Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD Linux Performance

[yehat]

Interestingly, there's a Linux benchmark tool - KDiskMart - which takes on the specifics of testing SSDs. It gives much different results, which correspond better to the claimed performance of 980 Pro. Wondering if really the test suits used here, as well as Gnome Disks benchmark, or hdparm really are relevant to the modern SSDs?

[yehat]

Hey Michael.

As a premium subscriber, is there any chance I can ask you to do a quick re-benchmark of the 980 Pro with the new firmware released a few days ago (see reddit, new firmware is apparently 2B2QGXA7)? I'm quite curious to see if it fixes the anomalously bad performance you encountered in this article.

It doesn't. I've updated the firmware, write speeds terribly slow.

[intelfx]

Guessing there are some firmware woes with the 980 PRO under Linux but haven't yet seen anything to confirm that.

Hey Michael.

As a premium subscriber, is there any chance I can ask you to do a quick re-benchmark of the 980 Pro with the new firmware released a few days ago (see reddit, new firmware is apparently 2B2QGXA7)? I'm quite curious to see if it fixes the anomalously bad performance you encountered in this article.

[intelfx]

Maybe you should try to read the datasheet fine print...
when you exceed the io window of the intelligent cache you will run in their 2nd listed performance mode.

That is absolutely correct, but again this has no relation to the "LBA range" whatsoever. You can write to any LBAs you like and your writes will hit the SLC cache if it is not overwhelmed.

[MadeUpName]

Anyone here aware of any benchmarks comparing pcie4 and pice3 ssd drives on pcie3 motherboards? I want a new SSD before I upgrade my motherboard/CPU combo and am wondering if future-proofing is a good idea or if I should just stick with a pcie3 drive and possibly buy a pcie4 drive later -- or even just keep the pcie3 drive.

If you have a PCIe 3 board get a PCIe 3 NVMe unless you plan on upgrading soon. The sad truth is that NVMe storage keeps getting crappier and crappier as they try to squeeze more bits out of basically the same hardware. There is a premium for PCIe 4 cards that can be a little difficult to justify with the current cards.

[cthart]

Anyone here aware of any benchmarks comparing pcie4 and pice3 ssd drives on pcie3 motherboards? I want a new SSD before I upgrade my motherboard/CPU combo and am wondering if future-proofing is a good idea or if I should just stick with a pcie3 drive and possibly buy a pcie4 drive later -- or even just keep the pcie3 drive.

[abracat]

Just wandering why you didn't put results for the firecuda in for direct comparison?

[intelfx]

modern tlc ssds put some free space into slc mode cache and they work at advertized speeds only in that slc cache. if you exceed it, 980 has maximum linear write speed 2gb/s instead of 5

Precisely, but it does not matter one bit which "lba range" you use. As long as you write less data at once than the capacity of SLC cache, it will end up in the SLC cache.

[pal666]

Bullshit. Modern SSDs don't work that way. LBAs are not related to internal geometry or allocation patterns whatsoever.

modern tlc ssds put some free space into slc mode cache and they work at advertized speeds only in that slc cache. if you exceed it, 980 has maximum linear write speed 2gb/s instead of 5

[pal666]

How does it manage to be worse at SQL than its own last gen?

last gen was mlc, this one is tlc. why do you think it's cheaper than last gen?(if we are talking about pro)