I'd like to see real world results comparing these to the Hynix and Samsung competition, which are much cheaper (especially if you find an OEM one on eBay etc.)
My experience with 2230-sized SSD's is they throttle almost immediately. The density of components and lack of a PCB let alone a heat spreader cause unpredictable burst performance. Immediately after installing a game update on my steamdeck, launching it took noticeably longer presumably because the drive was hot (I could feel it was hot through the chassis) and presumably because it was flushing the SLC out. I have an OEM Samsung PM991.
At some point we need to realize its a losing battle with 2230 and PCIe 4.0 unless your application has headroom for a heatsink\cooling.
Yeah, that's kind of the joke about 2230. While modern controllers have gotten more efficient and NAND denser and process superior, performance has scaled along with it, so thermals aren't much better (though they are better...just look at the initial crop of NVMe PCIe 3.0 drives from Samsung that could cook an egg at idle.)
Even the Hynix BC711 (P31 Gold OEM) in a 2230 form factor is pushing thermal limits and this controller (Cepheus) is considered one of the most efficient PCIe controllers, while surprisingly being one of the highest performance as well. But there is only so much you can do to manage throttling with zero airflow (in the case of the steamdeck around the M2 slot) and a tiny PCB dominated by a enormous package on package.
I have been testing these in CFExpress type B adapters and by far WD is the best for performance/W(sn520/sn530/sn740/ & now sn770m). These run a lot longer and faster before thermal throttle compared to Micron and Kioxia I have tested against.
I have not played with Samsung or Hynix 2230 ssds yet.
If the design has room for cooling, it would arguably have room for a larger SSD. Though yeah, I guess length versus height can be a thing, but still there is a cost for the density.
I'm impressed that they pretty much jumped over 2242 and went right to 2230. There are a reasonable selection of 2242 NVME drives, but most are in the 256GB or lower range. This is a welcome development.
Fortunately the designers of the M.2 standard foresaw this, so putting in a physically smaller drive into a normal slot is just a matter of moving a mounting stud. I'm sure there are a number of devices where that's not an option, but I would hazard to say that the majority of applications can handle it.
and then many laptop makers decided to skimp on this feature, making m.2 slots only compatible with 1 size. That is, unless you use a more expensive aftermarket length adapter.
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Samus - Tuesday, September 12, 2023 - link
I'd like to see real world results comparing these to the Hynix and Samsung competition, which are much cheaper (especially if you find an OEM one on eBay etc.)My experience with 2230-sized SSD's is they throttle almost immediately. The density of components and lack of a PCB let alone a heat spreader cause unpredictable burst performance. Immediately after installing a game update on my steamdeck, launching it took noticeably longer presumably because the drive was hot (I could feel it was hot through the chassis) and presumably because it was flushing the SLC out. I have an OEM Samsung PM991.
At some point we need to realize its a losing battle with 2230 and PCIe 4.0 unless your application has headroom for a heatsink\cooling.
meacupla - Tuesday, September 12, 2023 - link
I would add the Sabrent rocket to the 2TB 2230 mix.As for overheating, even OEM samsung SM951 2280 SSDs instantly overheat to 80C, or whatever their thermal throttling temperature is.
Samus - Tuesday, September 12, 2023 - link
Yeah, that's kind of the joke about 2230. While modern controllers have gotten more efficient and NAND denser and process superior, performance has scaled along with it, so thermals aren't much better (though they are better...just look at the initial crop of NVMe PCIe 3.0 drives from Samsung that could cook an egg at idle.)Even the Hynix BC711 (P31 Gold OEM) in a 2230 form factor is pushing thermal limits and this controller (Cepheus) is considered one of the most efficient PCIe controllers, while surprisingly being one of the highest performance as well. But there is only so much you can do to manage throttling with zero airflow (in the case of the steamdeck around the M2 slot) and a tiny PCB dominated by a enormous package on package.
cyrusfox - Wednesday, September 13, 2023 - link
I have been testing these in CFExpress type B adapters and by far WD is the best for performance/W(sn520/sn530/sn740/ & now sn770m). These run a lot longer and faster before thermal throttle compared to Micron and Kioxia I have tested against.I have not played with Samsung or Hynix 2230 ssds yet.
PeachNCream - Tuesday, September 19, 2023 - link
If the design has room for cooling, it would arguably have room for a larger SSD. Though yeah, I guess length versus height can be a thing, but still there is a cost for the density.dwillmore - Tuesday, September 12, 2023 - link
I'm impressed that they pretty much jumped over 2242 and went right to 2230. There are a reasonable selection of 2242 NVME drives, but most are in the 256GB or lower range. This is a welcome development.Fortunately the designers of the M.2 standard foresaw this, so putting in a physically smaller drive into a normal slot is just a matter of moving a mounting stud. I'm sure there are a number of devices where that's not an option, but I would hazard to say that the majority of applications can handle it.
meacupla - Tuesday, September 12, 2023 - link
and then many laptop makers decided to skimp on this feature, making m.2 slots only compatible with 1 size. That is, unless you use a more expensive aftermarket length adapter.dwillmore - Wednesday, September 13, 2023 - link
Or a little double sided tape.meacupla - Thursday, September 14, 2023 - link
I wouldn't trust double sided tape for a drive that will constantly hit 80C, with an unknown amount of wiggle room in the SSD compartment.dwillmore - Thursday, September 14, 2023 - link
VHB