• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Microcontroller Tips

Microcontroller engineering resources, new microcontroller products and electronics engineering news

  • Products
    • 8-bit
    • 16-bit
    • 32-bit
    • 64-bit
  • Applications
    • Automotive
    • Connectivity
    • Consumer Electronics
    • Industrial
    • Medical
    • Security
  • EE Forums
    • EDABoard.com
    • Electro-Tech-Online.com
  • Videos
    • TI Microcontroller Videos
  • EE Resources
    • DesignFast
    • eBooks / Tech Tips
    • FAQs
    • LEAP Awards
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • EE Learning Center

NVMe vs SATA: What’s the difference and which is faster?

March 29, 2018 By Scott Thornton 32 Comments

NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) is an interface protocol built especially for Solid State Drives (SSDs). NVMe works with PCI Express (PCIe) to transfer data to and from SSDs. NVMe enables rapid storage in computer SSDs and is an improvement over older Hard Disk Drive (HDD) related interfaces such as SATA and SAS. The only reason SATA and SAS are used with SSDs in computers is that until recently, only slower HDDs have been used as the large-capacity storage in computers. Flash memory has been used in mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, USB drives and SD cards. (SSDs are flash memory.)

Officially, NVMe is an optimized “scalable host controller interface designed to address the needs of Enterprise, Data Center and Client systems that utilize PCI Express (PCIe) based solid state drives.”

SSDs have a clear advantage with faster access through the PCIe serial bus standard. NVMe was built from scratch as a new way to efficiently access storage devices that are specifically built with non-volatile (flash) memory – SSDs. NVMe enables a faster interface for leveraging the speeds that SSDs are capable of. As SSDs began to replace slower Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) in computers as primary storage, a new interface was needed to make use of the faster speed capability. However, in the transition to SSD, some PCs have been outfitted with an SSD that is accessed through interfaces historically used with slower HDDs, such as Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA). It makes more sense to use NVMe with an SSD.

SSD is already the primary source of storage for smartphones and tablets. SSDs are presently more expensive than HDDs, and often used as memory cache in conjunction with HDDs to speed up computer systems. SSDs have no moving parts and in many ways are more rugged than HDDs.

The specification for the NVMe standard is available at nvmexpress.org. Alternate SSD interfaces (to replace HDDs on PCs) are Serial ATA (SATA), mSATA, or PCIe. (For PCIe, an internal PCIe interface might be used if the SSD were on a circuit board that could be plugged into the PCIe slot on a motherboard.) Modern servers might access SSDs through Serial attached SCSI (SAS), SATA, PCIe, or Fibre channel.

NVMe-based SSDs use PCIe to create reduced latency over SSDs. The form factors that the NVMe protocol uses must connect in some way to PCIe within the computer. To date, connections for NVMe can be made through a PCIe expansion card, a 2.5-inch U.2 connector, or an M.2 small form factor. SSD makers seem to be migrating to PCIe, with most using an M.2 connector, a.k.a. “Next Generation Form Factor.”

How does NVMe work?

For NVMe, the complicated-sounding “Submission and Completion Queue” is one mechanism that takes advantage of SSD technology. The Queue’s host software manages and controls SSD data flow, creates and deletes separate queues, aborts commands, and so forth. A computer with four cores might have four queue pairs to ensure that the data structures are kept in the corresponding core’s cache (see Figure 1). NVMe supports several deep, independent queues.

SSDs
Figure 1: For NVMe, the complicated-sounding “Submission and Completion Queue” is one mechanism that takes advantage of SSD technology. (Image: nvmexpress.org)

NVMe SSD on the Market

Intel claims “breakthrough” performance with the Intel Solid-State Drive Data Center Family for PCIe “with up to six times faster data transfer speed than 6 Gbps SAS/SATA SSDs.” The Intel® Solid-State Drive Data Center P3700 Series “can replace the performance of seven SATA SSDs aggregated through a host bus adapter.”[i] NVMe began with use in the enterprise, or server market, but is percolating down into the consumer market.

For consumer use, Intel’s SSD 600p series SSDs with the NVMe interface weighs just 40 g. Capacity for the series starts at 128 GB and goes all the way up to 1 TB. The 600p uses the M.2 form factor with PCIe 3.0 on 4 lanes. The power consumption is 100 mW when active and 40 mW when idle. On Newegg, the 1 TB version of the Intel SSD 600p is $350 as of this writing. Micron is another major manufacturer of NVMe SSDs and flash memory.

SSDs
Figure 2: One internal consumer SSD with the NVMe interface is the Intel SSD 600p Series (1.0TB, M.2 2280 80mm NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4, 3D1, TLC). (Source: Newegg.com)

SATA has a throughput ceiling of 6.0 gigabits per second (Gbps), while SAS has a ceiling of 12 Gbps. NVMe is an interface protocol that uses PCIe technology to transport data between the CPU and the SSD. PCIe is well-established, well-supported as a standard, and has steadily grown faster over the past decade. PCIe 3.0 was released in 2010 and delivers ~1 GB/sec per lane (bidirectional). With 4 lanes, PCIe 3.0 ‘s throughput would be 8 Gbps in both directions at once (duplex) for a total of 16 Gbps. PCIe is also scalable. At 16 lanes, PCIe 3.0 yields 16 Gbps duplex. PCIe 4.0 was announced in 2017 and is expected to double the throughput of PCIe 3.0. With NVMe and PCIe, SSD throughput will continue to increase in speed along with PCIe. In addition to PCI Express, NVMe also supports Fibre Channel and RDMA.[ii]

[i] https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/solid-state-drives/intel-ssd-dc-family-for-pcie.html

[ii] “NVM Express Overview,”PDF, accessed Mar 18 2018, https://app.e2ma.net/app2/audience/signup/1843375/1788830

You may also like:

  • DDR SDRAM
    What is DDR (Double Data Rate) Memory and SDRAM memory?
  • SSDs
    SSDs vs. HDDs Part 2: Sand or Rust?

  • Can SSDs replace all storage and memory?

Filed Under: FAQ, Featured Tagged With: basics, FAQ

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michael says

    October 22, 2019 at 3:18 pm

    Absolutely, that makes it twice as fast.

    Reply
  2. hiphopza says

    November 7, 2019 at 4:57 am

    can i use it to host my wordpress website

    Reply
    • Noper says

      August 5, 2020 at 1:14 am

      no

      Reply
  3. Someone's Daddy says

    January 5, 2020 at 11:17 pm

    Actually, he needs a clue, because he hasn’t figured out the difference between a good joke and some smart alec-ed response to someone’s typeo.

    Kids and their mother’s skirts…

    Reply
  4. victor says

    January 12, 2020 at 11:23 pm

    He really needs a clue though

    Reply
  5. wapholiday says

    April 24, 2020 at 8:15 am

    nice write up thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • EasyHost says

      May 10, 2020 at 10:41 am

      NMVe disks are preferred by hosting providers like us. The cost plays bug part right now into accommodating new customers

      Reply
  6. https://tlchatt.com says

    May 20, 2020 at 10:15 am

    I noticed on the Dell website that the new XPS available have different specs, one is listed as, 256GB PCIe NVMe x4 Solid State Drive Onboard, the other as, 256GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive. Which one is better?

    Reply
  7. Ken Heart says

    August 19, 2019 at 4:27 am

    Since NVMe drives are up to six times faster than SATA connected drives, it make sense to use them as boot drives for blazing fast startup performance. Bear in mind though that you need a notherboard with NVMe support to do this.

    Reply
  8. Someone says

    September 25, 2019 at 3:48 pm

    Is a notherboard a spin off of NVMe & motherboard?

    Reply
  9. Chris says

    October 18, 2019 at 6:12 pm

    No, it’s an add-on, For NVME you need a motherboard, and a ‘nother board. 🙂

    Reply
  10. amapianosa.com says

    April 24, 2020 at 6:22 am

    i love this

    Reply
  11. Ari says

    April 3, 2021 at 12:45 am

    It’s a nother from another mother.

    Reply
  12. Charlize says

    January 1, 2021 at 1:32 pm

    I really liked your information. Please keep sharing!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. “Should I use my new NVMe or old SATA SSD for booting Windows 10?” – Langa.com says:
    July 30, 2019 at 7:01 am

    […] NVMe vs SATA:What’s the difference and which is faster? […]

    Reply
  2. 8 Best Budget Laptops with SSD in 2020 - Laptops100 says:
    May 3, 2020 at 3:04 am

    […] Aspire 5 is not only one of the cheapest SSD laptops you can find. But it also comes with the fast PCIe NVMe standard. Offering even more speed compared to traditional […]

    Reply
  3. 8 Best Budget Laptops with SSD in 2020 | DagoldInfo says:
    May 3, 2020 at 11:12 am

    […] Aspire 5 is not only one of the cheapest SSD laptops you can find. But it also comes with the fast PCIe NVMe standard. Offering even more speed compared to traditional […]

    Reply
  4. Best & Cheap Upgradeable Laptops (IN 2020) - Modular Picks - My Travel Gadget says:
    May 19, 2020 at 2:44 am

    […] cater to your permanent storage needs, the laptop also comes with a 128 GB NVMe SSD storage, which is easily upgradeable over time. With the slip top, side bezel, Integrated Intel UHD […]

    Reply
  5. Game on a Budget with the Best Gaming PC under $1500 [2020 Update] says:
    May 21, 2020 at 8:29 am

    […] Intel 660P is an NVMe SSD which means it reads and writes data faster than regular SSDs. This translates to faster program […]

    Reply
  6. 8 Best Budget Laptops with SSD in 2020 - TechBestReviews says:
    June 20, 2020 at 9:20 am

    […] Aspire 5 is not only one of the cheapest SSD laptops you can find. But it also comes with the fast PCIe NVMe standard. Offering even more speed compared to traditional […]

    Reply
  7. 8 Best Budget Laptops with SSD in 2020 – Knowdud says:
    June 20, 2020 at 9:47 am

    […] Aspire 5 is not only one of the cheapest SSD laptops you can find. But it also comes with the fast PCIe NVMe standard. Offering even more speed compared to traditional […]

    Reply
  8. Best SSD for gaming in 2020-A comprehensive guide! | says:
    July 8, 2020 at 2:39 am

    […] M.2 NVMe SSDs: The M.2 slot comes with the motherboard. You don’t need cables to connect the SSD; thus, making them superior to their other variant. All you have to do is slot-in the M.2 NVMe SSD on the motherboard, and bingo, it’s done! It’s worth mentioning that M.2 NVMe SSDs are more expensive than SATA SSDs, so keep that in mind. […]

    Reply
  9. Top 7 Best Laptops for AutoCAD in 2020 - Laptop Hub says:
    July 13, 2020 at 5:00 am

    […] laser fast 120 Hz refresh rate, making your workspace much smoother to traverse through. 512 GB of PCIe NVMe SSD storage and 16 GB of DDR4 RAM makes your laptop just way more viable of handling all sorts of tasks […]

    Reply
  10. The Future of Data Storage - Spiceworks Ziff Davis says:
    July 15, 2020 at 5:38 am

    […] Not all improvements in the world of storage are increases in capacity. The speed at which you can read and write to a drive can have drastic impact on system performance, and as such, the introduction of NVMe was a major step forward for the world of storage. NVMe is a communications protocol developed specifically for SSDs; unlike its predecessor SATA, which was developed for hard disk drives and adapted for solid state. Traditional SATA SSDs offered modest performance improvements over HDDs but the speeds NVMe offers blow those improvements out of the water. This protocol is far more streamlined that its predecessors and utilises high speed PCIe slots to provide data transfer speeds up to six times faster than SATA can achieve. […]

    Reply
  11. 8 Best Budget Laptops with SSD in 2020 | Mojoprice says:
    August 9, 2020 at 2:09 pm

    […] Aspire 5 is not only one of the cheapest SSD laptops you can find. But it also comes with the fast PCIe NVMe standard. Offering even more speed compared to traditional […]

    Reply
  12. (How to) build your sim racing PC - Gaming PC buyer's guide says:
    September 8, 2020 at 8:01 am

    […] of all, let’s address what an NVMe SSD is. Many of you may already be aware that SSD stands for solid-state drive, which is set apart from […]

    Reply
  13. 8 Best Budget Laptops with SSD in 2020 | Laptop Series says:
    September 17, 2020 at 11:04 pm

    […] Aspire 5 is not only one of the cheapest SSD laptops you can find. But it also comes with the fast PCIe NVMe standard. Offering even more speed compared to traditional […]

    Reply
  14. Mejores discos duros SSD M.2 NVME y SATA - Guiahardware.es says:
    October 29, 2020 at 6:44 am

    […] interfaz no solo permite unidades mucho más pequeñas, sino también de mayor velocidad. El problema que tiene el SATA 3.0 es que el ancho de banda de una unidad SSD se limita a los […]

    Reply
  15. 13 best laptop for programming under ₹50000 in India (2021) says:
    December 3, 2020 at 1:39 am

    […] Asus laptop has a 512 GB M.2 NVMe SSD that is faster than […]

    Reply
  16. Razer's New Console Like PC - Q Does Tech - Tech News Done Right says:
    December 9, 2020 at 2:55 pm

    […] actual system specs include a Intel Core i9-9980HK CPU, 16GB of ram, a 2TB hard drive, 512GB NVMe  Solid State Drive and a 750W power supply. These are some pretty strong specs, but  the price is still quite high, […]

    Reply
  17. Best Laptops For Cyber Security In 2021 - BLBM - Best Reviews On Laptop & Monitor says:
    February 16, 2021 at 2:33 am

    […] Razer Blade 15 has 16GB of RAM with an added 256GB SSD; it has dual-channel memory 512GB of fast NVMe SSD storage that gives it quick startups and speedy load […]

    Reply
  18. 7 best laptop for writers under 50000 in 2021 (beginners) – Top3Trends says:
    March 21, 2021 at 10:54 am

    […] memory, Acer uses 512 GB of NVMe SSD that is 10X faster than a normal hard disk also this has a storage upgradability option up to […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

DesignFast

Component Selection Made Simple.

Try it Today
design fast globle

EE Training Center Classrooms

“ee

“ee

“ee

“ee

“ee

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Subscribe to weekly industry news, new product innovations and more.

Subscribe today

RSS Current EDABoard.com discussions

  • Upconverting a 20 GHz signal to 28 GHz
  • Need simple Buckboost current source controller IC for 2A ...nothing exists?
  • Sine Wave Generation with SPI and TIM interrupt in STM32
  • Determining Polarity
  • How calculate PNP turn OFF resistor in BuckBoost converter?

RSS Current Electro-Tech-Online.com Discussions

  • Simple data logger with monitoring of a load on off time for 60 days
  • Simulation not outputting anything on LTSpice (asc file attached)
  • Tesla coil progress
  • QA pass
  • after few times programming debugger can't recognize microcontroller(stm32f101vbt6)

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by MicroContrlTips

Footer

Microcontroller Tips

EE World Online Network

  • DesignFast
  • EE World Online
  • EDA Board Forums
  • Electro Tech Online Forums
  • Connector Tips
  • Analog IC Tips
  • Power Electronic Tips
  • Sensor Tips
  • Test and Measurement Tips
  • Wire and Cable Tips
  • 5G Technology World

Microcontroller Tips

  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Advertise with us
  • Contact us
  • About us
Follow us on TwitterAdd us on FacebookFollow us on YouTube Follow us on Instagram

Copyright © 2021 · WTWH Media LLC and its licensors. All rights reserved.
The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media.

Privacy Policy