Looking for 1TB SSD for general use as game library, rare VM, rare Photoshop cache, etc.
What sites do great SSD reviews? It still seems that SSDs barely evolve and reviews are scarce.
SATA or M.2 (M-key) (limited to SATA and PCIe 2.0x2 NVME now, would a 3.0x4 drive also work or do they not like the slower interface?)
Sustained write may not be big issue depending on how large the cache + SLC part is.
But it seems the newest cheapest SSDs (QLC) go below HDD performance on large writes when not given time to clear cache and SLC part.
I have some candidates to check but would like to know from those that monitor the SSD market more. What is there worth considering? What brands of SSD and controllers to avoid?
A 250GB SSD for system and a game has 35TBW over 25k hours. But I barely write to it anything because it's so small.
Can't say I like the low speed and durability of QLC so far despite there being some cheap M.2 outperforming SATA TLC until they fill up their SLC part and turn to a turtle, still for my use they could be fine? 200TBW... seems low.
I guess MLC is now dead or rather reserved for most expensive products only.
---
A list of drives with Phison E12 + Toshiba 256Gb 64L 3D TLC flash:
*beware there has been some updates in late 2019 with E12S controller, the use of Micron 96L flash and half the amount of DRAM, check what you're buying but it can be hard to find out until you actually get it, you can probably get any combination depending on manufacturer
https://www.reddit.com/r/NewMaxx/comments/drriga/sabrent_rocket_hardware_change/
1 TB marketed drives have 70.15 GB = 6.85 % OP ==> 953.85 GB usable.
960 GB marketed drives have 129.75 GB = 12.67 % OP ==> 894.25 GB usable.
Use at your own risk:
12.3 firmware update: http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=188547
https://megaupload.nz/k3d865wdn8/firmware12.3_zip
Verified working 12.3 from 12.2 on SP drive by me, using the shutdown option, you will find this linked around web and above:
MD5: a3b1fb29f04dc9e7ca94db790f459eb1 *Phison firmware12.3.zip
I've had to recompress the archive to fit it to OCN upload limits, download on bottom of this post:
MD5: 2be500063f9236c64b339c6b9a05986e *Phison firmware12.3.zip
You can find other reports around and in this thread of drive updates v12.x to v12.3 no data loss, v11 to v12 with data loss.
Seems everyone is getting the same update archive and contents be it leaked from forums or from even Corsair directly.
---
SM2262EN + Micron memory chips:
If you can find them cheap and don't mind the poor performance when drive is full, see Anandtech.
---
An SSD overview, database + search, explanation of terms, etc. not sure how well maintained over time:
https://www.reddit.com/user/NewMaxx/comments/9yv0c6/ssd_buying_guide_wip/
What sites do great SSD reviews? It still seems that SSDs barely evolve and reviews are scarce.
SATA or M.2 (M-key) (limited to SATA and PCIe 2.0x2 NVME now, would a 3.0x4 drive also work or do they not like the slower interface?)
Sustained write may not be big issue depending on how large the cache + SLC part is.
But it seems the newest cheapest SSDs (QLC) go below HDD performance on large writes when not given time to clear cache and SLC part.
I have some candidates to check but would like to know from those that monitor the SSD market more. What is there worth considering? What brands of SSD and controllers to avoid?
A 250GB SSD for system and a game has 35TBW over 25k hours. But I barely write to it anything because it's so small.
Can't say I like the low speed and durability of QLC so far despite there being some cheap M.2 outperforming SATA TLC until they fill up their SLC part and turn to a turtle, still for my use they could be fine? 200TBW... seems low.
I guess MLC is now dead or rather reserved for most expensive products only.
---
A list of drives with Phison E12 + Toshiba 256Gb 64L 3D TLC flash:
*beware there has been some updates in late 2019 with E12S controller, the use of Micron 96L flash and half the amount of DRAM, check what you're buying but it can be hard to find out until you actually get it, you can probably get any combination depending on manufacturer
https://www.reddit.com/r/NewMaxx/comments/drriga/sabrent_rocket_hardware_change/
- Addlink S70
- Addlink X70 1TB, M.2
- Asura Genesis Xtreme
- Corsair Force Series MP510 960GB, M.2 (CSSD-F960GBMP510)
- Digifast Ace
- Galax HOF
- Gigabyte Aorus RGB AIC NVMe SSD 1TB, PCIe 3.0 x4 (GP-ASACNE2100TTTDR)
- HIKVision C2000
- Inland Premium (not in EU)
- Integral UltimaProX 960GB, M.2, V2 (INSSD960GM280NUPX2)
- LiteOn MU X1 1TB, M.2 (PP5-GD1024)
- MyDigitalSSD BPX Pro 960GB (not in EU yet, if ever, been on market a while now elsewhere, their only EU distributor's site is dead too)
- Patriot Viper VPN100 NVMe SSD 1TB, M.2 (VPN100-1TBM28H)
- Pioneer APS-SE20G
- PNY XLR8 CS3030 M.2 NVMe SSD 1TB, M.2 (M280CS3030-1TB-RB)
- Sabrent 1TB Rocket (SB-ROCKET-1TB) (barely available and expensive in EU)
- Seagate BarraCuda 510 SSD 1TB, M.2
- Seagate FireCuda 510 SSD 1TB, M.2 (ZP1000GM30011)
- Silicon Power P34A80 1TB, M.2 (SP001TBP34A80M28)
- Sky Digital SKY SPEEDSTAR
- TeamGroup Cardea II
- TeamGroup Cardea Liquid
- TeamGroup PCIe SSD MP34 1TB, M.2 (TM8FP4001T0C101)
1 TB marketed drives have 70.15 GB = 6.85 % OP ==> 953.85 GB usable.
960 GB marketed drives have 129.75 GB = 12.67 % OP ==> 894.25 GB usable.
Use at your own risk:
12.3 firmware update: http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=188547
https://megaupload.nz/k3d865wdn8/firmware12.3_zip
Verified working 12.3 from 12.2 on SP drive by me, using the shutdown option, you will find this linked around web and above:
MD5: a3b1fb29f04dc9e7ca94db790f459eb1 *Phison firmware12.3.zip
I've had to recompress the archive to fit it to OCN upload limits, download on bottom of this post:
MD5: 2be500063f9236c64b339c6b9a05986e *Phison firmware12.3.zip
You can find other reports around and in this thread of drive updates v12.x to v12.3 no data loss, v11 to v12 with data loss.
Seems everyone is getting the same update archive and contents be it leaked from forums or from even Corsair directly.
- Don't use the drive while updating.
- Select the drive in update tool as shown below
- Select DLMC, there seems to be no other option
- Select activated at the next reset
- Run baby run
- It will update quickly and ask you to shut down the machine
- Shutdown
- Power back on
- Done
---
SM2262EN + Micron memory chips:
If you can find them cheap and don't mind the poor performance when drive is full, see Anandtech.
- ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 1TB, M.2 (ASX8200PNP-1TT-C)
- HP SSD EX950 M.2 1TB, M.2 (5MS23AA#ABB)
- ...
---
An SSD overview, database + search, explanation of terms, etc. not sure how well maintained over time:
https://www.reddit.com/user/NewMaxx/comments/9yv0c6/ssd_buying_guide_wip/