Samsung 980 Pro 1TB Slow Write Speeds

[AOforever1]

Hi Everyone,

 

Has anyone had issues with their 980 Pro not giving you the advertised sequential write speeds?

I was able to reach it once in the Magician benchmark, after that... half speed :(

 

[lexarflash8g]

I also noticed this on my Samsung SSD as well.. I thought there was something wrong with the drive or it was not getting full speed from the NVME port running at PCI 4.

Then I realized the drive was almost full... so how NVME drives work as soon as they are full, the WRITE speeds go down significantly. Its just how NVME drivers work, there are less blocks to write on as it fills up. The advertised speeds are for when the drive is totally empty.

 

As soon as you delete more data it should speed up..

[fatmandandan]

Hi, Were you ever able to find a solution to this? My drive only has about 150GBs on it and I'm seeing the same 2GBps that you are. I'm using an Strix X-570I and a 3950x

[NewMaxx]

The 980 Pro is TLC-based with SLC caching (TurboWrite 2.0). If you're hitting the TLC flash it's much slower. Samsung lists this as 2000 MB/s for 1TB but this varies for a variety of reasons, with a max around 2.2 GB/s which you can see here.

 

There is no solution, per se, you must let the drive idle, although you can TRIM with Windows (run defrag/optimization manually, make a script, etc). Modern drives will also avoid flushing or overfilling SLC as they want to save it for operations that actually matter. This has made it tricky to test SSDs, for example.

[fatmandandan]

7 hours ago, NewMaxx said:

The 980 Pro is TLC-based with SLC caching (TurboWrite 2.0). If you're hitting the TLC flash it's much slower. Samsung lists this as 2000 MB/s for 1TB but this varies for a variety of reasons, with a max around 2.2 GB/s which you can see here.

 

There is no solution, per se, you must let the drive idle, although you can TRIM with Windows (run defrag/optimization manually, make a script, etc). Modern drives will also avoid flushing or overfilling SLC as they want to save it for operations that actually matter. This has made it tricky to test SSDs, for example.

Hey NewMaxx, great to see you on here. When I first installed the drive, I was seeing around 5GB/s. I'm thinking that something in a Windows update screwed up the TRIM. The drive's been idle for around a week at this point, and I've run optimization manually a few times. I'm hoping they push an update soon, it's strange that Samsung omitted the 980 pro from their nvme firmware package. 

 

The behavior does seem to match direct writing to TLC. I'm seeing the drive max out at almost exactly 2.2GB/s. I have the Windows "write caching" policy on, but it doesn't seem to make a difference because the drive seems to be ignoring the SLC cache. Samsung support seems to just want to process an RMA, but I'm pretty sure a new drive will show the same problem. For the time being, 2.2GB/s isn't too much to complain about, just wondering if anyone's found a workaround. 

[JuJuYuJu]

On 11/26/2020 at 12:20 AM, fatmandandan said:

Hey NewMaxx, great to see you on here. When I first installed the drive, I was seeing around 5GB/s. I'm thinking that something in a Windows update screwed up the TRIM. The drive's been idle for around a week at this point, and I've run optimization manually a few times. I'm hoping they push an update soon, it's strange that Samsung omitted the 980 pro from their nvme firmware package. 

 

The behavior does seem to match direct writing to TLC. I'm seeing the drive max out at almost exactly 2.2GB/s. I have the Windows "write caching" policy on, but it doesn't seem to make a difference because the drive seems to be ignoring the SLC cache. Samsung support seems to just want to process an RMA, but I'm pretty sure a new drive will show the same problem. For the time being, 2.2GB/s isn't too much to complain about, just wondering if anyone's found a workaround. 

same issue here, but on a 500GB with write speeds stuck around 1xxxMB/s

[NewMaxx]

On 11/27/2020 at 3:48 PM, JuJuYuJu said:

same issue here, but on a 500GB with write speeds stuck around 1xxxMB/s

Yes, at smaller capacities the TLC speed is lower due to less interleaving - approximately half of the 1TB SKU.

 

You can return a drive to factory condition via a secure erase (which is really just wiping the mapping table) or a sanitize (best with nvme-cli on linux) which is that plus the data is erased. Technically, a format in Windows with enough idle time to TRIM is sufficient for performance purposes.

 

There's many reasons a drive will go to TLC mode. Many controllers now send random writes to SLC (which is faster and writes out sequentially, reducing write amplification) with sequentials to TLC for example. Many cache algorithms will also bypass SLC to save on power consumption if the workloads are weak. Further, drives already written to some extent may want to keep user data (e.g. often-loaded OS files) in SLC for faster reads as TLC reads slower (and most of your data is in TLC). The controller wants to balance all of this based on anticipated workloads. For this reason, some constant disk activity (writes) could cause it to stay in TLC mode for example, which is why I say let it idle a bit in safe mode then test it there.

[GODLIKE99KINGZ]

My read is 4K-5,5K and write 1K-2K. 980 Pro is garbage. I'll try now WD_Black sn850 i see it's faster than 980 pro. And it's only 90GB on that drive. BTW it was fast when was new and Empty

[Zberg]

I have sn850 and reads are spot on 7000.  Write is much lower than advertised though at 2-3k.

 

I will say it of course is blazing fast, boot, load times, messing around with files etc.  Opening big projects / programs all of that is very fast.  But I cant say I can really tell compared to my 970 evo+.  On paper and on the benchmarks it beats it hands down.  But in daily use I cannot tell at all.

[ferMONSTER]

Finally found a place on the internet with the problem i'm experiencing
EVO 980 PRO 500GB, in first use and bench test reach 7k/~5k ; in these days ~6,5k/~1,6k 
Theres a solution? New Firmware maybe? New Windows version? Or just buy a another m2 nvme?

[Alejishiwa]

I found the answers. It's normal that writing speeds drop if the writing cache it's full. Page 3 of this review tells it all. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/samsung-980-pro-m-2-nvme-ssd-review/4

 

 

[SimonX]

Just found it too.

My system-disk doesn't seem to recover ever as it is never fully idle.

 

Any way to keep PCIe devices power in PC Sleep mode? 

[ferMONSTER]

21 hours ago, Alejishiwa said:

I found the answers. It's normal that writing speeds drop if the writing cache it's full. Page 3 of this review tells it all. https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/samsung-980-pro-m-2-nvme-ssd-review/4

 

 

So how to empty the write cache? We pay for 7k/5k and will we be able to use only 7k/1.5k in the best of scenarios?

Theres no fix?

[SimonX]

The slow write is not permanent.

 

I have 2 PM9A1 2T. One empty and one for the windows system disk.

 

The system disk was installed from a system image and had initially 1T.

The system disk become suddenly slow after few weeks, even after cleaning up files below 900G and multiple trim's.

 

Since I have an empty PM9A1 I cloned the first PM9A1 with "dd" and checked in windows what its performance is. Its write was down to 2G/s.

 

Then I deleted the partitions from former empty PM9A1 and suddenly its fast again. I redo its to verify the behavior and capture the benchmark results.

 

Right now I have only the benchmarks after deleting the partitions but before trim and after trim.

 

BTW: pending trim affects not only write but also read performance.

 

Later I add the performance of the cloned system-disk before deleting the partitions. 

 

 

 

 

 

Update: I ran the benchmarks directly after clone and then after trim. 

 

 

 

The orignal system disk performes about the same:

 

 

However, while running Samsung Magician I suddenly see the 5G/s again.

 

 

 

And also CrystalDiskMark shows the 5G

 

 

So the slow write can resolve itself.  I wrote at least two times 2T to that PM9A1.

 

I am now experimenting with real disk defragmentation and compact on the system disk but with no success yet. C is still not getting faster.

 

Next will be a fresh disk clone to the second PM9A1 and then back to the first PM9A1.

 

 

[SimonX]

The back clone with 'dd' did not work. I had to restore the system image. No big deal.

 

Anyways, the result is that the system-disk is fast again.

 

 

 

This is with the standard nvme driver.

 

My assumption is that the samsung nvme driver 3.3 makes strange things to the 980 pro. 

[Enot]

20 hours ago, SimonX said:

The back clone with 'dd' did not work. I had to restore the system image. No big deal.

 

Anyways, the result is that the system-disk is fast again.

 

 

 

This is with the standard nvme driver.

 

My assumption is that the samsung nvme driver 3.3 makes strange things to the 980 pro. 

I have been running it with the default Windows driver since I installed it as system disk a few months ago. And today I ran into this problem. Last month I had a speed of 5 GB/s, and now it is barely a half of that. I don't think that a full system image restore every 2-3 months is a real solution.

[Helly]

Well this is a nice heads-up for me then. I've been running the 1TB 980pro for a little over a month and so far it seems to be fine. But ill be keeping an eye on it over the next few weeks to see if it changes. Might post results if you want.

 

 

 

Out of curiosity i also tested my 1TB seagate firecuda 520, which is over a year old and 51% full. That thing is still going strong, no loss in performance at all i think.

 

[SimonX]

I had the drop on the system PM9A1 in the middle of the benchmark again.

This week after 19 days. (Tested once every day)

Creating a system image and restoring it resolved the problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some time after SystemRestore the speed is ok again. 

 

 

 

 

[nomisuke77]

I've been wrestling with this issue for weeks and it comes down to crappy TurboWrite Cache technology. I have the 500 GB variation of the 980 PRO which boasts 4 GB of default cache and 90 GB of "intelligent cache". Before the TurboWrite Cache fills, the speeds are in excess of 5 GB/s (which is why every time SimonX did a restore the speeds would go back to normal for a bit). Once the TurboWrite Cache is filled, speeds drop as much as 400% in some cases.

 

The cache fills up fairly quickly and doesn't seem to empty back out again. Some users say it's once you hit half capacity. Others say it's less/more. All I know is I've got 10% OP enabled and have 148 GB of free space on a 500 GB drive and it's reading 1.2 GB/s using Magician, but it fluctuates between 1.1 GB/s and 2.4 GB/s with CrystalDiskMark.

 

Until Samsung comes out with a specific driver for this model and updated firmware, I think we all just have to deal with the fact that once this thing has more than 1/3 its capacity in data written to it, the cache just dies.

This review by AnandTech should explain it in much greater detail. It has a ton of useful information for a slew of different SSD drives, capacities, and PCIe bus speeds.

Edited February 28, 2021 by nomisuke77
Added link and screenshot of my results.

[SpyKeeR]

Same problem Here...

CrossHair VIII Hero > Gen 4 Supported
5950x > Gen 4 Supported
AMD Drivers Up to Date via AMD Website
BIOS Up To Date Last Version
Gen 4 Forced On M2 Slot
980 Pro 500GB Used As System Drive
Samsung Magician Up to date
SSD Firmware Up to Date


40% Full Of Data So Empty Room.
Over Provisioning Enabled

If I enable the new Full power Mode, i got a 300mb/S drop.. (The 2nd test on my Screenshot)

I mean... Why the fuck this 'Intelligent' Cache TurboWrite can't clear his data, to work as expected?
I don't want to re-install windows/apps, with a secure erase just to recover the expected speeds...

Is there any way to wipe only this shitty cache ? Because, i let my PC Idle 24 hours, and still no change on speeds.

[warlikedave]

Same as well for myself - utterly rubbish write speeds and only ever initially reached 2.6gb before these last three results. System is:

 

3800x

B550 MSI Mortar: PCIe Gen 4 manually selected

Fresh OS Install on 980 Pro 256GB: ~70% Free space (not factoring in Over Provisioning of 10%)

AMD Drivers up to date

Samsung Firmware and Software up to date

 

 

Has anyone found any more information on this may I ask?

[Spock Grocker]

At least Samsung is apparently acknowledging this issue, now.  Still no progress beyond that from what I can tell, but I guess that's something.  Here's a link to the US Samsung community page about this issue.

https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Monitors-and-Memory/Samsung-SSD-980-PRO-extreme-slow-write-speed-1100-mb-s/td-p/1562864

 

At the bottom of page 2 of the exchanges is a post from someone designated "Memory Product Expert-1" 2 weeks ago:

Hello Samsung Community Users,

"We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the symptoms of not recovering write performance, since the turbo write area of 980 PRO is being exhausted.

Samsung is investigating these symptoms and will keep you posted on our progress. We appreciate your patience while we work on resolving the issue.

Thank you for contacting Samsung Community Support and we value your feedback."

[fatmandandan]

On 3/30/2021 at 10:14 AM, Spock Grocker said:

At least Samsung is apparently acknowledging this issue, now.  Still no progress beyond that from what I can tell, but I guess that's something.  Here's a link to the US Samsung community page about this issue.

https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Monitors-and-Memory/Samsung-SSD-980-PRO-extreme-slow-write-speed-1100-mb-s/td-p/1562864

 

At the bottom of page 2 of the exchanges is a post from someone designated "Memory Product Expert-1" 2 weeks ago:

Hello Samsung Community Users,

"We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the symptoms of not recovering write performance, since the turbo write area of 980 PRO is being exhausted.

Samsung is investigating these symptoms and will keep you posted on our progress. We appreciate your patience while we work on resolving the issue.

Thank you for contacting Samsung Community Support and we value your feedback."

Looks like they updated the end of the thread saying that a firmware update is coming out end of April. Fingers crossed it fixes the turbo write issue. 

[warlikedave]

2 hours ago, fatmandandan said:

Looks like they updated the end of the thread saying that a firmware update is coming out end of April. Fingers crossed it fixes the turbo write issue. 

Cheers for the heads up on this. Potentially a bit of good news 

[Banditt1976]

Samsung Magician reported a firmware update for the 980 Pro today. The version number is 3B2QGXA7. The firmware update seems to have fixed all the write cache issues, at least for now. Will have to see if it holds up over time. I ran Magician benchmarks as wells as CrystalDiskMark and the results are promising.