[SOLVED] Question to SSD Reviewers: Ultimate OS M.2 Drive in 2019?

[Mr.Vegas]

Hi,
Question to tomshardware SSD Reviewers, which M.2 NVMe SSD is the ultimate Windows 10 Install SSD [and only for this], 1Tb to 500Gb in size, Excluding Optane [Obvious answer]

 

[Darkbreeze]

This is the drive you want. "Ultimate" is a ridiculous notion. This drive is as fast or faster than any system can legitimately take advantage of and has better sequential performance than the 970 Pro. For a consumer system, there is really no better choice unless you opt for a larger version of this same drive.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07M7Q21N7/?tag=pcpapi-20

 

[USAFRet]

Samsung 970 EVO Plus.

But this...
"ultimate Windows 10 Install SSD [and only for this] "

Keeping it to 'only Windows' is a waste of the drive. You want your applications on it as well.

 

[Darkbreeze]

And game launchers as well probably. Actual game files can be elsewhere. Keep in mind, any files not on that drive or any files transferred to or from that drive are going to be limited by whatever the speed of the OTHER drive is.

 

[Mr.Vegas]

Samsung 970 EVO Plus.

But this...
"ultimate Windows 10 Install SSD [and only for this] "

Keeping it to 'only Windows' is a waste of the drive. You want your applications on it as well.

Its its what i means, OS drive, is for OS and its programs, but not files, documents, movies, games, downloads etc

 

[Mr.Vegas]

And game launchers as well probably. Actual game files can be elsewhere. Keep in mind, any files not on that drive or any files transferred to or from that drive are going to be limited by whatever the speed of the OTHER drive is.

I have bunch of SSDs: two 2TB MP510, Samsung 860EVO 2TB [in a box, will probably just sell it], 4TB brand new intel P4500 U.2 drive and 500GB HP ex920 [which i got as OS drives long time ago but now there are drives better, so ill put inside small case with USB 3 gen 2 and have very fast backup drive for the OS drive]
I had 480GB Optane that suposed to be eiter my OS drive or my cache drive to cache HDDs using PrimoCache for 2-3 years but i never used it, always got lazy to re-install [I dont like moving OS from one drive to another and prefer fresh install] so i sold it
Now i want something M.2 that Optimized for OS and programs, so i dont need high sequential just very fast random read/write so programs can launch fast and everything feels snappy.
I considered Samsung 970 Pro 500GB or any of the new 1TB PCIe Gen 4 SSDs, but based on benchmarks the PCIe Gen4 SSDs only faster in sequential, not random read/write

 

[USAFRet]

Its its what i means, OS drive, is for OS and its programs, but not files, documents, movies, games, downloads etc

Well...a very common statement here is:
"Windows and only Windows!!"

And I always ask, 'Why?'


If all you have is a 1TB SSD, then absolutely the games, videos etc should go on some other drive.
But people trying to keep it to "Only Windows" is an effort in frustration, and a waste of a drive.

 

[Mr.Vegas]

Well...a very common statement here is:
"Windows and only Windows!!"

And I always ask, 'Why?'


If all you have is a 1TB SSD, then absolutely the games, videos etc should go on some other drive.
But people trying to keep it to "Only Windows" is an effort in frustration, and a waste of a drive.

Personally I got used to this since Windows 95 times, when you have separate OS drive and something happens to the OS [now less of a chance then back then], a virus, some bad download that infected with worms, you know million reasons, doing full format is easy and nothing is lost.

Also for people it can be price, back during 60gb and 120gb SSD days i only had OS on SSD and games had their 7200rpm HDD, but some people still like this, they buy small SSD for the OS and games on HDD.
I mean with current SSD prices that you can get fast Phison E12 NVMe SSD 1TB for 109USD, I see people on amazon reviews and people on forums still buying even as low as 128 which is bad decision and waste of money, but even 256gb and even 500Gb are stupid, because when 1TB is 109USD on amazon with 3 to 5 year waranty then everything below it are expensive and not worth buying and if Phison E12 is 109$ i bet there are SATA and maybe old gen NVMe drives for less, like 660P and WD Blue and MX500 so you can get 1TB even for less then 109$

Question, Which of the two would you choose:
A: 500Gb Samsung EVO PLus for 109$
B: 1TB Sabrent 1TB Rocket NVMe PCIe for 109$ [5-years warranty]

 

[USAFRet]

"OS Only" is different than "OS + Applications"

I also have a dedicated drive for the OS and applications.
I would not try to keep it as "OS only'.

Answer:
Almost certainly not the Sabrent. Reliability and track record counts for a lot.

 

[Mr.Vegas]

"OS Only" is different than "OS + Applications"

I also have a dedicated drive for the OS and applications.
I would not try to keep it as "OS only'.

Answer:
Almost certainly not the Sabrent. Reliability and track record counts for a lot.

When people say OS drive I think they mean OS+Applications, at least thats what I mean lol.
The sabrenet drive is Phison E12, its not their drive, they just put a sticker to it, all of the phison E12 drives are re-sold drives with a sticker, they all come from same OEM.
The 1TB model has TBW of 1665 and the 2TB has double

Personally I think I decided on Samsung, but because it has build in Bitlocker support and I use Bittlocker and it has nice Ram cache feature in their software.
But ill wait until 3950x comes out [unless ill wait for TR3 dunno], maybe something better will be out by that time or cheaper M.2 Optane and in M.2 format [I heard that maybe Micron will finally release their QuantX drives sometime late in 2019].

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, you mean that. I do as well.
A LOT of people don't. See it here all the time.

TBW limit of 1665? I'b be shocked if anyone got to 20% of that in normal consumer use before "1TB" was too small.

 

[USAFRet]

"RAM cache"? RAPID mode?

I tried that for a while. Saw zero actual user facing benefit. Benchmarks were awesome, though.

 

[Mr.Vegas]

Yes, you mean that. I do as well.
A LOT of people don't. See it here all the time.

TBW limit of 1665? I'b be shocked if anyone got to 20% of that in normal consumer use before "1TB" was too small.

and where these people want to put the applications to separate HDD? What kind of logic is that?
Yep thats for 1TB, MP510 has 1700TBW
The Sabernet TBW are an amazon question replay by Sabernet representative so its official, but looking at Mp510 which is same E12 drive its not extraordinary
One of the reasons i have two 2TB Mp510 drive for video encoding and stuff like that, each has 3120TBW [not double of 1700 but still nice], Corsair sold them for 259USD on amazon but they run out and its not some sale price its regualr price [of course they came out for much more but slowly the price went down]
Samsung is kinda greedy in this respect, 109$ for 500GB while otehr give you 1TB, for the price of Samsung 1TB you can get 2TB E12 based drive that beats it in some benchmarks, but loses in others.

"RAM cache"? RAPID mode?

I tried that for a while. Saw zero actual user facing benefit. Benchmarks were awesome, though.

My OS is on 850EVO 250GB, im too lazy to format waiting for new PC build, my Waterfox browser has bunch of plugins but most important is that i have over 5000Tabs open, maybe 6000 or more, i have a plugin that allows me to create "sub windows", categories, so i have category of YT and when i click I see all my YT channels, thousands of tabs, category with torrents/movies and it changes to that, this is how i manage so many tabs and even with such option and 4K screen 70% of my top screen is just tabd LOL, Anyway, I only mentioned this because im sure you understand such Browser takes time to load, even on my 9900K with 64GB RAM, but after I enabled RAPID mode, the browser loads much faster and feels snappier.

 

[USAFRet]

but most important is that i have over 5000Tabs open, maybe 6000 or more

And this takes you way out on the far edge of weirdness.

Whatever works for you, go for it.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Nobody has had a faster or more reliable consumer M.2 or SATA SSD than Samsung, for probably five years running, at least. Nobody.

 

[Mr.Vegas]

Nobody has had a faster or more reliable consumer M.2 or SATA SSD than Samsung, for probably five years running, at least. Nobody.

I have to disagree, MX500 and WD Blue dont lose to 860EVO and share the first place.

as far as NVMe, Phison E12 is the leader in endurance + Price + warranty:
Corsair MP510 2Tb: 259$ [Endurance: 3120TBW] + 5 Year warranty.
Corsair MP510 1Tb: 139$ [Endurance: 1700TBW] + 5 Year warranty.

Before EVO Plus Came out EVO was losing to Phison E12 and SM2262/SM2262EN

Now with EVO Plus they go head to head and win lose 50/50, your own website's 1TB review compares it vs Phison E12 [PBX Pro] and SM2262EN SX8200 Pro, you can see it for yourself.
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/samsung-970-evo-plus-ssd,5608-3.html

Same review in 500GB category vs PBX Pro and SX8200 [non pro older SM2262 controller] has same situation.

We also have to consider price, if we wont consider price then Optane wins hands down and there is no discussion, but if we consider price, when 500GB EVO PLUS = 1TB Phison E12 1TB [109USD] and all Phison drives have 5 years warranty and insane endurance, Samsung is not a winner anymore.
It doesn't offer any value to cost twice as much.

But we know that choosing an SSD is not just benchmarks, each SSD may lose in some benchmarks but win in others, one that great for databse is not great for system, one with high sequantal writes but low mixed work doesn't suited to be snappy system drive, or in reverse too.
Choosing DATA drive is easy, but choosing the BEST System drive is hard, sequential are irrelevant here, Optane proved it, 4K random read write is highly important and mixed workload performance.

I wish web sites like Tomshardware, anadtech and all the rest that benchmark tens if not hundreds of SSD, also categorize them based on results: This suited as best System drive, this suited as best archive drive, this suited as best database drive drive, this suited as best virtualization drive [that will be Optane of course], this suited as best multi user video streaming etc

 

[Darkbreeze]

And just because we frequent or moderate the forum does not make it "our" website. Editorial does it's thing. We do our thing. The two "things" don't always, and often don't, jive. Case in point, the "just buy it" article. I assure you, nobody here was in favor of THAT little tidbit. But that's history at this point.

You can have your opinion. I'll stick to mine, thanks. No way in the world, ever, that I'd trust an Adata device over a Samsung drive. But you can if you wish to. And personally, I won't even look at Corsair storage devices. I've had two Corsair SSDs die early in the past and there won't be a third time.

 

[Mr.Vegas]

And just because we frequent or moderate the forum does not make it "our" website. Editorial does it's thing. We do our thing. The two "things" don't always, and often don't, jive. Case in point, the "just buy it" article. I assure you, nobody here was in favor of THAT little tidbit. But that's history at this point.

You can have your opinion. I'll stick to mine, thanks. No way in the world, ever, that I'd trust an Adata device over a Samsung drive. But you can if you wish to. And personally, I won't even look at Corsair storage devices. I've had two Corsair SSDs die early in the past and there won't be a third time.

I dont find any issues with Just Buy It article, jealous people and Nvidia haters started to pile on, otehr web sites and YT personalities [that maybe dilike Toms hardware] wanted their 5 minutes of fame, its the typical twitter Cancel culture of mob mentality.
In reality, this web site had TWO articles: All the reasons to NOT buy it and All the reasons to BUY it.
This style of writing is not new and people should know it, lots of web sites do such lists about hardware and or games.
You have no reasons to be ashamed.

One of the articles about modern SSDs said that all SSDs that sold by small manufacturers that dont have resources to make SSDs are made by single OEM, usually the one that makes the chip.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I dont find any issues with Just Buy It article

You have no reasons to be ashamed.

No comment. Reasons.