The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Which is best? 2 regular SSDs in raid 0 or single nVme SSD?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by ekkolp, Mar 27, 2018.

  1. ekkolp

    ekkolp Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    106
    Messages:
    539
    Likes Received:
    379
    Trophy Points:
    76
    What would you choose?
     
  2. jclausius

    jclausius Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    6,160
    Messages:
    3,265
    Likes Received:
    2,573
    Trophy Points:
    231
    NVMe in RAID-0!

    OK. OK. Please give a bit more on the specifics to really answer this question?

    Better for what? Speed? Reliability?

    Apps that heavily rely on 'read' (RAID-1 might be better)? One that need better % of uptime (RAID-5 might be better)?

    What type of data/applications? Database? Virtual Machine? Video? Images? Games? Word processing?
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2018
    alexhawker likes this.
  3. ekkolp

    ekkolp Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    106
    Messages:
    539
    Likes Received:
    379
    Trophy Points:
    76
    Nope, single nVME or regular SSDs in RAID.
     
  4. ekkolp

    ekkolp Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    106
    Messages:
    539
    Likes Received:
    379
    Trophy Points:
    76
    Nope, single nVME or regular SSDs in RAID.
    Better for speed in games. Reliability is not needed.
     
  5. jclausius

    jclausius Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    6,160
    Messages:
    3,265
    Likes Received:
    2,573
    Trophy Points:
    231
    I think we're on different pages here. Reliability is needed... (at least for me). Why would I need RAID-0 when the only games on my system might be Solitaire, Minesweeper or Hearts? And I can't remember the last time I played any of those.

    You ask, which is best? I counter with 'best for what'? It really depends on what one wants. Perhaps a re-work of the title or question is needed?
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2018
    ekkolp likes this.
  6. yrekabakery

    yrekabakery Notebook Virtuoso

    Reputations:
    1,470
    Messages:
    3,438
    Likes Received:
    3,688
    Trophy Points:
    331
    RAID 0. I have not seen a single flagship NVMe drive that doesn't overheat and throttle inside of a notebook.
     
    ekkolp likes this.
  7. Galm

    Galm "Stand By, We're Analyzing The Situation!"

    Reputations:
    1,228
    Messages:
    5,696
    Likes Received:
    2,949
    Trophy Points:
    331
    I think you might be under a wrong impression? Which games that you play have shown to load faster with pcie ssds or raid?




    At the very least the vast majority of games are bottlenecking on something else once you have an ssd installed. It's possible there could be some specific game where this matters, but I hadn't known about it. There are way way better ways to spend your money than this otherwise.

    In general high speed nvme ssds are really only significantly better for things like video editing, massive file transfers, and unzipping massive files... Game load times, boot times, and general browsing are basically identical on nvme vs sata ssds.
     
    ekkolp likes this.
  8. ekkolp

    ekkolp Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    106
    Messages:
    539
    Likes Received:
    379
    Trophy Points:
    76
    Thank you all.
     
  9. Starlight5

    Starlight5 Yes, I'm a cat. What else is there to say, really?

    Reputations:
    826
    Messages:
    3,230
    Likes Received:
    1,643
    Trophy Points:
    231
    I'd choose JBOD. =p
     
    ekkolp likes this.
  10. Raidriar

    Raidriar ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

    Reputations:
    1,708
    Messages:
    5,820
    Likes Received:
    4,311
    Trophy Points:
    431
    Single largest capacity regular SSD you can afford > any NVMe SSD......unless you are doing some heavy IO load working (which gaming, word processing, computational calculations are not..), you are way better off buying the most capacity/reliability vs speed. NVMe drives are power hungry and run hot, things you really don't want in a notebook, especially in a gaming notebook where your power should really be allocated to your CPU/GPU and not a NVMe SSD.
     
  11. tilleroftheearth

    tilleroftheearth Wisdom listens quietly...

    Reputations:
    5,398
    Messages:
    12,692
    Likes Received:
    2,717
    Trophy Points:
    631
    I would choose 'neither' in your poll above.

    The biggest capacity 2.5" SSD you can afford (and OP by 33%...) is your best course of action for gaming scenarios and for most other notebook type usage. I'd recommend to save a little longer to get a 1TB or larger drive in a few weeks/months rather than having instant gratification today but with less performance (sustained), usability and longevity from a smaller/cheaper model.

    Note that your CPU and GPU (and whether you game on AC power or battery (or both) will more directly influence your gaming experience than any small differences between NVMe, SATAIII and/or RAID0 combinations of those will... especially on a mobile system/platform.
     
    Starlight5, Papusan and ekkolp like this.