NVME vs 2.5" ssd

[Hassan170]

I plan building my very first PC and i need some help deciding for what storage to go for. 

 

Firstly i would like some clarification regarding DRAM in SSDs. Linus mentioned how Dram-less ssds were worse than mechanical hard drives. That stuck with me and whenever encountering cheap ssd i make it a point to ask whether it has dram. but what about NVME M.2? do they also have have/work in the same way? Do they also have Dram? I have found some really cheap M.2s online and i just wanted to get some clarifications.

 

Secondly which is better in terms of price to performance Nvme or 2.5" ssds?

Thirdly, which is better for a first build?

[Jumballi]

gonna answer questions in reverse, btw 2.5 is sata, important to clarify since they make sata ssd in the m.2 form factor

third: all are the same in terms of difficultly, just go with what you can afford.

second: performance is a weird question, if speed is important, get the speed, but if it's more a variable in your entertainment machine, then speed could be overlooked if you can save a decent percentage. like for only gaming and homework, a sata ssd is more than enough.

first: you can clearly tell the difference by price 90% of the time, a 250gb dramless is currently $30 but $50 with dram.
the point where an ssd is worse than a hard drive is when they become a certain point full, that's 50% for qlc and 70-80% on tlc. or you ran out of ssd cache, which is only when dealing with large files.
m.2 is a form factor, not explaining more cause that's another pandora's box

[Hassan170]

16 hours ago, Jumballi said:

gonna answer questions in reverse, btw 2.5 is sata, important to clarify since they make sata ssd in the m.2 form factor

third: all are the same in terms of difficultly, just go with what you can afford.

second: performance is a weird question, if speed is important, get the speed, but if it's more a variable in your entertainment machine, then speed could be overlooked if you can save a decent percentage. like for only gaming and homework, a sata ssd is more than enough.

first: you can clearly tell the difference by price 90% of the time, a 250gb dramless is currently $30 but $50 with dram.
the point where an ssd is worse than a hard drive is when they become a certain point full, that's 50% for qlc and 70-80% on tlc. or you ran out of ssd cache, which is only when dealing with large files.
m.2 is a form factor, not explaining more cause that's another pandora's box

thanks

 

[Hassan170]

On 12/30/2019 at 1:23 AM, Jumballi said:

the point where an ssd is worse than a hard drive is when they become a certain point full, that's 50% for qlc and 70-80% on tlc. or you ran out of ssd cache, which is only when dealing with large files.
m.2 is a form factor, not explaining more cause that's another pandora's box

What do you mean by qlc and tlc?

[Jumballi]

1 hour ago, Hassan170 said:

What do you mean by qlc and tlc?

That’s just the amount of bits per cell. Think of it like a room where everyone needs to leave at once just to get to one guy, more guys per room makes it a lot slower of a process when it’s repeated a million billion times. Now usually the problem doesn’t show itself until the rooms(cells) hit a certain capacity filled.

[Hassan170]

16 hours ago, Jumballi said:

That’s just the amount of bits per cell. Think of it like a room where everyone needs to leave at once just to get to one guy, more guys per room makes it a lot slower of a process when it’s repeated a million billion times. Now usually the problem doesn’t show itself until the rooms(cells) hit a certain capacity filled.

ok i think i understand this ...... sort of

On 12/30/2019 at 1:23 AM, Jumballi said:

that's 50% for qlc and 70-80% on tlc. or you ran out of ssd cache, which is only when dealing with large files.
 

so what is the 50% and 70-80% you're referring to?

[Jumballi]

Just now, Hassan170 said:

ok i think i understand this ...... sort of

so what is the 50% and 70-80% you're referring to?

So qlc slows down at 50% filled capacity, and tlc slows down around 70-80% filled capacity. This is when the speeds may appear to be worse than that of a hard drive in a worst case scenario.

[Hassan170]

16 hours ago, Jumballi said:

So qlc slows down at 50% filled capacity, and tlc slows down around 70-80% filled capacity. This is when the speeds may appear to be worse than that of a hard drive in a worst case scenario.

but this in only dram-less ssds right?

 

on an unrelated note

are there instances where m.2 ssds are sold for very cheap without dram? (i have seen some cheap m.2 ff ssds online so just want to confirm)

[Jumballi]

2 minutes ago, Hassan170 said:

but this in only dram-less ssds right?

 

on an unrelated note

are there instances where m.2 ssds are sold for very cheap without dram? (i have seen some cheap m.2 ff ssds online so just want to confirm)

No that’s all ssd, with or without dram, dram helps as a small buffer and nothing else. Again m.2 doesn’t mean quality, it’s just a form factor like 2.5 and 3.5.

 

you can google the exact contents of a drive, so there’s nothing hidden. But if you’re lazy and want a 100% good drive, get the samsung 970 pro.

[Hassan170]

16 hours ago, Jumballi said:

No that’s all ssd, with or without dram, dram helps as a small buffer and nothing else. Again m.2 doesn’t mean quality, it’s just a form factor like 2.5 and 3.5.

 

you can google the exact contents of a drive, so there’s nothing hidden. But if you’re lazy and want a 100% good drive, get the samsung 970 pro.

ok thank you so much

 

the 970 pro is expensive af a TB of that is the same price as a 1660 super

[Hassan170]

16 hours ago, Jumballi said:

But if you’re lazy and want a 100% good drive, get the samsung 970 pro.

i would probably upgrade to it somwhere between 6 months to a year