Random write performance for the drive is quoted at up to 54,000 IOPS for QD1 (1 thread) and up to 480,000 IOPS for QD32 (16 threads). In our tests with 4-threads, we got a figure of 53,054 IOPS at QD1, peaking at 89,416 at QD4.
4K Sustained Random Write v QD comparison.
When the SSD 980 is pushed, the lack of a dedicated DRAM chip becomes apparent as the drive is in the bottom three throughout the random write tests. Even so after QD1 it is very consistent in performance.