NVMe to choose for L2 storage?

FAQ, getting help, user experience about PrimoCache
Post Reply
ianmozzy
Level 3
Level 3
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2015 7:23 am

NVMe to choose for L2 storage?

Post by ianmozzy »

Hi
I am finally getting round to putting my large steam collection onto a NAS, specifically truenas scale.
It will be an ISCSI block share (deduplicaton & compression on the Server).
On my gaming machine, are looking to get a 500 - 512GB Nvme for a cache drive.
It will be put into a PCIE NVMe adapter, which does PCIE 3.0

So which one to choose?

There are some very inexpensive ones. but they may not last very long.
Is one without a DRAM cache a good idea?
Some instead use something called HBM (host memory buffer). It uses the PC memory instead.
Will that function when formatted to an L2 cache?
Will it have any use, if I can just assign maybe 2GB as an L1 cache.

How useful is an slc cache on the NVME when using primocache?

Is buying one with a longer warranty the smarter choice?

Useful input is appreciated.

Thanks
User avatar
Support
Support Team
Support Team
Posts: 3622
Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 2:42 am

Re: NVMe to choose for L2 storage?

Post by Support »

PrimoCache does not check the L2 hardware and does not need to know how the hardware works, so any volume can be used as L2 cache. However, L2 performance depends on the speed of the L2 drive. And as a cache, there will be a lot of writes on it, so it is recommended to use the drive having a longer life cycle.
SnowReborn
Level 4
Level 4
Posts: 34
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2012 3:13 am

Re: NVMe to choose for L2 storage?

Post by SnowReborn »

ianmozzy wrote: Fri May 12, 2023 1:08 am Hi
I am finally getting round to putting my large steam collection onto a NAS, specifically truenas scale.
It will be an ISCSI block share (deduplicaton & compression on the Server).
On my gaming machine, are looking to get a 500 - 512GB Nvme for a cache drive.
It will be put into a PCIE NVMe adapter, which does PCIE 3.0

So which one to choose?

There are some very inexpensive ones. but they may not last very long.
Is one without a DRAM cache a good idea?
Some instead use something called HBM (host memory buffer). It uses the PC memory instead.
Will that function when formatted to an L2 cache?
Will it have any use, if I can just assign maybe 2GB as an L1 cache.

How useful is an slc cache on the NVME when using primocache?

Is buying one with a longer warranty the smarter choice?

Useful input is appreciated.

Thanks
optane for L2 would be ideal due to low latency + high endurance, but honestly if you are only intented to cache games or gaming system, any cheap ssd would work, since most games doesn't write back alot of data, instead it does alot reading. i would recommend silicon power 2TB on amazon for only $70 currently; but for high write / server workload, I would say optane, 990 pro, or seagate SSDs; and yes SLC / DRAM cache will come in handy and primocache will be able to leverage the benefit.
Post Reply