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Question New Rig X570 - Is there any reason to NOT use NVMe2 drives?

C

Caveman

Platinum Member
Last rig had SSDs... What can I expect? Thinking single, 2TB NVMe2 drive. Is there anything I need to know or just plug them in, and away we go? Less cables, faster, etc... Are there any downsides? Any recommendations for a fast, reliable 2TB drive?
 
I am a bit loathe to suggest them, but Adata has some budget PCI-E Gen4 NVMe x4 SSDs for actually-reasonable prices for Gen4 drives.

@Muse has run into some trouble with Adata drives before. (Which I used to use in client rigs... and my own, which I also had issues with.)
 
nvme2? There is m.2 (form factor) and there is nvme (pci-e bus type). They are currently on 3rd and 4th generation PCI-e.
There is no 'nvme2' fyi.

Recommendation: Samsung.

Edit for afterthought: You aren't likely to notice speed differences between a gen3 and gen4 nvme drive unless moving large files, but if you really want the best speeds, go for a gen4 drive (bandwidth and R/W rates are practically doubled).
 
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The 2TB Adata XPG 8200 PRO is $199.99 at Best Buy right now, and that's a great price for one of the fastest PCIe 3.0 drives out there.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/adata-...sh-3d-nand-technology/6423395.p?skuId=6423395

Otherwise, right now you go up to about $250 for the 2TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus. There are a few decent drives between those two prices, but if I were buying a new SSD right now in that size at current prices, those would be the two I would decide between. For example, there are some QVL NAND drives between the two, and some with 3 year warranties (compared to 5 years for the Adata and Samsung).
 
I thought that it was documented, that Adata "cheaped out" the XPG 8200 (Pro), and it's now made with a slower controller and slower NAND.

Is there a different "8200 PRO" and "8200" (non-"Pro")?

Edit: You posted the thread!

News - 'Adata Switches to Slower Controller, NAND on SX8200 Pro' - @ Tom's (Update Feb 2021: More changes in components)

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/adata-xpg-sx8200-pro-controller-change A recent Reddit post called attention to the issue, pointing out that the company is swapping out the original SSD controller, an SMI SM2262EN, for the slower-clocked SM2262G, but without informing the public of the...
forums.anandtech.com forums.anandtech.com
 
I'm not looking for the cheapest drive per se... IIR, my current drives are MX500 SSDs. I like Samsung and was drawn to the 2 TB 970 Evo plus NVME.

How do I know if this is a gen 4 or Gen 3 drive?

Also, the X570 MoBo that this will go in supports PCIe4.0. Does this mean it's a "Gen 4 capable" or am I mixing apples and oranges?

I'm assuming a 970 Evo Plus NVME will be noticibly faster than the Crucual MX500?

Thanks for help so far and thanks in advance going forward. Appreciated.
 
Caveman said:
How do I know if this is a gen 4 or Gen 3 drive? Also, the X570 MoBo that this will go in supports PCIe4.0. Does this mean it's a "Gen 4 capable" or am I mixing apples and oranges?
Click to expand...
The drive will state in the description if it is gen3 or gen4. For Samsung, all 970 drives (Evo, Evo +, Pro) will be gen3. Only the 980 Pro is gen4.

Your mobo supports gen4 but to utilize it, you also need a newer AMD CPU (series 3k Ryzen or newer, iirc).
 
Pohemi420 said:
Cyber Monday deal on Sabrent's Rocket gen4.0 drive...not used one myself but reviews on them have been decent.


Won't beat that price for a gen4 drive unless you go to a QLC (quad-layer chip) model and I don't recommend QLC due to lower write life.
Click to expand...

What you linked to is a QLC drive. The Sabrent Rocket Q was Phison E12 (PCIe 3) with QLC, and the Rocket Q4 is Phison E16 (PCIe 4) with QLC. Since the PCIe 3 Rocket Q is currently $52 cheaper for the same 2TB, the Q4 sale price is pretty unimpressive.

At 2TB and above, QLC drives like this are pretty decent. Write endurance scales with capacity, and if you're using the multi-TB capacity for something like storing your Steam game collection, you really don't have to worry about wearing out the write endurance of the drive.
 
VirtualLarry said:
I thought that it was documented, that Adata "cheaped out" the XPG 8200 (Pro), and it's now made with a slower controller and slower NAND.

Is there a different "8200 PRO" and "8200" (non-"Pro")?

Edit: You posted the thread!

News - 'Adata Switches to Slower Controller, NAND on SX8200 Pro' - @ Tom's (Update Feb 2021: More changes in components)

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/adata-xpg-sx8200-pro-controller-change A recent Reddit post called attention to the issue, pointing out that the company is swapping out the original SSD controller, an SMI SM2262EN, for the slower-clocked SM2262G, but without informing the public of the...
forums.anandtech.com forums.anandtech.com
Click to expand...
Yeah, they changed it. It lowered the price I would be willing to pay for it compared to the competition, but at $199.99 that is a solid price for a 2 TB drive. The HP EX950 in the same size was around $5 higher at the time, so that could be an option for some who don't want to buy the 8200 PRO. Most other drives in that size and at that price were all QLC based drives.
 
Caveman said:
Last rig had SSDs... What can I expect? Thinking single, 2TB NVMe2 drive. Is there anything I need to know or just plug them in, and away we go? Less cables, faster, etc... Are there any downsides? Any recommendations for a fast, reliable 2TB drive?
Click to expand...

What are you using the drive for?
Easy recommendation for me - WD SN550
5 year warranty. Fast enough. Good bang for buck

If you absolutely MUST have a true gen 4 NVMe drive, I'm curious what your use case is
 
Billy Tallis said:
What you linked to is a QLC drive. The Sabrent Rocket Q was Phison E12 (PCIe 3) with QLC, and the Rocket Q4 is Phison E16 (PCIe 4) with QLC. Since the PCIe 3 Rocket Q is currently $52 cheaper for the same 2TB, the Q4 sale price is pretty unimpressive.
Click to expand...
Ah, I see. I had noticed the Rocket Q and assumed the non-Q models were not QLC. Good head's-up.

Edit: yeah, I'm just blind, I guess. The "Q4" was all over the description, lol. This is the model I confused it for:


This is obviously higher priced but a better, more matured, and more reliable chip tech. If you check the 2TB model of it...atm the version with the included heatsink is $80 cheaper, lol.
 
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Machine will be dedicated fro flight simulation (DCS, IL-2, FS2020 and some HTPC stuff...). Single drive should easily fill it all. Current drives are good SSDs (MX500, Samsung 860). Just looking to jump up a bit in speed but have to admit a Gen 4 would be nice. That said, as far as price/performance best bang for buck where I generally like to hang out, the 970 Evo Pro 2 TB (3rd Gen) looks pretty good at $249 on Samsungs site...
 
Caveman said:
the 970 Evo Pro 2 TB (3rd Gen) looks pretty good at $249 on Samsungs site...
Click to expand...
You must have looked at something incorrectly. The 970 EVO Plus is $249 for the 2TB version, but the 970 PRO is $350 for the 1TB version (and I don't think they even released that drive in any larger capacities).
 
Some more thoughts... I have no idea how much space must be left on these newer drives to keep the speed up. IIR, SSDs can reach 90% capacity and still perform at ~95% rated speed?

2TB is probably way overkill for what I need since worst case with all programs and OS installed will probably be no more than 700GB so may be 1TB Gen4 is money that's better spent...??? So, the 1TB Sabrent Rocket or 980 Pro are both now serious considerations.

Thoughts on 70% capacity vs performance on these new Gen4 drives?

Also, what MoBo specs do I need to home in on to make sure it's Gen 4 compatible...? I guess it will say something obvious like NVMe Gen 4?
 
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On website now... The 970 Evo Plus 2TB version is $249, the 980 Pro 1TB is $229 with $43 awards in Honey Gold (I have no idea why) + 15% off in Rakuten gives a real price of $152. Seems too good to be true but I may try...
 
Caveman said:
I have no idea how much space must be left on these newer drives to keep the speed up. IIR, SSDs can reach 90% capacity and still perform at ~95% rated speed?
Click to expand...

Read speed is basically unaffected by how full the drive is, and for video games you're primarily concerned with read speed.
 
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