L'arnaque des SSD

Summary

The video explains why choosing an SSD involves more than comparing capacity, advertised speed, and price. Manufacturers may quietly change components between versions—or between capacities of the same model—without changing the model name, making SSDs difficult to compare before purchase.

SSD formats and interfaces

• SATA is an older, slower interface, with SSD speeds around 550 MB/s. SATA SSDs can still be a cost-effective choice, especially for basic storage or office use.
• M.2 describes an SSD’s physical format, not its speed or protocol. An M.2 drive can use SATA or NVMe, so the M.2 label alone does not guarantee high performance.
• NVMe is a protocol designed for flash storage and commonly uses PCI Express (PCIe) lanes. Higher PCIe generations offer more bandwidth, but cost more and require compatible hardware.
• A faster drive can work in a slower compatible slot, but its speed will be limited by the slot. Check the motherboard or laptop specifications before buying.

How much speed do you need?

The video gives approximate sequential speeds of 3,500 MB/s for PCIe 3.0, 7,500 MB/s for PCIe 4.0, and 14,000–16,000 MB/s for PCIe 5.0.

Its advice is that PCIe 4.0 is generally the sensible choice for gaming. PCIe 5.0 is unlikely to increase frame rates, and loading-time gains may be small. For office work, even SATA or PCIe 3.0 is usually adequate. Video editing and other heavy creative workloads can benefit more from faster drives, though the rest of the computer—especially the processor and graphics card—still matters.

SSD caches and component changes

A DRAM cache is a small, fast memory chip on some SSDs. The drive uses it to manage data before writing that data to flash memory. The video says it can help maintain performance, particularly under heavier workloads.

Less expensive drives may instead use:

• SLC caching, which temporarily stores data in part of the flash memory using one bit per cell.
• HMB (Host Memory Buffer), which uses some of the computer’s system RAM.

These features can help, but the video says they are not equivalent to having DRAM on the SSD. It also warns that manufacturers may omit DRAM on some capacities or revise a model’s components without changing the product name. Advertised peak speeds may therefore not tell the whole story; performance can fall during sustained use, especially without a cache.

The presenters criticize unclear product listings. They name Samsung, Kingston, and Acer Predator as examples they consider more transparent about cache information, and Western Digital, SanDisk, Corsair, and MSI as examples they consider less transparent. These are the video’s assessments, not a guarantee about every product from those brands.

Flash-memory types and heat

The video describes the main NAND types:

• SLC: One bit per cell; fast and costly.
• MLC: Two bits per cell.
• TLC: Three bits per cell; common in consumer SSDs.
• QLC: Four bits per cell; offers more capacity per cell but may have lower sustained performance and endurance.

Higher-density types can be cheaper to produce, but the video cautions that a QLC drive may perform poorly during long writes, particularly if it lacks an effective cache. Fast PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 SSDs can also get hot and throttle their performance; a heatsink may help manage temperatures.

Buying recommendations

• Gaming PC: Prefer a PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD for a general-purpose gaming drive. PCIe 5.0 is usually unnecessary for gaming. The video recommends checking that the drive uses TLC rather than choosing QLC solely because it appears similar in price.
• Budget or secondary storage: SATA can be a reasonable inexpensive option if the system has a SATA connection. For archives or less frequently accessed files, a drive without DRAM may be acceptable.
• System drive: For Windows, frequently used software, and regularly installed or removed games, the video recommends looking for a drive with a DRAM cache.
• Office work: SATA is generally sufficient. If a laptop only supports NVMe, PCIe 3.0 is likely adequate.
• Video editing and other creative work: PCIe 4.0 is presented as a good baseline. PCIe 5.0 may be worthwhile for workloads that genuinely benefit from high storage throughput, provided the system supports it.
• Steam Deck or ROG Ally: These use the smaller 2230 SSD format. The video notes that these compact drives may have fewer options and may lack DRAM, so it recommends choosing a TLC model when available.

The presenters recommend using TechPowerUp’s SSD database as a starting point for checking NAND type, cache, and other specifications. They caution that published information may become outdated if a manufacturer changes components without changing the model number.

Main speakers and sources

• Aurélien Sama — presenter.
• Mathis of French Hardware — presenter and hardware explainer.
• TechPowerUp’s SSD database — recommended reference for comparing SSD specifications.