DIY or Pre-built/Branded External SSD?

[Newblesse Obblige]

Im going to use it as a game drive or a extra storage for school documents. Is it better to to DIY it or not? If DIY, SATA or NVMe for my use case? 

[OddOod]

DIY vs OEM: DIYing it could be fun if you have a 3D printer, but at least with a branded one you get a warranty.
SATA vs NVMe: Somewhat depends on what laptop you have

[Angusticlavii]

Most of the time you will max out at 1000 MB/s over usb so NVME has not a big advantage over sata

[manikyath]

if going for a SATA drive based external drive, note that there's honestly nothing different between the controllers that are in OEM ones, or DIY ones.

 

for the speedy nvme drives, the benefit of DIY'ing is that you have control over which exact drive goes in, whereas the OEM ones you can assume it's the most basic unit possible.

[Newblesse Obblige]

37 minutes ago, OddOod said:

DIY vs OEM: DIYing it could be fun if you have a 3D printer, but at least with a branded one you get a warranty

What mean by DIY is buying a SSD enclosure and then buy a branded SSD.

[Newblesse Obblige]

14 minutes ago, Angusticlavii said:

Most of the time you will max out at 1000 MB/s over usb so NVME has not a big advantage over sata

So it is better to get the slower bottom-tier NVMe drives than SATA?

[Angusticlavii]

4 minutes ago, Newblesse Obblige said:

So it is better to get the slower bottom-tier NVMe drives than SATA?

Yes exactly! There is no need to go for a full speed 3GB/s or more SSD if its going to be limited my USB-Speeds (1GB/s in most cases)

[Angusticlavii]

DIY will also be cheaper tho it can be hit or miss with compatibility.

 

I used a m.2 to USB-C enclosure once and had no problems getting it working with a offbrand m.2 SSD.

 

A friend of mine tried the same and had a lot of compatibility problems and ended up buying a prebuild one from Samsung-

[kokosnh]

Depends on the USB you have available. 
usually it's better to buy enclosure and good SSD by yourself, performance wise. 
I have 20Gbps orico and 2TB CS3140 SSD in it. 
 

 

[Newblesse Obblige]

14 hours ago, kokosnh said:

Depends on the USB you have available. 
usually it's better to buy enclosure and good SSD by yourself, performance wise. 
I have 20Gbps orico and 2TB CS3140 SSD in it. 
 

 

the limiting factor in my case is the budget. My laptop has USB 4 so the I can get over 3000 mb/s(correct me if im wrong) but my budget is not capable of getting that hardware. Is it ok to use DRAM-less drive for this case?

[Newblesse Obblige]

16 hours ago, Angusticlavii said:

Yes exactly! There is no need to go for a full speed 3GB/s or more SSD if its going to be limited my USB-Speeds (1GB/s in most cases)

What SSD do you think I should get? The one with no DRAM cache to save some money?

[kokosnh]

HBM does not work over USB, ( HBM is in 1.2 NVMe standard ) so you will get performance penalty from using DRAMless SSD, but the USB to NVMe bridge already is doing bigger performance penalty, so the lack of DRAM won’t be as much visible, but will be there lowering performance ( access time mostly ).

 

I don’t know the prices in your country, here i can have KC3000 2TB for 125$, so I would go with that.
the USB enclosure is whole different problem.

[Newblesse Obblige]

9 hours ago, kokosnh said:

I don’t know the prices in your country, here i can have KC3000 2TB for 125$, so I would go with that.
the USB enclosure is whole different problem.

We have less options here and pretty much near SRP prices. So if Im gonna compare the prices, I can only get 1TB with that $125 (more or less). 

[kokosnh]

That’s just bad… 

 

and the DRAMless SN770? Or sth? 
 

the overall budget?

[Newblesse Obblige]

4 minutes ago, kokosnh said:

That’s just bad… 

 

and the DRAMless SN770? Or sth? 
 

the overall budget?

I don't really have a specific budget because I only wanted the cheapest, yet good 1TB SSD for my external SSD. 
1TB of SN770 is at $110. if I have voucher(which is a thing in my country's online stores), maybe I can get $5 to $10 off lmao
 

[kokosnh]

Any good Gen 3 SSD in good prices? I can't really help you in that  

Where do you want to buy the NVMe enclosure? Remember to look if it supports TRIM passthrough, and UASP

I always bought from aliexpress, remember the bridge chip is important, as well the design, preferably with aluminium fins for heat dissipation  (60C in PC is cool, but on the desk is hot)
And for enclosure, you don't want the sliding one, as you can't use thermal pads well on these. 

The orico 20Gbps I have is quite good (but overkill for you), isn't hot with my CS3140 2TB, but you have to use modern SSD with good cool controller, preferably 12nm TSMC, not old 28nm heater.

[Newblesse Obblige]

7 hours ago, kokosnh said:

Where do you want to buy the NVMe enclosure? Remember to look if it supports TRIM passthrough, and UASP

The stores are from my local online stores such as Lazada and Shopee. I am planning to get either UGreen or Orico but I'll just get whichever is cheaper and have those feature you mentioned.
 

Quote

And for enclosure, you don't want the sliding one, as you can't use thermal pads well on these. 
 

So the tool-less ones are not good? 

Quote

Any good Gen 3 SSD in good prices? I can't really help you in that 

I know im on my own here. The best one I found is the Teamgroup MP33 for $50 and those chinese brands but that $50 price of the MP33 is quite sus for me. Even the WD Green SN350 is more expensive at around $60 lol. The higher-tier ones are around $80 and the mid-tier ones are around $60 for the same capacity of 1TB. Prices here are rough tbh. Voucher culture is a thing here but Im not an avid online shopper so I can't make these price go lower lol

[kokosnh]

11 hours ago, Newblesse Obblige said:

So the tool-less ones are not good? 

Yes, get one with a screw. 
I had to tape my toolless one, now I have to have knife, and tape to open and close it (as it was just opening on it's own), and can't do any good thermal pads on it.
 

11 hours ago, Newblesse Obblige said:

The best one I found is the Teamgroup MP33 for $50

that's a entry level dramless SSD, it's TLC, but slow TLC. anything else? kioxia? 

[Newblesse Obblige]

2 hours ago, kokosnh said:

Yes, get one with a screw. 
I had to tape my toolless one, now I have to have knife, and tape to open and close it (as it was just opening on it's own), and can't do any good thermal pads on it.
 

that's a entry level dramless SSD, it's TLC, but slow TLC. anything else? kioxia? 

Kioxia is not that common and it is olso expensive like the high-tier ones. The next best is a 1TB ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro at around $50

[kokosnh]

28 minutes ago, Newblesse Obblige said:

1TB ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro

that's actually a good SSD, it has like 5 versions or more, but all with OK controller, DRAM and TLC, and overall they are better then anything else you mentioned before.

Now to the NVMe enclosure. Best one I have is orico M2PAC3-G20, it's USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20Gbps on ASMedia ASM2364, and I got it for around 32$ TAX and shipping included ( I know I got it cheap )

[Newblesse Obblige]

8 minutes ago, kokosnh said:

that's actually a good SSD, it has like 5 versions or more, but all with OK controller, DRAM and TLC, and overall they are better then anything else you mentioned before.

Now to the NVMe enclosure. Best one I have is orico M2PAC3-G20, it's USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20Gbps on ASMedia ASM2364, and I got it for around 32$ TAX and shipping included ( I know I got it cheap )

Unfortunately, I don't have a budget for the suitable 20Gb/s enclosure to match the speed of the SX8200 Pro so I am opting for a 10Gb/s enclosure for now. 

[kokosnh]

look for something on asmedia USB to NVMe bridge, with aluminium fins on it ( not smooth )