It's Friday, which means it's time for PC Perspective's weekly mailbag, our video show where Ryan and team answer your questions about the tech industry, the latest and greatest hardware, the process of running a tech review website, and more!
Today, Storage Editor Allyn Malventano takes on your storage questions:
00:47 – M.2 vs SATA SSDs?
03:13 – SSD over-provisioning necessary?
07:03 – What happens when the SLC cache loses power?
10:53 – Optane for everyone?
15:41 – V-NAND layers vs. process shrink to reduce SSD prices?
19:49 – NVMe SSD on PCH lanes vs. CPU lanes?
22:58 – AHCI vs. NVMe?
28:29 – NVMe RAID WTF?
33:17 – Exciting tech on the horizon?
Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel to make sure you never miss our weekly reviews and podcasts, and please consider supporting PC Perspective via Patreon to help us keep videos like our weekly mailbag coming!
thumbnail caption:
“Ryan, I
thumbnail caption:
“Ryan, I caught you red handed, STOP farting in my chair!!!”
Micron’s QuantX is supposed
Micron’s QuantX is supposed to be here by the end of 2017.
and the PCworld states:
“But unlike Intel, Micron is not interested in making its own Optane-like storage. The company is licensing its 3D Xpoint technology to other storage makers. Micron’s QuantX will also be available the form of DDR-style memory, the company has said.” (1)
However we have this article asking Micron for an update(2) so that end 2017 deadline is getting closer and no QuantX. So go and read that article and the headline speaks for itself as it asks where is QuantX!
[ NOTE: Seaking Alpha’s website requires registration to read past the second page so I would have included quoted materal but I’m not registering and getting my email adrress spammed just to have access. See Article Refrence (2) ]
(1)
“Micron’s Intel Optane competitor will ship later this year
Micron’s QuantX will ship later this year, which will then be adopted by storage makers” [article date: Mar 27, 2017 11:28 AM PT]
https://www.pcworld.com/article/3185264/storage/micron-to-ship-intel-optane-competitor-later-this-year.html
(2)
“Micron Technology: Please Update Us On QuantX”
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4108276-micron-technology-please-update-us-quantx
Did i misshear ord did you
Did i misshear ord did you just Day that the WD Blue m.2 is faster tjena the WD Blue 2,5 inch? They both run the same Marvell controller, witch is a SATA controller. The formfaktor should not matter as they both run SATA.
I believe Allyn misread the
I believe Allyn misread the specs on the WD Blue M.2. It is indeed a SATA drive, so performance would be similar to the 2.5-inch SATA III model. The Blue's product page has the title "WD Blue PC SSD" which he likely misread as "PCIe SSD."
Yeah by bad there, I glanced
Yeah by bad there, I glanced at the controller and assumed it was the Marvell PCIe variant…
So what is the deal with M.2
So what is the deal with M.2 Heatsinks, Motherboard “Heat Shields” or fat chunks of aluminum they want you to put over your M.2s? Do they help, hurt or what?
Steve from Gamers Nexus has said you want to cool the controller only for better performance, as if you cool the flash memory itself you can lose longevity in it, but I don’t think anyone has done long term testing on this.
If cooling the controller increases performance, why don’t these companies sell their M.2s with a $2 heatsink already on the controller?
Syba make a 2.5″ M.2-to-U.2
Syba make a 2.5″ M.2-to-U.2 enclosure
which fits into any 2.5″ drive bay.
I shipped one to Allyn for testing,
and he reported success with both
a standard U.2 motherboard port and
an M.2 adapter. That Syba enclosure
is then cooled by normal chassis fans:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817801139&Tpk=N82E16817801139
Here’s the Syba product page
Here’s the Syba product page for that
2.5″ enclosure:
http://www.sybausa.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=884&search=SY-ADA40112
Thank goodness others like
Thank goodness others like Steve are finally repeating what I've been saying for a very long time. Every 10c reduction in flash memory operating temperature cuts its endurance by nearly half. Client SSD flash is rated at a 40c operating temperature, and at the end of its useful life (fully worn) is required to retain data for 52 weeks. If you did the same writing to the same SSD with a full coverage heatsink (operating at 30c), it would only retain data for 32 weeks at end of life. Further, part of the reason enterprise flash can achieve higher endurance is because it is rated to operate at 55c and must only retain its data for 3 months.
Allyn, for this operating
Allyn, for this operating temp of the flash, does this only effect the life span once the flash is fully worn? If so, does it even matter, like if you have nvme drives you can afford some spinning rust to transfer it to before anyone would ever get to the 32 week point.
Trying to get this
Trying to get this interesting video to Amazing Allyn.
He will know why its amazing, at least from a product sku POV.
Go Allyn Go! : )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRH-JgQ_niY
Hi Allyn.
What’s your
Hi Allyn.
What’s your favorite James Bond movie?
The Spy Who Loved Me. I share
The Spy Who Loved Me. I share Elon Musk's taste in Bond cars, or for as long as that movie has been my favorite, perhaps it is he who shares mine.
I prefer Trotters Indipendent
I prefer Trotters Indipendent Trading Company’s( New York, Paris, Peckham ) Regal mode of transportation. When you need the very best in nicked microwaves and other fine goods nefariously obtained and for sale at a very affordable prices.
They’ll even accept a pint or two of bitters down at the pub if you fancy a bit of barter for purveyors of those sorts of goods.
Wow, so you’re saying the
Wow, so you’re saying the latency increase with just one drive going through PCH without other things clogging up PCH is so small that even Optane drives aren’t really affected by it?
How many uh… nanoseconds? Microseconds? Of latencies are we talking about?
Interesting that pchs have different latencies going from z170 to z370.
Intel 900P Blue LED
Intel 900P Blue LED Variant
With my Intel 750 NVMe drive and Samsung 960 EVO mounted in a riser card in slot 4 on the mobo, I get no front I/O drive activity indication.
Hoping this Intel 900 Blue LED provides drive activity, will look so awesome in peripheral vision while working. 🙂
If anyone remembers the original leaked slide showing the 900P way back in March of this year, it presented both the black standard and blue led skus.
Hoping Intel does not limit the blue led version to only the higher (greater than 480GB) capacity drives, costing more arriving later. That would be very mean of them. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRH-JgQ_niY
I’m a little confused with
I’m a little confused with how PCI-E lanes work. If I have a graphics card in the x16 slot, does that mean that I have taken up all the PCI-E lanes if my CPU only supports 16?
Yup, you’ve used all your CPU
Yup, you’ve used all your CPU PCIe lanes.
But you should have some open lanes from your PCH (chipset) to utilize.
🙂
But like Allyn says, with Optane Memory PCH and CPU lanes are pretty much equal.
Not sure why Intel keeps insisting the 750 NVMe drive and now again the 900P NVMe Optane drive need to be mounted in motherboard slot 1.
When EVERYONE uses that slot for primary video card.
Oh, I see. Thanks!
“But like
Oh, I see. Thanks!
“But like Allyn says, with Optane Memory PCH and CPU lanes are pretty much equal”.
So, what was all the fuss about with AMD having more PCI-E lanes than Intel, this time? Does it only matter if you fill every slot with some high performance parts? (i.e. graphics cards, and a tonne of NVMe drives)
Hi Allyn,
Very interesting
Hi Allyn,
Very interesting mailbag once again. I have a somewhat non related question, wich headset/mic are you using? It sounds very good imo
Thanks