SSD Buying Advice

[TheNuzziNuzz]

I currently have 4 SSDs. Outlined here:

1x 500GB 850 EVO

2x 1TB 860 EVO

1x 128gb 850 EVO

 

+ 2TB HDD

 

I've filled about 80% of my SSD space and started needing to move things onto my HDD. Not to mention how annoying it is to have data scattered across multiple drives.

 

Looking for ideas. My motherboard is the Hero VIII Crosshair. I I think it has at least 2 m.2 slots.  I was thinking about just getting a $370 2tb 980 Pro, but I wanted this forums opinion first. I primarily use the drive for music production, gaming, very occasionally video editing, and 3D graphics.

[Dedayog]

Think you'll really get the benefit out of the 980 Pro?  I'd just dump the 128GB one and put in a 2TB WD, Crucial, or Samsung. 

 

To double check, are your 860's M.2 or 2.5"?  I assume 2.5".  

[Latvian Video]

7 minutes ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

I currently have 4 SSDs. Outlined here:

1x 500GB 850 EVO

2x 1TB 860 EVO

1x 128gb 850 EVO

 

+ 2TB HDD

 

I've filled about 80% of my SSD space and started needing to move things onto my HDD. Not to mention how annoying it is to have data scattered across multiple drives.

 

Looking for ideas. My motherboard is the Hero VIII Crosshair. I I think it has at least 2 m.2 slots.  I was thinking about just getting a $300 2tb 980 Pro, but I wanted this forums opinion first. I primarily use the drive for music production, gaming, very occasionally video editing, and 3D graphics.

You could get something like a Crucial P1 or P2 for significantly less.

[TheNuzziNuzz]

5 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Think you'll really get the benefit out of the 980 Pro?  I'd just dump the 128GB one and put in a 2TB WD, Crucial, or Samsung. 

 

To double check, are your 860's M.2 or 2.5"?  I assume 2.5".  

All 2.5. I have no m.2 drives. I'm not sure, that's why i'm asking here. I just want to be able to rely on this drive. I'd also possibly be interested in getting 2 to raid 1. I'm not too worried about budget, so if the 980 gets me better performance it's worth it to me.

[TheNuzziNuzz]

2 minutes ago, Latvian Video said:

You could get something like a Crucial P1 or P2 for significantly less.

What do I lose out on by going that route? I've always gone with Samsung drives because they are reputable & long lasting.

[Dedayog]

Looks like you have 3 M.2 slots:

 

[Dedayog]

1 minute ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

All 2.5. I have no m.2 drives. I'm not sure, that's why i'm asking here. I just want to be able to rely on this drive. I'd also possibly be interested in getting 2 to raid 1. I'm not too worried about budget, so if the 980 gets me better performance it's worth it to me.

There's performance on paper and there's performance in real life.  The 980Pro is for sustained large file transfers.  It wont be any faster for most things than a regular 980.

 

It's like buying a Ferrari, if you don't leave the neighborhood, is it really faster than a Honda?

 

Btw, where are you seeing a 2TB 980 Pro for $300?  Amazon has them for $370.

[Latvian Video]

1 minute ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

What do I lose out on by going that route? I've always gone with Samsung drives because they are reputable & long lasting.

From what I understand, it has slower speeds (because it is pcie 3.0, not 4.0) and it looks like samsungs rates their SSDs for more TBW

[TheNuzziNuzz]

3 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Looks like you have 3 M.2 slots:

 

Thanks! I wonder how that works with PCIe lanes & my GPUs.

 

I still think i'd prefer one giant powerful SSD over many many smaller ones.

[TheNuzziNuzz]

3 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

There's performance on paper and there's performance in real life.  The 980Pro is for sustained large file transfers.  It wont be any faster for most things than a regular 980.

 

It's like buying a Ferrari, if you don't leave the neighborhood, is it really faster than a Honda?

 

Btw, where are you seeing a 2TB 980 Pro for $300?  Amazon has them for $370.

I got the price wrong, thanks!

 

It looks like the regular 980 doesn't come in a 2tb variant. I guess I don't really need 2tb but it would allow me to eliminate all these SSDs in my system.

[Dedayog]

2 minutes ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

I got the price wrong, thanks!

 

It looks like the regular 980 doesn't come in a 2tb variant. I guess I don't really need 2tb but it would allow me to eliminate all these SSDs in my system.

There are other 2TB drives that are just as reliable.  Like Western Digital or Crucials.

 

Or the 970 Evo Plus for $287 if you want to stay Samsung.  I agree, you should go 2TB as I will when I look to fill my last M.2 slot.  

 

If you go RAID 0 with those 1TB 860's... do it   There is a definite speed boost in long load games from accessing 2 drive simultaneously.

[TheNuzziNuzz]

23 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

There are other 2TB drives that are just as reliable.  Like Western Digital or Crucials.

 

Or the 970 Evo Plus for $287 if you want to stay Samsung.  I agree, you should go 2TB as I will when I look to fill my last M.2 slot.  

 

If you go RAID 0 with those 1TB 860's... do it   There is a definite speed boost in long load games from accessing 2 drive simultaneously.

Woah, i hadn't even though about that. I was saying get two m.2 drives & raid them...but doing a software raid on the 1TB 860s is an even better idea. I'd rather not buy 2 2tb SSDs....at that price I mind as well start dreaming of buying a low-end grahpics card.

[Wooden Law - Black]

3 hours ago, Latvian Video said:

From what I understand, it has slower speeds (because it is pcie 3.0, not 4.0) and it looks like samsungs rates their SSDs for more TBW

Crucial P1 and P2 are “meh” SSDs, especially the P2, since now it is QLC DRAM-less (the P1 is a QLC non-DRAM-less, but it has lower performance and lower endurance than the 980 PRO). Also, TBW doesn’t mean the endurance of the drive, but the warranty in writes, so two SSDs with the same TBW doesn’t have the same endurance. 

[TheNuzziNuzz]

12 minutes ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

Crucial P1 and P2 are “meh” SSDs, especially the P2, since now it is QLC DRAM-less (the P1 is a QLC non-DRAM-less, but it has lower performance and lower endurance than the 980 PRO). Also, TBW doesn’t mean the endurance of the drive, but the warranty in writes, so two SSDs with the same TBW doesn’t have the same endurance. 

Thank you!

 

I think i'm just going to stick with the 980....From what I can tell the Samsung stuff still is the best. 

[Wooden Law - Black]

1 hour ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

Thank you!

 

I think i'm just going to stick with the 980....From what I can tell the Samsung stuff still is the best. 

Are talking about the 980 PRO or 980 non-PRO? They are very different: the 980 non-PRO is a PCIe 3.0 DRAM-less.

[TheNuzziNuzz]

1 hour ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

Are talking about the 980 PRO or 980 non-PRO? They are very different: the 980 non-PRO is a PCIe 3.0 DRAM-less.

I meant 980 Pro. Is there anything else competitive with the 2tb 980 pro at significantly less cost?

[Wooden Law - Black]

Maybe the WD SN850 and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, but they are worse.

[TheNuzziNuzz]

7 minutes ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

Maybe the WD SN850 and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, but they are worse.

How much worse?

 

Is there a source I can trust to compare SSDs?

[Wooden Law - Black]

1 hour ago, TheNuzziNuzz said:

How much worse?

 

Is there a source I can trust to compare SSDs?

Mainly for reliable, because the 980 PRO has better flash (for the architecture - replacement gate on TCAT for the Samsung vs CTF on BiCS for the WD and vs floating gate for the Sabrent); beyond that, the 980 PRO fixed the SLC cache issue.