Help figuring out to buy which is the best storage for its price. WD Blue SN 550 NVMe vs Samsung 980 NVMe vs Samsung 870 EVO SSD?

[asdfety04]

So I'm trying to choose between these storages on which is the best value for its price.

At first I'm trying to choose between WD Blue SN 550 and Samsung 980, but both of them don't have any dram cache, I actually don't understand what dram cache does, but I've read that a ssd that has no dram cache is a pass, so I considered buying a Samsung 870 EVO SSD because it has a dram cache.

The WD Blue SN 550 and Samsung 980 NVMe are both priced 75$ in my country.

The Samsung 870 EVO SSD costs about 70$ in my country.

 

My daily use is for gaming, browsing, and some very light editing.

[AnirbanG007]

4 minutes ago, asdfety04 said:

So I'm trying to choose between these storages on which is the best value for its price.

At first I'm trying to choose between WD Blue SN 550 and Samsung 980, but both of them don't have any dram cache, I actually don't understand what dram cache does, but I've read that a ssd that has no dram cache is a pass, so I considered buying a Samsung 870 EVO SSD because it has a dram cache.

The WD Blue SN 550 and Samsung 980 NVMe are both priced 75$ in my country.

The Samsung 870 EVO SSD costs about 70$ in my country.

 

My daily use is for gaming, browsing, and some very light editing.

Lemme do the honors of explaining it to you. 870 Evo is a SATA SSD, it's maximum theoretical transfer speed is 6gbps. On the other hand, the Samsung 980 and the sn550 are NVME SSD's. Basically they're way faster, especially if you're transferring huge files. Those are the big numbers you see on the advertisement pages. 3 GB/s etc etc...

 

Here's where DRAM comes into play, it not only stores the map of where each and every file is located on the SSD, but it also acts as a buffer to store small incoming files (writing to the SSD) before they are stored on the NAND flash cells of the SSD. Having dram is useful, especially on a SATA SSD, but it's not the end of the world if you don't. DRAMless SSD's tend to experience a bit more slowdown as the drive gets filled up. You can still get great performance depending on other factors.

 

Having said that, sn550 has been around for some time, and is one of the best ssd's considering it's price, you can check multiple reviews. Yes, it doesn't have dram but I don't think it's as bad as some people make it out to be, heck I wouldn't buy a DRAMless SATA SSD for any expensive modern system, but for video editing and stuff, having an nvme drive will help you a bit more than having a sata drive, let's say in scrubbing files, or just overall working with them. Becomes more true as you start working with heavier files (I guess).

 

980 pro by Samsung is its recent foray in the DRAMless market segment, and it's not as good as the sn550. Again, you could always check reviews and stuff.

 

As a takeaway from all this, I'd suggest getting the SN550, since your PC/laptop clearly supports it. If it didn't I would have asked you to go for the 870 Evo or any other reputable SSD with DRAM cache.

 

PS. I have a SATA SSD with DRAM cache in my laptop, and one without in my core 2 duo machine. I do light work, and they both work like a charm.

[asdfety04]

44 minutes ago, AnirbanG007 said:

Lemme do the honors of explaining it to you. 870 Evo is a SATA SSD, it's maximum theoretical transfer speed is 6gbps. On the other hand, the Samsung 980 and the sn550 are NVME SSD's. Basically they're way faster, especially if you're transferring huge files. Those are the big numbers you see on the advertisement pages. 3 GB/s etc etc...

 

Here's where DRAM comes into play, it not only stores the map of where each and every file is located on the SSD, but it also acts as a buffer to store small incoming files (writing to the SSD) before they are stored on the NAND flash cells of the SSD. Having dram is useful, especially on a SATA SSD, but it's not the end of the world if you don't. DRAMless SSD's tend to experience a bit more slowdown as the drive gets filled up. You can still get great performance depending on other factors.

 

Having said that, sn550 has been around for some time, and is one of the best ssd's considering it's price, you can check multiple reviews. Yes, it doesn't have dram but I don't think it's as bad as some people make it out to be, heck I wouldn't buy a DRAMless SATA SSD for any expensive modern system, but for video editing and stuff, having an nvme drive will help you a bit more than having a sata drive, let's say in scrubbing files, or just overall working with them. Becomes more true as you start working with heavier files (I guess).

 

980 pro by Samsung is its recent foray in the DRAMless market segment, and it's not as good as the sn550. Again, you could always check reviews and stuff.

 

As a takeaway from all this, I'd suggest getting the SN550, since your PC/laptop clearly supports it. If it didn't I would have asked you to go for the 870 Evo or any other reputable SSD with DRAM cache.

 

PS. I have a SATA SSD with DRAM cache in my laptop, and one without in my core 2 duo machine. I do light work, and they both work like a charm.

Alright, thanks for this short, brief and informative answer. I'll go with the SN 550.