Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Fast PCIe 5.0 HMB performer
- Affordable for the velocity
- Maintains an honest write fee after secondary cache is exhausted
Cons
- Not as quick as PCIe 5.0 DRAM designs
Our Verdict
The PNY CS2140 is inexpensive for PCIe 5.0, and excelled (for a bunch reminiscence buffer design) in each artificial benchmark and real-world testing.
Price When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Best Pricing Today
Price When Reviewed
1 TB: $104 I 2TB: $188
Best Prices Today: PNY CS2150 PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSD
The PNY CS2150 is the second host reminiscence buffer PCIe 5.0 SSD we’ve examined and it’s an excellent performer. It can’t fairly match the perfect DRAM designs, but it surely’s additionally a heck of so much cheaper and really quick within the grand scheme of SSDs — ninth quickest amongst all.
Read on to study extra, then see our roundup of the best SSDs for comparability.
What are the PNY CS2120’s options?
The CS2150 is a PCIe 5.0 x4 NVMe SSD within the 2280 (22mm broad, 80mm lengthy) type issue, constructed round a Phison PS5031-E31T controller. As famous, it’s a bunch reminiscence buffer design (your gadget’s reminiscence serves as major cache) using 218-layer, Kioxia BiCS8 TLC NAND.
Secondary caching is carried out by writing parts of the TLC as SLC. The lowered error checking required for two-state cells makes this a lot sooner than checking the eight attainable voltage states of TLC written natively.
The CS2150 carries a five-year guarantee that’s mitigated by a 600TBW (terabytes which may be written) per 1TB of capability ranking — i.e., the guarantee expires after you’ve written that a lot knowledge, like automotive warranties expire after you’ve pushed the allotted variety of miles.
How a lot does the PNY CS2150 value?
The CS2150 is $104 for the 1TB mannequin and $188 for the 2TB capability on the corporate’s web site on the time of this writing. That’s not strictly discount basement, however not dangerous in any respect for a PCIe 5.0 SSD with its kind of efficiency.
How quick is the PNY CS2150?
The 2TB CS2150 I examined may be very quick within the grand scheme (ninth place), practically lifeless even with the opposite PCIe 5.0 HMB SSD I beforehand examined — the Corsair MP700 Elite. However, it’s not significantly quick for a PCIe 5.0 SSD should you embrace DRAM designs similar to the massive daddy Crucial T705 proven within the charts beneath.
The WD Black SN7100 is a PCIe 4.0 HMB design included to indicate the real-world switch variations between PCIe 4.0 and PCIe 5.0. Due to Windows limitations, the distinction will not be practically as massive as it’s within the artificial benchmarks.
The CS2150 barely misplaced to the MP700 Elite in CrystalDiskMark 8’s sequential switch checks. But lose it did — by lower than a proportion level.
The CrystalDiskMark 8 random checks had been a blended bag for the CD2150, profitable one and shedding on three checks to the MP700 Elite by a small however noticeable margin.
In fact, the CS2150 and MP700 Elite are mainly the identical drive — identical controller, identical NAND — which is mirrored of their tie within the 48GB transfers. The margin of error in these checks is a few seconds.
Even although the CS2150 misplaced to the Corsair MP700 Elite within the 450GB write, it was a comparatively shut contest. This write may be affected by the present state of the SSD. We format and TRIM the SSDs earlier than every take a look at, however not each SSD recovers in the identical period of time.
The CS2150 even survived our post-main testing 900GB write take a look at. While the drive slowed from 3GBps to round 2GBps in brief order, it didn’t dip additional till about 90 p.c of the info had been written. Even then it was solely to a tolerable 600MBps. Nice.
In whole, the CS2150 is a really quick SSD that on one other day might need outperformed the Corsair MP700 Elite. It’s a toss-up actually.
Should you purchase the PNY CS2150?
If you’re on the lookout for prime efficiency, and not using a top-shelf expenditure then the PNY CS2150 ought to be in your brief checklist. It can’t match a superb PCIe 5.0 DRAM design, but it surely’s nonetheless darn quick and once more — much more inexpensive. Indeed, whereas it’s in a close to dead-heat with its HMB peer Corsair MP700 Elite, the CS2150 is about $30 lower than that SSD in each 1TB and 2TB choices, making it the clear worth selection for PCIe 5.0.
How we take a look at
IDG’s storage checks at the moment make the most of Windows 11 (22H2) 64-bit operating on an X790 (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 checks 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 comprises 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 because 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 because of extra or fewer chips to learn/write throughout and the quantity of NAND out there 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.