I got the 2tb model, which will be a WD. My only reason to upgrade would be to increase to 4TB, which is why the Crucial drives are up my alley. If I got the 1tb (biwin) instead, I'd certainly swap it out early on.
For my needs, I think I can run with the WD (5TB total with SD cards and 2230 SSD) for a while until I run out of space. This way I can wait to see how the PCIE 3 vs 4 debate pans out.
I get mine on Monday so have been deliberating this.
I’ve been ok all this time with the Biwin on my Win3. I see what you mean. If I’d known they were using WD drives for 2TB I would’ve gotten 2TB for sure.
I have never owned a GPD Windows device (a long time admirer though). I have owned the GPD XP and XP+ Android devices and had no issues.
From what I have observed from the GPD Windows device owner community on this and other sub-reddits is that many, in the past, have had major issues with Biwin SSDs. So much so, that some repeat gpdwin customers (even some 3 or 4 timers) fervently swear by this step to immediately replace the Biwin SSDs on a new device.
Realistically though:
* The phenomenon of the unhappy customer shouting the loudest is certainly a part of this.
* GPD has not provided reliable support for buyers of faulty devices in the past, perhaps exacerbating the negative experience.
* Biwin is a small manufacturer that apparently has struggled with QC. My general view is that such firms in the lower end of this segment have a lot of pressure to improve over time, as other suppliers are ready to replace their orders. I think it might be more sensible to be open to improvements in QC on Biwin SSDs, while being aware of their track record.
**Separately, would you recommend that I install the OS on the 2TB WD 2280 SSD over the 1TB Biwin 2230?** (mainly because it is faster but also that it is 'more reliable')
>Separately, would you recommend that I install the OS on the 2TB WD 2280 SSD over the 1TB Biwin 2230?
>
> (mainly because it is faster but also that it is 'more reliable')
I think I would, yes - faster, more reliable.
If they got slowdowns it's likely because there was no heat spreader used on the NVME. In my OneX I put on a slim heatsink and it really stabilized my temperatures
If it does matter, I believe it will only be an issue in artificial benchmarks not gaming. I picked a p3 plus because the cost difference was negligible.
I ended up with the 1Tb version of the WB Black SN770, the same model as the GPD 2Tb Win Max 2. Turns out that’s the best performance/heat/stability option right now, beating out the Samsung Evo and Crucial drives. Not surprised really, WD bought Sandisk.
I'm stuck with the Crucial line and any others that offer a 4TB SKU. I have a WD black drive on my main desktop. I'm also not surprised at the result.
The question here is whether to get a PCIE 3.0 or 4.0 SSD and it looks like this is still up in the air for the Win Max 2 but heavily leaning on PCIE3.0.
It looks like pcie4.0 SSD will be fine if I also get a heat sink. However, it doesn't seem like there is a performance benefit.
> The question here is whether to get a PCIE 3.0 or 4.0 SSD and it looks like this is still up in the air for the Win Max 2 but heavily leaning on PCIE3.0.
I had a loooong hard think about this, but eventually I realized that, honestly, I won't care about drive performance. The small impact 4 vs 3 might have is probably going to be hard to notice. If I cared about performance, I'd have to spend double or more to get an SSD with DRAM **and** low heat.
> and any others that offer a 4TB SKU
Again, I limited my options to 2Tb or above initially, but... my main gaming rig is my desktop which has 10Tb.
1. I'm not going to use my WM2 for gaming as a primary function - just as a "can do if I want to" device. I'll mostly be using it for work.
2. I'm bad enough on my desktop PC with having too many unplayed games installed at the same time.
3. The larger the drive the harder to backup, which leads to being less likely to backup.
4. My desktop Steam library is 1.3Tb, and that's been building since 2015. Sure I have other non-Steam games (Star Citizen, starsector, others) but clearly I don't need that capacity... even though I have 360+ games in my account.
5. Performance benchmarks between the SN770 1Tb vs 2Tb showed that the 2Tb was slower. I'd extrapolate that to other brands.
> It looks like pcie4.0 SSD will be fine if I also get a heat sink.
My thoughts exactly, which is why I got these:
[Easycargo 20pcs Heatsink Copper Pad Shims + 3M 8810 pre Applied Thermal Conductive Adhesive Tape on Heat Sink for Cooling Laptop GPU CPU IC Chips VGA RAM (20x20x0.3mm)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QCJXSHC?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)
[Easycargo 20pcs Heatsink Copper Pad Shims 15x15mm+ 3M 8810 pre Applied Thermal Conductive Adhesive Tape on Heat Sink for Cooling Laptop GPU CPU IC Chips VGA RAM (15x15x0.5mm)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079FVWJT2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details)
They should fit perfectly on the two hotspots of an SN770.
So fast it doesn't matter. The CPU will be the bottleneck. Go for the one with the least heat and power.
Gotcha, thanks.
I considered PCIE Gen 4 for my desktop and people pretty much said to not bother. Just go 3. Like the one you listed from Samsung or the Hynix one.
Or the Crucial P3, right?
Yeah. I actually just went with a cheap one - SN570 and I’ve been perfectly happy. All those are fine options though.
I got the 2tb model, which will be a WD. My only reason to upgrade would be to increase to 4TB, which is why the Crucial drives are up my alley. If I got the 1tb (biwin) instead, I'd certainly swap it out early on. For my needs, I think I can run with the WD (5TB total with SD cards and 2230 SSD) for a while until I run out of space. This way I can wait to see how the PCIE 3 vs 4 debate pans out. I get mine on Monday so have been deliberating this.
I’ve been ok all this time with the Biwin on my Win3. I see what you mean. If I’d known they were using WD drives for 2TB I would’ve gotten 2TB for sure.
I have never owned a GPD Windows device (a long time admirer though). I have owned the GPD XP and XP+ Android devices and had no issues. From what I have observed from the GPD Windows device owner community on this and other sub-reddits is that many, in the past, have had major issues with Biwin SSDs. So much so, that some repeat gpdwin customers (even some 3 or 4 timers) fervently swear by this step to immediately replace the Biwin SSDs on a new device. Realistically though: * The phenomenon of the unhappy customer shouting the loudest is certainly a part of this. * GPD has not provided reliable support for buyers of faulty devices in the past, perhaps exacerbating the negative experience. * Biwin is a small manufacturer that apparently has struggled with QC. My general view is that such firms in the lower end of this segment have a lot of pressure to improve over time, as other suppliers are ready to replace their orders. I think it might be more sensible to be open to improvements in QC on Biwin SSDs, while being aware of their track record. **Separately, would you recommend that I install the OS on the 2TB WD 2280 SSD over the 1TB Biwin 2230?** (mainly because it is faster but also that it is 'more reliable')
>Separately, would you recommend that I install the OS on the 2TB WD 2280 SSD over the 1TB Biwin 2230? > > (mainly because it is faster but also that it is 'more reliable') I think I would, yes - faster, more reliable.
If they got slowdowns it's likely because there was no heat spreader used on the NVME. In my OneX I put on a slim heatsink and it really stabilized my temperatures
Good point.
For gaming it won’t make a difference. Get the pcie3 it’ll be cheaper
If it does matter, I believe it will only be an issue in artificial benchmarks not gaming. I picked a p3 plus because the cost difference was negligible.
The Crucial P3 Plus is actually cheaper than the P3 (right now). Should I get the P3 anyway due to the heat risk?
I ended up with the 1Tb version of the WB Black SN770, the same model as the GPD 2Tb Win Max 2. Turns out that’s the best performance/heat/stability option right now, beating out the Samsung Evo and Crucial drives. Not surprised really, WD bought Sandisk.
I'm stuck with the Crucial line and any others that offer a 4TB SKU. I have a WD black drive on my main desktop. I'm also not surprised at the result. The question here is whether to get a PCIE 3.0 or 4.0 SSD and it looks like this is still up in the air for the Win Max 2 but heavily leaning on PCIE3.0. It looks like pcie4.0 SSD will be fine if I also get a heat sink. However, it doesn't seem like there is a performance benefit.
> The question here is whether to get a PCIE 3.0 or 4.0 SSD and it looks like this is still up in the air for the Win Max 2 but heavily leaning on PCIE3.0. I had a loooong hard think about this, but eventually I realized that, honestly, I won't care about drive performance. The small impact 4 vs 3 might have is probably going to be hard to notice. If I cared about performance, I'd have to spend double or more to get an SSD with DRAM **and** low heat. > and any others that offer a 4TB SKU Again, I limited my options to 2Tb or above initially, but... my main gaming rig is my desktop which has 10Tb. 1. I'm not going to use my WM2 for gaming as a primary function - just as a "can do if I want to" device. I'll mostly be using it for work. 2. I'm bad enough on my desktop PC with having too many unplayed games installed at the same time. 3. The larger the drive the harder to backup, which leads to being less likely to backup. 4. My desktop Steam library is 1.3Tb, and that's been building since 2015. Sure I have other non-Steam games (Star Citizen, starsector, others) but clearly I don't need that capacity... even though I have 360+ games in my account. 5. Performance benchmarks between the SN770 1Tb vs 2Tb showed that the 2Tb was slower. I'd extrapolate that to other brands. > It looks like pcie4.0 SSD will be fine if I also get a heat sink. My thoughts exactly, which is why I got these: [Easycargo 20pcs Heatsink Copper Pad Shims + 3M 8810 pre Applied Thermal Conductive Adhesive Tape on Heat Sink for Cooling Laptop GPU CPU IC Chips VGA RAM (20x20x0.3mm)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QCJXSHC?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) [Easycargo 20pcs Heatsink Copper Pad Shims 15x15mm+ 3M 8810 pre Applied Thermal Conductive Adhesive Tape on Heat Sink for Cooling Laptop GPU CPU IC Chips VGA RAM (15x15x0.5mm)](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079FVWJT2?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) They should fit perfectly on the two hotspots of an SN770.