Random vs Sequentail performance

[Chiobe]

As far as I understand so is Sequentail performance when you deal with big files and Random performance when you deal with small files.

But which is more importent for a os, program and game ssd/m.2?

 

Installing programs and such aside, does active programs and games use more Random or Sequentail data?

[Aytex]

 

just wondering but are you looking to buy a sata or m.2 or pci ssd?

[Glenwing]

Random is much more common for OS operations. In fact sequential is hardly seen.

[Solarisfire]

Depends on the program.

 

Also most random data that gets read a lot ends up cached in RAM anyway so you never need the disk.

[Chiobe]

just wondering but are you looking to buy a sata or m.2 or pci ssd?

I got an SSD now, but will most likely upgrade to an M.2 PCI SSD and a PCI card SSD. 1 for OS, programs and games and 1 for Video work (4k videos are a pain to work with on even SSD's).

 

 

Random is much more common for OS operations. In fact sequential is hardly seen.

Depends on the program.

 

Also most random data that gets read a lot ends up cached in RAM anyway so you never need the disk.

So I wont see much benefit from the OS, but what about games and programs?

The main programs I run are creative related, such as Adobe programs.

[Solarisfire]

The main programs I run are creative related, such as Adobe programs.

 

You only have to look at Photoshop CC 2015 to see it's:

 

5,197 small files...

 

So random ;-)

[Chiobe]

You only have to look at Photoshop CC 2015 to see it's:

 

5,197 small files...

 

So random ;-)

That leaves games then, which is probally mostly random as well.

Guess Sequentail is only importent for installing on such a disk.

 

So that means I should look for a Random performance M.2 PCI SSD and a Sequentail performance PCI SSD (reading video files should be Sequentail).

[Solarisfire]

That leaves games then, which is probally mostly random as well.

Guess Sequentail is only importent for installing on such a disk.

 

So that means I should look for a Random performance M.2 PCI SSD and a Sequentail performance PCI SSD (reading video files should be Sequentail).

 

All SSDs are good at both really...

 

If you've got video files you're just watching keep them on a mechanical drive. If you're editing and scrubbing to different points in the video a lot, keep them on an SSD ;-)

[Chiobe]

All SSDs are good at both really...

 

If you've got video files you're just watching keep them on a mechanical drive. If you're editing and scrubbing to different points in the video a lot, keep them on an SSD ;-)

Yeah, I'm going to have a few HDD that I store files on. Only current projects are going to stay on the PCI SSD.

 

Looks like Samsung sm951 and Intel SSD 750 are my best choices.

[EmeraldFlame]

As far as I understand so is Sequentail performance when you deal with big files and Random performance when you deal with small files.

But which is more importent for a os, program and game ssd/m.2?

 

Installing programs and such aside, does active programs and games use more Random or Sequentail data?

In absolute layman's terms you are essentially correct. Like anything there is a bit more caveat to it, but you get the idea.

Overall in most people typical uses, you will likely see almost exclusively random IO. If you ever take the time to really dig into Windows or any applications, you will notice they are typically thousands of small files which are dependant on each other to work. Fast random IO will allow you to load these into system memory for use much quicker. Workstations tend to see a little more sequential data than the average consumer PC, but it is still overshadows by the amount of random. This is because workstations are often working with large multi-media files.

[Chiobe]

Okay, this became a bit more confusing: http://www.anandtech.com/show/9396/samsung-sm951-nvme-256gb-pcie-ssd-review/7

 

Based on those results, so would I not benefit much from going from SSD to M.2 PCI SSD, in terms of random performance.

I might get 3-4 times the Sequential performance, but as we have found out, they matter little when it comes to OS, programs and gaming.

[Captain_WD]

As far as I understand so is Sequentail performance when you deal with big files and Random performance when you deal with small files.

But which is more importent for a os, program and game ssd/m.2?

 

Installing programs and such aside, does active programs and games use more Random or Sequentail data?

 

Hey there Chiobe,

 

You are generally correct. Most everyday usages rely much more on the random speeds than on the sequential ones. Sequential speeds have significant influence on video/audio recording and streaming, larger file transfers and other program-specific tasks. Everyday usage, OS, simple file transfers, gaming, etc. rely more on the random read/write speeds. 

 

Going from a SATA SSD to a PCI SSD might not seem that much of an improvement compared to upgrading from a HDD to a SSD. For example, if you bring the boot time from 30 seconds to 5, that's a really huge improvement, while bringing that boot time in half when going on PCI SSD is just a 2.5 seconds gain. It really depends on what specific things you are doing with your system and if you can truly see big benefits from going from SATA to PCI drives.

 

Captain_WD.

[Chiobe]

 

You are generally correct. Most everyday usages rely much more on the random speeds than on the sequential ones. Sequential speeds have significant influence on video/audio recording and streaming, larger file transfers and other program-specific tasks. Everyday usage, OS, simple file transfers, gaming, etc. rely more on the random read/write speeds. 

 

Going from a SATA SSD to a PCI SSD might not seem that much of an improvement compared to upgrading from a HDD to a SSD. For example, if you bring the boot time from 30 seconds to 5, that's a really huge improvement, while bringing that boot time in half when going on PCI SSD is just a 2.5 seconds gain. It really depends on what specific things you are doing with your system and if you can truly see big benefits from going from SATA to PCI drives.

I will most likely be getting an M.2 anyway. So will I see if I use it as OS disk as planned or as scratch/render drive.