[SOLVED] NVME - Cache and no Cache SSD's

[Zvonkoo]

I was comparing some NVME SSD's and ran into this. How come some SSD's have cache memory, but price difference is minimal? Is cache important? Will it affect gaming? What is the best choice between those 3 (except Samsung in 1TB category and ~ 512GB category).

Will seq. read/write of 2,000/1,750 MB/s (Crucial P1 1TB) make a lot difference against 3,450MB/s 3,000MB/s (Patriot VPN100 1 TB) ?

Should i get Crucial P1 1TB for price of SX8200 Pro 512GB, if it doesn't make a lot of difference? (Prices in my country)

 

[USAFRet]

For a gaming system, you will see exactly zero difference.

 

[jeremyj_83]

The cache helps when the SSD is being hit hard by writes. Overall DRAMless SSDs are slower than those with DRAM cache. However, for most normal usage, ie gaming, you wouldn't notice a difference in performance. One of the best price/performance SSDs right now is the Intel 660p. Right now you can get a 2TB version for $175 https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-660p-2tb-nvme-ssd-deal,40285.html

 

[SgtScream]

There used to be only three types of solid state drives:
SLC
MLC
TLC
Now there are newer technologies like 3d nand to list one of the few.

SLC is the fastest type of solid state drive and is used for cache within the ssd. IMO if you had a choice go for the drives with cache as your gaming system will benefit. Gaming files will be cached, along with other frequently used system files, for faster read and write speeds. Only when the cache is fully utilized (thus the cache depletes) is where you'll see a negligible degradation in performance. This primarily only happens when you are transferring very large data files, so for games this is perfect technology because these smaller game files can be cached and read for better performance as they're needed.

 

[Zvonkoo]

Thanks everyone for fast and detailed resposne. Thanks @jeremyj_83 for that deal, but im from eastern Europe, so it's a little diffrent story here about pricing and deals. So it doesn't matter much for gaming, it probably doesn't matter for booting up your system?

So i should just get NVME SSD with DRAM thingy?

 

[USAFRet]

So i should just get NVME SSD with DRAM thingy?

What system is this going in?

 

[Zvonkoo]

What system is this going in?

MSI B350M Gaming Pro
Ryzen 5 1600
G.SKILL Trident Z RGB 2x8GB @ 2933MHz XMP enabled (3000MHz default)
HD 7950 3GB Direct Cu II
Patriot Blast 240GB
1TB HDD 7200 RPM

 

[jeremyj_83]

MSI B350M Gaming Pro
Ryzen 5 1600
G.SKILL Trident Z RGB 2x8GB @ 2933MHz XMP enabled (3000MHz default)
HD 7950 3GB Direct Cu II
Patriot Blast 240GB
1TB HDD 7200 RPM

As long as you aren't doing any heavy file transfers, you will not notice any difference between SSDs with DRAM cache and those without. You are better off getting the biggest drive you can afford.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Go for one with cache.

You wont notice much difference tho.