Saying goodbye to a trusty SSD is not as easy as you think.
When you constantly test the best graphics cards and processors, you tend to find reliable equipment and rely heavily on them. For me, I like to have the same test drive in all my tests, taking it to every build I do. Sometimes it's because it already has all the tests and settings I need, and other times it's just because I know it's a reliable drive.
However, my main test drive for the past three years has been the ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro, a drive that by today's standards is quite slow. And, with all the new hardware and software that will be created to take advantage of it, it's about time my humble little test drive grew a little bigger.
Fortunately, now that all major computing platforms support PCIe 4.0 SSDs, I can upgrade to my current favorite SSD, the Samsung 980 Pro.
You could have done it earlier, Jackie.
Yeah I know, nothing stopped me from inserting a PCIe 3.0 SSD before. Even motherboards that don't support the standard would be able to read it, they just couldn't use the higher speeds.
And I know I could have made the switch when the Intel Core i9-11900K dropped, because that's when Intel SSDs started supporting PCIe 4.0 drives.
But listen, I didn't because it would have taken time and also required the presence of mind to do the update. Two things I'm not very used to.
Now we can examine more SSD
One of the biggest bottlenecks we've faced trying to review more SSDs to help readers like you find the best one, whether you're a gamer looking to build a smooth gaming rig or just want to spice up an aging laptop. was the speed gap between PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 3.0.
I spent a lot of time trying to think of a solid push to keep as a test to provide a solid baseline and make sure all results are comparable. The last thing I want to do is write an SSD review where I leave performance on the table because I haven't paired it with the fastest possible drive.
But deciding which reader is tricky because there are so many great readers. However, the right drive was staring me in the face from the top of our best SSD buying guide.
The Samsung 980 Pro has been great hardware throughout its life. It's fast, relatively affordable for a high-end part, and even has a heatsink version for the PS5. As common as it is, I feel much more comfortable basing all my reviews on my PC components for the foreseeable future.
And now the seal is broken, and the embarrassing pile of SSDs I put off reviewing until I have "more time", even though I literally never have more time, can finally be examined.
Who knows, though, you may have to upgrade again in a year or so when PCIe 5.0 drives finally become available. Namely, Intel 12th Gen processors already support it, so we hope to see even faster drives in the near future.
Other Testbed Updates
The SSD isn't the only part of the system that I'm reconsidering, and in the name of trying to foster more clarity in the life of a hardware tester, I'm making a few other changes to the main hardware that I'll be using to test everything from a new graphics card to the best new PC games as they are released.
With the speed of the Intel Core i9-12900K, I'll be using it as my main test platform, instead of the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X that I used before. The Intel Core i9-12900K is so good that it will help remove all the bottlenecks. In my tests, it barely matched the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 at 1080p, and I thought it would take a few more processor generations before I got there.
And with the move to Intel Alder Lake as my primary test platform, I'll also be opting for a 5GB 32MHz DDR5200 kit. Specifically, it will be the Corsair Dominator. It's mainly because this RAM was physically closer to me when I decided to change things up, but it also looks great and helps a lot. After all, it's something I can see and disassociate while running my 50th benchmark at 9pm while stuck in the office. "Oooh, nice", basically.
There will be times when I'll have to use DDR4 RAM instead, but luckily I have a DDR690-compatible Z4 card on hand to make sure AMD vs. Intel comparisons are fair. Hopefully the next AMD Ryzen desktop processors will support DDR5, although I think it's pretty safe to assume that they will.
My personal machine is the following
Aunque tengo que mantener actualizado el equipo de pruebas de mi oficina, puedo dejar que mi equipo personal comience a envejecer un poco. Hago pruebas de juego de vez en cuando, pero normallymente no noto nada. I'll just play a game to find a good benchmarking loop and get a general idea of how it performs at high resolution and high settings the night before I start testing, and save the hardcore testing for the despacho.
But my team is starting to get a little old. Well, not old, but old enough that it's safe to do some updates.
Right now at home I'm equipped with a Ryzen 9 3900X, 32GB of DDR4 3000MHz, a 8200GB ADATA XPG SX512, and an RTX 3090. Also, I have a collection of SATA SSDs that I store games on that don't fit. my drive C:/.
In the next few months, I'd like to upgrade this chip to an Intel Alder Lake chip, with DDR5 RAM and PCIe 4.0 SSD. So far I haven't felt the need to, mainly because I usually play at 3440x1440, a resolution where all the work is put on the GPU anyway. But I keep hearing about DirectStorage, and it's only a matter of time before a faster SSD really matters for gaming.
We're definitely not there yet, but now that I've removed my PCIe 3.0 C:/ drive from my test bed, it might be time to do the same at home.