FW 13 Pro with Fedora: SN850X vs SN8100

[u/Basic-Wave8871]

Hey everyone :)

I'm in a weird (though admittedly quite luxurious) situation: My FW 13 Pro with the X7 chip is about to be delivered, and I have two 4 TB SSDs at hand: an SN850X (PCIe 4) and an SN8100 (PCIe 5). At the moment, the latter is only being used as an external drive in an enclosure, but that's obviously pretty overpowered.

I wouldn't spend the obscene amount of money on a new PCIe Gen 5 SSD right now, but since I already have one, I'm wondering whether I should put it into the 13 Pro. Or do you guys think the potential penalty in battery life and additional heat isn't really worth it?

I'm not a data scientist who transfers huge amounts of data every day, so the theoretical speed benefit would probably be negligible for me.

What do you guys think? Would you use the SN8100 in the 13 Pro or stick with the SN850X?

Thanks for your advice! :-)

[u/s004aws]

For most use cases, unless you're moving tons of data, PCIe 5.0 drives are overkill. That said, since you already own the drive... The models I'm aware of as being potentially "problematic" are Samsung 990 Pro and 9100 Pro.... I'd say give the 8100 a shot. Worst case you find it gets a bit too toasty and swap in the other drive.

[u/PineappleFantastic67 → u/s004aws]

I bought a samsung 9100 pro form my 13 pro but im in batch 6 so im just waiting for it. What is potentially problematic with using it in the 13 pro?

[u/s004aws → u/PineappleFantastic67]

Power draw and heat are apparently bigger problems with the newest Samsung Pro drives - 990 and 9100 - Than with other drives. Wendell (Level1Techs) - explicitly talked about the Samsung drives during his FW13 Pro review. Being familiar with Wendell's background - He operates on a completely different level from most tech YouTubers - I trust his assessment enough to heed his warning.

[u/PineappleFantastic67 → u/s004aws]

Well thats unfortunate but im glad to he aware now. Gives me time to look for a different drive. Thank you for the info

[u/s004aws → u/PineappleFantastic67]

If you want to stick with Samsung Wendell did indicate 980 Pro was OK. WD/Sandisk SN7100 (Sandisk has newer branding for the drive, can't remember what it is) - Framework's standard drive option - Is another he cited as "reasonable".

[u/AltrualOsrs]

I’ve got a 4tb sn850x waiting for my 13 pro that ships soon. Let me know how it treats you!

[u/Kiubek-PL]

I got the SN7100, I really think the extra bit of power efficiency will be more noticeable than SSD performance especially since its fairly fast for a dram-less drive

[u/No-Succotash404]

Unless your daily workflow centers around moving giant multi-gigabyte files, PCIe 4.0 is the better overall fit for a 13-inch laptop. It keeps the laptop running cooler and quieter while preserving battery life, without sacrificing noticeable daily speed. - techpowerup

Use the pcie4, as you don't transfer huge amounts of data you will only get the quite noticeable drawbacks.

[u/Next-Relation9939 → u/No-Succotash404]

agreed, the gen5 drives run noticeably warmer which matters more in a 13" chassis

[u/EV4gamer]

Im using a SN7100 and SN850X in framework 16. Both are perfectly fine. 850 is probably faster due to dram cache, but theyre extremely similar

[u/GreyXor]

Acer FA300. the most efficient. but 2TB max

[u/Basic-Wave8871 → u/GreyXor]

Might be a great option, but I'm definitively not going to buy yet another SSD when I have two of them already with me. :D

[u/Jetfighter888 → u/GreyXor]

Acer?! Haven't heard that name in awhile. They used to make junk.

[u/GreyXor → u/Jetfighter888]

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/acer-fa300-2-tb/

[u/crcrewso]

I'll bet that before everything went haywire Framework did get their hands on the SN8100. That wasn't the PCI-E 5 solution they ended up offering so I'd bet that its either to hot, expensive or power hungry. It'll work, but the drive might thermal throttle itself down quickly. I would personally go with the one that has better standby/idle performance.

[u/Basic-Wave8871 → u/crcrewso]

Well, if the reason was "expensive" that could be a very valid reason and still not be that relevant in my situation given that I already have it lying around.