Which 2TB NVME for VM host

BongoHunter · 4 Jul 2020 at 19:23

Afternoon

Currently using 280 GB Intel 900p's for disk intensive VMs and some Samsung 960 Evos for other machines.

The 900p is awesome but a bit on the small side, and the 960 Evos are OK, but again a bit on the small side at 250GB each.

I'm looking for something with better perf than the 960's but without the price per GB of the 900p (+ other newer Optane drives).

I want to at least replace the 3 M2 960 Evos I'm using now, I don't mind getting two 1 TB drives, but need at least 2TB of space ideally.

970 Pro looks good but costs a lot, I don't think 970 evo will be much of an improvement, same goes for the WD SN550.

What would people here recommend?

Many thanks!

EsaT · 5 Jul 2020 at 14:28

Forget Samsung's brand overpriced drives.
You can get PCIe v4 capable drive for same/less depending on size.
And full speed PCIe v3 drives are good amount cheaper
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/cors...-state-drive-cssd-f1920gbmp510-hd-066-cs.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/seag...olid-state-drive-zp2000gm30021-hd-3bc-se.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/wd-b...-solid-state-drive-wds200t3x0c-hd-55z-wd.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team...cie-gen4-m.2-solid-state-drive-hd-007-tg.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team...cie-gen4-m.2-solid-state-drive-hd-008-tg.html

BongoHunter · 5 Jul 2020 at 18:20

Thanks @EsaT

The Corsair MP510 looks like great value and endurance looks ok. None of my systems are PCIE Gen4 yet, so probably not worth the extra over the Gen3 drives.

Time to dive into a load of benchmarks and reviews for those drives I think

Sparx · 5 Jul 2020 at 18:36

Look up the Adata XPG SX8200 Pro - can be had for £242 grabbed one for storage/games etc.

My primary drive is the 1TB Corsair MP510 as well which is also great.

I got the XPG a few months ago, amazing drive and performance for the money.

BongoHunter · 5 Jul 2020 at 18:45

I've just been double checking that I've not been missing a trick ignoring SATA drives - but excluding the 860 QVO (as QLC will be crap for what I want) the price difference does not appear enough to consider the SATA drives? None of the 2TB SATA drives appear good value compared to the MP510 2TB unless I'm missing something obvious?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Corsair Force MP510 series 1920GB NVMe PCIe M.2 Solid State Drive (CSSD-F1920GBMP510)= £299.99
1 x Seagate Firecuda 510 2TB PCIe NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (ZP2000GM30021)= £349.99
1 x WD Black 2TB SN750 M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS200T3X0C)= £369.95
1 x TeamGroup T-Force Cardea Zero Z440 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive= £379.99
1 x Samsung 2TB 860 QVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 64 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-76Q2T0BW)= £218.99
1 x Samsung 2TB 860 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 64 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-76E2T0B/EU)= £289.99
1 x Seagate Firecuda 120 2TB SATA Solid State Drive= £289.99
1 x WD RED SA500 2TB 3D NAND 2.5" SATA NAS Solid State Drive= £309.95

Total: £2,518.74 (includes shipping: £9.90)

BongoHunter · 5 Jul 2020 at 18:45

Sparx said:
Look up the Adata XPG SX8200 Pro - can be had for £242 grabbed one for storage/games etc.

My primary drive is the 1TB Corsair MP510 as well which is also great.

I got the XPG a few months ago, amazing drive and performance for the money.

I will add to my list to look at

Thanks!

EsaT · 5 Jul 2020 at 18:47

Phison E12 controller based drives usually have TBW rating completely smashing Samsung, if you expect lots of write usage.
Even super expensive 970 Pro doesn't have as much writes covered by warranty.

In 1TB size TeamGroup MP34 is another Phison E12 drive.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/teamgroup-mp34-1tb-nvme-pcie-m.2-solid-state-drive-hd-00b-tg.html
Seagate Firecuda 510 has also above normal TBW.

PNY CS3030 not listed by OcUK is another with also 2TB size available.

In SATA drives WD Blue 3D is well priced TLC drive, but TBW rating isn't match for high end NVMes.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/wd-b...-solid-state-drive-wds200t2b0a-hd-54k-wd.html

BongoHunter · 5 Jul 2020 at 18:58

Yeah I was quite surprised when comparing some of these drives for endurance against the 970 Pro - but I guess that's due to it being MLC?

I'm not sure I want the performance it offers badly enough for the cost - even the 1TB version is £300 pretty much, and I'm going to spend that kind of money I should probably just get something like an Intel DC P4510 and be done with it.

BongoHunter · 6 Jul 2020 at 12:48

Having spent far to long thinking about the choices here I've gone for something completely different and ordered an Intel DC P4600 2TB

https://amp.hothardware.com/reviews/intel-ssd-dc-p4600-enterprise-pcie-nvme-review

I figured that I should probably look at enterprise drives - as I'm not sure a single large consumer drive is going to perform that well with disk intensive VMs. Hopefully the P4600 will perform more similarly to the 900p drives I already run, but has cost the same as a middle of the pack 2TB consumer focused NVME

These drives are mental - it's got 11 PBW of endurance and the rest of the spec is pretty good as well. Hopefully it arrives in one piece and works as expected!

Though I'm sure someone could pop along in a mo and tell me I've made a huge mistake :eek:

BongoHunter · 7 Jul 2020 at 20:10

Whoop - it's arrived

looks like new, so fingers crossed it works alright once plugged in!

HEADRAT · 13 Jul 2020 at 09:21

BongoHunter said:
Whoop - it's arrived looks like new, so fingers crossed it works alright once plugged in!
[/SPOILER]

Nice, what size is that and what did it set you back?

BongoHunter · 13 Jul 2020 at 10:00

HEADRAT said:
Nice, what size is that and what did it set you back?

2TB for just under £350, which is around what I was prepared to spend on a new consumer drive.

98% drive life remaining and a couple of years warranty - very happy so far, will probably stick to enterprise NVME drives going forward if nothing goes horribly wrong! :cool:

Edit: I'll find some time to post some benchmark results this week against the 905p, 960 Evo, and some SATA drives - work permitting!

HEADRAT · 13 Jul 2020 at 10:08

Excellent, very interested to see your results.

Cyber-Mav · 16 Jul 2020 at 08:35

For my vms i use a micron 5100max drive 960gb. Well worth it massive difference over the 300gb velociraptor it replaced. The 5100max is not nvme but its got decent write endurance so ideal for the multiple vms. Cheapo too

Journey · 16 Jul 2020 at 08:42

BongoHunter said:
Whoop - it's arrived looks like new, so fingers crossed it works alright once plugged in!

They are amazing drives, and the value for money if you got it for ~£250 (which seems to be the going rate) is amazing. You should check the warranty with Intel, you should still have the majority of 5 years available.

BongoHunter · 16 Jul 2020 at 11:31

Cyber-Mav said:
For my vms i use a micron 5100max drive 960gb. Well worth it massive difference over the 300gb velociraptor it replaced. The 5100max is not nvme but its got decent write endurance so ideal for the multiple vms. Cheapo too

The new Micron 9300 Pro / Max look like good value for the performance if going NVME with them. I've been impressed with the 7000 series drives as well that were in a new server at work and they are well priced too

Journey said:
They are amazing drives, and the value for money if you got it for ~£250 (which seems to be the going rate) is amazing. You should check the warranty with Intel, you should still have the majority of 5 years available.

Yeah still got warranty - it was £350 rather than £250, but I think that's OK as its almost new condition. Probably over £1k for a new one :eek:

HEADRAT · 16 Jul 2020 at 12:13

I presume the u.2 2.5 inch p4600 drives are exactly the same, just different interface and form factor? (any hit on perf. being u.2 over PCI-E?)

Journey · 16 Jul 2020 at 12:20

HEADRAT said:
I presume the u.2 2.5 inch p4600 drives are exactly the same, just different interface and form factor? (any hit on perf. being u.2 over PCI-E?)

U.2 is the same 4x PCI-E 3.0 lanes, just as you said it though a different connector, and form factor.

Oh, I've used the 6.4TB version of that drive, but they're about £900 each.

HEADRAT · 16 Jul 2020 at 12:35

Cool I've GA-X99-Designare EX just sitting waiting for a job so I think I'm just going to stick a Xeon E5-2650L v4 (14 Core, 28 threads, 65W TDP) for a NAS/Homelab box.

It's a nice MOBO, even has Thunderbolt 3

BS Dave · 17 Jul 2020 at 15:20

@BongoHunter enable your trust will you fella.