I’m sure you’ve experienced the annoyance of waiting for your computer to boot up or waiting for your browser to load content on the internet, but what if there was something you could do about it? A new kind of drive—an NVM Express (NVMe) drive—has become more common in recent years that is capable of processing data much faster than its predecessors, and it’s taking computer performance to the next level. Learn about what NVMe drives are and how they work here!
What are NVM Express (NVMe)
Non-Volatile Memory Express, or NVMe, is a protocol specification for accessing solid-state drives. Rather than sending commands and data over separate connections as with AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface), NVMe sends instructions and data on a single high-speed PCIe link. Although AHCI and NVMe both use PCIe as an interface, they can’t share devices.
How Does NVM Express Work?
NVM Express, also known as Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Specification, is a set of commands that enable data processing. In theory, NVM Express will be significantly faster than traditional methods of data processing due to its high speed connection between your CPU and memory.
How Fast Are NVM Express (NVMe) Drives?
When shopping for a new solid-state drive (SSD), it’s usually a good idea to check what interface it uses. Today, most drives use a standard known as Serial ATA, or SATA. However, newer interfaces have been emerging with much faster data transfer speeds. NVMe is one of those interfaces—it’s quickly replacing SATA as one of the fastest ways to access your data… In fact, there are already many cases where NVMe provides more speed than even SCSI… The main difference is that SCSI uses parallel connections while NVM Express uses serial connections. This is important because parallel connections can end up being slower due to contention for bandwidth among multiple devices connected in parallel. In our tests we see our NVME out perform our fast standard SSD’s by 12x ; you can’t deny that speed and its noticeable.
