QLC Goes To 8TB: Samsung 870 QVO and Sabrent Rocket Q 8TB SSDs Reviewed
by Billy Tallis on December 4, 2020 8:00 AM ESTMixed Random Performance
Our test of mixed random reads and writes covers mixes varying from pure reads to pure writes at 10% increments. Each mix is tested for up to 1 minute or 32GB of data transferred. The test is conducted with a queue depth of 4, and is limited to a 64GB span of the drive. In between each mix, the drive is given idle time of up to one minute so that the overall duty cycle is 50%.
The 8TB Sabrent Rocket Q's performance on the mixed random IO test is much better than any of the other low-end NVMe drives; the DRAMless TLC drives are the slowest in this bunch, and the Intel 660p with its four-channel controller cannot keep up with the Rocket Q's 8-channel Phison E12. The 8TB Samsung 870 QVO is slower than most of the other SATA drives in this bunch, but still has a clear advantage over the 1TB model.
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| Power Efficiency in MB/s/W | Average Power in W | ||||||||
The high-end consumer NVMe drives and the Samsung 860 EVO TLC SATA drive top the power efficiency chart for the mixed random IO test. The Sabrent Rocket Q's efficiency is a significant step down from there, but still a bit better than any of the other low-end drives. The 8TB 870 QVO's efficiency score is worse than the 4TB model's, but clearly better than the 1TB model or either of the DRAMless TLC NVMe drives.
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Both of the 8TB QLC drives show fairly typical performance curves for the mixed random IO test: little or no performance drop when writes are first added to the mix, and then increasing performance that accelerates toward the end of the test as write caching becomes more effective. The 8TB 870 QVO doesn't show the signs of a filled SLC cache that we see from the 1TB model, and neither 8TB QLC drive shows the nearly-flat performance exhibited by the two DRAMless TLC drives.
Mixed Sequential Performance
Our test of mixed sequential reads and writes differs from the mixed random I/O test by performing 128kB sequential accesses rather than 4kB accesses at random locations, and the sequential test is conducted at queue depth 1. The range of mixes tested is the same, and the timing and limits on data transfers are also the same as above.
The Sabrent Rocket Q's performance on the mixed sequential IO test is competitive with the high-end consumer TLC drives, and far better than the other low-end NVMe options. The 8TB Samsung 870 QVO has distinctly lower performance than the smaller capacities, but isn't quite the worst overall performer.
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| Power Efficiency in MB/s/W | Average Power in W | ||||||||
The good performance of the Rocket Q on the mixed sequential IO test comes at the cost of worse power efficiency than the DRAMless TLC competition, but its efficiency scores are still decent. The 8TB 870 QVO's efficiency scores are worse than any of the other consumer SSDs in this bunch.
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As with several other synthetic tests in our suite, the mixed sequential IO test has the Sabrent Rocket Q showing rather variable performance, though fortunately without any severe drops. It performs a bit better during the more write-heavy half of the test.
The Samsung 870 QVO shows relatively flat and consistent performance throughout this test, but as is common for Samsung drives there's a bit of a decreasing performance trend during the read-heavy half of the test.
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Silver5urfer - Friday, December 4, 2020 - link
$900+Tax for this garbage QLC ? Utter shame. SSDs are most useful for gaming, better have 2x 860 PRO 4TBs even if it's expensive as it's going to be last one with MLC technology. And Movies, are fine with the HDD drives.High Capacity drives are mostly for the 4K, Movies and Anime etc content or maybe photos. Any NAS grade drive for the archiving purpose is much much better only issue is noise and size, best is to get the mechanical drives for high capacity.
So this means consumers will get the shitty QLC technology for high capacity HDD, probably we will get Six Level Bullshit next time to even push more TBs. What a load of garbage.
Silver5urfer - Friday, December 4, 2020 - link
1800 Sabrent QLC NVMe, 2880 Samsung QLC SATAVs
860 PRO 4TB 4800. That's all I need to know, 2x the storage and latest manufacturing processes and almost like 2 years after the 860Pro products and we have 1/4 for NVMe and 1/2 for SATA with 2x Storage, if 860PRO had 8TB it would be probably 8000+TBW endurance.
Oxford Guy - Friday, December 4, 2020 - link
"latest manufacturing processes"With NAND that can be a bad thing, unless you're a manufacturer, that is.
Spunjji - Monday, December 7, 2020 - link
...and it would cost nearly twice as much money (assuming they could actually make the components fit in that 2.5" shell). You pay your money and take your choice.Oxford Guy - Monday, December 7, 2020 - link
QLC offers 30% more density than TLC.Beaver M. - Saturday, December 5, 2020 - link
I completely agree on the price. Its a joke. Far too close to TLC drives, in fact very comparable.But for games you will want NVMe drives from now on, because of DirectStorage.
Deicidium369 - Saturday, December 5, 2020 - link
Which is not even available yet - but yeah RTX IO/MS DirectStorage will require an NVMe drive - I have a couple 980 Pro, but waiting on the new Phison based drives with 7GB/s R&W.Beaver M. - Saturday, December 5, 2020 - link
Yeah well, you dont buy SSDs to replace them just a few months later.Its stupid to not plan ahead when putting together a PC, especially nowadays when most PC components can easily be good enough for 5+ years.
Deicidium369 - Sunday, December 6, 2020 - link
I build for 2 years - my current i9900K / 3090 (replacing the dual 2080TIs was one of the rare upgrades) is already over 2 years old - the 3090 is recent of course. When Rocket Lake drops - I will build the replacement for my current system - and by then the new Phisons will be available. I seem to remember it being released this month - but could be wrong.Silver5urfer - Saturday, December 5, 2020 - link
I don't really know how DirectStorage is going to impact performance. It will just enable higher and faster load times, It's already very fast on a PC due to dedicated VRAM and DRAM on top. I don't believe this RTX IO or whatever are going to have a massive impact. I have lots of TBs of backlog of old games which I love to play rather than new politically driven garbage with MTX and other crap and GaaS. Nothing much to lose tbh I will rather buy an 860 PRO x2 and install all the games on it and enjoy and get a WD RED / GOLD or Seagate Exos for the 4K and Movies etc.