdiskus&id=ThreePgCheckoutShoppingCartPage


SanDisk Extreme Pro microSDXC™ UHS-II Card - 64GB
Item #:SDSQXPJ-064G-ANCM3


I was wondering, is this the best economical option for me or are there better solutions/ am I looking at the wrong issue?

Product ID for laptop: 00326- 10000 - 00000 - AA932 - Its a Samsung 9 series 900x ( core intel i5)

As a side note I only have 7gb of memory free out of the 115 total.

 

[Solandri]

If you only have 7 GB free of 115 GB SSD space, that will definitely cause performance problems. SSDs can't overwrite old data with new data. They have to erase the flash memory cell first before they can write new data to it. That erase step is really slow - as slow as or slower than a HDD. To avoid this slowdown, they erase deleted sectors in the background so there will also be plenty of erased flash cells read for super-quick writing. But if you only have 7 GB free, then this reserve of pre-erased cells is not very big, and it's probably frequently being forced to wait to erase cells before it can write new data, which causes slowdowns.

Adding a microSD card and moving data off the SSD to the microSD card should definitely help. You should try to keep about 15% of the SSD space free. A bit more for smaller SSDs like yours (about 20%-25% for a 120GB SSD). A bit less for larger SSDs.

I would throw in a caution about making sure the microSD card you get has fast 4k random read/write speeds, not just fast sequential speeds. But the SanDisk Extreme Pros are good all-around performers. You want to take care to avoid the terrible microSD and SD cards which have high sequential speeds, but 4k speeds down around 0.05 MB/s.

 

[artxxxx69]

do you know if that card I mentioned is compatible with my laptop? do you know of any other good value cards that may be a better option?

 

[artxxxx69]

If you only have 7 GB free of 115 GB SSD space, that will definitely cause performance problems. SSDs can't overwrite old data with new data. They have to erase the flash memory cell first before they can write new data to it. That erase step is really slow - as slow as or slower than a HDD. To avoid this slowdown, they erase deleted sectors in the background so there will also be plenty of erased flash cells read for super-quick writing. But if you only have 7 GB free, then this reserve of pre-erased cells is not very big, and it's probably frequently being forced to wait to erase cells before it can write new data, which causes slowdowns.

Adding a microSD card and moving data off the SSD to the microSD card should definitely help. You should try to keep about 15% of the SSD space free. A bit more for smaller SSDs like yours (about 20%-25% for a 120GB SSD). A bit less for larger SSDs.

I would throw in a caution about making sure the microSD card you get has fast 4k random read/write speeds, not just fast sequential speeds. But the SanDisk Extreme Pros are good all-around performers. You want to take care to avoid the terrible microSD and SD cards which have high sequential speeds, but 4k speeds down around 0.05 MB/s.

do you know if that card I mentioned is compatible with my laptop? do you know of any other good value cards that may be a better option?

 

[Solandri]

do you know if that card I mentioned is compatible with my laptop? do you know of any other good value cards that may be a better option?

Try the Samsung Evo Select U3. $20 for 64GB. $45 for 128GB. Despite being TLC, performance is very close to the Sandisk Extreme Pro. (Crystaldiskmark scores are in the first Amazon review.) I have the 128GB in my tablet and have been very happy with it. Kinda wish I'd bought more (got it when there was a $15 rebate on it).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XWZWYVP/

Pretty much all SD cards and microSD(HC/XC) are compatible with all devices that take them. The only thing you have to watch out for is that Amazon tends to get a lot of fakes for popular cards. I've had to return a few fakes (subpar performance, stuttering when playing movies off the card, capacity not as labeled). So make sure you test it after you get it (run benchmarks, copy files to it and play movies off it, then fill it to capacity to make sure it takes as much data as advertised). I got my Evo Select when it first came out, before the scammers had had a chance to make fakes. Given that it's been out for a couple years now, you may want to see if you can get it from a retail store like Best Buy whose inventory can't be contaminated as easily as Amazon's.