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SSD speeds, results and needs (Gaming and Handbrake)

Non-Euclidean

Non-Euclidean

macrumors regular
Original poster
Dec 21, 2012
108
56
Houston, TX
So, I am looking at getting another SSD and am wondering what I actually need.

Some background. My first SSD was a 512GB 950 Pro for the Boot drive in my Windows 10 PC.
I later tried to update to a 1TB SK Hynix Gold 1TB, failed to get the image program to work and later put it in a PC for my mom.

I put a Patriot Scorch 512 GB in my Synology 918+ when I bought it, which may or may not be doing anything of value.

I have a 1 TB 2.5 SATA in an external case which is for my music library.

I also purchased a 2 TB Crucial P5 with heat sink which was the wrong PCIE for my PC and have only now hooked it up to my Mac Studio. I intend to sell this one off and need to find a PS5 gamer or something.

The most recent purchase is a 2 TB 9100 for the Mac Studio. This is used for handbrake and gaming.

Right now I am using the Mac Studios internal for O/S and non game software.

So I don't do any intensive video editing or processing apart from Handbrake. I don't make my living with the processing output of this machine. Granted, there is the future proofing aspect of hardware. If we postulate a pair of future 5K/6K/8K monitors, I don't think the gaming storage enters into that.

I am wondering if I really need to be on the bleeding edge of performance for my needs. I know Black Friday/Cyber Monday is around the corner and am trying to see what I should be getting.

I look at Amazon and see:

990 EVO PLUS 7,250/6,300MB/s. $249
WD Black SN850X up to 7,300MB/s $274
9100 PRO up to 14,800MB/s $379

Anything would be put in another OWC 1M2, possibly the 80G, but that begs the same question. Will I really see much difference between the 40G and 80G 1M2 housings?

I have plenty of spinning rust capacity for other files.
 
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@Non-Euclidean "Will I really see much difference between the 40G and 80G 1M2 housings?"

Yes. The M4 Max Studio will give you ~3500MB/s with a 40Gbps Express 1M2, and ~5-6000MB/s with the 80Gbps version.
14,000MB/s is for an internal PCIe 5 NVMe slot on a PC motherboard, only.

The WD850X is known to work well with MacOS.
The 9100 Pro may (or may not?) prove to have advantages with MacOS, but it's at the cutting edge ATM.
So more experience is probably needed to judge.

The 990EVO Plus is DRAM-less, and experience seems to be that (only?) WD's DRAM-less NVMe NVMe controller works well in a Mac.
 
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PaulD-UK said:
@Non-Euclidean "Will I really see much difference between the 40G and 80G 1M2 housings?"

Yes. The M4 Max Studio will give you ~3500MB/s with a 40Gbps Express 1M2, and ~5-6000MB/s with the 80Gbps version.
14,000MB/s is for an internal PCIe 5 slot on a PC motherboard, only.

The WD850X is known to work well with MacOS.
The 9100 Pro may (or may not?) prove to have advantages with MacOS, but it's at the cutting edge ATM.
So more experience is probably needed to judge.

The 990EVO Plus is DRAM-less, and experience seems to be that (only?) WD's DRAM-less NVMe NVMe controller works well in a Mac.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the DRAM tip. I'll include it in my criteria.

And thanks for justifying faster tech :)

I was over reading at Tom's Hardware and just starting to learn about the DRAM.
 
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MBAir2010 said:
did all/every musicians and them recent fakies record 1TB of music on this planet?
I have 500GB of A-Ha to Zeppelin FLAC files with plenty of room to spare.
Click to expand...
I don't know. I just know I wanted something bigger than 512 GB. It has other audio things too, podcasts, etc. It is also used for portable storage as needed.
 
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PaulD-UK said:
@Non-Euclidean "Will I really see much difference between the 40G and 80G 1M2 housings?"

The WD850X is known to work well with MacOS.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I see mention of the WD850X working with all power management functions in MacOS. So that appears to make it the no brainer, default solution going forward, until it is confirmed which other drives share this ability.

Then I was noting the power utilization charts over at Toms Hardware Guide. Various reviews talk about the power efficiency of different SSD controllers. But I think going the extra mile with over/under thermal pads (which should be done in any case), would compensate for those differences.
 
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