Question WD Black SN770 NVMe as a BOOT Drive (vs Samsung 980 Evo+)

THRobinson

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Seen a few posts about these drives and the comparisons I've seen online show that SN770 is definitely the faster drive, however, I keep seeing gaming benchmarks and not everyone is a gamer.

I will use it for games... Fortnite mostly. I'm not a gamer but I do play once in a while and right now my 250GB SSD is too small to hold more than 1 game so looking at a 500GB. That said, for now I have an older Asus H97-Plus that will work with an NVMe drive. Maybe not full speed but I need the drive now and plan to upgrade end of summer.

Plan is to use this as my C:\ on Win10x64, it will be the boot drive and have all software and games installed. I have a 2TB HDD as a D:\ where Docs, Images, Music, etc is mapped.

So... thinking ahead, on my new Z790 board with an i5-13600k CPU... do I need to be concerned with the lack of dram on the SN770? also, I read it has some sorta game-mode? does that need to be on all the time to get the performance? does it turn on just for games? does it even really make a difference?

In Canada the 500GB SN770 is about $55CAD... the Samsung 980 Evo Plus is another $30 ($85CAD). The regular Samsung 980 is about $55CAD as well.

Also... heatsink. I don't overclock anything... mobo may/not have a heatsink for the M.2 slot, depends on the model. Does the Sn770 need a sink?
 
NVMe performance and whether or not it needs a heat sink depends on one thing: are you going to be hammering the drive with stuff to do constantly? If the answer is no, then neither thing is something you have to worry about.
  • Performance differences between NVMe drives aren't humanly perceptible. I would argue even between SATA and NVMe, at most you might most notice a slight increase in load times, but it's not as dramatic as going from a hard drive to an SSD.
    • Of course, moving large files back and forth may have humanly perceptible differences, but that counts as "hammering the drive constantly"
  • Unless the SSD is doing something for extended periods of time, it isn't going to heat up enough to need a heat sink.
 
I bought an SN770 about a month ago. 500 GB model; 35 dollars US at Amazon.

No regrets. It's now the boot drive on a 7 year old Z170 board running Windows 10 Pro. May move it to a 4th gen port on a B760 board with a 13600K in the next few months. Or not; unsure.

I can't tell the difference between it and the antique Crucial MX100 it replaced.

I did not expect to. I bought it because of upgrade urges and the extreme sale price....irresistible as I hovered over the "buy now" button.

Benchmarks on my drive are consistent with online benchmarks I have seen. Presumably they will rise if I move the drive to a gen 4 port.

No heatsink in a very quiet case with single intake and single exhaust, all under 800 rpm.

HWInfo shows 3 temp sensors for it. Right now they are at 40, 61, and 34 in a 72 F (22 C) degree room. The 61 is believed to be the controller area. My earlier version of HWInfo showed only the first 40 degree sensor, which may be on the NAND somewhere? I think the 40 degree sensor is what most people see as their SSD temp if only one temp is shown. None of my other SSDs show more than one temp location.

You can find hundreds of posts telling you are a FOOL for buying an SSD without DRAM. How could you live with yourself? Just look at these benchmarks over here.

If you are prone to second guessing yourself, you can easily spend an extra 30 bucks or whatever for DRAM and live happily ever after. Or not, if you would then flagellate yourself endlessly for FOOLISHLY spending the extra money. Pick your poison.

Game mode can be enabled in the WD Dashboard application. It is disabled by default. I read some details about it and was not impressed, so left it disabled.
 
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THRobinson

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My theory, as with all tech... is that for "just a bit more money" there's always something "just a bit better"... and in most cases you need a benchmark to show the difference.

If i recall, SSD's are about 10x faster than the older HDD's.... and these new NVMe drives are 12x faster than SSD... but when talking such small increments of time, and 'theoretical speeds'... I think saving $30 is the way to go.

Any knowledge about this "game mode" I saw in passing? something about disabling low power mode?
 

Small, yet massive; if you are concerned with respawning.

Don't bother listening to me. Listen to Luis Tenorio, product marketing manager for WD_BLACK.

"Game Mode 2.0 optimizes WD_BLACK drives with new techniques, such as predictive loading and adaptive thermal management, to ensure that gamers get the most out of their components. While the difference is in the slightest of margins, these small advantages can have a massive impact on gameplay.

“Having better storage can give you a competitive advantage,” Tenorio said, “if you can respawn faster than the enemy, that’s enough to tip the scales.”
 

THRobinson

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Oops missed that scrolling up/down. :D

Seems like one of those minor boosts in exchange for extra heat... I dunno. I never OC anything or push things hard. I try to build a good solid system that will last a good 8yrs rather than push it for minor performance boosts and risk bricking it.

WD SN770 is on 13% off right now too... hmm

Checked and my board does indeed allow 2280 and NVME and will work as a boot drive, even a handy YouTube vid for it. Performance, no idea but a 500GB SSD 2.5" is the same price or more than that NVMe... and again, by year's end I'll have an upgraded system so, may as well buy stuff for it if buying anything at all.