SK hynix SC311 512GB SSD Review

Rating: 8.0.

SK hynix are one of the very few SSD manufacturers in the enviable position of being able to produce all the major components of a drive – controller, NAND and cache – in-house, allowing them to control every aspect of the drives hardware while keeping a firm hand on production costs. The latest consumer drive range to emerge from SK hynix is the SC311 using the company's V3 48-layer 3D TLC NAND technology.

The new SC311 drive uses the SK hynix SH87820BB 8-channel controller that we saw in the SL308 drive but this time combined with the company's latest 48-layer 3D TLC NAND. There are four drive capacities in the SC311 range; 128GB, 256GB, 512GB (our review sample) topping out with the flagship 1TB model.

Official sequential read/write performance for the 512GB model is quoted as reads up to 540MB/s and writes up to 530MB/s. The 256GB and 1TB models have the same read figure with the 128GB drive quoted as up to 500MB/s. Write performance for the rest of the range is quoted as up to 530MB/s for the 1TB drive, 480MB/s for the 256GB and 270MB/s for the 128GB model.

Random 4K performance is listed as up to 100,000 IOPS reads and 90,000 IOPS writes for the 512GB and 1TB models. The 256GB drive has the same 90,000 IOPS write figure but with reads at 70,000 IOPS. The entry 128GB model has a read figure of up to 40,000 IOPS with 60,000 IOPS for writes.

Endurance for the 512GB model is quoted at 300TB TBW and SK hynix back the drive with a 3-year warranty.

Physical Specifications:

• Usable Capacities: 512GB
• NAND Components: SK hynix 48-layer V3 3D TLC NAND
• NAND Controller:  SK hynix SH87820BB
• Cache: SK hynix H9T0NNN4GOAL
• Interface: Serial ATA (SATA) 6Gb/s (SATA III)
• Form Factor: 2.5in, 7mm
• Dimensions: 69.85 x 100 x 7mm
• Drive Weight: 61g

Firmware Version: 70060P10

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