Primary M.2 Socket vs Secondary M.2 Socket Which is Faster?

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Disk Copy Benchmarks

We are using AS SSD’s Copy Benchmark tool to test the duration of file copy for ISO, Program, and Game data.  The benchmark outputs the duration in minutes and seconds, and lower is better.

Primary M.2 socket versus Secondary M.2 socket AS SSD ISO

In AS SSD copy benchmark of ISO we see a slight increase in copy time on the Secondary M.2 socket.  It’s very small, but it is there.

Primary M.2 socket versus Secondary M.2 socket AS SSD Program

In Program copy the difference shows up a bit more, and now it’s a full .13 seconds slower on the Secondary M.2 socket.

Primary M.2 socket versus Secondary M.2 socket AS SSD Game

The trend continues in Game, with the Secondary M.2 socket being slightly slower.

DiskBench

With DiskBench we place a 50GB single file onto the test drive. We copy this file from the test drive to a new folder on the test drive, volume to volume. This tests the performance the drive is able to copy a file from itself to itself as if you were copying files on the same drive. Results are in duration Seconds, lower is better.

Primary M.2 socket versus Secondary M.2 socket DiskBench

Copying a 50GB file is also slightly slower on the Secondary M.2 socket, it isn’t a lot, but it was picked up here being .3 seconds slower.

Game Load Time and Workstation Performance

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Benchmark

The Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Benchmark is a unique game benchmark that allows us to objectively calculate the load times of different game scenes loading on the SSD. This benchmark runs multiple scenes that it benchmarks, it also keeps track of the scene load times for each scene and reports a duration, in addition, it provides an overall average duration of all the scenes together. This provides consistency in testing. We report the overall average scene load time of all the scenes in seconds, lower is better.

Primary M.2 socket versus Secondary M.2 socket Final Fantasy XIV Endwalker Benchmark

The game load time was very close, with only a .1 second difference.

SPECworkstation 3.1

We are using SPECworkstation 3.1 and specifically the WPCstorage test. “The storage workload is based on storage transaction traces from a wide variety of professional applications engaged in real work.” It includes media and entertainment, product development, life sciences, energy, and general operations. Each program receives a score, and they are averaged together for an overall score, higher is better.

Primary M.2 socket versus Secondary M.2 socket SPECworkstation 3.1 WPCstorage

There was a significant difference in SPECworkstation 3.1 WPCstorage performance between both sockets. There was a loss moving the SSD to the Secondary M.2 socket by 2%. In the grand scheme, this seems small, but when working with professional workstation-class applications, this can add up and can be noticeable in very intensive situations. Therefore, the Secondary M.2 socket would hold you back.

Brent Justicehttps://www.thefpsreview.com
Former managing editor of GPUs at HardOCP for 18 years, Brent Justice has been reviewing computer components since the late 90s, educated in the art and method of the computer hardware review, he brings experience, knowledge, and hands-on testing with a gamer-oriented and hardware enthusiast perspective. You can follow him on Twitter - @Brent_Justice You can sub to his YouTube channel - Justice Gaming https://www.youtube.com/c/JusticeGamingChannel You can check out his computer builds on KIT - @BrentJustice https://kit.co/BrentJustice

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