nvme ssd | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Wed, 12 Apr 2023 10:42:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png nvme ssd | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Kingston NV2 1TB SSD Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/kingston-nv2-1tb-ssd-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/kingston-nv2-1tb-ssd-review/#respond Thu, 13 Apr 2023 11:00:40 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=594857 It's a budget NVMe SSD, available for less than £50 in the UK - but can it perform?

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Kingston's NV2 is an entry-level Gen 4 SSD with a DRAM-less design. It uses a four-channel controller and 144-layer QLC NAND, helping it to come in at under £50 for the 1TB model here in the UK. What sort of performance do you get for the money? We find out today.

Kingston's NV2 drive is available in four capacities; 250GB, 500GB, 1TB (the drive we are reviewing) and the 2TB flagship drive. At the heart of the drive is a Silicon Motion SM2267XT 4-channel controller. It's a DRAM-less design, using Host Memory Buffer technology instead.

Kingston only supplies Sequential read/write figures in the specification sheet for the drive. The 250GB drive gets a read rating of up to 3,000MB/s with writes rated up to 1,300MB/s. The 500GB and the 1TB drives have the same up to 3,500MB/s for reads and up to 2,100MB/s for writes. The 2TB drive has the same read speed as the 500GB and 1TB drives but with an uprated 2,800MB/s for write performance.

Kingston quotes a TBW endurance figure for the 1TB drives as 320TB. The 2TB model gets a rating of 640TB, the 500GB drive, 160TB and the 250GB drive 80TB. Kingston back the drive with a 3-year warranty which is a bit mean these days when 5-year warranties are usually the norm.

Physical Specifications:

  • Usable Capacities: 1TB.
  • NAND Components: 144-layer QLC NAND.
  • NAND Controller: Silicon Motion SM2267XT.
  • Cache: None – (HMB) Host Memory Buffer.
  • Interface: PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe.
  • Form Factor: M2 2280.
  • Dimensions: 22 x 80 x 2.2mm.
  • Drive Weight: 7g.

Firmware Version: SBM02103.

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here

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Corsair MP600 GS 2TB SSD Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/corsair-mp600-gs-2tb-ssd-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/corsair-mp600-gs-2tb-ssd-review/#respond Wed, 11 Jan 2023 13:00:59 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=585635 It's a new MP600-series SSD from Corsair, aimed at balancing price to performance

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Corsair has quite a few drives in its popular MP600 range, and now another one has joined the clan – the MP600 GS. Designed to balance performance and endurance at a competitive price point, the MP600 GS uses 176-layer NAND and a 4-channel controller.

At the time of writing the MP600 GS product line consists of three drives; a 500GB entry model, 1TB and the flagship 2TB, the drive we are reviewing here. At the heart of the MP600 GS is a Phison PS5021-E21T controller. A DRAM-less design, the PS5021-E21T uses four channels to support the 176-layer 3D TLC NAND that the drive uses.

Performance wise Corsair rate the Sequential read performance for the MP600 GS as up to 4,800MB/s (tested with CrystalDiskMark) for all three drives. The 2TB drive has the fastest Sequential write speed at up to 4,500MB/s while the 500GB and 1TB models are rated up to 3,500MB/s and 3,900MB/s respectively.

When it comes to random 4K performance, the 2TB drive is rated at up to 530K IOPS for reads and up to 1000K IOPS for writes (both at QD32). The 500GB drive has official read/write figures of up to 450K IOPS and 700K IOPS respectively. The 1TB drive has the fastest random read speed of the family at up to 580K IOPS with writes rated at up to 800K IOPS.

Power consumption for the 2TB drive is listed as 5.3W Average (the 500GB drive is 4.1W average and the 1TB version, is 4.3W average).

Corsair gives an endurance rating for the 2TB drive of 1200TBW and backs the drive with a 5-year warranty.

Physical Specifications:

  • Usable Capacities: 2TB.
  • NAND Components: Micron B47R 176-layer 3D TLC NAND.
  • NAND Controller: Phison PS5021-E21.
  • Cache: none.
  • Interface: PCIe Gen4 x4, NVMe 1.4.
  • Form Factor: M.2 2280.
  • Dimensions: 22 x 80 x 3mm.
  • Drive Weight: 34g.

Firmware Version: ELFMB0.6

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here

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Seagate FireCuda 530 2TB SSD Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/seagate-firecuda-530-2tb-ssd-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/seagate-firecuda-530-2tb-ssd-review/#respond Thu, 02 Dec 2021 11:12:50 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=541173 It's Seagate's latest PCIe Gen4 SSD - but is it much of an improvement over the FireCuda 520?

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Seagate's lastest NVMe SSD is the FireCuda 530, the company's 2nd generation PCIe Gen4 drive – following on from the FireCuda 520. This time around, Seagate is using a faster controller and the latest 176-layer NAND technology. We review the 2TB model, priced at £320.

The FireCuda 530 uses a combination of Micron's B47R 176-layer 3D TLC NAND and Phison’s PS5018-E18 NVMe controller and is available in two versions, one with a heatsink, designed in partnership with EKWB, and one without and in four capacities; 500GB, 1TB, 2TB (the drive we are reviewing) and the flagship 4TB model.

Seagate quote Sequential performance figures for the FireCuda 530 as up to 7,000MB/s reads for the 500GB model with the other three drives up to 7,300MB/s. The 500GB drive gets a 3,000MB/s Sequential write rating, the 1TB drive 6,000MB/s and both the 2TB and 4TB models are listed as up to 6,900MB/s.

Random performance (4KB QD32, 8 threads) is stated as up to 400,000 IOPS and 3,000 IOPS for reads and writes respectively for the 500GB drive, the 1TB drive is up to 800,000 IOPS for reads and 1,000,000 IOPS for writes while both the 2TB and 4TB drives are rated as up to 1,000,000 IOPS for both reads and writes.

The 2TB drive being reviewed has an official TBW endurance rating of 2,550TB with Seagate backing the drive with a 5-year warranty.

Physical Specifications:

  • Usable Capacities:  2TB.
  • NAND Components: Micron B47R 176-layer 3D TLC NAND.
  • NAND Controller: Phison PS5018-E18.
  • Cache: DDR4-2666.
  • Interface: PCIe Gen4 x4, NVMe 1.4.
  • Form Factor: M.2, 2280.
  • Dimensions: 80.15 x 22.15 x 3.58mm.
  • Drive Weight: 10g.

Firmware Version: SU6SM001.

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here

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Western Digital launches WD Red SN700 NVMe SSDs https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/matthew-wilson/western-digital-launches-wd-red-sn700-nvme-ssds/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/matthew-wilson/western-digital-launches-wd-red-sn700-nvme-ssds/#respond Tue, 28 Sep 2021 12:00:50 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=533443 Western Digital has a new series NVMe SSDs launching today – the WD Red SN700. Built from the ground up to tackle demanding 24/7 workload environments, the new WD Red SSDs will be available with up to 4TB capacity. The WD Red SN700 family includes a 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB and 4TB SSD. Unfortunately, the …

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Western Digital has a new series NVMe SSDs launching today – the WD Red SN700. Built from the ground up to tackle demanding 24/7 workload environments, the new WD Red SSDs will be available with up to 4TB capacity.

The WD Red SN700 family includes a 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB and 4TB SSD. Unfortunately, the company has not revealed the controller being used, or the number of 3D TLC NAND layers, but we do have sequential read and write performance figures. The 250GB SSD is rated for sequential read/write speeds of 3100MB/s and 1600MB/s respectively. Speeds scale accordingly with capacity, so the 500GB version is capable of 3430MB/s and 2600MB/s, while the 1TB drive is capable of 3430MB/s and 3000MB/s sequential read/write speeds.

The 2TB and 4TB models offer the same sequential read speed, coming in at 3400MB/s, but the sequential write speed differs a bit, with the 2TB model offering up to 2900MB/s and the 4TB up to 3100MB/s.

When it comes to random read performance, the 4TB drive is the fastest at up to 550,000 IOPS, next up is the 1TB drive at up to 515,000 IOPS, the 2TB drive is rated up to 480,000 IOPS, the 500GB drive, 420,000 IOPS and finally the 250GB drive at up to 220,000 IOPS.

The WD Red SN700 NVMe SSDs come with a five year warranty and offer a typical endurance of 2000TBW. For more information and a deep dive into performance, check out our full review, HERE.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: We came away with positive impressions in our full review, so be sure to give that a look if you're in need of a speedy M.2 SSD for your NAS. 

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Gigabyte Aorus 7000s 2TB SSD Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/gigabyte-aorus-7000e-2tb-ssd/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/gigabyte-aorus-7000e-2tb-ssd/#respond Tue, 08 Jun 2021 07:33:44 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=515909 We check out Gigabyte's latest PCIe 4.0 SSD - can it match the competition?

The post Gigabyte Aorus 7000s 2TB SSD Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Gigabyte's Aorus 7000s family of SSDs is the company's flagship PCIe Gen4 single-drive range (Gigabyte offers multi-drive Gen4 AIC units as well). The 7000s uses the ever-popular combination for the latest generation of Gen4 drives, with a Phison E18 controller and 96-Layer 3D TLC NAND.

Just two models make up the 7000s product line at the time of writing, 1TB and 2TB (the drive we are reviewing here). Both drives are rated up to 7,000MB/s for Sequential reads with the 1TB drive rated at up to 5,500MB/s for Sequential writes and the 2TB drive faster at 6,850MB/s. As for random 4K speeds, the 2TB drive is rated as up to 650,000 IOPS for reads and up to 700,000 IOPS for writes. The 1TB drive has the same random write figure as the 2TB with random reads down to 350,000 IOPS.

To help alleviate any problems due to excessive heat, Gigabyte has designed a fairly low profile, multi finned heatsink for the Aorus 7000s which has a nanocarbon coating to help with heat dissipation.

Official power consumption figures for the drive are 7.6W for average active reads, 8.4W for average active writes and under 30mW at idle. The endurance of the 2TB drive is stated as 1,400TBW and Gigabyte back the drive with a 5-year limited warranty.

Physical Specifications:

  • Usable Capacities:  2TB.
  • NAND Components: Micron 96-Layer 3D TLC NAND.
  • NAND Controller: Phison PS5018-E18.
  • Cache: 2GB DDR4.
  • Interface: PCIe Gen4 x4 / NVMe 1.4.
  • Form Factor: M.2 2280.
  • Dimensions: 80.5 x 23.5 x 11.4mm.
  • Drive Weight: 38g.

Firmware Version: EIFM21.1

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here

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WD Black P50 Game Drive SSD 1TB Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/wd-black-p50-game-drive-ssd-1tb-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/wd-black-p50-game-drive-ssd-1tb-review/#respond Mon, 22 Mar 2021 09:47:54 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=505912 WD's P50 gave us some problems - but is it still worth buying?

The post WD Black P50 Game Drive SSD 1TB Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
WD's Black P50 Game Drive SSD combines an NVMe PCIe Gen 3 SSD with a USB 3.2 x2 (20Gb/s) interface, all housed inside a durable and shock-resistant enclosure. Priced around £220 for the 1TB model, what sort of performance is on offer for your money?

The WD Black P50 Game Drive line-up comprises four capacities; the entry level 500GB drive, 1TB (the drive we are looking at here), 2TB and a flagship 4TB model. Internally the drive uses a WD Black SN750 M.2 NVMe drive along with an ASMedia bridging controller. WD quote Sequential performance across the drive range as up to 2,000MB/s for both read and writes.

WD don't state and endurance rating for the P50 but the 1TB Black 750 drive inside it has a 600TBW rating and WD back the P50 with a five year warranty.

Physical Specifications:

  • Usable Capacities: 1TB.
  • NAND Components: SanDisk 64-layer 3D TLC.
  • Interface: USB Gen 3.2 x2.
  • Form Factor: External.
  • NAND Controller: WD.
  • Dimensions: 118 x 65 x 14mm.
  • Drive Weight: 115g.

Firmware Version: 1003.

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here

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Top PCIe 4.0 SSDs of 2020! https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/top-pcie-4-0-ssds-of-2020/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/top-pcie-4-0-ssds-of-2020/#respond Thu, 31 Dec 2020 13:00:17 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=498829 We go over our picks for the top PCIe 4.0 SSDs of 2020

The post Top PCIe 4.0 SSDs of 2020! first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
2020 was the year that PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSDs truly arrived on the scene, bringing with them blisteringly fast performance. Unsurprisingly they make up the best SSD drives we seen this year. The only rather large fly in the ointment with PCIe Gen 4 drives, is that you need to (at the time of writing) invest in an AMD platform (AMD X570, B550 or TRX40 based motherboards) to use them at full speed, as Intel’s Rocket Lake platform has yet to make an appearance.

#7 – Corsair Force MP600

An earlier adopter of the new technology was Corsair, with the MP600. The MP600 uses a combination of a Phison PS5016-E16 controller and BiCS4 96-layer 3D TLC NAND. As PCIe Gen 4 drives tend to run very warm when being pushed, Corsair have fitted the drive with a large chunky heatsink which is easily detached, handy if you want to use your motherboard’s M.2 cooling system, if it possesses such a thing.

See the full Corsair Force MP600 review HERE.

#6 – Seagate FireCuda 520

Seagate has been building up the FireCuda gaming line for a while, but the FIreCuda 520 gave them an instant seat on the top table of performance drives. Another drive to use the Phison E16 controller and BiCS4 96-layer 3D TLC NAND (don’t worry, it’s a common thread among the first generation of Gen 4 drives). The FireCuda 520 comes in three capacities (500GB, 1TB and 2TB) and is rated up to 5,000MB/s for Sequential reads and 4,400MB/s for writes.

See the full Seagate FireCuda 520 review HERE.

#5 – Teamgroup T-Force Cardea Zero Z440

Another Gen 4 drive came from a company you may not be familiar with – Teamgroup. The Teamgroup T-Force Cardea Zero Z440, might be a mouthful of a name it is a very good drive. Only available in 1TB and 2TB versions, the drive uses a Phison PS5016-E16 controller together with BiCS4 96-layer 3D TLC NAND and is rated up to 5,000MB/s for reads and 4,400MB/s for writes.

See the full Teamgroup T-Force Cardea Zero Z440 review HERE.

#4 – Patriot Viper VP4100

The Viper VP4100 was Patriot’s entry into the PCIe Gen4 SSD market segment. The drive uses, yep you’ve guessed it, a combination of a Phison E16 controller and BiCS4 96-layer 3D TLC NAND. Patriot fitted the drive with a very well designed and compact aluminium heatsink but you’ll have your work cut out trying to remove it so the drive can be used in conjunction with any motherboard M.2 cooling solution.

As you can see the one thing all the above drives have in common is they all use Phison PS5016-E16 controller, hardly surprising as it was the first and for quite some time the only PCIe Gen4 controller available. Towards the year’s end we got our hands on a drive using the next generation of Phison Gen 4 controller, the PS5018-E18, from Sabrent in the shape of the Rocket 4 Plus.

See the full Patriot Viper VP4100 review HERE.

#3 – Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus

The Rocket 4 Plus combines the PS5018-E18 controller with Micron 96-Layer 3D TLC NAND to very good effect. It comes with some very impressive Sequential performance ratings; up to 7,100MB/s for reads and up to 5,300MB/s for writes. Helping to keep this monster cool is a copper heat spreader sitting under the drive label.

So what of the manufactures who are in the very fortunate position of being able to call on in-house products for the essential triad of NAND, controller and cache, such as Samsung and WD, what did they bring to the Gen 4 table? Well, it wasn’t until much later in the year we saw the drives from these two tech giants. First up in Q3 was the drive most people were waiting for, Samsung’s first Gen 4 drive, the Samsung SSD980 PRO followed in Q4 by WD's Black SN850.

#2 – Samsung SSD 980 PRO

The SSD 980 PRO brought with it a new controller named Elpis and the latest 1xx layer V-NAND (Samsung didn’t disclose the layer count but an educated guess puts it around the 128-layer mark) a combination which gave the drive official Sequential read/write performance figures of up to 7,000MB/s and 5,000MB/s respectively for the flagship 1TB drive.

See the full Samsung SSD 980 PRO review HERE.

#1 – WD Black SN850

Coming somewhat out of left field, WD’s first Gen 4 drive, the Black SN850 took many people by surprise and it is certainly a drive that lives up to WD’s high-performance Black label standards and is the fastest Black drive to date. Powered by a WD second-generation G-2 controller, the SN850 uses 96-layer BiCS4 3D TLC NAND giving the drive a Sequential read rating of up to 7,000MB/s with writes up to 5,300MB/s for the 1TB drive.

See the full WD Black SN850 review HERE.

KitGuru says: Let us know what you think of our top PCIe 4.0 SSDs of 2020 – and we can expect many more to come in 2021!

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KitGuru Advent Calendar Day 19: Win a WD_Black P50 1TB portable NVMe SSD! (closed) https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/competitions/matthew-wilson/kitguru-advent-calendar-day-19-win-a-wd_black-p50-1tb-portable-nvme-ssd/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/competitions/matthew-wilson/kitguru-advent-calendar-day-19-win-a-wd_black-p50-1tb-portable-nvme-ssd/#respond Sat, 19 Dec 2020 10:00:07 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=498795 For Day 19 of the KitGuru Advent Calendar 2020, we’re teaming up with Western Digital to give away THREE WD_Black P50 1TB NVMe SSDs! These are portable NVMe SSDs with future-proof performance for both PC and consoles. 

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Update (20/12/20): This competition is now CLOSED. Thanks to all who entered, our winners today are Marcel Kieven, Simon Ainslie and Gavin Sykes. If you missed out this time, then keep an eye out as we have a new giveaway each day through Christmas. Our day 20 competition can be found HERE

For Day 19 of the KitGuru Advent Calendar 2020, we’re teaming up with Western Digital to give away THREE WD_Black P50 1TB NVMe SSDs! These are portable NVMe SSDs with future-proof performance for both PC and consoles. 

The WD_Black P50 is a portable NVMe SSD, compatible with both PC and consoles. With read speeds of up to 2000MB/s and 1TB of storage, the P50 is the perfect solution for taking your games on the go.

Entering this giveaway is simple, all you need to do is head over to THIS POST on our Facebook page and leave a comment. We plan to have a new discussion topic each day, today we are asking you guys to tell us – what is the first game you would install on this SSD? This competition is open to Europe.

The winners will be picked at random by 10am December 20th, and a new competition will also be announced for Day 20.

Terms and Conditions: This competition is open in Europe, starting at 10AM on December 19th and ending at 9:59AM on December 20th. Due to the busy Christmas season and the COVID-19 situation, prize deliveries could take longer than usual. In compliance with GDPR, we will not collect or store any personal information as part of this competition. Once the winner has been contacted and their prize received, personal details will be deleted from our email servers. Your details will not be shared, we respect your privacy.

KitGuru Says: Good luck to everyone entering today’s competition! We’ll be back to announce the winner tomorrow morning and open the door for Advent Calendar Day 20!

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SanDisk introduces Extreme and Extreme Pro NVMe portable SSDs https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/matthew-wilson/sandisk-introduces-extreme-and-extreme-pro-nvme-portable-ssds/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/matthew-wilson/sandisk-introduces-extreme-and-extreme-pro-nvme-portable-ssds/#respond Wed, 30 Sep 2020 12:08:58 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=488191 SanDisk is back this week with new portable SSDs that bring a close to 2x speed increase over previous generations. The new SanDisk Extreme and SanDisk Extreme Pro are launching today with capacities up to 2TB, a rugged design and 256-bit AES hardware encryption to keep your data sage.  The flagship SanDisk Extreme Pro has …

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SanDisk is back this week with new portable SSDs that bring a close to 2x speed increase over previous generations. The new SanDisk Extreme and SanDisk Extreme Pro are launching today with capacities up to 2TB, a rugged design and 256-bit AES hardware encryption to keep your data sage. 

The flagship SanDisk Extreme Pro has an aluminium chassis to keep the NVMe SSD cool under heavy workloads. In terms of performance, the SanDisk Extreme Pro offers read/write speeds of up to 2000MB/s. The chassis also has an IP55 rating, meaning it is built to withstand drops of up to two meters. Password protection and hardware encryption are also offered, keeping your data safe at all levels.

The standard SanDisk Extreme Portable also uses an NVMe SSD, but it is slower, offering read/write speeds of up to 1050MB/s and 1000MB/s respectively. Other features, like IP55 protection, password protection and 256-bit AES encryption remain. The housing of the SSD is different, opting for a durable silicone shell rather than aluminium.

Both new SSDs are compatible with PC, Mac and can also work with USB Type-C smartphones. The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD starts at £133.99 for 500GB and £216.99 for 1TB – the 2TB model is expected to arrive later this year. As for the flagship SanDisk Extreme Pro, that one is already available in 2TB capacity for £418.99 with a 1TB version expected before the end of the year.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Are many of you in need of a high-speed portable SSD? What do you make of the latest offerings from SanDisk? 

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Patriot Viper VPR100 RGB 1TB SSD Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/patriot-viper-vpr100-rgb-1tb-ssd-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/patriot-viper-vpr100-rgb-1tb-ssd-review/#respond Fri, 28 Feb 2020 08:25:45 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=447869 Could this SSD's RGB lighting actually hurt performance? we put it to the test

The post Patriot Viper VPR100 RGB 1TB SSD Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
We initially looked at the ‘plain jane' Patriot Viper VPN100 a while back, now we have our hands on the ‘blinged' up version of the drive in the shape of the RGB-equipped Viper VPR100. Interestingly, Patriot says that with the RGB mode switched on, performance may ‘decrease up to 20-30%' so we put that to the test.


As with the Viper VPN100 model line-up, the VPR100 RGB range consists of four capacities, the entry 256GB model, 512GB, 1TB (the drive we are looking at here) and a flagship 2TB drive. Gone is the massive passive cooler that the VPN100 used, in its place is a lower profile (7mm compared to 10.5mm) but very slightly wider (25mm versus 22mm) RGB equipped passive heatsink.

Just like the VPN100, the VPR100 is built around a Phison PS5012-E12 controller and Toshiba 3D TLC NAND. The PS5012-E12 is Phison’s second-generation PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe controller. The 8-channel controller is built on a TSMC 28nm process and has been designed to work with TLC and QLC NAND technologies with support for Phison’s SmartECC and the latest LDPC (Low-Density Parity Check) error correction as well as AES256, TCG OPAL and TCG Pyrite hardware encryption support. With 8 NAND channels and 32 NAND chip enable lines, the maximum amount of NAND the controller can support is 8TB.

Patriot quotes Sequential performance figures on the specification sheet for the 1TB drive as up to 3,900MB/s for reads and up to 2,900MB/s for writes using the CrystalDiskMark benchmark. Also quoted are Sequential performance figures using the ATTO benchmark with the same maximum 2,900MB/s write score but with a reduced read score of 3,300MB/s, and its these two ATTO figures that appear on the box that the drive comes in.

The quoted 4K random read/write figures for the 1TB are very impressive at up to 700,000 IOPS for both reads and up to 650,000 IOPS for writes. Looking at the specification sheet for the VPR100 you come across an interesting caveat to those figures, in that if the RGB mode is switched on, quote “RGB sync may decrease up to 20-30% Read/Write speed” unquote. But more on that later.

The 1TB VPN100’s endurance is rated at 1600TB TBW and Patriot backs the drive with a 5-year warranty.

Physical Specifications:

  • Usable Capacities: 1TB.
  • NAND Components: Toshiba 3D TLC.
  • NAND Controller: Phison PS5012-E12.
  • Cache: 1GB.
  • Interface: PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe 1.3.
  • Form Factor: M.2 2280.
  • Dimensions: 25 x 80 x 7mm.
  • Drive Weight: 45g

Firmware Version: ECFM12.3

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ICY DOCK introduce the ToughArmour four-bay M.2 SSD enclosure https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/james-dawson/icy-dock-introduce-the-tougharmour-four-bay-m-2-ssd-enclosure/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/james-dawson/icy-dock-introduce-the-tougharmour-four-bay-m-2-ssd-enclosure/#respond Tue, 11 Feb 2020 13:20:37 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=451148 The new ToughArmour MB720M2K-B from ICY DOCK is a new four-bay removable enclosure for M.2 solid-state drives. This means that M.2 SSDs no longer need to be installed directly onto the motherboard or via a riser card and makes M.2 drives more accessible from the front of the system. ICY DOCK has equipped the ToughArmour …

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The new ToughArmour MB720M2K-B from ICY DOCK is a new four-bay removable enclosure for M.2 solid-state drives. This means that M.2 SSDs no longer need to be installed directly onto the motherboard or via a riser card and makes M.2 drives more accessible from the front of the system.

ICY DOCK has equipped the ToughArmour four-bay M.2 enclosure with a simple tool-less installation process which also makes maintenance and upgrading M.2 devices pain-free, with reduced system downtime. The innovative design means that the user can simply place the M.2 SSD in the drive bay, adjust the locking mechanism to the correct length and push the drive down to lock in place.

This adjustable locking mechanism means that all sizes of M.2 SSDs, including 22110 (110 mm) drives, can be installed inside the ToughArmour MB720M2K-B with minimal fuss. The enclosure also includes EMI Grounding Technology to ensure M.2 SSDs are properly grounded just like they would be when installing directly to the PC motherboard. Once the M.2 SSD is clipped in place in the bay, the drive will be grounded by the tray and the housing of the enclosure to protect against electrical damage.

In terms of performance, the ToughArmour MB720M2K-B features support for up to four M.2 PCIe NVMe SSDs with 4x PCIe data transfer speed of up to 32 Gb/s per channel. Additionally, a number of ventilation holes around the enclosure, along with the high-efficiency aluminium heat sinks inside each bay and the dual 40mm fans, ensures the installed M.2 SSDs remain within the optimal operating temperate range while under full load.

An LED status indicator built into each bay lets the user know when the drive is powered up and in use. To ensure the M.2 SSDs inside the enclosure are well protected and will function reliably for many years after installation, ICY DOCK has built the ToughArmour MB720M2K-B from a heavy-duty metal construction that is rugged enough to cope with installation in industrial type systems.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: This new type of M.2 installation method looks ideal for use in harsh environments with its solid build and innovative installation process. What do you guys think of this new rugged four-bay M.2 SSD enclosure from ICY DOCK?

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Mushkin launch the PILOT-E series NVMe M.2 SSD https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/james-dawson/mushkin-launch-the-pilot-e-series-nvme-m-2-ssd/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/james-dawson/mushkin-launch-the-pilot-e-series-nvme-m-2-ssd/#respond Wed, 05 Feb 2020 11:45:50 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=450180 Mushkin has announced a new range of NVMe SSD drives this week that boasts support for a high-speed data transfer rate of up to 3,500 MB/s. The new PILOT-E series from Muskin is available to consumers now via Amazon UK and offers competitive pricing. The PILOT-E range of NVMe SSD drives from Mushkin are based …

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Mushkin has announced a new range of NVMe SSD drives this week that boasts support for a high-speed data transfer rate of up to 3,500 MB/s. The new PILOT-E series from Muskin is available to consumers now via Amazon UK and offers competitive pricing.

The PILOT-E range of NVMe SSD drives from Mushkin are based on a Silicon Motion “SM2262EN” controller with support for eight NAND channels connected to the PILOT-E 3D NAND Flash. Mushkin has utilised a PCIe Gen 3 X4 bus interface and the PILOT-E Series comes in the M.2 2280 form factor for excellent compatibility with a wide range of motherboards.

Muskin’s PILOT-E series NVMe SSD’s are capable of producing sequential read and write speeds of up to 3,500/3,100 MB/s respectively although this isn’t the maximum speed across the entire range, the 500GB version is the slowest of the series with sequential read speeds of 3,500 MB/s however, sequential write speed is 2,300 MB/s.

There are three capacity levels to choose from in the PILOT-E series, 500GB, 1Tb and 2TB version are available. The complete range shares support for features such as NVMe Secure Erase, user-upgradeable firmware, integrated temperature monitoring and maximum shock resistance of 1500G.

In terms of data security, the Mushkin PILOT-E series includes TCG Opal, AES, and eDrive (IEEE1667) encryption support and Mushkin’s Enhanced Data-protection Suite (MEDS) ensures valuable data is kept well protected. The PILOT-E series also includes SLC cache for improved performance, static data refresh, a 1.5 million hours MTBF rate (mean time between failures) and is backed by a three-year warranty.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Are you currently in the market for a high-speed NVMe SSD drive? Let us know what you think of the new PILOT-E series from Mushkin and whether you would be interested in purchasing one?

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Kingston launch the DC1000B NVMe SSD for data centre https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/james-dawson/kingston-launch-the-dc1000b-nvme-ssd-for-data-centre/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/james-dawson/kingston-launch-the-dc1000b-nvme-ssd-for-data-centre/#respond Mon, 13 Jan 2020 10:00:31 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=446426 Kingston Technology has announced a new range of NVMe SSDs for data centre solutions. The Data Centre DC1000B M.2 NVMe is optimised for server boot applications and equipped with power-loss protection (PLP). The new Data Centre DC1000B range from Kingston is a high-performance M.2 (2280) NVMe PCIe SSD utilising the latest generation PCIe Gen 3.0 …

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Kingston Technology has announced a new range of NVMe SSDs for data centre solutions. The Data Centre DC1000B M.2 NVMe is optimised for server boot applications and equipped with power-loss protection (PLP).

The new Data Centre DC1000B range from Kingston is a high-performance M.2 (2280) NVMe PCIe SSD utilising the latest generation PCIe Gen 3.0 interface and 64-layer 3D TLC NAND, to offer data centres a cost-friendly M.2 NVMe solution specifically designed for server use.

Kingston claims the DC1000B is optimally suited for server boot applications in high-volume rack mount systems, as well as being suitable for use in purpose-built systems needing a high-performance M.2 SSD that includes onboard power loss protection (PLP). The DC1000B provides an efficient server boot solution while preserving front-loading bays for data storage drives.

Kingston Data centre DC100B features:

  • Data Center Class SSD for Enterprise applications
  • Optimized Boot Drive for Server Use
  • M.2 PCIe NVMe Gen3 x4
  • Up to 3,400MB/s Read, 600MB/s Write
  • Part Number: SEDC1000BM8/240G

The DC1000B is designed to offer enterprise-level performance and consistency, with low latency features not typically included in client SSDs. Kingston has launched the DC1000B available in two capacity options of 240GB and 480GB, to keep the price relatively low. However, at the moment, specific pricing information is unavailable.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

KitGuru says: Kingston says the DC1000B will offer a cost-effective NVMe solution for server boot drives. However, there is no reason why the DC1000B couldn’t be used as a desktop storage drive too. It will be interesting to see how cost-effective it is once it hits retailers.

 

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G-Technology G-Drive Mobile Pro SSD 500GB External Drive Review https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/simon-crisp/g-technology-g-drive-mobile-pro-ssd-500gb-external-drive-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/simon-crisp/g-technology-g-drive-mobile-pro-ssd-500gb-external-drive-review/#respond Mon, 05 Aug 2019 08:09:57 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=406221 It's an external SSD that can withstand a surprising amount of force

The post G-Technology G-Drive Mobile Pro SSD 500GB External Drive Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
G-Technology's G-Drive mobile Pro SSD external drive is aimed at professional users, offering super-fast transfer rates for jobs such as editing very high definition video editing in real time or VR rendering on the move using a combination of an NVMe SSD and Thunderbolt 3 interface.

The G-Drive mobile Pro SSD comes in two capacities; 500GB and 1TB, with an official transfer rate of up to 2,800MB/s for both models thanks to its combination of an M.2 NVMe drive and Thunderbolt 3 connection. The drive uses passive cooling in the shape of a hefty aluminium heatsink which provides most of the answer why an external drive that uses a M.2 format SSD weighs in at a substantial 1.04kg.

It's not only quick, it's also built to survive the rigours of being used on the road. As part of G-Technology's R-series of rugged drives it comes protected in a rubber feel case, designed to survive a 3-meter drop and up to 1000lb of crush.

G-Technology back the drive with a 5-yr limited warranty.

Physical Specifications:
Usable Capacities: 500GB.
NAND Components: SanDisk 64-layer 3D TLC.
Interface: Thunderbolt 3.
Form Factor: External.
NAND Controller: WD 8-channel NVMe.
Dimensions: 112 x 80 x 17mm.
Drive Weight: 1.04 kg.

Firmware Version: 10111RL.

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Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/samsung-ssd-970-evo-plus-1tb-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/samsung-ssd-970-evo-plus-1tb-review/#respond Mon, 25 Mar 2019 11:26:55 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=403593 It's an update to the hugely popular 970 Evo - is it worth buying?

The post Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 1TB Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Samsung has updated its hugely popular SSD 970 EVO series with the company's latest 5th generation V-NAND TLC memory to produce the 970 EVO Plus. Does it make any difference to real world performance, and is it worth the £240 asking price?

Samsung's 5th generation V-NAND 3-bit MLC, or TLC V-NAND to you and me, sees the layer count rise up from the 64-layer of the previous generation to ‘9*-layer'. as stated by Samsung. This is a surprising move by Samsung as they are usually keen to let everyone know how exactly many layers their NAND has.

At launch the M.2 2280 970 EVO Plus range consisted of three capacities; 250GB, 500GB and the flagship 1TB model which we are looking at here.

The latest NAND and firmware updates to the Samsung Phoenix controller gives the 970 EVO Plus some pretty good performance improvements over the good old 970 EVO. The 1TB SSD 970 EVO Plus is official rated at up to 3,500MB/s for Sequential reads and up to 3,300MB/s for writes compared to up to 3,400MB/s and 2,500MB/s for read/writes respectively for the SSD970 EVO.

Samsung quote two queue depth figures for 4K random performance of the new drive. At QD1 the drive is rated as up to 19,000 IOPS for reads and 60,000 IOPS for writes which is up from the 15,000 IOPS and 50,000 IOPS figures respectively for the 970 EVO. At a much deeper QD of 32 the drive is rated as up to 600,000 IOPS for reads and 550,000 IOPS for writes. Again this is an improvement over the original 970 EVO drive which has a read rating of up to 500,000 IOPS and 450,000 IOPS for writes.

Endurance for the 1TB SSD970 Plus is quoted as 600 TBW (the same as the original SSD970 EVO) and Samsung backs the drive with a 5-year warranty.

Physical Specifications:
Usable Capacities: 1TB.
NAND Components: Samsung 9*-layer TLC V-NAND.
NAND Controller: Samsung Pheonix.
Cache: 1GB LPDDR4.
Interface: PCIe Gen 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3.
Form Factor: M.2 2280.
Dimensions: 80.15 x 22.15 x 2.38mm
Drive Weight: 8g

Firmware Version: 1B2Q

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576TB SSD storage systems under 45mm high at Cloud Expo https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/andrzej/576tb-ssd-storage-systems-under-45mm-high-at-cloud-expo/ https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/andrzej/576tb-ssd-storage-systems-under-45mm-high-at-cloud-expo/#respond Fri, 15 Mar 2019 21:04:16 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=407178 Several halls at London's Excel were crammed this week for Cloud Expo Europe 2019, which ran alongside Data Centre World, Blockchain Tech World, Smart IoT and DevOps Live. KitGuru hustled and bustled with the huge crowd to get a better look at the hardware that's underpinning the move back from desktop to remote computing. From …

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Several halls at London's Excel were crammed this week for Cloud Expo Europe 2019, which ran alongside Data Centre World, Blockchain Tech World, Smart IoT and DevOps Live. KitGuru hustled and bustled with the huge crowd to get a better look at the hardware that's underpinning the move back from desktop to remote computing. From a hardware lover's perspective, there was some impressive kit – alongside a lot of security, power and cooling systems.

As the headline would suggest, it was the ultra-high-density storage systems that had, arguably, the most impressive specs. Data centres measure products using the letter U to indicate a rack-mounted module that's 44.45mm high (1.75 inches in old money).

The AIC FB127-LX Storage Server offers 36 NF1 SSD bays – each of which could be populated with a 16TB NVMe Solid State Drive – for a total of 576 TB of storage. Just picturing 576x 1TB mechanical drives – and imaging that capacity in a space that’s less than 45mm high, gives you pause for thought. And a desire to own. David Huang, VP of Sales for Taiwanese OEM manufacturer AIC, explained the amazing storage densities that these new platforms can offer. The NF1 SSDs are roughly the same size as an M.2 but capacities range up to 16TB per drive.

  

There was much talk about the expected sales ramp up in the corporate/enterprise space for Intel's Cascade Lake – as well as the soon to be released Cascade Lake-X. That processor first appeared on Intel roadmaps as a Q4 2018, but is now likely to surface in/around Computex – targeting AMD's HEDT offerings. Plenty of products we saw at the show claimed to be ready to support Cascade Lake, with launch programmes geared up for next month.

Supermicro were present, with products aimed at providing a high performance platform for cloud/hybrid solutions. Twin architecture products (with up to 24 DIMM sockets per node) mean you can park 3TB of 2666MHz memory next to your Dual Xeon processors.

  

One other thing we photographed in case it made you smile: Liquid cooling pipes, for systems on an industrial scale. The expert on hand said that this range of (near) 30cm wide pipes were considered ‘mid-range' and that larger cooling solutions were available.

KitGuru says: While the hardcore among us will probably always opt for processing on the desktop, there's no doubt that there will be a huge investment in centralised systems over the next decade. With that in mind, not surprising that there were dozens of security companies on hand to explain how they can keep this metal safe. For a price. 

 

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Crucial P1 1000GB NVMe SSD Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/crucial-p1-1000gb-nvme-ssd-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/crucial-p1-1000gb-nvme-ssd-review/#respond Tue, 01 Jan 2019 09:56:34 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=396276 It's Crucial's first NVMe SSD, but how does it fare in a competitive market?

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Crucial's latest SSD, the P1, is the company's first consumer drive with an NVMe interface and the second Crucial drive to use 3D Quad-Level Cell (QLC) , 4-bit per cell NAND (the first was the 5210 ION SATA enterprise drive). It uses a combination of Micron NAND and a Silicon Motion controller.

At launch, the P1 range consists of just two capacities, 500GB and 1TB, but there is a flagship 2TB drive coming soon. Looking after the Micron 64-layer 3D QLC NAND is a Silicon Motion SM2263EN 4-channel controller, and in the case of the 1TB drive there is 1GB of DDR3 cache.

Crucial quote Sequential performance figures for the 1TB drive as up to 2,000MB/s for reads and up to 1,700MB/s for writes. The 500GB drive is rated at 1,900MB/s reads and 905MB writes, while the 2TB drive is listed at the same 2,000MB/s reads as the 1TB drive but with a faster write figure of 1,750MB/s.

Random 4K performance for the 1TB drive is stated as up to 170,000 IOPS for reads and 240,000 IOPS for writes. The 500GB drive is rated at 90,000 IOPS for reads and 220,000 IOPS for writes, while the 2TB drive has a 250,000 IOPS figure for both reads and writes.

Crucial quotes an endurance figure for the 1TB drive of 200 TBW which works out at around 1,093GB of writes per day for the total length of the 5-year warranty Crucial backs the drive with.

Quad-Level Cell NAND

After SLC (1 bit per cell), MLC (2 bits per cell) and TLC (3 bits per cell), comes the latest leading edge NAND technology, Quad-Level Cell (QLC) with 4 bits per cell.

While QLC NAND has obvious advantages in terms of storing more bits of data per cell (an increase of 33% over TLC ) and at lower cost, there are a couple of significant hurdles to overcome in terms of performance and endurance.

Performance

When NAND is programmed or erased, electrons are sent through an insulator by the application of a voltage. The location and number of electrons is the determining factor for when the current will flow between a source and a sink (voltage threshold) which determines what combination of 1s and 0s (data) is stored in the cell. With SLC NAND this is pretty straight forward as only a 1 or a 0 is being stored. QLC NAND ups the ante considerably as now there are four 0 or 1 states per cell, giving a total of 16 different possible combinations per cell which in turn means 16 different voltage levels to control.

As more data is able to be stored in a cell there is a corresponding drop in performance as the cell contents must be read before any writes can commence as the previous bit value in the cell must be recognised first. The corresponding changes in voltage to enable the change in bit state causes instability in the surrounding cells.

With QLC NAND's 16 different voltage levels this needs very careful programming to ensure adequate precision during read and write operations. QLC NAND supporting controllers have to have high level error correction capabilities to help overcome these problems, but all these actions mean slower NAND access than previous generations of NAND.

To offset the drop in performance due to the length of time it takes to program a QLC NAND block, QLC drives are going to be relying on SLC caching technology a lot more than even TLC NAND does to raise the performance levels of the drive up to what you might expect of an NVMe drive.

Endurance

Every time data is written to NAND, the cell gets slightly damaged which is why NAND has a finite life or endurance. SLC has a life of around 100,000 P/E (program/erase cycles), MLC 10,000 P/E and TLC approximately 3,000 P/E (thanks to manufacturers striving to keep improving the life of TLC NAND). When QLC was first mooted, the endurance figure often quoted was just 100 P/E, a figure so low it caused many people to question whether the technology would ever see the light of day.

As with TLC NAND, manufacturers have been working hard to get the P/E figure of QLC NAND up to more usable levels, Micron currently quotes a figure of 1,000 program/erase cycles.

Physical Specifications:

  • Usable Capacities: 1TB
  • NAND Components: Micron 64-layer 3D QLC NAND
  • NAND Controller: Silicon Motion SM2263
  • Cache: 1GB DDR3
  • Interface: NVMe 1.3 PCIe 3.0 x4
  • Form Factor: M.2 2280
  • Dimensions: 22 x 80 x mm

Firmware Version: P3CR010.

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Corsair Force MP510 960GB Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/corsair-force-mp510-960gb-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/corsair-force-mp510-960gb-review/#respond Mon, 26 Nov 2018 08:37:38 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=391118 It's Corsair's latest NVMe drive - at and £229, could this be SSD bargain of the year?

The post Corsair Force MP510 960GB Review first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Saying that Corsair's SSD department has been rather quiet since the launch of the Force MP500 is a bit of an understatement, but now they are back with a bang in the shape of the Force MP510, a powerful follow up to the MP500.

The Force MP510 product line is (at the time of writing) made up of three capacities; 240GB, 480GB and 960GB with a flagship 1,920GB coming very soon. The 240GB and 480GB drives are built on a single sided M.2 2280 format while the 960GB and 1,920GB models use both sides of the PCB to house components.

Whereas the MP500 used a combination of the first gen Phison E7 NVMe controller and 2D MLC NAND, the MP510 is a bang up to date using the latest Phison PS5012-E12 8-channel controller to look after Toshiba 64-layer BiCS3 3D TLC NAND.

Quoted Sequential performance figures for the 960GB drive are up to an impressive 3,480MB/s for reads and up to 3,000MB/ for writes. The 480GB and 1,920GB drives have the same read figure while the 240GB drive sees the figure drop to up to 3,100 MB/s. The Sequential write performance of the family peaks at the 960GB drive's 3,000MB/s. The 1,920GB drive sees the write figure drop to 2,700MB/s while the 240GB and 480GB drives are rated at up to 1,050MB/s and 2,000MB/s respectively.

The official random read/write figures for the 980GB drive are equally as impressive, the drive rated at up to 610,000 IOPS for reads and up to 570,000 IOPS for writes. Again these are peak numbers for the family as the 1,920GB drive delivers up to 485,000 IOPS for reads and 530,000 IOPS for writes, while the 280GB drive is rated at 180,000 IOPS and 240,000 IOPS for read and writes respectively.  The 480GB model is rated at up to 360,000 IOPS for reads and 440,000 IOPS for writes.

The rated TBW endurance figure for the 960GB MP510 is 1,700 TBW and Corsair back the drive with a 5-year warranty.

Physical Specifications:
Usable Capacities: 960GB
NAND Components: Toshiba 64-layer 256Gb BiCS3 3D TLC NAND
NAND Controller: Phison PS5012-E12
Cache: SK hynix DDR4
Interface: NVMe 1.3 PCIe Gen3.1 x4
Form Factor: M.2 2280
Dimensions: 80 x 20 x 3mm

Firmware Version: ECFM11.0

Be sure to check out our sponsors store EKWB here

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Samsung X5 1TB Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/samsung-x5-1tb-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/samsung-x5-1tb-review/#respond Wed, 31 Oct 2018 11:17:23 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=386765 The X5, is one of their fastest external products to date.

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Samsung's latest external drive, the X5, is one of their fastest external products to date. It is an NVMe SSD which connects over the Thunderbolt 3 interface. Samsung's X5 drive comes in three capacities, 500GB, 1TB (the one that Samsung kindly supplied for review) and the flagship 2TB model. Although the Samsung spec sheet doesn't state which model of NVMe SSD is inside the X5, the fact that the drive supports the NVMe 1.3 standard and uses 3D TLC V-NAND makes it a variation of Samsung's SSD970 EVO drive.

 

The drive itself uses the latest Phoenix controller and it's combined in the X5 with an Alpine Ridge Thunderbolt 3 controller. One thing to bear in mind is that thanks to the Alpine Ridge controller, the drive will only work with a Thunderbolt 3 Type-C port.

Quoted Sequential performance for the drive is reads up to 2,800MB/s for all three drives with write speeds of up to 2,100MB/s for the 500GB drive and up to 2,300MB/s for both the 1TB and 2TB models.

The drive is larger and heavier than Samsung's T series of external drives with a new “pebble” like design that is constructed from magnesium, which helps keep the drive as cool as possible during heavy, sustained data transfer.

Samsung support the X5 with a three year warranty.

Physical Specifications:
Usable Capacities:  1TB.
NAND Components: Samsung TLC V-NAND.
Interface: Thunderbolt 3.
Form Factor:  external drive.
NAND Controller: Samsung.
Dimensions: 119 x 62 x 19.7mm.
Drive Weight: 150g.

Firmware Version: FW1P3QEXE7.

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Corsair Neutron NX500 800GB SSD Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/corsair-neutron-nx500-800gb-ssd-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/corsair-neutron-nx500-800gb-ssd-review/#comments Thu, 10 Aug 2017 14:41:13 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=339458 It uses a combination of a Phison PS5007-E7 controller and 15nm MLC NAND.

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Corsair might not be the first name that springs to mind when thinking about SSDs but the company has a portfolio of drives for the mainstream and high-performance ends of the drive market. The latest drive joining the latter market segment is the Neutron NX500.

The new Neutron NX500 is built on an HHHL (Half-Height, Half-Length) format with a PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe interface. It uses a combination of a Phison PS5007-E7 controller and 15nm MLC NAND.

At launch, the drive is available in two capacities; 400GB (CSSD-N400GBNX500) and the 800GB (CSSD-N800GBNX500) flagship we are looking at here, with a 1.6TB version slated for launch in a couple of months.

Quoted Sequential read/write performance for the 800GB drive are up to 3,000MB/s and 2,400MB/s respecitvly. 4K random performance is quoted as up to 300,000 IOPS for reads and up to 270,000 IOPS for writes.

Corsair state that the endurance for the drive is 1,396TBW and back the drive with a 5-year warranty.

Physical Specifications:
Usable Capacities: 400GB 800GB
NAND Components: 15nm Toggle 2.0 MLC
Interface: PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe
Form Factor:  HHHL (Half-Height, Half-Length)
NAND Controller: Phison PS5007-E7
Dimensions: 165 x 121 x 21mm

Firmware Version: E7FM04.5

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Kingston KC1000 NVMe PCIe SSD 960GB Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/kingston-kc1000-nvme-pcie-ssd-960gb-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/simon-crisp/kingston-kc1000-nvme-pcie-ssd-960gb-review/#respond Thu, 20 Jul 2017 06:00:46 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=339409 The KC1000 has a PCIe Gen 3.0 x 4 interface with a Phison PS5007-E7 controller looking after Toshiba 15nm 2D Planer MLC NAND.

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The number of NVMe SSD drives continues to grow with devices being launched to cover many aspects of the storage sector. One of the latest drives to enter the fray is the Kingston's KC1000, which also has the distinction of being the company's first NVMe drive.

Somewhat surprisingly Kingston's first high performance NVMe drive hasn't been launched under their HyperX performance line but as part of the companies standard drive lineup. You can't miss it as it appears under Consumer, Business and System Builder banners.

The KC1000 has a PCIe Gen 3.0 x 4 interface with a Phison PS5007-E7 controller looking after Toshiba 15nm 2D Planer MLC NAND.

The KC1000 is available as a M.2 2280 drive or as a drive installed in a HHHL (Half-Height, Half-Length) adapter. The drive is available in three capacities; 240GB (M.2 – SKC1000/240, HHHL – SKC1000H/240G), 480GB (M.2 SKC1000/480G, HHHL – SKC1000H/480G) and the flagship 950GB unit (M.2 SKC1000/960G, HHHL – SKC1000H/960G).

Official performance figures quoted for the 960GB drive are up to 2,700MB/s and 1,600MB/s for Sequential read/writes respectively and up to 190,000 IOPS for 4K random reads and to 165,000 IOPS for 4K random writes.

Endurance for the 960GB drive is quoted as 1PB or 0.58 DWPD for the length of the 5 year warranty.

Physical Specifications:
Usable Capacities: 240GB, 480GB, 960GB
NAND Components: 15nm MLC
Interface: PCIe Gen 3.0 x4 (NVMe)
Form Factor: HHHL (Half-Height, Half-Length) adapter
NAND Controller: Phison PS5007-E7
Dimensions: 180.98 x 120.96 x 21.59mm
Drive Weight: 76g

Firmware Version: E7FT04.6

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MSI Preparing SFF-8639 Adapter Card for Motherboards https://www.kitguru.net/components/motherboard/luke-hill/msi-preparing-sff-8639-adapter-card-for-motherboards/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/motherboard/luke-hill/msi-preparing-sff-8639-adapter-card-for-motherboards/#respond Sun, 19 Apr 2015 08:40:25 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=245717 Hot off the heels of Intel’s SSD 750 series launch, and with NVMe-based SSDs beginning to gain momentum in the consumer marketplace, MSI is preparing to launch an adapter card to provide support for SFF-8639 drives to its X99 motherboards. Intel’s SSD 750 series drives utilise four lanes of PCIe Gen 3 connectivity in order …

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Hot off the heels of Intel’s SSD 750 series launch, and with NVMe-based SSDs beginning to gain momentum in the consumer marketplace, MSI is preparing to launch an adapter card to provide support for SFF-8639 drives to its X99 motherboards.

Intel’s SSD 750 series drives utilise four lanes of PCIe Gen 3 connectivity in order to provide a 32Gbps bandwidth. Two connection methods were adopted by Intel, one of which is a direct PCIe attachment – via a motherboard’s expansion slot. While that approach is fine for most users, it renders the requirement for a free expansion slot capable of providing at least four PCIe Gen 3 lanes (not to mention decent airflow to the SSD card).

The alternative approach chosen by Intel was to house the SSD inside a thicker-than-normal 2.5” enclosure and connect it via the SFF-8639 interface. Similar to SATA Express in its physical form, SFF-8639 is capable of providing the four PCIe Gen 3 lanes required, whereas the aforementioned SATA Express interface hits a maximum speed of 10Gbps with its two PCIe Gen 2 lanes.

While there’s nothing wrong with routing lanes through the SFF-8639 connector, Asus’ TUF Sabertooth X99 is the only consumer motherboard, to date, that has shown any form of compatibility with the interface. MSI is looking to change that fact.

MSI’s adapter card slots into a motherboard’s M.2 connector in order to re-route the PCIe lanes provided via the 9-series chipset or LGA 2011-3 CPU. The adapter card routes the lanes through a Mini-SAS HD port which can be used to provide the full-sized SFF-8639 connector at the other end of a cable.

While the adapter card should technically function with Z97 motherboards, MSI does not offer any SKUs with an M.2 connector capable of greater than 10Gbps via two PCIe Gen 2 lanes. Therefore, in order to obtain the full performance of an SFF-8639-equipped drive, such as Intel’s SSD 750, an X99 motherboard with MSI’s 32Gbps, PCIe Gen 3 x4 Turbo M.2 connector is required.

MSI’s M.2 to Turbo Mini-SAS HD adapter card
MSI’s M.2 to Turbo Mini-SAS HD adapter card

MSI will be bundling the M.2 to Turbo Mini-SAS HD adapter card with new X99 motherboards that the vendor will be announcing at Computex in June 2015.

There is no (measurable) performance difference between a four-lane PCIe Gen 3 link routed via a PCIe expansion slot or an SFF-8639 connector. The biggest difference is compatibility; many small form factor and multi-VGA systems simply cannot surrender a PCIe slot to anything other than a graphics card, so housing an ultra-fast SSD elsewhere may be the only viable option.

KitGuru says: It is good to see MSI acting quickly to provide consumers with a method of connecting PCIe-based, SFF-8639 SSDs to their motherboard.

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Intel SSD 750 Series 1.2TB PCIe NVMe Review https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/luke-hill/intel-ssd-750-series-1-2tb-pcie-nvme-review/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/ssd-drives/luke-hill/intel-ssd-750-series-1-2tb-pcie-nvme-review/#comments Thu, 02 Apr 2015 16:00:41 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=243145 The push for greater performance from storage devices is seeing enthusiast drives transition towards PCIe-linked connections for increased bandwidth. While faster hardware is great, on paper, it is of limited use if the surrounding ecosystem is unable to put the performance increases to effective use. That's where the SSD-optimised Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) specification comes …

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The push for greater performance from storage devices is seeing enthusiast drives transition towards PCIe-linked connections for increased bandwidth. While faster hardware is great, on paper, it is of limited use if the surrounding ecosystem is unable to put the performance increases to effective use.

That's where the SSD-optimised Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) specification comes into the picture. Today we will be looking at one of the first storage devices to make NVMe accessible for enthusiast consumers – Intel's SSD 750 Series PCIe drive.

Main-Image-650-2

In the SSD 750 Series drive, Intel is aiming to give enthusiast consumers an SSD that is built for raw performance. There's no compromising when it comes to form factor, size, or power consumption – drive performance is the ultimate objective, with special emphasis on random operations. The big benefit that NVMe brings to the 750 Series SSD is lower latency, thanks to a combination of CPU-attached PCIe lanes and the specification's different CPU overhead.

Shipping in capacities of 400GB ($389) and 1.2TB ($1029), Intel is using a standard PCIe 3.0 x4 connector to feed the half-height, half-length (HHHL) add-in card version, while the 2.5″ (15mm-thick) alternative receives its four PCIe 3.0 lanes via the SFF-8639 connector. We actually saw an implication of more widespread consumer support for the SFF-8639 connector when we reviewed Asus' NVMe-supporting TUF Sabertooth X99 motherboard.

With head-turning performance numbers being thrown around, such as 2,400/1,200 MBps sequential read/write and 440,000/290,000 4K random read/write IOPS, let's take a closer look at Intel's SSD 750 Series drive and head on into testing.

Specification:

  • Capacities: 400GB, 1.2TB.
  • Interface: PCIe 3.0 x4 (NVMe).
  • Form Factors: 2.5-inch with SFF-8639 connector, HHHL PCIe x4 Add-In Card (AIC).
  • Memory Components: Intel 20nm MLC NAND.
  • Sequential Read/Write Speeds (up to): 2,200/900 MBps (400GB), 2,400/1,200 MBps (1.2TB).
  • 4K Random Read/Write (up to): 430,000/230,000 IOPS (400GB), 440,000/290,000 IOPS (1.2TB).
  • Latency Read/Write (typical): 20/20 μs (400GB), 120/30 μs (1.2TB).
  • MTBF: 1.2 million hours.
  • Endurance Rating: 70GB Writes Per Day, Up To 219TBW (Terabytes Written).
  • Warranty: 5 Years
  • Power Consumption (Idle): 4W (400GB), 4W (1.2TB).
  • Power Consumption (Active) Read/Write: 9/12 W (400GB), 10/25 W (1.2TB).
  • Weight (up to): 195g (AIC), 125g (2.5″).
  • Operating Temperature: 0-55°C (AIC), 0-70°C (2.5″).
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