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TSSDR TEST BENCH AND PROTOCOL
SSD testing at TSSDR differs slightly, depending on whether we are looking at consumer or enterprise storage media. For our Samsung 970 Pro 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD testing today, our goal is to test in a system that has been optimized with our newest resource, The SSD Reviewers Guide to SSD Optimization 2018. To see the best performance possible, the CPU C states have been disabled, C1E support has been disabled, Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST) has been disabled. Benchmarks for consumer testing are also benchmarks with a fresh drive so, not only can we verify that manufacturer specifications are in line but also, so the consumer can replicate our tests to confirm that they have an SSD that is top-notch. We even provide links to most of the benchmarks used in the report.
Just a bit interesting perhaps, is the fact that, at least typically, our best data transfer speeds would be achieved with a Z-series CPU, rather than an Extreme CPU (X-Series). That’s not the case with the Samsung 970 Pro where we found our X299 bench to provide the best results.
TSSDR ASROCK X299 FATAL1TY TEST BENCH (link)
SYSTEM COMPONENTS
The components of this Test Bench are detailed below. All hardware is linked for purchase and product sales may be reached by a simple click on the individual item. As well, the title is linked back to the individual build article where performance testing can be validated.
| PC CHASSIS: | Corsair Arctic White 760T Graphite |
| MOTHERBOARD: | ASRock X299 Fatal1ty Pro Gaming i9 |
| CPU: | Intel i9-7900X 10 Core |
| CPU COOLER: | Corsair Hydro Series H115i |
| POWER SUPPLY: | Corsair RM850X |
| GRAPHICS: | PNY GeForce GTX 1080 XLR8 Gaming OC |
| SYSTEM COOLING: | Corsair HD140 RGBDual Fans with Controller |
| MEMORY: | Corsair Vengeance RGB DDR-3600 (32GB) |
| KEYBOARD: | Corsair Gaming K68 Mechanical |
| MOUSE: | Corsair Glave RGB Aluminum Gaming |
| MOUSE PAD: | Corsair Gaming MM800C Polaris RGB |
BENCHMARK SOFTWARE
The software in use for today’s analysis is typical of many of our reviews and consists of Crystal Disk Info, ATTO Disk Benchmark, Crystal Disk Mark, AS SSD, Anvil’s Storage Utilities, AJA, PCMark 8 Storage 2.0, PCMark 8 Extended, PCMark Vantage, as well real data transfer testing. Our selection of software allows each to build on the last and to provide validation to results already obtained.
CRYSTAL DISK INFO VER. 7.5.0
Crystal Disk Info is a great tool for displaying the characteristics and health of storage devices. It displays everything from temperatures, the number of hours the device has been powered, and even to the extent of informing you of the firmware of the device.
CDI validates that our SSD is running in PCIe 3.0 X4, and more importantly, that the latest NVM Express 1.3 protocol is in use.
ATTO Disk Benchmark is perhaps one of the oldest benchmarks going and is definitely the main staple for manufacturer performance specifications. ATTO uses RAW or compressible data and, for our benchmarks, we use a set length of 256mb and test both the read and write performance of various transfer sizes ranging from 0.5 to 8192kb. Manufacturers prefer this method of testing as it deals with raw (compressible) data rather than random (includes incompressible data) which, although more realistic, results in lower performance results.
ATTO validates that the Samsung 970 Pro NVMe SSD meets manufactures specifications of 3.5GB/s read and 2.7GB/s write. Our sample is the 1TB capacity, whereas the 512GB capacity only has a rating of 3.5GB/s read and 2.3GB/s write, write performance being just a bit lower.
THOSE 4 K NUMBERS AIN’T CONSISTENT ,ANVIL CAN’T BE RIGGED THEREFOR 60 MBPS RANDOM READS AND 200 WRITES IS MORE TO THE REALM,IT AINT THAT QUICK,I GET 3.56 GBPS READS FROM A FLAGSHIP OEM/IBM VARIANT,CRYSTAL SOFTWARE ,THAT DON’T MEAN I OUGHT TO ASSUME IT’S THE REAL WORLD,NO?
YOU FAILED TOIMENTION SPECIFIC DRIVERS USED IN THIS UNREAL CRYSTAL BENCH TEST,NO?
The 512GB version of the Samsung 970 PRO was indeed a bargain! I snagged one for $119.99 on Newegg with promo code a few months ago. While writes aren’t as great as the 1TB version, read speeds are over 3,200MB/sec & writes over 2,600MB/sec on my ASRock Z97 Extreme6 system. Both reads & writes improved big time over the 950 PRO of the same capacity (2300/1500MB/sec).
Can’t wait for the 980 PRO, which should introduce PCIe 4.0 support!