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Possible advantages of 8th gen i5 with Intel SSD? There is Optane similar effects?

LMarr2
Beginner
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Hello, my question is this:

I have an 8th gen CPU (i5-8550u). I will buy a SATA M.2 SSD (unluckily I don't have NVMe interface). Intel provide SSD with benefits of the 8th gen cpu, like an Optane technology or similar (more than normal RST)?

 

With benchmark and studies on my side, I will go directly on Samsung 860 EVO but I need to know if there is some special technology like Optane Memory inside an SSD (for example Intel 545s SSD)

 

thank you

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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Optane memory requires a NVMe interface, which you just said you didn't have. Without the NVMe interface, you are limited to SATA speeds and most SATA SSDs are already maxing out the interface.

...S

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LMarr2
Beginner
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Thank you N. Scott,

this is clear statement from you

 

Not opting for an Optane memory, but for a Intel SSD, there is some different effect like Optane does on RAM less use or everything possible?

 

I mean, I would without doubt opt for the fastes SATA SSD (M.2 or not M.2) as Samsung, but since Intel is working hard on architectures, there is some specific piece of hardware different from Optane that works well with the 8th gen (or 9th) processors? Something like extra features only avaible with these two pieces of hardware togheter

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n_scott_pearson
Super User
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Speaking strictly in terms of the Gen. 1 Optane modules, which are used exclusively to accelerate HDD performance (through caching), I would certainly rather use the precious M.2 NVMe interface to host a super-fast SSD (like a Samsung 970 PRO/EVO SSD) rather than use it to host an Optane module to accelerate the performance of a separate SATA HDD.

 

Of course, with your existing design, this is a moot argument; you simply do not have a M.2 NVMe interface. So what can you do to maximize your performance? Well, there are a whole bunch of manufacturers building SATA SSDs that I would consider to be on an equal footing when it comes to performance. The fact is, the flash technologies that these manufacturers are using to implement many of their SSDs have achieved write speeds where the major bottleneck is the SATA (6 Gb/s) interface itself.

 

At the end of the day, you can only afford to spend so much for system storage. For many, considering their much higher costs per gigabyte, using SSDs exclusively is still out of the question. You can purchase a 2TB HDD for the cost of a 240GB SSD. So how do you maximize performance? Well, you should look into the use of a SSHD. A SSHD is a HDD with a small SSD built into it. This SSD is used to accelerate the performance of the HDD through caching, in much the same way that an Optane module can do so. The difference is that the SSHD is still bottle-necked by the performance of the SATA interface. As a result, the performance of this SSD does not need to be as high -- and this is reflected in the price. You can purchase a 2TB SSHD for not that much more than a 2TB HDD:

 

In 2.5" Drives, the price difference is small:

 

Seagate 2TB HDD is US$85: https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-Internal-Drive-2-5-Inch/dp/B07D99S8Z7.

Seagate 2TB SSHD is US$95: https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-FireCuda-Accelerated-Performance-ST2000LX001/dp/B01M1NHCZT.

 

In 3.5" Drives, the price difference is more significant:

 

Seagate 2TB HDD is US$60: https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-Internal-3-5-Inch-ST2000DM006/dp/B01IEKG402.

Seagate 2TB SSHD is US$100: https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-FireCuda-Gaming-Solid-Hybrid/dp/B07H28SY38.

 

Hope this helps,

...S

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