NVMe SSD Roundup 2018: Intel Optane, WD Black and Samsung 970 Evo/Pro

If you're going to use the latest drives from Samsung such as the 970 series at least use the latest drives from Intel, the 905p series.
 
If you're going to use the latest drives from Samsung such as the 970 series at least use the latest drives from Intel, the 905p series.
"While we were working on this comparison, Intel released the newer Optane 905p which offers a minor bump in performance over the 900p we tested. It's not meant to replace the 900p, but rather solidify Intel's lead in low queue depth tasks while adding a larger and more expensive 960GB version."

Unfortunate timing and Intel didn't tell us in time, but doesn't make a difference for our final recommendations.
 
An older 840 Pro will boot a fresh copy of Windows XP-SP2 in 3 seconds flat using an 8 year old 35 Watt dual-core CPU (2.6Ghz i3)

A fresh restore of Windows 8.1 or 10 will add 10 seconds to the boot time

TLC SSD's like the MX500 should never be used with Windows XP however

SLC caching software for the MX500 only works with Win7 - 10 and will completely hose your system during a power loss

Stick with a fast MLC drive if you want to keep your data after a power loss!
 
Not a fan of the truncated graphs (the bar charts that don't end at the zero origin). One of the worst offenders is in the "File Extract" graph, where from the length of the bars, the 900P looks almost twice as fast as the 600P. When the actual numerical difference is closer to 10%. Still a great article with excellent information, I just prefer all graphs/charts go to a zero baseline (if applicable).

Editor's note: Agreed. Now corrected :cool:
 
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No thank you!

I'd rather have a fast SSD in all situations without extra software and an APC

It's simpler, faster and less expensive!

The APC provides other benefits than just backup power. It also provides clean power etc

If I had a huge concern for power outages I would have both a MLC SSD and a APC unit.
 
No thank you!

I'd rather have a fast SSD in all situations without extra software and an APC

It's simpler, faster and less expensive!

The APC provides other benefits than just backup power. It also provides clean power etc

If I had a huge concern for power outages I would have both a MLC SSD and a APC unit.

Have clean power and still don't need an APC

Thanks anyway!

I'm sorry Bullwinkle, but if you are plugged into a surge or standard outlet, your power is not clean. I am assuming you are here in the US. With our aging infrastructure and the amount of noise passed through that copper, you're not even close. Of course you're not a content creator or power user. Otherwise, you could tell how much that frequency fluctuates and passes dirty power. Even with the best Japanese PSU, its best to let the APC UPC do the grunt work while your switching power supply, VRM chips and IC's are free to pass the signals to your CPU and GPU in the fasted round trip possible. And with less work, they remain cooler too. Thus you are not leaking power in the form of heat. So why not have fast, clean and efficient?
 
No thank you!

I'd rather have a fast SSD in all situations without extra software and an APC

It's simpler, faster and less expensive!

The APC provides other benefits than just backup power. It also provides clean power etc

If I had a huge concern for power outages I would have both a MLC SSD and a APC unit.

Have clean power and still don't need an APC

Thanks anyway!

I'm sorry Bullwinkle, but if you are plugged into a surge or standard outlet, your power is not clean. I am assuming you are here in the US. With our aging infrastructure and the amount of noise passed through that copper, you're not even close. Of course you're not a content creator or power user. Otherwise, you could tell how much that frequency fluctuates and passes dirty power. Even with the best Japanese PSU, its best to let the APC UPC do the grunt work while your switching power supply, VRM chips and IC's are free to pass the signals to your CPU and GPU in the fasted round trip possible. And with less work, they remain cooler too. Thus you are not leaking power in the form of heat. So why not have fast, clean and efficient?

Yes, I AM a content creator and power user

What noise is on my line has never been a problem for mastering audio content

I use only digital inputs / digital outputs and digital processing of audio so there is NEVER any noise added to any of my content

I am a professional at what I do......
and you?
 
Yes, I AM a content creator and power user

What noise is on my line has never been a problem for mastering audio content

I use only digital inputs / digital outputs and digital processing of audio so there is NEVER any noise added to any of my content

I am a professional at what I do......
and you?

My Profession is IT and I've been doing it for 20 years.
 
Yes, I AM a content creator and power user

What noise is on my line has never been a problem for mastering audio content

I use only digital inputs / digital outputs and digital processing of audio so there is NEVER any noise added to any of my content

I am a professional at what I do......
and you?

My Profession is IT and I've been doing it for 20 years.

That's great Lionvibez but my comment was for RyanRGibson
 
Personal commentary stops here, this thread is meant to discuss the article's content only. Thank you.
 
I'm glad to see WD closing the gap on Samsung, truthfully. I've not had the chance to try a WD NVMe yet, but have played a bit with the Samsung SM951/256. I have it in a cheap Chinese adapter, plugged into a PCIe v2 slot on an older board with no native M.2 slot.

With that, running Win 10, I moved 3GB of data files from the 951 to a portable USB3 external HDD--- and it only took 20 seconds! I was amazed.

Good stuff, these new drives!
 
I run a WD Black NVMe drive on my home server but use Samsung NVMe drives for my gaming machines. Mostly this is because of what was available at the times I was building/upgrading. I can't compare apples to apples since my server runs linux but it's definitely a lot fast on NVMe than it was on a regular 2.5" SSD and that was way beyond the speed of a mechanical spindle based drive. All of my machines from now on will have NVMe storage until something faster comes out.
 
No thank you!

I'd rather have a fast SSD in all situations without extra software and an APC

It's simpler, faster and less expensive!

The APC provides other benefits than just backup power. It also provides clean power etc

If I had a huge concern for power outages I would have both a MLC SSD and a APC unit.

Have clean power and still don't need an APC

Thanks anyway!

I'm sorry Bullwinkle, but if you are plugged into a surge or standard outlet, your power is not clean. I am assuming you are here in the US. With our aging infrastructure and the amount of noise passed through that copper, you're not even close. Of course you're not a content creator or power user. Otherwise, you could tell how much that frequency fluctuates and passes dirty power. Even with the best Japanese PSU, its best to let the APC UPC do the grunt work while your switching power supply, VRM chips and IC's are free to pass the signals to your CPU and GPU in the fasted round trip possible. And with less work, they remain cooler too. Thus you are not leaking power in the form of heat. So why not have fast, clean and efficient?
there are expensive alternative with online UPS, AC to DC (battery) DC to AC (the 1st instrument that will damage would be the UPS not PC)
 
Going with expensive nvme is reasonable upgrade, even old pcie 2.0 mobo could still benefits crazy 905p speed, what most user complain is that they tend to blame CPU, RAM, and Software not fast enough.
 
So each drive has different read/write speeds depending on capacity.
If you are out there wanting to buy a new NVME, you would choose a size that would indicate a price range.

So why did you not compare the same size for all drives?

You should have one chart showing performance for all 512 GB drives and another chart for 1 TB drives etc.

That way you could choose the best drive per size.

Comparing the 512 GB version of the Samsung 970 Evo VS WD black 1 TB makes is pretty damn useless for me. I was choosing between the two and had to read other websites to see the performance of equal sized drives.

I chose the 500 GB WD black because it performs better than the 512 GB Samsung Evo which are direct competitors and it sells for less. Plus Samsung has their hands in TVS, smartphones, and other things unlike WD which needs to business to stay afloat. So I'd rather give my money to the small guy. I've been buying WD drives for years.

Too bad for Seagate. I'm glad WD is producing good competitive products to keep up with the industry.

Overall an interesting read besides the fact that you didn't compare equivalent sizes.
Did you read other articles on the web, other reviews before writing up your review?
Next time compare apples to apples for us STUPID consumers that want to buy a product.

Do you understand why I think it's important you should have chosen equally sized drives?
Again, when consumers go out they have a budget they follow. They are looking in certain price range.
 
Love my Optane 900p drives. I have three in my workstation and one in my gaming rig. They should be good for years yet. :)
 
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