Question Need help deciding what SSD to buy.

[That_Tech_Guy_Again]

I am looking for a 2nd SSD, since the first one is almost full. The first one is a SATA SSD. I am looking for an M.2 SSD since the motherboard (B550M DS3H Revision 1.5) M.2 slot available.

I live in Australia, so use AUD currency when giving suggestions. I plan to built a NEW comptuer probalby near the end of this year or sometime next year. So i do NOT want to spend a lot on a new SSD. I was thinknig around $100-$2-- AUD (though maybe slightly more if necessary).

Also i would prefer a 2 Terabyte SSD over a 1 Terabyte SSD.

Here are some links to some SSD's i am considering.

This one i will probably NOT get. Though i might consider it for the NEW PC i will built within the next year or so. (Question - Is a heatsink for an SSD even necessary? - THe heatsink is the main reason i am even looking ath this SSD).

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/product/fVC48d/samsung-980-pro-heatsink-2-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-mz-v8p2t0cw

Samsung 970 Evo Plus. (This SSD uses PCIE 3.0 - Is there a substantial "noticeable" difference between PCIE 3.0 VS PCIE 4.0).

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/product/Fv8j4D/samsung-970-evo-plus-2-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-mz-v7s2t0bam

Samsung 980 Pro (This SSD uses PCIE 4.0).

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/product/DDWBD3/samsung-980-pro-1-tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-mz-v8p1t0bam

If i left out any relevant / necessary information jsut ask for it and i will update this post. Thankyou for helping.

 

[MC Freak]

If you're making a larrge data transfer between 2x PCIe 4.0 drives, it will go much much faster than between 2x SATA III SSDs.

Exactly! This is what I thought - now I clearly see the long run value in investing in PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSDs. Cheers!

 

[USAFRet]

Exactly! This is what I thought - now I see the long run value in investing in Gen 4 x4 SSDs. Cheers!

And how often will you be moving large blocks of data between these drives? 🤔

 

[MC Freak]

And how often will you be moving large blocks of data between these drives? 🤔

We're Mac folks, but the PC I'm planning for will be the center of a DSD/MKV Media Management System. That is to say that the projects that will be created with said PC will involve both video and ultra high-resolution multichannel (MC) audio. In short, large files will be transferred and written over, so striking a balance between read/write speed and PBW seems to be key for our PC project ... and, yes, the "P" was intended. 😉

 

[USAFRet]

We're Mac folks, but the PC I'm planning for will be the center of a DSD/MKV Media Management System. That is to say that the projects that will be created with said PC will involve both video and ultra high-resolution multichannel (MC) audio. In short, large files will be transferred and written over, so striking a balance between read/write speed and PBW seems to be key for our PC project ... and, yes, the "P" was intended. 😉

And for that use, absolutely. Multiple fast drives are indicated.

That is far outside the normal use case we see here.

 

[MC Freak]

As this marks the first time that Gen 4 PCIe NVMe SSDs have been considered, your information has been very helpful. 👍

 

[Nighthawk117]

Exactly! This is what I thought - now I clearly see the long run value in investing in PCIe Gen 4 x4 SSDs. Cheers!

Certainly for transferring large files NVME drives are much faster than SATA SSD's. However bare in mind the B550 motherboards have 20 PCI-E gen 4 lanes that link to the CPU. 16 for the GPU and 4 for the top M2 slot. The chipset lanes themselves are PCI-E gen 3, also the B550 chipset is linked to the CPU via 4 PCI-E gen 3 lanes. If you have multiple gen 4 drives you will not be able to take advantage of the large sequential write speeds when transferring between drives.

The bottom line is, you will see greater speeds when transferring between two NVME drives when compared to SATA drives. However it's not going to really matter whether those drives are gen 3 or 4.

 

[MC Freak]

Certainly for transferring large files NVME drives are much faster than SATA SSD's. However bare in mind the B550 motherboards have 20 PCI-E gen 4 lanes that link to the CPU. 16 for the GPU and 4 for the top M2 slot. The chipset lanes themselves are PCI-E gen 3, also the B550 chipset is linked to the CPU via 4 PCI-E gen 3 lanes. If you have multiple gen 4 drives you will not be able to take advantage of the large sequential write speeds when transferring between drives.

The bottom line is, you will see greater speeds when transferring between two NVME drives when compared to SATA drives. However it's not going to really matter whether those drives are gen 3 or 4.

@Nighthawk117 ..... I'm not sure that we're on the same page, motherboard wise, but let's say that we were discussing the pros and cons of motherboard architecture. Wouldn't you agree that the big chip makers usually push the bounds of board design? For example, wouldn't you say that advancements in memory -- like Gen3 SSDs to Gen 4 SSDs to Gen 5 SSDs -- are going to influence future advancements in bus design?

 

[Nighthawk117]

@Nighthawk117 ..... I'm not sure that we're on the same page, motherboard wise, but let's say that we were discussing the pros and cons of motherboard architecture. Wouldn't you agree that the big chip makers usually push the bounds of board design? For example, wouldn't you say that advancements in memory -- like Gen3 SSDs to Gen 4 SSDs to Gen 5 SSDs -- are going to influence future advancements in bus design?

Perhaps not, I had it in my head that this would be used on a B550 platform. I was just pointing out the platforms limitations. The motherboard chipsets are constantly being updated and gen 4 is already widely supported, with a move to gen 6 already planned. Any gen 4 or gen 5 SSD you buy today should it not be for a new machine, could be transferred at a later date.

 

[MC Freak]

And I have a 980 Pro, with zero issues...😉
Using it as we speak. The "problems" are not universal.

@USAFRet ..... Kinda got sidetracked for a couple of days, but now I'm back to researching a good NVMe SSD. The issues I mentioned back in Post 20 were based on a YT video I watched and an article I read: both are from the folks at the NAS Compares storage website. Both of them were published back in February of 2023, however, so I wanted to ask if the coast seems to be clear now?

If you scroll down and read the list of affected NVMe SSDs included in the NAS Compares website article, you will see that the premature "poor health" issues - and the official updates that were issued by Samsung in response to these owner reports - seem to apply mainly to the 980 Pro and the 990 Pro models. When did you buy the Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD you mentioned in Post 21 ?

 

[USAFRet]

@USAFRet ..... Kinda got sidetracked for a couple of days, but now I'm back to researching a good NVMe SSD. The issues I mentioned back in Post 20 were based on a YT video I watched and an article I read: both are from the folks at the NAS Compares storage website. Both of them were published back in February of 2023, however, so I wanted to ask if the coast seems to be clear now?

If you scroll down and read the list of affected NVMe SSDs included in the NAS Compares website article, you will see that the premature "poor health" issues - and the official updates that were issued by Samsung in response to these owner reports - seem to apply mainly to the 980 Pro and the 990 Pro models. When did you buy the Samsung 980 Pro NVMe SSD you mentioned in Post 21 ?

Purchased Dec 2021.
Installed Win 11 Pro on it early Jan 2022
24/7 use since then (except for vacations).

CrystalDiskInfo reports 97% good, 20TBW, 11,371 power on hours

Samsung Magician reports as "Good"

 

[That_Tech_Guy_Again]

Thankyou everyone for the information.I went with the 970 Evo Pro. However, i installed the new SSD into the motherbaord, However, it appears in the BIOS and the Device Manager, however, it does NOT appear in the My computer / My PC section. Any help?

Samsung 970 Evo Plus. (This SSD uses PCIE 3.0 - Is there a substantial "noticeable" difference between PCIE 3.0 VS PCIE 4.0).
https://au.pcpartpicker.com/product...b-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-mz-v7s2t0bam


New question. How to get the new SSD working properly.

Question - New NVMe SSD NOT appearing as disk drive?

So the NVMe SSD appears in the BIOS and in Device Manager. It does NOT appear in the My computer /My PC section. I also, CANNOT save files to it.

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[USAFRet]

Thankyou everyone for the information.I went with the 970 Evo Pro. However, i installed the new SSD into the motherbaord, However, it appears in the BIOS and the Device Manager, however, it does NOT appear in the My computer / My PC section. Any help?

It will not appear in "My Computer" until it has a drive letter.

Does it appear in Disk Management?

 

[Nighthawk117]

You need to initialise the drive first in Computer Management>>>Disk Management before you can use it.