The single biggest factor in SSD performance is the presence and quantity of DRAM cache. A drive with a GB or two of DRAM will write at several hundred MB/s all day long, while a DRAM-less drive will slow to a crawl after the first couple GB written.

This being the case, why does nobody list this spec? Neither amazon nor newegg have cache as a filterable item. 95% of drives don’t even mention it one way or the other in the product description. It’s fucking maddening.

Are there any web shops that will let me search for drives with DRAM cache specifically, or am I going to have to resort to googling full reviews of each model individually?

    • candre23@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Thanks, but I don’t think PCP is terribly accurate when it comes to cache. Narrowing it down to 2.5" drives with at least 1TB and at least 8mb cache only returns 13 results. Just a bunch of samsung drives and the crucial MX500. I know there’s more than that out there.

  • warlock2397@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Before buying a SSD just have a look at newmaxx’s spreadsheet. You will find the details of the drive over there. It is well maintained and updated quite regularly. If you still want more details then just look for the drive on r/newmaxx for the reviews.

    • MWink64@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      I suggest taking the spreadsheet/database with a bucket of salt. There’s a lot of outdated information in it. Nearly every lower end SATA drive I’ve seen in the last couple years uses significantly different components than the ones listed. Virtually every company now does component swaps or updates, even top tier brands like Samsung and Crucial.

      • Far-9947@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        I was just gonna ask that user if there are any pieces that are critical of this spreadsheet. Whenever something is that highly praised/recommended without any pushback it is always fishy to me. Not trying to make a conspiracy theory but I wouldn’t put it behind a company or five to collaborate on something like this. My point is, there should be more than one vital source of information.

        • warlock2397@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          11 months ago

          Look, The spreadsheet is not a silver bullet ! It can help you get some crucial info about the drives which you don’t get on the box or online listings like use of DRAM/HBM and the underlying NAND (TLC/QLC) used to store actual data.

          Companies swap components so often that no one can keep all the records as you have to actually buy drives regularly to cross verify them which is just not feasible.

          Sometimes it’s a good thing like denser NAND (176L > 64L) could offer larger capacity drives. Other times it’s a cash grab when they swap out a 8-ch controller for a 4-ch one after the initial few batches while charging the same price.

          I also said to have a look at r/newmaxx because you will find review links posted there of various drives from other publications like Tom’s hardware, Anandtech, Techpowerup, etc.

          PS : Don’t trust one source, have a look at multiple reviews and listen to other’s commentary then form your own opinion.

    • Blue-Thunder@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      This is too much work. You’re expecting the people to do such a hard extra step! /s

      People want to be spoon fed and absolutely refuse to do any work.

  • Sopel97@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    DRAM cache is an implementation detail. Don’t bother. Better look at benchmarks.

  • xxtherealgbhxx@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Right tool for the right job.

    If you want to write lots of files and lots of GBs regularly then go for Enterprise drives. Micron 7450 Pro or Max are a good price for decent performance that will happily wipe the floor in almost every metric that matters against consumer grade parts.