WD Gaming mode 2.0, worth it?

[Bomby569]

So i got a WD ssd and found out this Gaming mode 2.0 in their software (i only downloaded it for the updates). Does this do anything? i had no idea this even existed.

 

[Ahhzz]

I haven't seen numbers, but iirc from when I got my NVMe, it's supposed to do "predictive loading". I didn't really see any effect for me, and because any additional writing is just more wear and tear, I turned it off.

 

[_JP_]

Sounds like it is the same as "RAPID Mode" that comes with the Samsung Magician tool.
Being so, it just uses a chunk of your RAM as a (faster) cache, to pre-load your most used data and also transient data that is not going to be immediately written to the SSD.
Back in the 5.0 days, Samsung actually recommended the use of UPS with this mode.

 

[QuietBob]

It's hard to say what Game Mode 2.0 really does, as the official description is just a bunch of "pro-gamer" nonsense
Tom's have done some testing, and in fact the drive scores better without it. They were able to find very minute differences (1-2%) in synthetic tests, however they didn't test any actual games.

I'd recommend leaving it off, as it seems to have a placebo effect mostly.

 

[Bomby569]

thanks, i will turn it off then

 

[bug]

It's hard to say what Game Mode 2.0 really does, as the official description is just a bunch of "pro-gamer" nonsense

That is the most sincere way a company will tell you a feature does nothing, at best. Any additional clarification would land the in hot water.

 

[thewan]

We need a @W1zzard SSD review and comparison of similar tech. Like it or not, these "gimmicks" are paving the way to make direct storage the best it can be.

For now, from what I gather from marketing blurb and reviews, I believe this to be most beneficial in a single SSD setup. If you game, stream and record your game session, while entertaining and communicating with your viewers, you will have a lot of juggling between gaming reads and video recording writes, together with everything else in the background. An SSD that can do thermal and load balancing together with prediction and scheduling for mix sustained and bursty workloads to maintain its performance would improve the experience of both the gamer and the viewer.

WD Black SN850X SSD Review: Back in Black (Updated)

The WD Black SN850X is one of the fastest drives around for gaming.

www.tomshardware.com

(Read the Game Mode 2.0, Software and Accessories section)

The DirectStorage Advantage: Phison IO+ SSD Firmware Preview

Finally, a use for that extra NVMe performance.

www.tomshardware.com

Phison I/O+ Technology Preview - DirectStorage Gaming Companion

MS DirectStorage gaming is about to arrive and Phison is prepared to deliver direct to GPU texture streams at the highest level.

www.tweaktown.com

Phison I/O+ Technology is firmware specifically optimized for sustained read workloads that run for hours. Significant gains are seen on tasks that emphasize medium to large IO (32K to 1MB), which is the exact type of workload served up by DirectStorage-enabled games. A typical consumer SSD is optimized for burst IO with long idle periods. DirectStorage workloads impose sustained stress on the NAND, leaving no idle time for recovery. This forces the SSD to perform maintenance operations mixed with host-generated IO, negatively impacting SSD performance. Phison I/O+ technology uses smart scheduling and adaptive wear algorithms to ensure that this maintenance activity does not interfere with the sustained workload.

the gist of it from the tweaktown article, go there to read the whole thing including some benchmarks. this is only for Phison powered SSDs. WD needs its own tech to compete, which looks like what it is doing with Gaming Mode.

 

[W1zzard]

which is the exact type of workload served up by DirectStorage-enabled games

good that they can predict the future .. there is not a single game using DirectStorage, only some basic demos for getting the api to work.. until there's a significant number of titles using DS don't believe anything they are saying

 

[bug]

good that they can predict the future .. there is no a single game using DirectStorage, only some basic demos .. until there's a significant number of titles using DS don't believe anything they are saying

They'll just rewrite everything from scratch and launched as 2.0, if needed. They just need to make it look like they're at the forefront of things.

 

[W1zzard]

It's hard to say what Game Mode 2.0 really does, as the official description is just a bunch of "pro-gamer" nonsense
Tom's have done some testing, and in fact the drive scores better without it. They were able to find very minute differences (1-2%) in synthetic tests, however they didn't test any actual games.

I'd recommend leaving it off, as it seems to have a placebo effect mostly.

Maybe that's why WD has ignored several emails I sent them regarding SN850X sampling .. and not sure if it's worth buying one just for this testing

 

[QuietBob]

Maybe that's why WD has ignored several emails I sent them regarding SN850X sampling .. and not sure if it's worth buying one just for this testing

It's a shame they didn't send you one. Other than the uncertain benefits of their touted Game Mode, it seems to be one of the fastest drives around, up there with the SK Hynix Platinum P41 / Solidigm P44 Pro.

thanks, i will turn it off then

Enjoy your new drive, you made a great purchase! In fact, I just ordered exactly the same model. And I'm not even a pro-gamer

 

[Tropick]

I see a tiny bit of improvement with gaming mode 2.0 enabled in the 3dmark storage bench, but day-to-day the performance is pretty much identical. The difference may very well be within margin of error.

Gaming mode 2.0 disabled: 3,853

Gaming mode 2.0 enabled: 3,897

 

[tabascosauz]

It's a shame they didn't send you one. Other than the uncertain benefits of their touted Game Mode, it seems to be one of the fastest drives around, up there with the SK Hynix Platinum P41 / Solidigm P44 Pro.

Enjoy your new drive, you made a great purchase! In fact, I just ordered exactly the same model. And I'm not even a pro-gamer

I hate gimmicks so I use neither Game Mode 1.0 on my SN750 nor Game Mode 2.0 on my SN850X (the two seem to function differently). Neither made any tangible performance difference.

I still have WD toolbox installed, however, because in the few weeks I've owned the SN850X there have actually been a bunch of firmware updates for it. Who knows, maybe Game Mode does something now. In any case if it functioned as described, it would need time to figure out user habits anyway, meaning a fair ON/OFF comparison is hard to make.

 

[chrcoluk]

Dont see the point of this stuff on flash storage, also adding layers for i/o I consider risky for data corruption etc. so I would keep it disabled.

 

[StevenG]

If you have a WD SN850 or WD SN750 M.2 drive don't have the Dashboard Gaming Mode 2.0 on all the time while on battery, as it uses allot of power and can damage the laptops battery long term. I've got an 2TB SN850 with the Acer Predator Helios 18 - PH18-71, just got it in Europe and I'm using the WD SN850 as a gaming slave and the WD Gaming Mode 2.0 I only turn on when gaming, I've also upgraded the boot to the 1TB Samsung 990 Pro and this thing is an unbelievable beast with i9-13900HX - 32GB DDR5-4800Mhz ram and the RTX-4080 .

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