SSD TIER LIST

[Wooden Law - Black]

4 hours ago, SuperFlower said:

Guys what should I buy from the following: 

-970 evo plus 1tb

-980 1tb

-aorus gen4 1tb

 

All are the same price, will be using on a z390 motherboard.

I'm thinking of 970 evo plus for having dram whoch 980 does not have and maybe reliability which I've heard gigabyte tends to fail often. 

What do you guys recomend? Or should I wait next year maybe samsung releases something like a 980 evo with dram. 

There also is 980 pro but is double the price which I don't think is worth it.

Which Aorus SSD are you talking about? the 7000s?

[Luka.jj.Kovac]

20 hours ago, HotaruMio said:

Hello Luka,

 

1. Yes that SSD would work with your Mac Mini 2014. If you used Crucial's compatibility checker, this SSD is compatible.

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/apple/mac-mini-(late-2014)#ssd

 

2. Yes, if you get an adapter for m.2 NVMe to SATA, it would run only on SATA3 speed, as that is the supported mode for the interface. SATA3's maximum speed is around 500-550MB/s, while NVMe can go much higher, depending on the PCIe generation and controllers.

 

Hope it helps, cheers.

Bless you Hotaru. Thank you for helping this old man. Amazing Christmas gift from you!

The Crucial compatibility tool is very useful. I been using the Amazon one which kept saying they don't have info on Apple products.

 

One thing I have to add is that my Mac Mini is 2011 not 2014. Does your answer still apply in this case?

 

 

[HotaruMio]

6 hours ago, Luka.jj.Kovac said:

Bless you Hotaru. Thank you for helping this old man. Amazing Christmas gift from you!

The Crucial compatibility tool is very useful. I been using the Amazon one which kept saying they don't have info on Apple products.

 

One thing I have to add is that my Mac Mini is 2011 not 2014. Does your answer still apply in this case?

 

 

The MX500 still works with the Mac Mini 2011 no problem.

 

https://www.crucial.com/compatible-upgrade-for/apple/mac-mini-(mid-2011)

[DarkReaper969]

Hello!

 

Just wanted to give a hint to the TeamGroup T-Create Classic, which is in Tier A. TeamGroup actually has 2 different ones (https://www.teamgroupinc.com/en/products/t-create/t-create-classic#product-box-122), one 4.0 the other 3.0 and DRAM-less. The one in Tier A has the Phison E16 Controller, so maybe also add 4.0 to the name, because the 3.0 version is much worse (doesn't have DRAM and RTS5763DL Controller. Source: https://www.storagereview.com/review/teamgroup-t-create-classic-ssd-review). Just wanted to note it because i was looking up the 3.0 drive i've found, thinking it was the one mentioned on the list.

 

Cheers!

[Wooden Law - Black]

4 hours ago, DarkReaper969 said:

Just wanted to give a hint to the TeamGroup T-Create Classic, which is in Tier A. TeamGroup actually has 2 different ones (https://www.teamgroupinc.com/en/products/t-create/t-create-classic#product-box-122), one 4.0 the other 3.0 and DRAM-less.

IMO the 4.0 one doesn’t deserve the place as Tier A, E16-based drives are obsolete nowadays. A Tier B would be better.

[jacobtan]

Hi all, I'm new and glad to be here.

I'm using a 970 Evo 500GB in my laptop but I'd like to get a new SSD with a larger capacity (ideally 2TB) to replace it. It will be my boot drive and I'll run games and applications from it. Besides that, I'll store documents and media on it, though I don't work with large files often and I generally write less than 20TB a year. If I'm willing to sacrifice some speed and endurance for an SSD that can meet my needs at a reasonable price, are the Tier C and D offerings worth my consideration?

Also, I'm looking at the Exceria G2 (the newer version of the Tier D Exceria) as a potential fit for the price. Does the upgraded version also count as a Tier D SSD? I'm also open to other choices if you could recommend.

 

Thanks a lot in advance. Cheers.

EDIT:

The drives I'm looking at are:

Kioxia Exceria G2 2TB: $210
Samsung 970 Evo Plus 2TB: $310
Corsair P5 2TB: $290

Edited December 17, 2021 by jacobtan
Post updated with price information

[Wooden Law - Black]

On 12/16/2021 at 4:49 PM, jacobtan said:

Also, I'm looking at the Exceria G2 (the newer version of the Tier D Exceria) as a potential fit for the price. Does the upgraded version also count as a Tier D SSD? I'm also open to other choices if you could recommend.

 

SK hynix Gold P31 has a very good efficiency and it’s the best SSD for laptop.

[jacobtan]

5 minutes ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

SK hynix Gold P31 has a very good efficiency and it’s the best SSD for laptop.

Thanks! It looks interesting, though the pricing seems off. There are no local distributors and because Samsung has a year-end sale now, the 980 Pro 2TB is actually cheaper than the SK Hynix Gold P31 2TB. I'll keep a lookout.

[Wooden Law - Black]

3 hours ago, jacobtan said:

Thanks! It looks interesting, though the pricing seems off. There are no local distributors and because Samsung has a year-end sale now, the 980 Pro 2TB is actually cheaper than the SK Hynix Gold P31 2TB. I'll keep a lookout.

Great SSD, though it has worse efficiency.

[jacobtan]

1 hour ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

Great SSD, though it has worse efficiency.

980 Pro looks good, and the price is competitive now where I live at $360 or a little less for 2TB. I didn't consider it seriously because my laptop can support up to Gen 3 drives only and while benchmarks suggest it has improvements over 970 Evo Plus, it might be a waste of good money for me.

In your opinion, given my use profile, can I get away with a slower SSD in Tier C or D without impacting my user experience too much, say, an SSD with DRAM, ~2k read/write speeds, and lower Endurance? Or do I actually need to get an SSD that offers ~3k read/write speeds to prevent my laptop from slowing to a crawl?

[Wooden Law - Black]

15 hours ago, jacobtan said:

Or do I actually need to get an SSD that offers ~3k read/write speeds to prevent my laptop from slowing to a crawl?

This. As you said, a Tier C/Tier D SSD could have worse endurance.

By the way, about the speed, you notice the difference between 3000-3500 MB/s and 2000-2500 MB/s only in some cases like file transfer, rendering, etc., non in any case (for example storage and games).

[jacobtan]

20 minutes ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

By the way, about the speed, you notice the difference between 3000-3500 MB/s and 2000-2500 MB/s only in some cases like file transfer, rendering, etc., non in any case (for example storage and games).

Thanks a lot! I write rather little to my SSD in any given year, I hardly do large file transfers, and I do creative work only very rarely. Now I feel more confident considering the Tier C and D SSDs as well. I think it will eventually come down to factors other than the SSDs themselves - price per GB, ongoing promotions, warranties, and the like.

Thanks once again. Have a good weekend ahead. Cheers!

[jm_bmw]

Hi everyone, I am looking for a cheap nvme for my brother's laptop and those two are at the same price (250Gb models):

WD Green SN350 - R/W: 2400MB/s / 900MB/s - PN: WDS240G2G0C

Kingston NV1 - R/W: 2100MB/s / 1100MB/s - PN: SNVS/250G

 

Which one would be better? are they both dramless QLC? couldn't find much info around.

[Wooden Law - Black]

21 hours ago, jm_bmw said:

Which one would be better? are they both dramless QLC? couldn't find much info around.

They are both TLC and DRAM-less (1TB+ SKUs are QLC), so also "meh", in fact I would prefer something like the A2000. Anyway, I think I would pick the SN350 for the newer flash (112L vs 96L).

[LogicWeasel]

Any word on adding the Crucial P5 Plus to the tier list?  I did check and see that @Wooden Law - Black mentioned it a couple months ago and now we have a solid review out for it from Toms HW:  https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crucial-p5-plus-m2-nvme-ssd-review  .  So seems like it's doing what a PCIe Gen 4 drive should do (and it's about time Crucial ...)

[VEXICUS]

1 hour ago, LogicWeasel said:

Any word on adding the Crucial P5 Plus to the tier list?  I did check and see that @Wooden Law - Black mentioned it a couple months ago and now we have a solid review out for it from Toms HW:  https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crucial-p5-plus-m2-nvme-ssd-review  .  So seems like it's doing what a PCIe Gen 4 drive should do (and it's about time Crucial ...)

Will be added soon. 

[Wooden Law - Black]

1 hour ago, LogicWeasel said:

Any word on adding the Crucial P5 Plus to the tier list?  I did check and see that @Wooden Law - Black mentioned it a couple months ago and now we have a solid review out for it from Toms HW:  https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crucial-p5-plus-m2-nvme-ssd-review  .  So seems like it's doing what a PCIe Gen 4 drive should do (and it's about time Crucial ...)

I would put it both in Tier A and Tier B. I mean, yeah, it's PCIe 4.0, it has 176L flash, but overall it's not good as other 176L flash drives such as S70 Blade, FireCuda 530, MP600 Pro XT, etc. It's also worse than some 96L drives...

 

Anyway, following this tier list, it's a Tier A.

[LogicWeasel]

23 minutes ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

I would put it both in Tier A and Tier B. I mean, yeah, it's PCIe 4.0, it has 176L flash, but overall it's not good as other 176L flash drives such as S70 Blade, FireCuda 530, MP600 Pro XT, etc. It's also worse than some 96L drives...

 

Anyway, following this tier list, it's a Tier A.

You raise a strong point.  Especially given the disparity between the "cheap" Gen 4 PCIe drives and the extra high end stuff like WD SN850 and Kingston KC3000.  Seems to justify the idea of having an S-Tier and putting the flagship Gen4 drives in that, and leaving Tier-A for the more budget Gen4's that at least perform above the best Gen3's.

[Wooden Law - Black]

26 minutes ago, LogicWeasel said:

You raise a strong point.  Especially given the disparity between the "cheap" Gen 4 PCIe drives and the extra high end stuff like WD SN850 and Kingston KC3000.  Seems to justify the idea of having an S-Tier and putting the flagship Gen4 drives in that, and leaving Tier-A for the more budget Gen4's that at least perform above the best Gen3's.

Or at least split Tier A into sub-categories: top (980 PRO, SN850, Phison E18-based, InnoGrit IG5236-based, etc.), mid (P5 Plus, for example) and low (S50 Lite, SN750 SE and all the other PCIe 4.0 SSDs which have PCIe 3.0 performance).

[Technojo]

Looking to expand my PC with another SSD. I've got a 1 TB WD Black SN850 NVMe SSD and want to get another 2 TB. I have the Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming, so, I can use another PCe 4.0 but I am wondering if I should settle for less since the price are kinda high. I am looking at the Black SN750 or even the Blue SN550. I am probably leaning toward the SN750, but wanted to get some feedback here first. thanks in advance!

[Wooden Law - Black]

12 hours ago, Technojo said:

Looking to expand my PC with another SSD. I've got a 1 TB WD Black SN850 NVMe SSD and want to get another 2 TB. I have the Asus ROG Strix X570-E Gaming, so, I can use another PCe 4.0 but I am wondering if I should settle for less since the price are kinda high. I am looking at the Black SN750 or even the Blue SN550. I am probably leaning toward the SN750, but wanted to get some feedback here first. thanks in advance!

What is the use?

[Technojo]

1 hour ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

What is the use?

Ha! Good question indeed. Nothing special. I will offload my main drive and put all my games there, probably. Games are big nowadays...

[VEXICUS]

3 hours ago, Technojo said:

Ha! Good question indeed. Nothing special. I will offload my main drive and put all my games there, probably. Games are big nowadays...

You'll probably be fine with tier c/d drives then.

[Wooden Law - Black]

3 hours ago, Technojo said:

Ha! Good question indeed. Nothing special. I will offload my main drive and put all my games there, probably. Games are big nowadays...

I agree with Vexicus. You don’t need a very good SSD to keep games on it.

[Technojo]

4 hours ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

I agree with Vexicus. You don’t need a very good SSD to keep games on it.

Cool, thanks guys!