Solid-state drives are one of the most important components of a computer, and their performance and capacity directly affect the speed and storage space of the computer. With the development of technology, the ** of SSDs is also declining, and more and more consumers choose to upgrade HDDs to SSDs, or buy computers with SSDs directly. There are more and more SSD brands and models on the market, how to choose the right SSD for you?
I would like to introduce you to the two SSDs of the Acer Predator series, which are the GM7 and GM7000. Both SSDs are Acer's flagships and feature PCIe 40 interface and NVMe protocol, with extremely high read and write speed and stability, suitable for high-end games and work scenarios.
Acer GM7000:
Acer GM7:
So, what's the difference between them? And how to choose? Next, I will answer them one by one.
The biggest difference between GM7 and GM7000 is that one has a cache and the other has no cache. Cache refers to a DRAM chip inside the SSD, which is used to store the address mapping table of the SSD and improve the random read and write performance of the SSD. SSDs with a cache are typically more expensive and hotter than SSDs without a cache, but they are also faster and more stable.
GM7 is a solid-state drive with a retardant design, its main controller is Lianyu 1602, and the particles are TLC of YMTC. The advantages of GM7 are that it is inexpensive, has a low temperature, and is suitable for devices with poor heat dissipation conditions such as laptops. The disadvantage of GM7 is that the random read and write performance is slightly inferior to that of slow SSDs, but it will not be noticeable in daily use.
GM7000 is an SSD with a cache design, its main controller is Tenacious 5236, the particles are Micron 176-layer TLC or YMTC TLC, and the cache is DRAM of South Asia. The advantage of GM7000 is that it has stronger random read and write performance, which is suitable for high-end gaming and work scenarios. The disadvantages of GM7000 are that it is higher, generates more heat, and needs to be equipped with a heat sink, otherwise there may be a frequency reduction.
In terms of performance, the sequential read and write speeds of GM7 and GM7000 are very high, and both can reach a nominal 5000MB s, which is not a big difference. The difference is mainly in the random read and write speed, the random read and write speed of the GM7000 is much higher than that of the GM7, reaching about 1000MBS, while the GM7 is only about 300MBS. This is because the GM7000 has the advantage of caching, which is able to process random data requests faster.
In terms of temperature, there is also a significant difference in the temperature performance of GM7 and GM7000. Since there is no cache, the GM7 has a light heat dissipation burden, and the temperature has been kept below 50 degrees, which is very cool. Due to the cache, the GM7000 has a heavy heat dissipation burden, and the temperature can easily rise to more than 60 degrees, or even 70 degrees, which requires a good heat sink to help dissipate heat, otherwise it may affect the performance and life of the SSD.
From the point of view, the GM7 and GM7000 are currently almost the same. Consumers need to choose according to their needs.
Generally speaking, if you want to play large-scale 3A games, or do some editing, programming, design, etc., then the random read and write performance of your SSD is very important, because these scenarios will involve a large number of random data reads and writes, if the random read and write performance of the SSD is not enough, it will lead to game lag and low work efficiency. That's when you need to choose a cached SSD like the GM7000, which can give you a smoother gaming and work experience.
If you want to use an SSD to install the system or store data, then the sequential read/write performance of your SSD is more important, because these scenarios will involve a large number of sequential data reads and writes, if the sequential read/write performance of the SSD is not enough, it will lead to slow system boot and slow data transmission. At this point, you can opt for a cache-free SSD like the GM7, which can give you faster system boot and data transfer speeds.