Sequential Performance – HDTach, HDTune, File Copy, YAPT (sequential)
We have shifted over to combining our results into two groupings for consumer reviews. First up is sequential performance:
HDTach:
HD Tach will test the sequential read, random access and interface burst speeds of your attached storage device (hard drive, flash drive, removable drive, etc). All drive technologies such as SCSI, IDE/ATA, 1394, USB, SATA and RAID are supported. HDTach tests sequential performance by issuing reads in a manner that was optimized more for HDD access, but this unique method has proven useful in evaluating the sequential response time of SSDs. The accesses are relatively small in size (2k), and are issued with a single working thread (QD=1). The end result is that devices with relatively IO high latency will not reach their ultimate rated speed.
HDTach technically can't address past 2TB, but since we're not testing a HDD, we'll let it slide this one last time before putting it out to pasture.
HDTune:
HDTune tests a similar level of features as compared with HDTach, but with a different access pattern. Thus provides us with an additional set of benchmark numbers to compare between storage configurations. CPU utilization has proven negligible with modern processing horsepower, and is no longer included. Additionally, we do not include write performance due to HDTune's write access pattern not playing nicely with most SSDs we have tested it on.
Speeds look good here, with most SATA products at or near saturation of the interface.
PCPer File Copy Test
Our custom PCPer-FC test does some fairly simple file creation and copy routines in order to test the storage system for speed. The script creates a set of files of varying sizes, times the creation process, then copies the same files to another partition on the same hard drive and times the copy process. There are four file sizes that we used to try and find any strong or weak points in the hardware: 10 files @ 1000 MB each, 100 files @ 100 MB each, 500 files @ 10 MB each and 1000 files at 1 MB each.
The 4TB 850 EVO tracks right along its smaller cousin.
YAPT:
YAPT (yet another performance test) is a benchmark recommended by a pair of drive manufacturers and was incredibly difficult to locate as it hasn't been updated or used in quite some time. That doesn't make it irrelevant by any means though, as the benchmark is quite useful. It creates a test file of about 100 MB in size and runs both random and sequential read and write tests with it while changing the data I/O size in the process. The misaligned nature of this test exposes the read-modify-write performance of SSDs and Advanced Format HDDs.
YAPT does its reads and writes in a non-4k-aligned manner, and some SSDs end up being highly sensitive to that type of workload. SATA SSDs have been refined to the point where it is not an issue (at least for sequential writes – more to follow on the next page).
I think there is a demand for
I think there is a demand for high capacity SSDs it’s just the price is nowhere near where it needs to be. As the price comes down, demand goes up as we learned in Economics 101 :). Maybe when we see $0.20/GB. Are SSD prices artificially high? Seems like profit-taking at this point.
At the risk of being
At the risk of being pedantic, saying that demand goes up is slightly misleading. Only quantity demanded will increase when price decreases. Demand also depends on other factors other than price (i.e quality of product, price of other competing SSDs)
Why wouldn’t Samsung want to maximise profits if they’re the only ones with consumer SSDs with 4TB capacity?
Thank you. I’m glad I’m not
Thank you. I’m glad I’m not the only one that cringed a little when I read the original comment.
By demand I did mean quantity
By demand I did mean quantity demanded, the demand curve remains the same. My point was the large SSD demand is there just not at this price.
The 2TB 850 EVO is going for
The 2TB 850 EVO is going for $635(Sale Price) at Amazon, so $1270 for 2 drives and 4TB “total”. That’s around $0.32/GB and what is the performance metrics for 2/2TB drives in various raid/other configurations.
So long as you’re on a
So long as you're on a desktop with Intel RST, almost every performance metric doubles when shifting to a pair of SATA devices. If you need 4TB on desktop, a pair of 2TB would be the way to go, but pay attention to the yet-to-be-fixed performance issues we noted with the 2TB model. It's possible that the 48-layer version of the same capacity fixed that issue, but we don't have a sample to test.
We already have $0.20/GB
We already have $0.20/GB prices for SSDs. Simply go to pcpartpicker and sort by price/GB
I have a couple cheap silicon
I have a couple cheap silicon power SSDs and they are meh at best, then again they are the 120gb version not 480.
But not high quality SSDs in
But not high quality SSDs in large capacities. Obviously the 1TB+ SSD market is pretty pricey still. My point is there will be a large demand once the price becomes more reasonable.
TLC is still relatively new
TLC is still relatively new so not sure if it’s “price taking” so much as Samsung trying to get a reasonable ROIC on all the R&D they took to bring TLC to market in the first place.
I grabbed 2 250gb evos on
I grabbed 2 250gb evos on amazon for 78 each or ~$.31 per gig… hopefully they get down there again. Made for a fun raid 0.
300TBW = the flash is rated
300TBW = the flash is rated for 75 write cycles before kaput(warranty)?
I don’t like the idea of
I don’t like the idea of having TLC. I would be willing to pay a bit more and have the pro version with a warranty of more than 300TBW. Allyn, do you know when will Samsung release the pro version?
That’s wonderful, too bad I
That’s wonderful, too bad I won’t be able to afford it. I can’t even afford the 1 TB EVO yet.
So want, such money, can’t
So want, such money, can’t afford.
I bought the muschkin 1tb
I bought the muschkin 1tb when it first came out. It has been solid for my z97 build. What I’ve seen so far, their 4tb is supposed to be a good deal when it comes out. I’ll pair that with my 950 pro 512gig in my laptop I just purchased. Do believe it’ll be a good replacement for the 7200 rpm drive that’s in there. Maybe it’ll even push the price of this samsung drive down, 4tb ssd with rapid mode with magician would be solid also.