How fast is PCIe 4.0 NVMe vs PCIe 3.0

In my Samsung 970 EVO Plus vs WD Black SN750 review, I mentioned how the Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB ($59.99) and WD Black SN750 1TB ($110.00) PCIe 3.0 NVMe drives were becoming so fast, that they are actually very close to reaching the PCIe 3.0 4x speed limits of 3,940MB/s (31.52 Gb/s), and that it was only a matter of time before we saw a new kid on the block to help push NVMe speeds even further.

That day has come – Say hello to PCIe 4.0 NVMe!

Remember that theoretically, one lane of PCIe 3.0 = 8Gb/s (GigaBITS/s), and as NVMe requires 4x lanes of PCIe, it adds up to 32Gb/s. Factoring in overheads such as encoding latency, heat and other real world dynamics, this speed comes down slightly, to a tested 31.52 Gb/s.

However, as these NVMe drives rated in MB/s and not Gb/s, we need to do a quick math conversion. There are 125MB (MegaBYTES) in 1Gb (GigaBIT), so to get to MB/s (MegaBYTES/), we multiply our 31.52Gb/s (GigaBITS/s) by 125, thus giving us 3,940MB/s.

• PCIe 3.0 1x : 7.88Gb/s x 125 = 984.6MB/s
• PCIe 3.0 2x : 15.76Gb/s x 125 = 1,970MB/s
• PCIe 3.0 4x : 31.52Gb/s x 125 = 3,940MB/s
• PCIe 3.0 8x : 63.04Gb/s x 125 = 7,880MB/s
• PCIe 3.0 16x : 126.4Gb/s x 125 = 15,800MB/s

One lane of PCIe 4.0 = 16Gb/s (1,969 MB/s), and as NVMe requires 4 lanes, with the new PCIe 4.0 technology being released, with the the new Ryzen 3700 CPU’s and X570 Motherboards, these speeds become twice as fast, thus making the new theoretical PCIe 4.0 4x NVMe limit, 7,880 MB/s (63.04Gb/s) instead.

• PCIe 4.0 1x : 15.76Gb/s x 125 = 1,970MB/s
• PCIe 4.0 2x : 31.52Gb/s x 125 = 3,940MB/s
• PCIe 4.0 4x : 63.04Gb/s x 125 = 7,880MB/s
• PCIe 4.0 8x : 126.4Gb/s x 125 = 15,800MB/s
• PCIe 4.0 16x : 252Gb/s x 125 = 31,500MB/s

Looking at my 970 EVO Plus vs 970 EVO review, we saw that Samsung claimed that their 970 EVO Plus 1TB NVMe drive had Sequential Read speeds of 3,500MB/s and Sequential Write speeds of 3,300MB/s.

As usual, Samsung lived up to their claims, as in my benchmark tests, I was able to achieve Sequential Read speeds of 3,572MB/s and Sequential Write speeds of 3,342MB/s in CrystalDiskMark. As mentioned right at the beginning of this review, these number are very close to the 3,940MB/s PCIe 3.0 limit.

However;

I also mentioned that there is a new kid on the block, being PCIe 4.0 and together with the release of Ryzen Zen2, come a new wave of NVMe drives to put the current ones in a solid second position.

Three of these were announced at Computex 2019, together with the Ryzen announcement, being the Corsair MP600 NVMe 1TB ($144.85), the Gigabyte PCIe 4.0 NVMe and the MSI PCIe 4.0 NVMe. (We still require official product names for the latter two). One thing we do know is that all three of these new NVMe drives will be using the Phison PS5016-E16 controllers, that support both 3D TLC and QLC NAND.

During the Computex event, Gigabyte showcased their Unnamed 256GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe, in a CrystalDiskMark benchmark.

The Gigabyte NVMe PCIe 4.0 benchmark showed the following results:

• Sequential Read Q32T8: 4,071MB/s
• Sequential Write Q32T8: 4,244MB/s
• Random 4kb Q128T8 Read: 2,730MB/s
• Random 4kb Q128T8 Write: 2,634MB/s
• Random 4kb Q32T8 Read: 2,538MB/s
• Random 4kb Q32T8 Write: 2,628MB/s
• Random 4kb Q1T1 Read: 65MB/s
• Random 4kb Q1T1 Write: 265MB/s

While not confirmed, I am inclined to think that as this is a 256MB NVMe drive, that its a QLC NAND, compared to the below benchmark from MSI, which is difficult to judge because the benchmarks were done using different queue and thread amounts.

Either way, MSI also showed off a CrystalDiskMark benchmark of their Unnamed 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive, which is using TLC NAND in their new Meg X570 Ace motherboard.

The MSI NVMe PCIe 4.0 benchmark showed the following results:

• Sequential Read Q32T1: 5,015MB/s
• Sequential Write Q32T1: 4,458MB/s
• Random 4kb Q8T8 Read: 1,621MB/s
• Random 4kb Q8T8 Write: 1,727MB/s
• Random 4kb Q32T1 Read: 524MB/s
• Random 4kb Q32T1 Write: 472MB/s
• Random 4kb Q1T1 Read: 52MB/s
• Random 4kb Q1T1 Write: 137MB/s

This Phison PS5016-E16 controller directly rivals the Phoenix NVMe Controller from Samsung, and if we know one thing about Samsung, it’s that they don’t like to be second to anyone. I am very sure they will also be releasing their new range of PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives very shortly after the release date of Ryzen 3000 on the 7th July 2019, in order to take their NVMe crown back.

Western Digital have been keeping Samsung on their toes over the past 2 years, with the the WD Black SN750 1TB NVMe ($110.00), as well as their more entry level WD Blue SN500 500GB NVMe ($129.88) drives. While Samsung still have the edge in the top tier with their current Samsung 970 EVO Plus, WD hold the crown in the entry level with the SN500, as Samsung simply don’t have any players in this tier.

On a side note, I have popped the WD Blue SN500 500GB ($129.88) into all my older PC desktop machines, most of which are running a Intel i3770K, replacing their old spinning Hard Drives, which has made them run 10 fold faster than before.

They honestly feel like new computers.

And at only ($129.88), this is the bets $ per performance you can currently buy of any older machine. Because of their price they are also fantastic options for anyone looking for the next best step above SATA SSD. such as the Samsung 860 EVO 1TB ($121.07).

Check out how they perform against the bigger brother in my WD Black SN750 vs WD Blue SN500 NVMe review.

Western Digital has done this using their own in House NVMe Controller to go against the Samsung Phoenix. Now, having another big player in the race, being Phison, is very good for us as consumers, as now we will see even more brands such as Corsair, MSI, Gigabyte and more offering NVMe solution, which brings down the pricing of the whole industry, thanks to healthy competition.

The new PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive will also most likely bring down the cost of the current PCIe 3.0 versions even further, making NVMe even more available to the everyday user.

All this competition will force Samsung the innovate once again and have a lot of room to become king of the hill again

While 5,015MB/s from the MSI NVMe might seem like an insane speed right now, we cannot forget that the PCIe 4.0 x4 speed limit is actually 7,880 MB/s, leaving a good 2,865MB/s of headroom before the cap is hit. This is plenty of headroom for Samsung to make use of and insert themselves in above the current best 5,015MB/s

Let’s see what the near future brings us, as I am very excited to see the new PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives in action. However, the current NVMe drives are certainly no slouches. Just because PCIe 4.0 is on the horizon doesn’t mean you should forget about the current NVMe drives, as they deliver insane speeds, of which many won’t even reach, unless you’re in a specialty industry such as a video editor that requires these ultra fast transfer speeds.

But the biggest benefit of having PCIe 4.0 lanes on your motherboard while using PCIe 3.0 NVMe drives is increased capacity.

You see PCIe 3.0 4x is the same speed as PCIe 4.0 2x of 3,940MB/s (31.52 Gb/s). What this means is that you can easily put two WD Black SN750 2TB ($211.12) or Samsung 970 EVO 2TB ($198.00) NVMe drives into one spare PCIe slot, giving you a nice 4TB of NVMe storage capacity.

To do this you will need to a buy a DUAL PCIe adapter NVMe card such as the Supermicro AOC-SLG3-2M2 PCIe Add-On Card ($58.40)

One other very interesting announcement was also from Gigabyte was their AORUS Gen4 NVMe AIC 8TB, which combines 4 PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive together in a RAID 0 configuration to allow for up to 8TB of NVMe storage at 15,000MB/s. In fact at the Comutext show floor, they showed the following CrystalDiskMark Benchmark results:

• Sequential Read Q32T6: 15,385MB/s
• Sequential Write Q32T6: 15,509MB/s
• Random 4kb Q8T8 Read: 2,128MB/s
• Random 4kb Q8T8 Write: 1,826MB/s
• Random 4kb Q32T6 Read: 2,056MB/s
• Random 4kb Q32T6 Write: 1,742MB/s
• Random 4kb Q1T1 Read: 112MB/s
• Random 4kb Q1T1 Write: 143MB/s

With all this great tech ahead, currently the everyday user and gamer currently don’t need more than the stellar speeds that the Samsung 970 EVO Plus brings to the table. Even Samsung 860 SATA SSD Speeds are superb for the everyday user.

For PCIe 3.0 motherboards you can buy the StarTech M.2 Adapter – x4 PCIe 3.0 NVMe ($22.41).

Check out my Samsung 970 EVO Plus vs 860 EVO review to see just how much faster NVMe is compared to SATA SSD.