Conclusion

If you’re looking for a a solutions which offers an extremely well performing storage subsystem, then the consumer segment has almost nothing to offer that’s faster than a RAID0, which is based on two NVMe SSDs. The two Samsung 950 Pro 256GB M.2 drives we’ve been using for our test, were capable of pumping out up to 4.0GB/s regarding sequential read and 1.7GB/s when it comes to sequential write. A closer look at IOPS performance shows 340’000 IOPS when writing randomly and 200’000 IOPS in random read.

The above mentioned values are actually very impressive but is there actually any real-world benefit? Does one really feel a difference between 100’000 and 340’000 IOPS while in Windows? Frankly speaking; if you’re coping large files often then performance will be boosted but in any other case the performance difference you feel is minimal. If you’re a standard user, running your usual programs like Office, your browser and a few games, then moving from an already quick SATA SSD towards an NVMe-RAID0 configuration doesn’t really make sense. Nevertheless, if you’re a power user, you will definitely notice a performance difference when you’re moving from a PC with such an insane NVMe RAID0 config back to a quick SATA drive. And the difference will be even larger the longer you’ve been using the NVMe RAID0.

Bottom line it’s interesting to see what the combination of two very fast NVMe SSDs are capable of doing. In the end the standard applications like Office, your browser or even games don’t really benefit from such an extremely high performing storage subsystem. If you’re planning on building an absolute high-end system then choosing such a setup can definitely make sense and keeping the price in mind, it will be difficult to find anything that’s faster at the same price point. Talking about pricing: one of the Samsung 950 Pro M.2 256GB drives sells for 177 Euro these days. This means that two account for 354 Euro. If you’re looking for maximum performance for the money you’re paying, then this a good solution. If it’s your goal to have best possible performance at the lowest possible price; well then you’ve definitely come to the wrong neighborhood.

Page 1 - Introduction

Page 2 - Setup

Page 3 - Test Setup

Page 4 - Performance QD1/4/8/16/32

Page 5 - Conclusion