How to Choose an SSD on a Flash Sale

[toooooot]

For more than 90% of users, the difference between SSDs won't be noticeable - simply buy the cheapest one you can.

If you have specific needs (photo editing, video rendering, etc), then you probably already know what you need anyways...

NVMEs are noticeably faster than sata. By pure number, they can be x2 x6 times faster.

 

[Shirley Dulcey]

As a SYSTEM drive yes - but those aren't what most people are buying - that is already bundled with your system (90% don't build their own). When most people are buying an SSD, they will be buying an addon drive...

People are also buying SSDs to upgrade old systems by replacing the system drive, to upgrade the amount of storage in a laptop (replacing the system drive is usually the only option), or to put in a used/refurb system with no storage (likely it was removed by the seller to protect their data). If you're buying for those situations you definitely want to avoid drives with no DRAM, especially SATA drives.

As for that speed advantage for NVMe, it's at the point of diminishing returns for most users. You won't feel it much. The leap from a spinning hard drive to any SSD (aside from a few really horrid ones from sources like AliExpress) is obvious and is the difference between a system that is almost unusably slow and one that is pleasant to use. It will often reduce your system boot time by a factor of ten, and everything will be a lot more responsive.

Still, you might as well buy NVMe for any system that will accept one, now that they are at or near cost parity. Save the SATA drives for older systems with no NVMe support, or for adding storage to a system where the NVMe slot is already occupied. Or perhaps for a NAS where you will install multiple drives; platforms that support multiple NVMe drives are still unusual and costly, while motherboards with six or more SATA ports are common, and SATA is more than fast enough for something you're going to access through gigabit Ethernet. If you've got 10GBe you'll want faster drives, but you also don't need my advice!

 

[Shirley Dulcey]

I wouldn't spend $400 for 4TB or $800 for 8TB. A 4TB HDD is like $70. I would get a nice, fast, 1TB or less SSD, put Ubuntu on there (I guess you can put Windows if you want...), and put my TB after TB of stuff on a hard drive.

(I also put swap on my HDD -- ideally you have enough RAM that you don't swap, but who wants to blow through their lifetime write cycles swapping?)

Swap is also used for hibernation. If you have enough RAM that it's not used for anything else you might want your swap on an SSD, as it will improve your wakeup time.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

Nobody knows what manufacturers put inside SSDs these days... A shame it's not illegal

 

[ddferrari]

I don't have a valid reason to use an SSD with an SLC cache
I'd rather keep my data if the power goes out

I also have no reason to purchase a Crucial MX500, even if it is less expensive than the identical Western Digital SSD

I use the free version of Acronis 2012 for Western digital hard drives because it maintains compatibility with all my various Operating Systems when using a Western Digital SSD

Although Crucial also allows you to download a free copy of Acronis, it is a newer "gimped" version and not the full version

Crucial also never had a free copy of Acronis 2012 because they did not make hard drives back then

That's what a UPS is for. My lower-end $130 UPS will give me nearly 60 minutes of use while surfing and even 15 minutes during heavy gaming to save and shut down properly. Plus, it has a voltage regulator for dips and spikes. A must have for any rig.

 

[yRaz]

That's what a UPS is for. My lower-end $130 UPS will give me nearly 60 minutes of use while surfing and even 15 minutes during heavy gaming to save and shut down properly. Plus, it has a voltage regulator for dips and spikes. A must have for any rig.

My battery obsession has lead me to a UPS that could be considered....excessive, by some...8kwh is a lot of juice. Between my main rig and NAS, I don't average more than 300watts. Worst part is, I've never used it for why I built it, I just built it because I thought it was cool

 

[RudyBob]

More like this. For as many times as "PCIe lanes" was used in the article a sentence or two on what that is would have been nice. Thanks for the time spent Amir

 

[Amir Shoam]

More like this. For as many times as "PCIe lanes" was used in the article a sentence or two on what that is would have been nice. Thanks for the time spent Amir

Thank you. PCIe is a 20-year-old tech (and PCI is even older), so we assumed our readers had a general idea of what it was, but we did drop hints like "connecting to the CPU directly, or through the motherboard's chipset" and the kinds of speed it offers.

 

[RudyBob]

Thank you. PCIe is a 20-year-old tech (and PCI is even older), so we assumed our readers had a general idea of what it was, but we did drop hints like "connecting to the CPU directly, or through the motherboard's chipset" and the kinds of speed it offers.

Thanks. Your post and it's tone are done well. I don't want to travel if I don't have to. From your short descriptor I see a four lane highway with limited access where everyone speeds along. If the highway turns into eight lanes all can still speed along but do their chariots go any faster? No. But less congestion? Am I on the right track?

 

[ddferrari]

My battery obsession has lead me to a UPS that could be considered....excessive, by some...8kwh is a lot of juice. Between my main rig and NAS, I don't average more than 300watts. Worst part is, I've never used it for why I built it, I just built it because I thought it was cool

Well, a UPS is kind of like insurance... it's critical to have it, with the hope that you never need it! Plus, I like the power regulating aspect. Nothing will shorten the life of - or even fry - components like power fluctuations. Just don't forget to stress test it occasionally - I've already replaced a set of batteries in mine even though they were only 3 years old and had only been used once or twice. But for $35 it was way cheaper than buying a new UPS.

 

[Dustyn]

I got dizzy! This is a nightmare. The disk manufacturers should make it simpler for consumers.

Yeah. Like Ralph Wiggum Simple.
Meow!
"I'm learnding!"

 

[trgz]

During a sale, you use the same criteria as you would at any other point in time - bleedin' obvious.

 

[Amir Shoam]

Thanks. Your post and it's tone are done well. I don't want to travel if I don't have to. From your short descriptor I see a four lane highway with limited access where everyone speeds along. If the highway turns into eight lanes all can still speed along but do their chariots go any faster? No. But less congestion? Am I on the right track?

Yes. As the article says, eight PCIe 3.0 lanes are together as fast as four PCIe 4.0 lanes: "The larger form factor could make up for a motherboard's lack of PCIe 4.0 support by using eight PCIe 3.0 lanes."

 

[RudyBob]

Yes. As the article says, eight PCIe 3.0 lanes are together as fast as four PCIe 4.0 lanes: "The larger form factor could make up for a motherboard's lack of PCIe 4.0 support by using eight PCIe 3.0 lanes."

Good article. Anything that makes me think is good and this did. Keep up the good work don't expect my questions to get better though