PCIe vs NVMe

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PCIe vs NVMe

Hi All,

I've been a PC guy since 1984, but I'm planning to switch to Mac later this fall or perhaps next spring, depending on when the MBP is updated with Skylake, and I'm trying to figure out Apple specs. Perhaps you can help.

As you know, the current MacBook Pro has "PCIe-based Flash Storage," whereas the new MacBook has the brand new NVMe specification to access the SSD, which is apparently much faster. Or so they say. Does anyone have any numbers to show how much faster? And how fast is the current PCIe standard in a Mac?

For example, in my old PC using AHCI to access an SSD, data transfer tops out at about 500 MBps because of the AHCI bottleneck. The SSD is much faster, but it's limited by the AHCI controller. NVMe is coming online now and I've read it will transfer data at about 2 GBps which removes the bottleneck because it's faster than the SSD. Way cool! So how fast is PCIe on a Mac and how fast will NVMe be when it arrives in the MacBook Pro, which I'm guessing will be soon?

Any advice or explanations will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Cheers,

Dave

Posted on Aug 31, 2015 12:37 AM

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Answer 1

GhonaZ

Level 3

572 points

Aug 31, 2015 3:14 AM in response to Dave410

I don't know about the NVMe but my M.2 SSD is capable of 770Mb/s data transferrate according to black magic diskspeedtest.

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Answer 2

Dave410 Author

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Sep 1, 2015 6:17 PM in response to GhonaZ

Thanks, GhonaZ. I posted the same question over on Mac Rumors and did some research on my own. It appears PCIe on a MacBook Pro will transfer data around 1.5 GBps or thereabouts while NVMe will run at 2 GBps when it reaches the MacBook Pro. Worth waiting for, at least for me. Cheers.

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Answer 3

cabakroll

Level 3

840 points

Sep 1, 2015 6:25 PM in response to Dave410

NVMe its the same thing as PCIe

its just abbreviation for connection for SSD trough PCIe

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Answer 4

Dave410 Author

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Sep 1, 2015 6:53 PM in response to cabakroll

The same only better. Check this out!

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9136/the-2015-macbook-review/8

Worth waiting for in the MBP, in my opinion. Cheers.

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Answer 5

cabakroll

Level 3

840 points

Sep 1, 2015 6:59 PM in response to Dave410

every year there something new and cool, you can wait forever

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Answer 6

Sep 1, 2015 7:32 PM in response to cabakroll

Dave, I would agree with Cabakroll, unless it is close to the time new macs are going to be released I would recommend getting a new mac when you need one. There are often announcement near holiday shopping season (October) and then early in the year (march). There is no guarantee that the next model will have NVMe. Skylake maybe more likely as the Haskell?? processors in the current MBP 15" units is over a year old. If you have been researching Mac sites I'm sure you can figure out when is the best time to purchase to maximize your investment.

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Answer 7

Sep 1, 2015 7:48 PM in response to Dave410

MacRumors has a part of their site where they try to guess when is a good time to buy each kind of Mac, based on what they have heard and how long it has been since the last update. It is worth every penny you pay for it. (Free)

Computers will always be better, faster, and cheaper if you wait. But at some point you just have to grit your teeth and buy in and get your work done.

Computers are NEVER an investment -- they are a tool to accomplish your work, and they depreciate starting the moment you buy them.

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Answer 8

Dave410 Author

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Sep 1, 2015 8:39 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

All very true, guys. And I 'spect that's Apple's position too since they want to sell their existing product. Fortunately for them, most Mac users don't seem very interested in specs and just assume the performance will be there for them. That's actually kinda refreshing because it's certainly not that way in the PC world where there are a lot of really crummy machines you can buy if you're not careful. In any case, my motivations are different from Apple's. I'm trying to migrate from a desktop PC for home and a laptop PC for travel (I travel about half the month, every month. I'm in Tokyo right now and leaving for Singapore this afternoon.) to a screamin' hot MacBook Pro that I can carry with me on the road and then dock to a large monitor and better keyboard and mouse when I'm home. I'm a pretty serious amateur photographer so overall performance, graphics performance, and SSD access speed are important to me and it's worth waiting a few months to get more-better-faster, especially when you consider how outrageously expensive Apple products are. Besides, all this techie stuff is fun and I enjoy it. Cheers.

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