Quick, although the SandForce 2281 drive
controller is showing its age
Elite: Good sequential read speeds
Amateur: Slow with uncompressible data; lose
performance after first full write cycle; too expensive
Test kit
4.2GHz Intel Core i5-2500K CPU, Asus
Maximus V Formula motherboard, 8GB Kingston 1,600MHz DDR3 memory, Nvidia
GeForce GTS 250 512MB graphics card, PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750W PSU,
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver
(iaStor.sys)
How much?
·
Price: $290.9
·
Manufacturer: pny.com
·
SKU number: SSD9SC240GEDA-PB
In detail
·
Interface: Sata 6Gbps
·
Nominal capacity: 240GB formatted capacity: 223.57GB
·
Controller: SF2281VB1
·
Cache: None
·
Memory: 16x Intel 16GB 25nm MLC NAND flash
·
Warranty: Five years
PNY
Prevail Elite SSD 240GB
It might be getting old now, but
SandForce’s 2281 controller is still used in Intel and Kingston’s SSDs, and PNY
has used this platform in the Prevail Elite 240GB. It’s accompanied by sixteen
25nm Intel NAND modules, containing two 8GB dies each. That’s a total of 256GB
but, as with all SandForce drives, the drive reserves an area for the drives
compression technology, checking data parity and replacing faulty blocks of
NAND if need be.
As such, it has a formatted capacity of
223.57GB – 14GB less than a non-SandForce SSD using the same amount of NAND.
The controller’s DuraWrite tech performs on-the-fly compression of compressible
data when writing to the drive, resulting in the Prevail Elite’s headline
sequential read and write speeds of 550B/sec and 515MB/sec respectively.
However, in real-world use, data isn’t always compressible, so you’ll rarely if
ever experience these speeds.
However, the PNY is still quick. A
sequential read in AS SSD of 515MB/sec is quicker than the OCZ Vertex 4 256GB’s
497MB/sec, and a sequential write of 315MB/sec is the highest we’ve seen from a
SandForce drive.
A 4KB single queue depth random write of
67MB/sec is a lot slower than the 87MB/sec of the Vertex 4, however, as are the
PNY’s 4KB 64 queue depth random read and write speeds.
Crystal Disk Mark showed a strong
sequential read speed of 502MB/sec. the 4KB single-queue-depth read speed of
36MB/sec is also very quick, as are the 4KB 32-queue-depth read and write
speeds. However, it suffers from a performance drop after a full write cycle,
even after a lengthy time idle with TRIM enabled. Sequential write speeds in
both ASSD and Crustal Disk Mark dropped after this, although the 4KB random
performance remained unchanged.
Conclusion
While the SandForce 2281 is quick, the PNY
Prevail Elite SSD 240GB’s speed degrades after the first write cycle and it’s
slower than the Vertex 4 256GB when pushed to the limit. Working out at 80p per
gigabyte compared to the Vertex 4 256GB’s 63p per gigabyte, it’s poor value for
money too.
Score
·
Features: 15/20
·
Speed: 35/45
·
Value: 21/35
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB
The fastest SATA 6Gbps SSD yet, but it’s
pricey
Pro: market-leading sequential and 4KB
random performance; five-year warranty
Noob: Sequential read and write speeds
degrade after full write-cycle
Test kit
4.2GHz Intel Core i5-2500K CPU, Asus
Maximus V Formula motherboard, 8GB Kingston 1,600MHz DDR3 memory, Nvidia
GeForce GTS 250 512MB graphics card, PC Power and Cooling Silencer 750W PSU,
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver
(iaStor.sys)
How much?
·
Price: $355.5
·
Manufacturer: Samsung.com
·
SKU number: mz-7pd256
In detail
·
Interface: SATA 6Gbps
·
Nominal capacity: 256GB
·
Formatted capacity: 238.47GB
·
Controller: MDX S4LN021X01-8030
·
Cache: 512MB LPDDR2-1066
·
Memory type/amount: 8x Samsung 32GB 21nm LMC NAND flash
·
Warranty: Five years
Samsung
SSD 840 Pro 256GB
Samsung’s SSD 840 pro 256GB eschews its
predecessor’s brushed aluminium for a more demure matt-black casing, but the
main change is the new MDX S4LN21X01-8030 triple-core ARM controller chip
inside. This is much like the MCX chip used in the SSD 830, but with new
firmware and support for AES-256 encryption.
Alongside this is 512MB of 1,066MHz LPDDR2
memory, compared to the SSD 830’s 256MB 800MHz DDR2 cache. As with most
non-SandForce drives, this cache enables the SSD to run smoothly under
extremely heavy loads.
It uses Samsung 21nm MLC toggle NAND too. This
256GB model has 8x 32GB NAND modules on one side of the PCB, with the drive
also shipping in 64GB, 128GB and 512GB capacities. Lower-capacity drives have
lower write speeds, due to the smaller number of NAND dies that can be
addressed at the same time.
Not surprisingly, the SSD 840 Pro 256GB is
significantly quicker than its predecessor. Its sequential read and write
speeds in AS SSD of 521MB/sec and 498MB/sec respectively surpass those of any
drive we’ve tested, and the same applies to the 4KB single-queue-depth random
read and 4KB 64-thread random read and write speeds, which surpassed the SSD
830 256GB and the OCZ Vertex 4 256GB. This was mirrored in Crystal Disk Mark,
where the SSD 840 pro proved significantly faster than the competition when
dealing with 4KB 32-queue-depth random read and writes.
However, after a few write cycles and
executing the TRIM command, the drive’s speed dipped – an issue the SSD 830
series doesn’t share. Sequential write speeds in AS SSD dipped by up to
50MB/sec, while sequential read speeds in Crystal Disk Mark fell by 15MB/sec.
however, these drops are fairly minor and a five-year warranty dispels any
reliability concerns.
Conclusion
The SSD 840 Pro 256GB is phenomenally fast
in all our tests, but the OCZ Vertex 4 256GB costs $113 less for the same
capacity, and it will be hard to tell the difference under most conditions.
However, if you want the fastest SSD available, this the drive for you.
Scores
·
Features: 17/20
·
Speed: 44/45
·
Value: 21/35
