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submitted 1 day ago by solrize@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.ml

Basically want something with decent performance and durability. Cost matters, but I'm not trying to hit rock bottom. I'm particularly wondering, is an HMB-type PCIe SSD ok combined with a SATA adapter? I think HMB is supported if your machine can use a PCIe or NVMe disk directly, but I'd be using an older Thinkpad with a 2.5" SATA slot at least for now. So I'm wondering if I'd lose a lot of performance if the SSD combo doesn't have its own RAM buffer.

I see good deals by today's standards for PCIe SSD's at of all places, Office Depot.

Thanks.

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[-] Veraxis@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

I am not aware of any SATA SSDs which use HMB, so I am not sure if it would work correctly through an adapter. I think the choice for 2.5" SSDs is generally between DRAM cache SSDs and ones with SLC caching, which are typically much cheaper. I think both are pretty much able to saturate the ~500MB/s bandwidth of a SATA III connection, but may run into issues with prolonged writes or when getting very close to full.

Looking on Newegg, for DRAM cache units, things like the Samsung 870 evo and Crucial MX500 cost ~$90 or so for the 1TB model.

SLC cache units like the Crucial BX500 or Team Group CX2 are much less, more like $50-60 USD. The Team Group one claims 800TBW endurance for the 1TB model. I do not know if I believe that, but generally speaking I have used their nvme drives before and have not had any fail on me, for what that small data point is worth.

[-] solrize@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

Newegg doesn't seem to sell the Crucial MX500 any more*, only the BX500. But if the 870 evo is comparable, I might get that, since I have a couple of MX500s now and am happy with them. I hadn't realized that Team Group was legit at all! I'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

*Note: The MX500 appears on Newegg's web site, but the actual sellers are "Newegg Marketplace" randos rather than Newegg itself, and I prefer to buy directly from Newegg when possible.

[-] Veraxis@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

Sounds reasonable.

The Samsung 870 EVO should be comparable, if not even slightly better than the MX500 (1GB DRAM cache for the 870 vs 512MB for the MX500, and rated for 600TBW instead of 360TBW for the MX500). Samsung had a spate of failures with their 990 NVMe drives a while back, but aside from that they have a good reputation for reliability overall. I used one of the prior-generation 860 EVO drives in a laptop of mine for years and never had an issue.

Team Group is a decent budget brand in my book. Taiwanese-based memory seller who make both SSDs and RAM, even micro SD cards and flash drives. They have an actual product portfolio instead of just one or two models like the no-name drives. I have used their 4TB MP34 pcie gen 3 drives before with good success (now discontinued, but at one time they were one of the cheapest DRAM-cache NVMe drives available), and I have one of their MP44 gen 4 HMB drives in my current laptop.

this post was submitted on 11 May 2025
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