New Build SSD M.2 Gen 4 Confusion

[Fakum]

I’m putting a parts list together for a new build and Im looking at options for a single, 2TB SSD M.2 Gen 4. I thought I had a few good ones picked out, then I read further and found out they have different features like with or without encryption? I have no idea what the impact is for gaming. This build is primarily for best performance gaming for DCS at 4k. What would be the best M2.s SSD at 2 TB? Here is what was on my initial hit list, and I was just about to pull the trigger on SK hynix Platinum P41 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen4 M.2 2280

Option: WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X NVMe Internal Gaming SSD Solid State Drive - Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280

Option: Kingston FURY Renegade 2TB PCIe Gen 4.0 NVMe M.2

Edited March 30, 2023 by Fakum

[BitMaster]

The encryption you mention is not relevant for home desktop use or gaming, in fact it often is useless anyway and I would not trust it if I really had to secure confidential data. Just disregard the "Opal" or whatever encryption it might have or not.

 

From those 3, I would pick the Sk-Hynix P41, unless it's way more than the SN850X.

I personally would pick a 2TB 980 Pro, maybe not as fast as the 2 above but still among the quickest there are for Gen4. I just like Samsung's support for all the drives they make. I have over 2 dozen Samsung SSD in use that I either own or service and none ever failed but a  830Evo back in 2015 in my Apple Notebook. Otherwise, excellent performance and reliable too in my world.

[Fakum]

@BitMasterThanks for the info on the encryption, that frees up the options. Prices today on Amazon are:

$154.99 SK hynix Platinum P41 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen4 M.2 ( I think this price is only for today as I read on Slickdeals?)

$149.99 WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X

$159.00 SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen 4 Gaming M.2

 

I thought there was/are issues with the Samsungs? Or is that just the 990?

Prices being basically the same, you would pick the Samsung? Im just curious because I have been reading so many reviews for top SSD’s for gaming, and most of the time it the SK hynix Platinum P41 & WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X are in the top 2 and the Samsung 990 somewhere at the top as well occasionally. I have not seen the Samsung 980 come up anywhere that I can recall. Id be very interested in learning why though.

 

Thanks,

[BitMaster]

The issue was the 990 Pro only first off to be clear.

From my own experience I know that I can rely on them and that Samsung supports their drives over many years. I run many 840, 850 and 860, 970, mostly Pros, some Evo but no QVOs. I haven't had any bad experience but 1 in my old Apple MacBook Pro, it's original 830Evo failed  in it's 3rd year, any other Samsung SSD drive I ever put in any PC still runs, period. That's why I recently bought my 4th 980Pro 1TB for my own work and gaming rig, about a month ago. I could have picked anyone but I mistrust those who aren't among the top tier SSD vendors and it was on sale for 103€ 1TB, I bought my 1st one for 163€ back then then 140 and 130. From what I read I think WD and Sk Hynix are a good choice too but I have no personal experience. The Sk Hynix is likely the fastest one out there you can obtain, it wouldn't be a bad pick I guess. Any drive can fail anytime, regardless of what I, you or anybody says, that's why you need a BACKUP. I don't want to finish a wall of text about drives and how much I like this or that drive without saying that, THEY WILL "ALL" FAIL, one day..I just can't tell you on which one!!  That I can sign.

Edited March 30, 2023 by BitMaster

[BitMaster]

Some kind of off topic but also fits the general thread.

M2 NVMe are a curse, they suck 100% when it comes to easy handling.

Forget to open the lid, pull 2 plugs and get the drive with it's bay out.

No...likely get the GPU out first, take a smaller screwdriver, likely PH1, to take the cooling lid off your mobo, maybe need to take another screw driver, PH0, to release the M2 drive,

then do it all backwards.  LoL

No wonder there is U2, this, is a horror if you need to access a drive NOW.

 

[Fakum]

Thanks for the clarification on the 990, and the other tips as well. I got an alert this morning about thise SSD being on sale today for one day and I got real anxious about making sure I didnt miss the boat on getting these before they sell out or mis the deadline. I have been going at it hard with all the reading,,,, then I decided to do an inquiry about RAM prices as I was curious to find out if the expectation was that they price would rise, stay flat or drop. I was surprised to see that most reputable publishers basically stated that RAM prices have been dropping since January, and they can be expected to drop more over the next 2-3 months. Seems to me that since Im not really going to start buying parts for a couple months (because Im still researching what to get for either AMD or Intel) anyway, i think I should wait and perhaps get an even better price on whatever I choose.

[72Stu]

In defense of NVMe sticks, the access is very much mobo dependent. I have a Mini ITX and can access both front and rear sticks in seconds. 

The front stick is a 500GB NVMe with Windows 11 only, and the rear is the 1TB games/everything else drive.

Research the plethora of options of course. The same goes for sticks themselves, read reviews. 

[Fakum]

@72StuThanks for the feedback. I have read many, many reviews. Whats lacking in them is good feedback on 4k performance for gaming. Thats one of the main reasons why I posted in here and specified (Above) "best performance gaming for DCS at 4k"

[BitMaster]

Am 31.3.2023 um 12:08 schrieb Fakum:

@72StuThanks for the feedback. I have read many, many reviews. Whats lacking in them is good feedback on 4k performance for gaming. Thats one of the main reasons why I posted in here and specified (Above) "best performance gaming for DCS at 4k"

As long as you take any one SSD of the known top tier league there is little to worry about NVMe and 4k resolution misfiring.

At that point,4k and VR, memory bandwidth and steady latency demands scale up a lot and are of more concern.

 

Maybe, in the future, ED will be able and willing to implement Direct Storage into DCS. 

It would load graphics data faster and free up the CPU even more same time, so they say.

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by BitMaster

[Fakum]

@BitMaster thanks for the response. I was concerned while doing reviews that there were some cons mentioned related to 4k performance.

 

Edited April 2, 2023 by Fakum

[BitMaster]

vor 9 Stunden schrieb Fakum:

@BitMaster thanks for the response. I was concerned while doing reviews that there were some cons mentioned related to 4k performance.

 

 

Well, ok, I wanted to include likely that kind of "4k" in the previous post but deleted it all because I thought I might be too OT and unlikely, well, maybe not.

 

In Drive Tests, 4k performance is not related to GPU, Resolution or any of that sort of thinking, it is the size of a data block being read and written, and that is what they "likely" refer to.

In particular, it's the Block Size that you format your drive in. The smallest amount of data is then 4k, anything bigger needs more blocks, anything smaller still needs 1 Block of 4kB.

I think that is what is being ment in the reviews you read.

 

check this

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/setting-4k-sector-size-on-nvme-ssds-does-performance-actually-change.289757/

Edited April 2, 2023 by BitMaster

[Fakum]

@BitMasterLOL,,, well,,, did I mis-interpret the 4k info. Thanks for straightening me out! I was chasin a ghost on that one!