{"video_id":"omEm40cIsI0","title":"Is Your SSD FAST Enough?","channel":"Techquickie","show":"Techquickie","published_at":"2020-05-05T14:58:16Z","duration_s":435,"segments":[{"start_s":0.32,"end_s":5.52,"text":"although it's common knowledge that virtually any SSD is going to be a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":4.0,"end_s":10.32,"text":"noticeable improvement over a traditional spinning hard drive there is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":7.68,"end_s":15.839,"text":"still a huge amount of variation in speed among different models of ssds","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":14.08,"end_s":20.24,"text":"on the low end they might advertise speeds of a few hundred megabytes per","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":18.0,"end_s":25.6,"text":"second while at the high end you might see close to three gigabytes per second","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":23.359,"end_s":31.359,"text":"with a price tag to match but here's a basic rule to remember just because one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":28.32,"end_s":33.76,"text":"SSD purports to give you 10 times the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":31.359,"end_s":38.48,"text":"speed doesn't mean that your computing experience will actually be 10 times","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":35.76,"end_s":42.0,"text":"more enjoyable so let's take a deeper dive into what the manufacturer provided","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":40.719,"end_s":46.0,"text":"numbers mean and some other factors that might be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":44.32,"end_s":50.64,"text":"more important now the large impressive numbers that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":48.559,"end_s":57.28,"text":"are most often trumpeted by SSD manufacturers are the maximum sequential","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":53.76,"end_s":59.12,"text":"speeds which are how fast a drive can be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":57.28,"end_s":63.84,"text":"if all you're doing is moving around single large files that stay in one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":61.76,"end_s":67.92,"text":"piece on your device but the thing is for most users that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":66.08,"end_s":72.24,"text":"simply isn't how they're using their systems day to day","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":69.6,"end_s":77.439,"text":"instead the real advantage of an SSD often comes from how many iops it can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":74.88,"end_s":82.56,"text":"handle a measure of how many smaller operations it can deal with per second","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":80.24,"end_s":87.28,"text":"so think about loading up a web page launching a program or posting a video","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":84.56,"end_s":92.96,"text":"to social media none of these everyday activities require huge contiguous","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":90.24,"end_s":97.759,"text":"blocks of information to be read from or written to your SSD","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":95.2,"end_s":103.36,"text":"however if you've got a slow mechanical hard drive these tasks can take quite a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":100.56,"end_s":108.159,"text":"while and this was never more evident than when the first consumer ssds hit","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":105.84,"end_s":111.92,"text":"the market using the original SATA protocol","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":109.28,"end_s":115.759,"text":"it was capped at about 150 megabytes a second now although the sequential","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":113.52,"end_s":119.28,"text":"speeds of these early ssds weren't that much faster than hard drives because","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":117.439,"end_s":124.96,"text":"they were both up against the same interface limit they blew mechanical","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":122.24,"end_s":128.56,"text":"drives out of the water in terms of iops because they didn't have to wait around","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":126.719,"end_s":133.12,"text":"for the platter to position itself correctly under the head before any data","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":130.879,"end_s":138.8,"text":"could be read or written instead small random areas of the SSD","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":136.239,"end_s":142.959,"text":"could be accessed nearly instantaneously making the system feel much more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":140.879,"end_s":147.599,"text":"responsive even though the speeds on paper weren't all that impressive","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":145.28,"end_s":151.76,"text":"so unless you're often doing large file transfers iops are going to be more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":150.319,"end_s":157.28,"text":"important but don't stress out too much about those","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":155.04,"end_s":161.76,"text":"either pretty much any good quality modern SSD will be able to handle the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":159.44,"end_s":166.64,"text":"kinds of random operations that the average desktop user would throw at them","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":164.48,"end_s":171.36,"text":"unless they were to come up against some pretty specialized workloads","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":168.959,"end_s":175.68,"text":"you see most drives are going to list their iops alongside a particular queue","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":174.0,"end_s":178.64,"text":"depth or qd which is basically a measure of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":177.2,"end_s":182.48,"text":"drive's performance while it has a certain number of tasks","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":180.959,"end_s":187.04,"text":"that it's waiting to complete in the background so if you're hitting the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":184.48,"end_s":192.48,"text":"drive with tons of requests the queue depth will get longer and longer and the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":189.84,"end_s":196.959,"text":"drive will be able to handle more iops by scheduling them more efficiently","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":194.879,"end_s":202.159,"text":"but the thing is is that it's really difficult for even a power user like a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":199.68,"end_s":206.0,"text":"video editor to push past a queue depth of about eight so those gaudy","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":204.48,"end_s":210.64,"text":"measurements that you'll see listed on the spec sheets at qdep 32","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":208.959,"end_s":215.519,"text":"are essentially meaningless unless you're running a ton of virtual machines","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":212.72,"end_s":220.72,"text":"on a single drive so then how many iops do you actually need at lower more","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":218.0,"end_s":225.68,"text":"realistic queue depths the answer is honestly not all that many","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":222.799,"end_s":230.879,"text":"even a drive that lists 10 000 iops read at q depth 1 can probably give you 30 to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":228.48,"end_s":233.76,"text":"40 megabytes a second of throughput which","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":231.76,"end_s":238.48,"text":"might not sound like much but considering that we're talking about","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":235.36,"end_s":240.56,"text":"random small operations instead of big","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":238.48,"end_s":246.2,"text":"chunks of data you're still probably going to have quite a snappy experience","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":243.439,"end_s":251.519,"text":"and newer higher-end ssds can give you significantly more throughput than that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":249.2,"end_s":255.76,"text":"now that's not to say that modern drives can't have some important bottlenecks","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":253.84,"end_s":260.88,"text":"the really cheap ones for example that don't have a dram cache or that use a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":258.4,"end_s":265.759,"text":"very poor quality controller can suffer from noticeably worse responsiveness","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":264.0,"end_s":271.36,"text":"now i want to change gears a little maybe you don't use your SSD in a pc but","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":268.96,"end_s":275.68,"text":"rather as a recording drive for your 4k cinema camera now this is where","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":274.08,"end_s":280.96,"text":"sequential performance is going to matter more but take the numbers on the spec sheet","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":278.88,"end_s":287.12,"text":"with a grain of salt you see as we explained in this video ssds are made up","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":283.759,"end_s":290.479,"text":"of billions of tiny cells which can hold","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":287.12,"end_s":292.88,"text":"between one and four bits each","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":290.479,"end_s":298.24,"text":"drives that hold more bits per cell are cheaper per Gigabyte but they're also","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":295.6,"end_s":303.6,"text":"slower so many consumer drives will reserve a certain number of their cells","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":300.56,"end_s":304.96,"text":"as a fast cache that will only hold one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":303.6,"end_s":309.6,"text":"bit per cell so what ends up happening is that if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":307.12,"end_s":314.639,"text":"you're moving a large file the drive is going to hit that reserved cache first","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":312.16,"end_s":318.639,"text":"at very high speeds but after a certain amount of time it's going to get all","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":316.56,"end_s":323.28,"text":"filled up and the sequential speeds will drop significantly","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":320.72,"end_s":327.199,"text":"so your best bet is to figure out how large the files you need to move around","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":325.12,"end_s":331.6,"text":"usually are and how quickly you need your file transfers to go","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":329.36,"end_s":336.24,"text":"then go look up the drives you're interested in on a reputable review site","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":333.68,"end_s":339.52,"text":"to see what their actual sustained performances it should be relatively","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":338.32,"end_s":343.44,"text":"quick math you might find that you could make use","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":341.36,"end_s":348.88,"text":"of a more expensive NVMe drive that can handle well over one Gigabyte per second","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":346.479,"end_s":352.88,"text":"or you might find that a cheaper SATA SSD will serve you just fine","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":351.36,"end_s":358.4,"text":"and if you're using your computer to game odds are a pricey NVMe drive won't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":356.0,"end_s":361.919,"text":"help you much beyond maybe shaving a couple of seconds off your loading times","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":360.4,"end_s":366.56,"text":"because the bottlenecks tend to be elsewhere in the system whether it's CPU","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":364.639,"end_s":370.8,"text":"RAM or otherwise so you might be better off just buying a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":368.8,"end_s":376.08,"text":"regular say to drive and putting your extra cash towards more storage capacity","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":374.0,"end_s":380.479,"text":"a better graphics card or maybe something really important like an RGB","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":378.96,"end_s":384.8,"text":"headphone stand becoming great at math science and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":382.4,"end_s":388.72,"text":"computer science doesn't have to be dull brilliant is a problem-solving website","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":386.72,"end_s":393.919,"text":"and app with a hands-on approach with over 50 interactive courses brilliant","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":391.44,"end_s":398.08,"text":"courses have storytelling code writing interactive challenges and problems to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":396.16,"end_s":402.72,"text":"solve and with brilliant you get to unravel the concepts bit by bit and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":400.56,"end_s":406.639,"text":"build up to an interesting conclusion to discover deep truths and unexpected","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":404.479,"end_s":410.56,"text":"places for example check out their scientific thinking course where you'll","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":408.08,"end_s":413.52,"text":"develop a solid foundation in physics while playing with puzzles you can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":412.319,"end_s":418.0,"text":"explore the physics of mirror reflections and laser tag and solve","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":415.84,"end_s":422.56,"text":"problems like this one to broaden your own intuition so check them out at the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":420.56,"end_s":425.919,"text":"link in the video description so thanks for watching guys like dislike","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":424.56,"end_s":432.16,"text":"check out our other videos leave a comment with video suggestions and don't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":428.319,"end_s":433.599,"text":"forget to subscribe and follow","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":432.16,"end_s":436.56,"text":"and maybe even ring the bell if you're feeling charitable","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"although it's common knowledge that virtually any SSD is going to be a noticeable improvement over a traditional spinning hard drive there is still a huge amount of variation in speed among different models of ssds on the low end they might advertise speeds of a few hundred megabytes per second while at the high end you might see close to three gigabytes per second with a price tag to match but here's a basic rule to remember just because one SSD purports to give you 10 times the speed doesn't mean that your computing experience will actually be 10 times more enjoyable so let's take a deeper dive into what the manufacturer provided numbers mean and some other factors that might be more important now the large impressive numbers that are most often trumpeted by SSD manufacturers are the maximum sequential speeds which are how fast a drive can be if all you're doing is moving around single large files that stay in one piece on your device but the thing is for most users that simply isn't how they're using their systems day to day instead the real advantage of an SSD often comes from how many iops it can handle a measure of how many smaller operations it can deal with per second so think about loading up a web page launching a program or posting a video to social media none of these everyday activities require huge contiguous blocks of information to be read from or written to your SSD however if you've got a slow mechanical hard drive these tasks can take quite a while and this was never more evident than when the first consumer ssds hit the market using the original SATA protocol it was capped at about 150 megabytes a second now although the sequential speeds of these early ssds weren't that much faster than hard drives because they were both up against the same interface limit they blew mechanical drives out of the water in terms of iops because they didn't have to wait around for the platter to position itself correctly under the head before any data could be read or written instead small random areas of the SSD could be accessed nearly instantaneously making the system feel much more responsive even though the speeds on paper weren't all that impressive so unless you're often doing large file transfers iops are going to be more important but don't stress out too much about those either pretty much any good quality modern SSD will be able to handle the kinds of random operations that the average desktop user would throw at them unless they were to come up against some pretty specialized workloads you see most drives are going to list their iops alongside a particular queue depth or qd which is basically a measure of the drive's performance while it has a certain number of tasks that it's waiting to complete in the background so if you're hitting the drive with tons of requests the queue depth will get longer and longer and the drive will be able to handle more iops by scheduling them more efficiently but the thing is is that it's really difficult for even a power user like a video editor to push past a queue depth of about eight so those gaudy measurements that you'll see listed on the spec sheets at qdep 32 are essentially meaningless unless you're running a ton of virtual machines on a single drive so then how many iops do you actually need at lower more realistic queue depths the answer is honestly not all that many even a drive that lists 10 000 iops read at q depth 1 can probably give you 30 to 40 megabytes a second of throughput which might not sound like much but considering that we're talking about random small operations instead of big chunks of data you're still probably going to have quite a snappy experience and newer higher-end ssds can give you significantly more throughput than that now that's not to say that modern drives can't have some important bottlenecks the really cheap ones for example that don't have a dram cache or that use a very poor quality controller can suffer from noticeably worse responsiveness now i want to change gears a little maybe you don't use your SSD in a pc but rather as a recording drive for your 4k cinema camera now this is where sequential performance is going to matter more but take the numbers on the spec sheet with a grain of salt you see as we explained in this video ssds are made up of billions of tiny cells which can hold between one and four bits each drives that hold more bits per cell are cheaper per Gigabyte but they're also slower so many consumer drives will reserve a certain number of their cells as a fast cache that will only hold one bit per cell so what ends up happening is that if you're moving a large file the drive is going to hit that reserved cache first at very high speeds but after a certain amount of time it's going to get all filled up and the sequential speeds will drop significantly so your best bet is to figure out how large the files you need to move around usually are and how quickly you need your file transfers to go then go look up the drives you're interested in on a reputable review site to see what their actual sustained performances it should be relatively quick math you might find that you could make use of a more expensive NVMe drive that can handle well over one Gigabyte per second or you might find that a cheaper SATA SSD will serve you just fine and if you're using your computer to game odds are a pricey NVMe drive won't help you much beyond maybe shaving a couple of seconds off your loading times because the bottlenecks tend to be elsewhere in the system whether it's CPU RAM or otherwise so you might be better off just buying a regular say to drive and putting your extra cash towards more storage capacity a better graphics card or maybe something really important like an RGB headphone stand becoming great at math science and computer science doesn't have to be dull brilliant is a problem-solving website and app with a hands-on approach with over 50 interactive courses brilliant courses have storytelling code writing interactive challenges and problems to solve and with brilliant you get to unravel the concepts bit by bit and build up to an interesting conclusion to discover deep truths and unexpected places for example check out their scientific thinking course where you'll develop a solid foundation in physics while playing with puzzles you can explore the physics of mirror reflections and laser tag and solve problems like this one to broaden your own intuition so check them out at the link in the video description so thanks for watching guys like dislike check out our other videos leave a comment with video suggestions and don't forget to subscribe and follow and maybe even ring the bell if you're feeling charitable"}