Computer upgrade?

Discussion in 'Public Discussion' started by TronManForever, May 5, 2020.

  1. TronManForever

    TronManForever Lieutenant
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    Looking at gettign a new ssd as i think my hard drive is failing :3

    Anyone able to recommend a good ssd that i can buy for this. I have a few pennies to spend so not worried about price too much. I want something that will last and keep up with the tech.

    Thanks in advance.
     
  2. Ice247

    Ice247 Councillor
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    ive been using samsung ssd for a few years without any problems
     
  3. Zash

    Zash Lieutenant
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    Warning: tech talk incoming ;)
    Do you have an M.2 NVMe (PCIe) slot on your Motherboard? Since prices can be quite similar these days, I would recommend to look for a NVMe M.2 SSD (TLC, read/write spead of >= 2k MB/s, with Cache, ideally PCIex4, warranty >= 3 years). Best is always to find a test about the SSD or at least info about the (SLC) cache size, since the speed will mostly drop as low as SATA-SSD speeds (~500MB/s) when the Cache is exceeded for an operation. But even if the cache is low, you will still get higher average speeds in comaprison, since SATA interface is also limiting.
    I got a 500GB NVMe meeting the above specs for about 50€ (Sabrent Rocket), same price as for SATA-SSDs.

    Otherwise I agree with Ice, Samsung has usually very good SSDs, warranty and TBW can be an orientation here.

    Some background info:
    • M.2: small form factor
    • NVMe: SSD-Protocoll, which uses PCI Express instead of SATA for higher transfer rates
    • SLC/TLC: Single and Tripple Level Cells = how many bits get stored per memory cell (less bits/cell means generally longer lifetime and higher speeds, but also lower storage density and thus higher cost per MB)
    • The SLC / DRAM cache is used to achieve the high transfer rates for most operations (smaller transfers on a non-full drive), while still using the higher memory density of TLC cells etc.
    • TBW: Tera-Bytes written = average amount of writes included in the warranty, good ones have >= 300 TBW (for 500GB).
     
  4. i have no idea what any of that means zash hahahaa
     
  5. Zash

    Zash Lieutenant

    Just check the specifications of your Motherboard. If you have a M.2 NVMe SSD slot and you find one for the same price (as I have written above), I would recommend to get one. You can consult the manual (from Manufacturer homepage), where and how to install it. You just stick it in and screw it onto the motherboard.
    The Wiki has some pics as an example.

    You live in UK, right? No idea about price comparison sites there, but here is an example with some filtered results. If something comes close to a normal (SATA) SSD you would buy, get it (500GB prices seem to be a bit high atm...)
     
  6. NRMT

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    Oeh Zash, remind me that I have to ask you when I'm done saving up. I want to buy a new PC.

    I currently have a second hand PC with a okay-ish motherboard (ASRock H81M-DGS R2.0) and okay-ish CPU (Intel's i5-4440) and graphics card (Radeon RX 470 graphics), but I finally have the money for an upgrade for a real gaming PC. I do have a new SSD already.

    If you have any standard tips of what to think about, let me know!
     
  7. DoomPotato

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    If you're worried about how long the drive will last, the only test I can find (https://techreport.com/review/27909/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-theyre-all-dead/) found that the Samsung Pro series of drives had by far the greatest write endurance.

    More generally, stick to drives which call themselves "MLC" (example: https://www.scan.co.uk/products/250...mlc-v-nand-3500mb-s-read2300mb-s-write-250k-5)

    Anything which describes itself as "TLC" (example: https://www.scan.co.uk/products/240...ssd3100mb-s-read1050mb-s-write-180k-240k-iops) is going to be less reliable in the long run and slightly slower.

    Do not under any circumstances touch anything which calls itself "QLC" (example: https://www.scan.co.uk/products/512...-qlc-3d-nand-1500mb-s-read-1000mb-s-write-90k). They're almost as slow as a normal hard drive and will die very quickly.

    These terms just refer to the number of bits per cell which the flash memory stores. MLC = multi-level cell (2 bits), TLC = tri-level cell (3 bits), QLC = quad level cell. Higher numbers = more storage per chip, but less reliability.

    If a drive doesn't say what cell density it uses, find another one. No sense in taking risks.

    For reference, I use a 512 GB Samsung 970 Pro (https://www.scan.co.uk/products/512...ix-mlc-v-nand-3500mb-s-read-2300mb-s-write-37). Definitely not the cheapest drive around, but I consider the extra reliability to be worth the cost.

    These are all M.2 drives which fit into a dedicated card slot on your motherboard. If you don't have one of those (check your manual, wikipedia also has some pictures: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.2), you can still get SATA drives, but high-end flash drives are no longer being made in SATA flavour. For the example of my preferred drive type, you can't get the current generation of Samsung Pro drives in SATA, only the previous generation (https://www.scan.co.uk/products/512...and-512mb-cache-read-560mb-s-write-530mb-s-10)

    EDIT: also, Win7 needs some tweaking before it can install to and boot from an M.2 drive. Win8.1 and upwards support it natively.
     
    DotHacker likes this.
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