Review Seagate FireCuda 520 SSD Review: Big Performance in an Expensive Package

Makaveli

Splendid
"Phison’s stock 11.2 firmware"

I own the Corsair MP600 drive and just updated to firmware 11.3 since this drive uses the same controller that firmware update maybe available aswell.

I saw a slight boost in performance going from 11.1 to 11.3
 
Why is this drive being positioned as a "gaming" drive? Gaming systems don't typically need anywhere near that level of write endurance, and as far as game load times are concerned, this drive appears to perform more or less identical to the Intel 660p, a drive that costs half much for a given capacity.
 

Makaveli

Splendid
Why is this drive being positioned as a "gaming" drive? Gaming systems don't typically need anywhere near that level of write endurance, and as far as game load times are concerned, this drive appears to perform more or less identical to the Intel 660p, a drive that costs half much for a given capacity.

Its just marketing and those people tend not to be technical in nature. Slap gaming and RGB on anythings these days and the kids go nuts. However going SSD to NVME to PCIe 4 NVME will do next to nothing for game loading times because majority of games are not limited by I/O.

As for the Intel 660p I would only choose that drive if you are on a limited budget. Its constantly at the bottom of the charts in this review and doesn't perform identical.

Also the 660p uses QLC memory and this drive is using 3D TLC memory.


Intel 660p 1TB PCIe 3.0 x4

Memory​
QLC
MTBF​
1,600,000 hours
Max Sequential Read​
1,800MB/s
Max Sequential Write​
1,800MB/s
4K Random Read​
150K
4K Random Write​
220K

vs

Seagate FireCuda 520 1TB PCIe 4.0 x4

Memory​
3D TLC
MTBF​
1,800,000 hours
Max Sequential Read​
5,000 MB/s
Max Sequential Write​
4,400 MB/s
4K Random Read​
760K
4K Random Write​
700 K
 
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bigdragon

Distinguished
Oct 19, 2011
1,107
547
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I'm surprised there isn't a bigger gap between PCIe 3 and 4. Seeing that 970 Pro keep up with this Firecuda 520 and MP600 makes me think that the new gen 4 drives are not yet ready.
 

trumanhw

Distinguished
Apr 3, 2010
9
0
18,510

What...could...you...mean..?
This review is incoherent at best, and must be false in others.

QD1 Reads of 32KB files at a mere @ 1GB/s
QD1 Reads of 64KB files at a mere @ 2GB/s

If you give it 5 min it recovers 116GB of SLC
If you give it 30 min it recovers 100GB of SLC


So, at QD1
and sub 32KB, the 905P ... might ... keep up..?

NEVER is when it's ahead of the pack..?
Just one of the colors covered by
Samsung's consumer SSD And the crucial ...?
Of course I believe that.

Ignoring every 1GB/s I've always get (videos, using my 970 Evo+).
That reads at 2GB/s like .. almost all the never. What a great review. ?

I just hope everyone at Tom's keeps up the ... great work...?



<Mod Edit - Removed off topic political text>
 
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