PCIe SSD Boot Times: Higher 4K Random Reads vs UEFI Boot

[bhoxbryan09]

As the title says, which of these PCIe SSD's have the faster boot time?

#1: PCIe 2.0 x8 SSD with 4K Random Reads of up to 230,000 IOPS with Legacy Boot

or

#2: PCIe 2.0 x2 SSD with 4K Random Reads of up to 100,000 IOPS with UEFI Boot

[X1XNobleX1X]

If you're using Windows 8, it will boot up within seconds with either solution so it really doesn't matter.

In real world, the 230,000 SSD will be faster for daily use. 

 

If you really care, UEFI one would boot up faster.

[slightlyjaded]

As I've never seen a 2nd gen pcie8*

I'm guessing you're referring to a pcie 3rd gen *4 and a pcie 2nd gen *2. The stats for a 2nd gen*2 are widely available, just search for a plextor m6e.(not much quicker than a top of the line SSD)

My gen3*4 doesn't allow legacy boot. but the speeds are pretty ridiculous. This is my samsung xp941. and I've been told the sm series is even quicker (varying reports on nvme)

[bhoxbryan09]

If you're using Windows 8, it will boot up within seconds with either solution so it really doesn't matter.

In real world, the 230,000 SSD will be faster for daily use. 

 

If you really care, UEFI one would boot up faster.

But, because of "future-proof" concerns, the OS I'm referring to will be Win10 (although currently I'll use it with 8.1 Pro, since 10 is not quite done yet). And in terms of load times -- both in games and rendering/editing, which will be better?

[bhoxbryan09]

As I've never seen a 2nd gen pcie8*

I'm guessing you're referring to a pcie 3rd gen *4 and a pcie 2nd gen *2. The stats for a 2nd gen*2 are widely available, just search for a plextor m6e.(not much quicker than a top of the line SSD)

My gen3*4 doesn't allow legacy boot. but the speeds are pretty ridiculous. This is my samsung xp941. and I've been told the sm series is even quicker (varying reports on nvme)

I try to avoid giving specific product names, because other people might conclude to other things rather than the stated problem/question, but otherwise..... I'm referring to the G. Skill Phoenix Blade 960GB [FM-PCx8G2R4-960G]

And yes, it is a PCIe Gen 2 [2.0] x8 SSD, as stated in the spec sheet.

 

[slightlyjaded]

I try to avoid giving specific product names, because other people might conclude to other things rather than the stated problem/question, but otherwise..... I'm referring to the G. Skill Phoenix Blade 960GB [FM-PCx8G2R4-960G]

And yes, it is a PCIe Gen 2 [2.0] x8 SSD, as stated in the spec sheet.

 

lol, not really a fair test.

This isn't a pcie gen2*8 ssd.

It's 4 cheap as 256GB gen2*2 SSDs running in raid 0. honestly it's a waste of money. You'll get the same performance out of 4 sata 6 GB/s (or possibly 3 GB/s) SSD's running in raid 0 for a fraction of the cost.

[bhoxbryan09]

lol, not really a fair test.

This isn't a pcie gen2*8 ssd.

It's 4 cheap as 256GB gen2*2 SSDs running in raid 0. honestly it's a waste of money. You'll get the same performance out of 4 sata 6 GB/s (or possibly 3 GB/s) SSD's running in raid 0 for a fraction of the cost.

And this is exactly why I don't want to give specific product names.

[slightlyjaded]

And this is exactly why I don't want to give specific product names.

Okay to be fair. There is not a single pcie gen2*2 SSD that I consider better than a SATA 6GB/s at the moment (nice tech, but you're paying through the nose for marginal, if any improvement.). I don't see this improving anytime soon. A PCIe3*2 will give you a slight improvement over the current SATA 6GB/s (To be fair you'll need an 850 pro to do better) Where it get's interesting for me is the PCIe3*4 cards. These are capable of ridiculous reads/writes. at least for an old fogey like me. I literally spend more time waiting for a post than I do for windows to load. I have seen videos of sub 7 second load times from power on. I think I could come close.

 

If you can only support PCIe2 it might be worth the money, but I really can't see the sense in this environment. half of those cards support sata 6GB/s and of those that don't is it really worth spending this much money?

[bhoxbryan09]

 

Okay to be fair. There is not a single pcie gen2*2 SSD that I consider better than a SATA 6GB/s at the moment (nice tech, but you're paying through the nose for marginal, if any improvement.). I don't see this improving anytime soon. A PCIe3*2 will give you a slight improvement over the current SATA 6GB/s (To be fair you'll need an 850 pro to do better) Where it get's interesting for me is the PCIe3*4 cards. These are capable of ridiculous reads/writes. at least for an old fogey like me. I literally spend more time waiting for a post than I do for windows to load. I have seen videos of sub 7 second load times from power on. I think I could come close.

 

If you can only support PCIe2 it might be worth the money, but I really can't see the sense in this environment. half of those cards support sata 6GB/s and of those that don't is it really worth spending this much money?

First of all, that PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD's you're talking about (I'm assuming it's the Samsung SM951 M.2) is an OEM. Second of all, I am after higher random read/writes rather than sequential read/writes. Third of all, this drive will be used for programs that benefits from higher random read/writes, rather than sequential read/writes. Fourth of all, this thread is about boot times and load times (that are dramatically affected by how fast the drive's random read/writes are), not transfer rates (that is all about sequential read/writes). 

Also, my motherboard --- Asus Rampage V Extreme, can support the 3rd Gen M.2 PCIe x4 SSD's, but I do not want it. Mainly because I do not want something sticking directly from my motherboard (because it is highly susceptible to hardware damages), and also because the random read/writes of the SM951 is lower than the Phoenix Blade. Higher random R/W is also beneficial for everyday use and I will NOT be transferring very HUGE files in a daily basis (so really, what's the point of getting a drive with high sequential speeds?)