Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Lightning-fast with mild masses
- Very inexpensive
- 2230 form-factor is appropriate for smaller gadgets similar to Steam Decks
Cons
- Slows to 750MBps throughout very lengthy writes
- PNY doesn’t disclose the TBW ranking
Our Verdict
With light-to-average workloads the CS2342 is a completely implausible performer — the quickest I’ve seen within the 2230 kind issue. But for very lengthy writes, it falls properly behind the competitors.
Price When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Best Pricing Today
Price When Reviewed
1TB: $65 I 2TB: $135
Best Prices Today: PNY CS2342 2230 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
$99.99
$99.99
PNY didn’t fib in its PR — the CS2342 is a mega burner with smaller knowledge units. In a category of its personal. It’s a superb alternative for on a regular basis use or a Steam Deck.
Alas, the comparatively sparse allocation of secondary cache means it’s undoubtedly not the drive you need for writing massive knowledge units.
Read on to be taught extra, then see our roundup of the best SSDs for comparability.
What are the PNY CS2342’s options?
Why PNY selected to call a 2230 (22mm broad, 30mm lengthy) drive the CS2342 when there’s a 2242 form-factor for M.2 SSDs is a puzzler. Yes, there’s a 3 in there reasonably than a 2, however I did a double-take earlier than I had it out of the field. I’m guessing that multiple purchaser might be confused.
The CS2342 is really a 2230 kind issue, PCIe 4.0 x4, NVMe, M.2 SSD — designed to slot in Steam Decks and different small form-factor gadgets. The controller is a Phison PS5027-E27-75 host reminiscence buffer (system reminiscence as major cache) kind, and the NAND is quick, layered TLC (see the efficiency dialogue).
PNY warranties the CS2343 for 5 years, however that is mitigated by a TBW (terabytes that could be written) ranking: 600TBW per 1TB of capability, the norm for TLC, although discovering this on the web site is not possible.
Most customers don’t write practically as a lot knowledge as they could suppose, so chalk this up as a largely non-issue. Unless in fact you’re a journalist making an attempt to relay info or a person looking for them.
How a lot does the PNY CS2342 price?
The pricing of the CS2342 is $96.99 for the 1TB model and $161.99 for 2TB, and about $6 less on Amazon, on the time of this writing. That’s just a little cheaper than the WD SN770M and Corsair MP600 Core Mini competitors (see the efficiency part) once we checked on Amazon for this evaluate.
The price of 2230 SSDs is a bit excessive as a result of entire wring-every-last-buck-out-of-gamers factor that Nintendo lately doubled-down on. To that I say, give me MAME.
How quick is the PNY CS2342?
The CS2342’s efficiency is very dependent upon the scale of the information set you throw at it. As you possibly can see beneath, it torches the competitors in CrystalDiskMark 8 — with a 32GiB take a look at load. That’s 2GBps sooner than the competitors each studying and writing with the lighter load. Certainly nothing to sneeze at.
Alas, I standardized on the 64GiB take a look at load way back, with which the CS2342 was nonetheless spectacular whereas studying, however not practically so when writing.
For most customers, the CS2342’s mixture of affordability and lightning-fast sequential transfers with smaller knowledge units makes it the 2230 SSD to purchase.
The situation is the comparatively small quantity of secondary cache allotted. Writing something a lot past 70GB drops pace to the 750MBps native write fee. This affected plenty of assessments. Note that slowdown proven beneath solely occurred once I didn’t give the drive time to get well after a earlier 48GB write.
On the sunny aspect, the 750MBps native write fee is much sooner than that of older TLC or present QLC, each of which might drop to onerous drive speeds. But it’s not the 3GBps you get with the secondary cache in play. Bummer.
As I simply hinted at, whereas the controller doesn’t allot extra secondary cache on the fly, give it a couple of minutes off and it’ll replenish the availability
Below are the CS2342’s CrystalDiskMark 8’s 64GiB work load efficiency numbers. The write is significantly decrease than the 6GBps proven within the first graphic, although the 7GBps learn pace stays spectacular certainly.
The PNY CS2342 held its personal in CrystalDiskMark 8’s 4K assessments, although I hoped for some extra spectacular numbers. Ah, properly.
The 48GB file write time within the chart beneath is with the drive utterly empty with loads of secondary cache accessible. If you stack the file and folder and single-file writes, you’ll get decrease numbers as proven within the second graphic on this part. As secondary cache tends to be a proportion of obtainable NAND, it’s guess that the 1TB drive allots solely round 35GB of secondary cache and would flip in a slower time. Still, it’s the quickest of the three drives total.
As you possibly can see beneath, the scarcity of secondary cache severely affected the 450GB write time, which slowed at, sure, across the 70GB mark. A 10 minute write time isn’t tragic, however the competitors will prevent a great deal of time on this state of affairs.
With smaller knowledge units, the CS2342 is able to much better sequential write efficiency than the drives it’s in comparison with. With bigger knowledge units, not a lot, although the stellar learn fee stays primary.
Stay inside the allotted secondary cache and also you’re all good. Fall outdoors of it and also you’ll see the slowdowns. This is true with all SSDs, it simply occurs sooner with the CS2342.
Should you purchase the CS2342?
For most customers, the CS2342’s mixture of affordability and lightning-fast sequential transfers with smaller knowledge units makes it the 2230 SSD to purchase. However, when you usually write bigger quantities of information, look to considered one of its rivals.
How we take a look at
Our storage assessments presently make the most of Windows 11 (22H2) 64-bit operating on a Z790 (PCIe 5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 modules (64GB of reminiscence whole). Intel built-in graphics are used. The 48GB switch assessments make the most of an ImDisk RAM disk taking over 58GB of the 64GB whole reminiscence. The 450GB file is transferred from a Samsung 990 Pro 2TB, which additionally incorporates the working system.
Each take a look at is carried out on a newly formatted and TRIM’d drive so the outcomes are optimum. Note that as any drive fills up, efficiency will lower as a consequence of much less NAND for secondary caching, and different components.
The efficiency numbers proven apply solely to the drive we had been shipped in addition to the capability examined. SSD efficiency can fluctuate by capability as a consequence of extra or fewer chips to learn/write throughout and the quantity of NAND accessible for secondary caching (writing TLC/QLC as SLC). Vendors additionally sometimes swap parts. If you ever discover a big discrepancy between the efficiency you expertise and that which we report (techniques being roughly equal), by all means — tell us.