question about the the 512gb M.2 SSD inside the TC-895. Is it NVME or SATA?

CornChowder
CornChowder Member Posts: 22 Troubleshooter
edited March 1 in 2020 Archives
question about the the 512gb M.2 SSD inside the TC-895.  Is it  NVME or SATA?

here's a picture of it:


Answers

  • CornChowder
    CornChowder Member Posts: 22 Troubleshooter
     
    I'm getting 1600 MB/s read and MB/s write.... if it's M.2 SATA, how is that speed even possible?

     


  • brummyfan2
    brummyfan2 ACE Posts: 28,590 Trailblazer
    Hi,
    The part number for your SSD is SNS8154P3/512GJ and the data sheet from Kingston indicates that it's a M.2 PCIe Gen 3x2, also on the drive itself shows as PCI Express, so it's a M.2 NVMe SSD with 2 lanes enabled for PCIe.
    MKF-815.3_design-in_SSD.indd (kingston.com)

    Acer Predator PT516-51s Performance Results - UserBenchmark

  • ttttt
    ttttt Member Posts: 1,947 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    @CornChowder
    The CrystalDiskMark results indicate a typical PCIe 3.0 x2 M.2 NVMe SSD performance, so it is not a M.2 SATA SSD. If you replace this drive with a higher spec. x4 M.2 NVMe SSD, you should be able to see even doubling of the performance with seq. read close to or exceeds 3,400 MB/s, seq. write close to or exceeds 2,300 MB/s.

  • CornChowder
    CornChowder Member Posts: 22 Troubleshooter
    ttttt said:
    @CornChowder
    The CrystalDiskMark results indicate a typical PCIe 3.0 x2 M.2 NVMe SSD performance, so it is not a M.2 SATA SSD. If you replace this drive with a higher spec. x4 M.2 NVMe SSD, you should be able to see even doubling of the performance with seq. read close to or exceeds 3,400 MB/s, seq. write close to or exceeds 2,300 MB/s.



    I just realized that the two notches at the bottom of the drive confused me.... 

    thanks! :)
  • ttttt
    ttttt Member Posts: 1,947 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    @CornChowder

    It confused me too. I would expect "M" key for M.2 NVMe SSD. This one looks like a "B" + "M" key. Maybe the manufacturer makes it useable for more PCs. Good for marketing strategy.
  • CornChowder
    CornChowder Member Posts: 22 Troubleshooter
    ttttt said:
    @CornChowder

    It confused me too. I would expect "M" key for M.2 NVMe SSD. This one looks like a "B" + "M" key. Maybe the manufacturer makes it useable for more PCs. Good for marketing strategy.

     so puzzled... I spent the last couple of days googling... I could not find any reference to NVMe M.2 having 2 notches...  oh well... as long as Kingston's own spec sheet says NVMe x2, I guess it's fine.   If I find some money burning a hole in my pocket in the next few weeks, I'll get a 1TB NVMe X4 drive to biggie size it. :)

    although... in daily use, I can't really tell that much difference between the M.2 NVMe SSD and the WD Blue SATA SSD that I connected inside via SATA cable.(the WD Blue got at least 550MB/s read and 530MB/s write, according to CrystalDiskMark)   


  • ttttt
    ttttt Member Posts: 1,947 Community Aficionado WiFi Icon
    @CornChowder
    x2 NVMe is just a couple times faster than SATA SSD. If you do video editing and move/copy a chunk of data more than a few GB, then the difference is significant. BTW, if you do video editing and copy massive data, it will be a good idea to get heat sink for the NVMe SSD to avoid thermal throttling.

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