[SOLVED] which of these SSD's would you use as the system drive?

[StigDenmark]

i own 3 nvme m.2 ssd
adata gammix s5 256gb
adata gammix s11 pro 256gb
(Samsung?) PM961 512gb.

what drive should i put in my main m.2 port and run the system off? the Adata ssd's are new, but were quite cheap, the samsung ssd is from my old high-end laptop. (about 3 years)

 

[Maxxify]

The PM961 will have the fastest sequentials thanks to it being larger (more interleaving). The S11 Pro will be the fastest with consumer workloads due to its controller, newer flash, and larger SLC cache. The S5 is the slowest of the bunch as it's basically a SX6000 Pro, a four-channel DRAM-less design (with HMB support). Although in day-to-day terms you may not see much difference, so I suppose it depends on your overall system setup and usage.

 

[R_1]

I would go with the Samsung. the largest drive will accommodate more with less babysitting and depending on workload is just as fast.

 

[StigDenmark]

The PM961 will have the fastest sequentials thanks to it being larger (more interleaving). The S11 Pro will be the fastest with consumer workloads due to its controller, newer flash, and larger SLC cache. The S5 is the slowest of the bunch as it's basically a SX6000 Pro, a four-channel DRAM-less design (with HMB support). Although in day-to-day terms you may not see much difference, so I suppose it depends on your overall system setup and usage.

well i use my computer mostly for mild gaming as of right now.
i have a msi b450m mortar max motherboard, ryzen 3400g cpu with vega graphics, 16gb 3200mhz ram.

i am currently looking for a solution to put one of the ssd's on the motherboard and then the two others on an extentioncard. (or some other way to be able to fit all of the ssd's, while also keeping the abillity to add a GPU later)

only one of the ssd's is gonna be running on pcie 3.0

 

[StigDenmark]

I would go with the Samsung. the largest drive will accommodate more with less babysitting and depending on workload is just as fast.

i was also thinking about using the samsung cause of the bigger capacity, but i wasn't sure since it was older. also it doesn't have any heat sink like the two others. does that have anything to say ?

 

[Zoel.fahmi]

Use adata as primary since it's completely new
Also keep in mind its for OS, applications, buffering only.
Use the others as data, backup

 

[R_1]

the heatsink is for the newer controllers, they do run hot. the samsung despite its age is still a really good performer

 

[StigDenmark]

Okay, do any of u know any good pcie expansioncard, that can hold 2 nvme drives. The card will be placed in a pcie 2.0 x16 (limited to x4 because of my cpu)

 

[Maxxify]

The PM961 is just an OEM 960 EVO. Also, running multiple NVMe over one slot is a whole different story since you need PCIe bifurcation.

 

[StigDenmark]

The PM961 is just an OEM 960 EVO. Also, running multiple NVMe over one slot is a whole different story since you need PCIe bifurcation.

Really and evo drive? Nice. I remember there being quite a lot of hype around them when they were launched.

I stumpled oppon the expression pcie bifurcation when I searched for a solution online. But I can't really figure out if there is any way my system will support it.

Would I be a big hassle to try to make that work?
I mean I have 3 ssd's but only 2 slots for them. I don't want to have one if them just lying around. Would It be a better option to get a USB enclosure for the last drive? Or is there any other way I could connect it? Maybe an adapter to sata? (havet used a single sata drive in my system yet)

Or is it not worth at all? Should I just give up and only have 2 nvme drives installed?

 

[Maxxify]

SM = 2-bit MLC ("MLC"), PM = 3-bit MLC ("TLC"), 96x = 960 generation, the "1" at the end means client while "3" would be the enterprise/datacenter (20110 w/PLP) version. Samsung's NVMe driver will work for the SM961 and improve performance, but Magician will not. OEM drives and firmware tend to be less performant than their retail counterparts for various reasons, e.g. power states.

PCIe bifurcation support is dependent on the specific motherboard. I cover an accessory/adapter here with some details on that. It's possible to get an adapter with its own bifurcation but they're very expensive ($200+). If the motherboard doesn't have hardware (PCIe switch) and software (BIOS) support you will not be able to get it to work. Even if you do, it will likely take lanes from your discrete GPU if one is present.

Depending on the motherboard you can get a (singular) M.2-to-PCIe adapter (cheap) and there are also USB enclosures, yes. I cover one here. NVMe drives are PCIe and do not work over SATA (outside SATAe, which is expensive to convert, if you even have SATAe support, plus limited to x2).

 

[StigDenmark]

SM = 2-bit MLC ("MLC"), PM = 3-bit MLC ("TLC"), 96x = 960 generation, the "1" at the end means client while "3" would be the enterprise/datacenter (20110 w/PLP) version. Samsung's NVMe driver will work for the SM961 and improve performance, but Magician will not. OEM drives and firmware tend to be less performant than their retail counterparts for various reasons, e.g. power states.

PCIe bifurcation support is dependent on the specific motherboard. I cover an accessory/adapter here with some details on that. It's possible to get an adapter with its own bifurcation but they're very expensive ($200+). If the motherboard doesn't have hardware (PCIe switch) and software (BIOS) support you will not be able to get it to work. Even if you do, it will likely take lanes from your discrete GPU if one is present.

Depending on the motherboard you can get a (singular) M.2-to-PCIe adapter (cheap) and there are also USB enclosures, yes. I cover one here. NVMe drives are PCIe and do not work over SATA (outside SATAe, which is expensive to convert, if you even have SATAe support, plus limited to x2).

ye i know about the single extentioncards. the problem is that im running a msi mortar max motherboard. i thougt it would be enough for expantions in the future, when i bought it. but i recently found out that even though the board have 4 pcie slots, it can only have 3 pcie card installed at one time, and if i use the 2nd m.2 slot, that number goes down to two pcie slot. that was why i was looking for a solution to put 2 ssd's on one card.

i dont find any bifucation in my bios or manual, so i guess i'm just gonna hotswap them or get an usb enclosuer ( that almost cost the same as the ssd :[ ) well thanks for your help, and thanks to everyone else who have answered me in this tread

 

[popatim]

Since you haven't used a regular sata drive yet, get one of those. There isn't a lot of performance difference outside of benchmarks between an nvme drive and a fast sata ssd.