1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,880 As far as exciting PC components go, 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:10,360 storage is pretty close to the bottom. So, I can understand why many gamers 3 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:14,720 simply add up their Steam backlog, key their target capacity into the filter 4 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:19,480 menu, sort by price, and click buy. I mean, it's not like your SSD impacts 5 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:23,800 gaming performance anyway. Or does it? Actually, it can. And even for 6 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:28,200 day-to-day use, the difference between a bottom-of-the-barrel SSD and a good one 7 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:32,040 can be a lot more than you would think from quickly glancing at a spec sheet. 8 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:36,840 And I'm not just talking about performance. Some of the most popular 9 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:42,320 SSDs on the market are missing an important feature that also impacts 10 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:46,800 reliability. I'm talking about cold, 11 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:48,840 hard cash, baby. That little DRAM cash 12 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:53,640 chip right there can [music] make a big difference, and many SSD makers just 13 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:57,840 don't want to talk about it. To the point where until you peel up the 14 00:00:55,680 --> 00:01:03,280 sticker, it can be hard to know whether their product has one or doesn't. Why? 15 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:08,240 Of course, the answer is the other kind of cash. So, let's talk about how to 16 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:12,840 tell the difference, how much it matters or doesn't matter, and which 17 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:16,320 manufacturers are transparent about their products, and which ones seem to 18 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:20,560 be going out of their way to make this information harder to find. Just like 19 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:26,560 I'm going out of my way to tell you about our sponsor. See who? Their new 20 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:28,640 SeeWho Doro C300 Pro V2 is a full-body 21 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:33,720 adaptive ergonomic chair with some features you may not be used to seeing 22 00:01:30,960 --> 00:01:38,320 or SeeWhoing. See who what I did? Learn more by using our link in the 23 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,320 video description. 24 00:01:41,526 --> 00:01:43,546 >> [music] 25 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:53,120 >> What's the difference between this SSD and this one? Well, if you knew that 26 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:57,840 this one came later, and if you were already familiar with this one, you 27 00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:02,960 would probably think that the SE was short for second edition or special 28 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:09,640 edition and that wow, that's a pretty good deal, right? Wrong. See, unlike the 29 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:11,560 original, the sequel omits a DRAM chip 30 00:02:09,640 --> 00:02:15,920 making it about as good of a follow-up on the original as the return of Jafar. 31 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:20,171 But, if you look at the product pages or the technical specifications, you will 32 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:24,680 find no mention of that important [music] difference. Now, the SE does 33 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:30,680 have things about it that are better. It moves to PCIe Gen 4, but the thing is 34 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:32,640 that even in a best-case scenario, this 35 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:36,760 drive hardly takes advantage of that increased bandwidth. So, what is 36 00:02:34,640 --> 00:02:41,680 supposed to be a product information sheet turns instead into a product 37 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:46,160 marketing sheet and WD [music] is far from the only one engaging in this 38 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:48,440 behavior. So, why does it matter? Well, 39 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:53,680 your SSD is actually a tiny little computer inside your computer with its 40 00:02:51,240 --> 00:02:58,680 own little energy-efficient SOC called a controller. The SOC [music] contains a 41 00:02:55,760 --> 00:03:03,800 CPU, firmware, its own memory by the way, and everything it needs both to 42 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:08,120 interface with your PC and with the NAND flash chips that actually store your 43 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:12,080 data. The ones that have a DRAM cache are using that to store the flash 44 00:03:09,959 --> 00:03:18,120 translation layer, which is sort of like a map or a lookup table that tells your 45 00:03:14,959 --> 00:03:20,360 operating system exactly where all of 46 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:24,480 the data is stored on the physical NAND that makes up your storage. Aside from 47 00:03:22,239 --> 00:03:28,519 improving performance by just knowing where your data lives, especially as the 48 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:34,000 drive becomes more full, that map helps your SSD to organize and decide which 49 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:38,480 blocks are best to erase and where to write new data in order to minimize 50 00:03:35,920 --> 00:03:43,160 wear. But, since some drives don't have a DRAM cache, obviously that's not the 51 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:48,440 only solution. Modern drives do have some good enough workarounds so they 52 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:53,080 don't need to use expensive DRAM, which is especially relevant today. For NVMe 53 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:57,480 drives, the ones that look like this, host memory buffer is a feature that 54 00:03:54,760 --> 00:04:02,440 uses a little bit of your system memory to store this map. It's not as fast as 55 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:06,560 having it directly on board the SSD or as large, but given that this strategy 56 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:11,360 is usually employed in lower cost drives, the PCIe interface has enough 57 00:04:09,520 --> 00:04:15,880 bandwidth for it to offer decent performance. Finally, the map can just 58 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:20,320 be stored on the good old regular NAND. None of these strategies are as good as 59 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:25,720 a dedicated DRAM chip on board though, which is exactly why years ago the 60 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:29,863 industry identified DRAM caches as an important factor for potential buyers 61 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:34,480 and plopped it front and center. But [music] then, fast forward to today and 62 00:04:31,919 --> 00:04:40,440 do you know whether your WD Black SSD has a DRAM chip? I do. Let me explain. 63 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:44,000 The top end SN850X does, but the SN7100 and SN770 do not, which is weird because 64 00:04:42,760 --> 00:04:49,320 if you go back a little further to the SN750, that drive does have a DRAM chip. 65 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:52,760 Not the SN750 SE though. [music] And things are even worse in WD Blue. Did 66 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:57,680 you know that if you buy a SATA WD Blue SA510 in 2 TB, it has a DRAM chip, but 67 00:04:55,720 --> 00:05:02,400 the smaller sizes of the same model don't? Are you confused yet? 68 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:08,680 You should be. No, really. You should be. As far as we can tell, WD 69 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:10,360 Black, Blue, Green, etc. are just colors 70 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:13,960 that exist [music] more to trick you into thinking something is better than 71 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:18,120 it is than they are about clear and consistent product labeling for 72 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:23,160 consumers. And WD is not the only one guilty of this. 73 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:28,960 SanDisk, Seagate, MSI, Corsair, Crucial, and Netac have all been guilty at times 74 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:33,000 of not sharing whether their drives use DRAM or not. Now, to be fair to our 75 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:38,040 corporate overlords, please don't punish me. Being DRAM-less doesn't make an SSD 76 00:05:35,840 --> 00:05:42,720 useless. Doesn't even make it bad. Modern drives with host memory buffer 77 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:47,760 can be perfectly performant, especially as a secondary storage drive or for for 78 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:52,080 And I will always say that real world performance trumps whatever you can put 79 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:55,680 on a spec sheet. But I also always say that consumers have a right to be 80 00:05:53,440 --> 00:06:00,440 informed about what they're buying. And too often, we were not able to confirm 81 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:04,800 whether a device had a DRAM chip or didn't without resorting to a 82 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:09,680 third-party resource like TechPowerUp or just having the physical drive in our 83 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:14,160 hands so that we could peel off the heat spreader {slash} sticker, likely voiding 84 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:18,840 our warranty. And this is important because there is one situation where I 85 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:23,200 would strongly recommend a DRAM cache, and that's as an operating system drive. 86 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:27,520 This is especially true as your drive starts to get older and more full, but 87 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:32,280 you will notice a difference in system responsiveness during background 88 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:36,240 operations like system updates or virus scans. And furthermore, if you wanted to 89 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:40,760 play a game that benefits from DirectStorage, that is, streaming game 90 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:44,520 assets directly from your SSD, it might not be a terrible idea to have a DRAM 91 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:47,880 cache drive for that as well. I think the most frustrating thing about this 92 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:52,200 for me, though, is how easy it would be for manufacturers to fix it. Samsung, 93 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:56,480 for all of their participation in this problem of some drives being DRAM-less 94 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:59,680 and others not, at least actually says whether their drives have DRAM right on 95 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:05,680 the product pages. I shouldn't have to praise them for that, but here we are. So, what do we do? 96 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:10,440 Well, we vote with our wallets. WD is dead as an SSD brand now, but SanDisk 97 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:14,080 still exists as a separate entity and has had a similarly spotty history. 98 00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:19,040 Though, to their credit, they've begun specifying the cache in their new Optimus lines data sheet, so [music] 99 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:22,960 that's progress. As for the companies who do disclose things properly, well, 100 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:27,760 Samsung we already mentioned, but also Kingston and Acer Predator all list 101 00:07:25,919 --> 00:07:32,360 whether their drives have a DRAM chip. So, as new Gen 5 SSDs continue to come 102 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:37,280 onto the market, pick the ones that let consumers know what the heck is inside 103 00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:40,520 them. And I mean, just generally, make your voice heard. If you were 104 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:44,280 researching an SSD and you had to dig deep to figure out whether it had D-RAM 105 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:48,080 or not, let the manufacturer know that that major shopping experience 106 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:53,320 frustrating. While you're at it, let them know about our sponsor. Sihoo, 107 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:57,880 their new Doro C300 Pro V2 office chair was built with your comfort in mind. 108 00:07:55,800 --> 00:08:02,520 Their signature Dinacore system offers full body dynamic support, not just for 109 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:07,000 your back, but in the headrest, lumbar, and armrests as well. The chair moves 110 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:10,920 with you as you adjust and get more comfortable with something they call 111 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:15,280 Synchro-Flex, which means you won't be constantly readjusting how you fit in 112 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:19,040 the chair. 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Or you can even sign up to their mailing list to save an additional $50. 121 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:58,400 You guys enjoyed this video, maybe you'll enjoy the time we water-cooled an SSD. Totally unnecessary, but definitely 122 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:58,400 fun.