Looking for a 500GB NVMe drive with DRAM...

[Frick]

Hey hey.

So I'm looking for that and honestly I'm having trouble finding one that doesn't cost almost exactly the same as a 1TB drive. The reason I want a 500GB is because it'll be exclusively for OS and programs, and anything over 500GB will be a waste, unless I go all the way and get a 2TB drive and have the Epic folder on it as well. I have found a 2TB Kingston Fury Renegade for €120 I'll get, but ideally I want the OS/programs on a seperate drive.

 

[Shou Miko]

Do you care about if it's PCI-E Gen3, 4 or 5?

I had the same problem looking for a drive for my Lenovo ThinkPad L14 G2 laptop that 500/512GB nvme with cache was just too expensive but I went with the WD RED SN700 500GB a Gen3 drive with dram cache.

But for a gaming rig today I would look at these 2 Gen4 drives when it's only 500/512GB they are about £48-50 which is about €58.
Kingston KC3000 512GB - be aware there are different models but the performance are the same: https://www.techpowerup.com/ssd-specs/kingston-kc3000-512-gb.d258
Kingston Fury Renegade 500GB - Performance should be the same as KC3000 and WD SN850x https://www.techpowerup.com/ssd-specs/kingston-fury-renegade-500-gb.d610

I use 2 Gigabyte M30 1TB Gen3 drives they are a bit unique because they are made in 512GB and 1TB both models have 2GB DDR3L cache but they are sadly pricey now when I got the 1TB drive I paid like £39 or so for each of them.
512GB: https://www.gigabyte.com/SSD/GIGABYTE-M30-SSD-512GB#kf
1TB: https://www.gigabyte.com/SSD/GIGABYTE-M30-SSD-1TB#kf


It's sad because 500/512GB do have their purpose and I know from myself the more space I would on my OS drive the more junk I keep on it

To be honest if I was today going to buy 1TB, 2TB or 4TB I would go with the cheapest of the Kingston KC3000, Kingston Fury Renegade or WD Black SN850x when they are so similar in performance.

 

[Frick]

Do you care about if it's PCI-E Gen3, 4 or 5?

I had the same problem looking for a drive for my Lenovo ThinkPad L14 G2 laptop that 500/512GB nvme with cache was just too expensive but I went with the WD RED SN700 500GB a Gen3 drive with dram cache.

But for a gaming rig today I would look at these 2 Gen4 drives when it's only 500/512GB they are about £48-50 which is about €58.
Kingston KC3000 512GB - be aware there are different models but the performance are the same: https://www.techpowerup.com/ssd-specs/kingston-kc3000-512-gb.d258
Kingston Fury Renegade 500GB - Performance should be the same as KC3000 and WD SN850x https://www.techpowerup.com/ssd-specs/kingston-fury-renegade-500-gb.d610

I use 2 Gigabyte M30 1TB Gen3 drives they are a bit unique because they are made in 512GB and 1TB both models have 2GB DDR3L cache but they are sadly pricey now when I got the 1TB drive I paid like £39 or so for each of them.
512GB: https://www.gigabyte.com/SSD/GIGABYTE-M30-SSD-512GB#kf
1TB: https://www.gigabyte.com/SSD/GIGABYTE-M30-SSD-1TB#kf


It's sad because 500/512GB do have their purpose and I know from myself the more space I would on my OS drive the more junk I keep on it

To be honest if I was today going to buy 1TB, 2TB or 4TB I would go with the cheapest of the Kingston KC3000, Kingston Fury Renegade or WD Black SN850x when they are so similar in performance.

Generation don't matter much. But yeah the KC3000 looks like the best fit, but the 500GB version has a tendency to be pretty close to the 1TB version in cost... I'm not quite at the point of buying yet though and BS Black Friday is coming up so maybe I find something.

 

[RootinTootinPootin]

My go to advise for a fast boot drive is for gen 3 the 970 evo+ (if you can find 970 Pro all the better) for gen 4 I'd find a 980 or 990 pro for a boot drive, their random reads are far better than anyone else (I personally use the 990 Pro's as boot drives on my 2 of my backup rigs, main 2 rigs use Intel Optane's)

 

[Shou Miko]

My go to advise for a fast boot drive is for gen 3 the 970 evo+ (if you can find 970 Pro all the better) for gen 4 I'd find a 980 or 990 pro for a boot drive, their random reads are far better than anyone else (I personally use the 990 Pro's as boot drives on my 2 of my backup rigs, main 2 rigs use Intel Optane's)

The 970 Evo Plus I been there and done that it's a really bad when it comes to temperature even had active cooling on it and it's still wasn't good enough.

My Sabrent Rocket 4.0 2TB is running much cooler and it better in every way.

I use to love Samsung but after the 970 Evo Plus and firmware issues on the sata drives they ain't my go to drive anymore the Kingston and WD's are so much better value, easier to cool and performance really good.

Generation don't matter much. But yeah the KC3000 looks like the best fit, but the 500GB version has a tendency to be pretty close to the 1TB version in cost... I'm not quite at the point of buying yet though and BS Black Friday is coming up so maybe I find something.

I hope you find a good bargain

 

[RootinTootinPootin]

really bad when it comes to temperature even had active cooling on it

never had issues on mine, I still have a 500GB and used to have 2x1GB as boot drives for my previous laptops, I have used the PRO as well, its in my NAS as the main drive and have no issues with it days to weeks turned on 24hrs. My room temps are controlled since I host a Threadripper Server and I never saw the 970 Evo+ peak beyond 40c

firmware issues

I never use samsung magician, I update using the DOS ISO they provide.

Kingston and WD's

I have a KC3000 still unused as I decided to use something else on my ROG Ally, I had SN850X's and SN850 that had a peculiar issue, they are a tad slow and there's a noticeable jitter when I install games and play on those WD Drives, no firmware update solves it, but when I put the games on my Firecuda 530's, no Jitters and games I/O perform very well with the Firecuda's.

Sold the WD Black's, even my Aorus 7300 Drives perform better than the WD's, not just that they also have the same controller as the Firecuda's.

 

[mechtech]

Hey hey.

So I'm looking for that and honestly I'm having trouble finding one that doesn't cost almost exactly the same as a 1TB drive. The reason I want a 500GB is because it'll be exclusively for OS and programs, and anything over 500GB will be a waste, unless I go all the way and get a 2TB drive and have the Epic folder on it as well. I have found a 2TB Kingston Fury Renegade for €120 I'll get, but ideally I want the OS/programs on a seperate drive.

Ya, that's why I went with the 1TB for the incrmental cost, it does give double the TBW endurance typically though, so I went that route.

My OS on a 1TB KC3000, files on a 2TB KC3000 and Steam on a 4TB. I agree, I prefer to have the OS/installed programs on its own drive.