SSD SATA vs NVME for cache/metadata/transcode

[Grzegorz93 4]

Hi 

I'm planning to upgrade my server soon and I'm thinking about replacing the SATA SSD with an NVME one for cache, metadata and transcode. From what I learned, it is very important for such drives to have DRAM.

Has anyone upgraded this and felt a difference? Perhaps one of Emby technicians will comment?

@Luke@ebr

[Luke 43210]

HI, it may help with the cache and metadata folders. I wouldn't suggest it for transcoding temp because that's generally not going to be the limiting factor.

[RanmaCanada 590]

There is essentially no difference in my experience as the limiting factor is the device itself that you're watching from (But I am not the end all be all). I find that Apple TV loads extremely slow when browsing the library, while Android and Windows devices are pretty much instant (I no longer use Roku). You might as well stick with the sata SSD as it's cheaper and it works. Ideally for transcode you'd want something like an Optane drive (if we're talking perfect scenario), but those just don't exist anymore.

As for the DRAM, if the server is on this drive, it doesn't matter. If this is a separate drive, it might matter if your system is not fast enough to keep up and you lack the RAM. DRAM only really comes into play when you're doing sustained writes. like through USB or file copying or massive databases (Emby does not have a massive database). Maybe during the PCI-E 3.0 generation there was a massive difference, but we've moved well beyond that now and there are plenty of modern tests that show there is very little difference between the 2.

https://www.xda-developers.com/how-important-dram-ssd/

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