How big is the performance gap between 120G and 1TB SSD？
120G and 1TB SSD Analysis
Recent years have witnessed the rapid development in SSD industry. The industry is also unanimously optimistic about the future of SSD. However, SSD has not been widely available on a large scale. The reason is that the high price and capacity of SSD is fundamental element hindering its development.
Cost analysis for 120G and 1TB SSDs
Samsung 840EVO 120GB SSD motherboard has 2 flash chips in total
Samsung 840EVO 1TB SSD motherboard has 8 flash chips in total
In appearance, 120G and 1TB SSD are almost identical apart from capacity, operating voltage, current and other major parameters. When opening it, you will find that their controller is the same. The biggest difference is flash memory, which accounts for the vast majority costs of SSD. Samsung 840EVO 120G only has 2 flash memory, one of which the capacity can achieve 64GB. While 1TB has 8 flash memory, a single NAND flash can achieve the capacity of 128GB through the 8-layer packaging technology. In fact, why the 1TB SSD is expensive is the user is paying for the technology.
In addition to the increased capacity, is there any difference in 120G SSD and 1TB SSD performance?
We know that manufacturers will introduce different capacity version in the same series of SSDs, such as the 840EVO, with 120G, 250G, 500G, 750G and 1TB versions. Today we're going to look how different the performance is between the 120G SSD and the 1TB SSD?
120G and 1TB SSD theory read and write performance PK
CrystalDiskMark Performance Testing
CrystalDiskMark software is a tool for testing hard drives or storage devices, and a simple and easy-to-use interface allows you to test storage devices at any time. CrystalDiskMark runs five times by default, with 1000MB of data per time, and takes the best result.
Test scores of 1TB SSD and 120G SSD
CDM continuous read and write performance
CDM 4k random read and write performance
Test Summary: From CrystalDiskMark test results, Samsung 840EVO 1TB SSD continuous read-write speed exceeds 500MB/s, faster than 120G SSD. but 120G SSD is slightly better than 1TB in 4k random write performance.
AS SSD BenchMark texting
AS SSD Benchmark is a dedicated SSD benchmark performance test that is comprehensive and includes four aspects of testing (sequential read and write, 4K random read and write, 64 thread 4K read and write, seek time). In the test, the size of the test file was 1G Byte. With the AS SSD Benchmark test, we can get a comprehensive picture of the performance of an SSD.
Test scores of 1TB SSD and 120G SSD
AS SSD BenchMark 4K(QD64)random read and write performance（MB/s）
random read and write performance（IOPS）_hug_1.jpg)
AS SSD BenchMark 4K(QD64)random read and write performance（IOPS）
Test summary: AS SSD BenchMark test results directly reflect the difference between the two SSD. more obviously on 4K IOPS reading and writing, 1TB SSD of IOPS performance is much stronger than 120G SSD. But in the home environment, whether so high IOPS such as 84K, 86K can come in handy is another matter.
ATTO Disk BenchMark Text
ATTO Disk Benchmark is an easy-to-use disk transfer rate detection software that uses data test packages of different sizes, ranging from 0.5K, 1.0K, 2.0K to 8192.0KB, to respectively test read and write performance. The results displayed in the form of a bar chart have a good illustration of the different size file on the impact of disk speed.
Test scores of 1TB SSD and 120G SSD
ATTO Disk BenchMark continuous read and write performance test
Test summary: The ATTO Disk BenchMark test further verifies that the continuous read-write speed of 1TB SSD is better than 120G SSD. But they are almost equal to reading and writing small files such as 0.5K and 1.0K.
This segment uses the Storage Project item in PC Mark 7 to test the storage subsystem performance of the PC separately and give a score. PC Mark 7 is optimized for SSDs in the storage testing section and has a good reflection of the actual performance of SSDs. Test items: Antivirus testing; Picture import; video editing; Windows Media Center; Adding music; game launchers.
120G SSD Score: 5409
1TB SSD Score: 5479
test scores comparison
Test summary: According to CMD and AS SSD, such as more theoretical performance test software, 1TB SSD all won. But PCMark7 storage sub-project testing focused more on testing the performance of SSD in practice, the two are quite close, the actual use of the feeling should be similar.
In addition to the capacity advantage, 1TB SSD also has a longer life
SSD is different from mechanical hard disk, each flash memory has a wipe times, which is P/E. Flash is completely scrubbed once called 1 P/E, for example a 120G SSD writes 120G file means do P/E 1 times. 1TB SSD has nearly eight times the capacity than 120G, which means that 1TB SSD will have a longer life for users who write the same amount data.
Price decision purchase
In fact, apart from experience differences and the life of SSD, more people pay attention to the price. SSD capacity have increased and prices have fallen since 2018. The collapse in the price of memory chips has once again fueled the popularity of high-capacity SSDs. 1TB SSD will become mainstream in the near future.
With the capacity of high-end smartphones approaching or even exceeding the capacity of ordinary PC solid-state drives, taking advantage of the falling price of NAND memory chips can surely last a long time. In particular, NVMe SSD read-write speed is higher than SATA SSD, which is enough to meet read-write needs for years. So, it is optimal time for those who want to assemble computers. The 250-500gb SSDs is mainstream at present. Larger capacity SSDs such as 1tb SSD are also more focused than ever before, which are indispensable to support the mainstream SSD market. As the first - line brands cut prices, there will more thing happen in this market.