CONCLUSION

   As soon as we opened the housing of the Slim S80 480GB and saw that it used the same configuration (controller, NAND) as the Slim S55 model we knew that Silicon Power didn't aim to produce an enthusiast grade SSD with top-tier performance but rather an affordable solution for casual users and gamers. Unfortunately although the PHISON PS3108-S8-I did very well in every test against other brand new drives like for example the 850 EVO by Samsung it did fall way back in IOmeter (4k random writes) and i honestly don't know why that happened since in the case of the Slim S55 we recorded much better results. Obviously IOmeter is not the one test to rule them all but it does matter to people and i can only hope that PHISON will work with Silicon Power to at least bring the S80 at the same level as the S55.

   Price is the one and only thing that is directly tied with the performance, durability and capacity of a drive and with a current price tag set at USD179.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) the S80 480GB by Silicon Power may not be the fastest in its class but thanks to its quality and 480GB capacity we really think that it's a real bargain. It goes without saying of course that if price is of no concern to you and you want the best possible performance then you are better off with one of the new Samsung 850 drives or a PCIex based SSD. However we can't ignore that the Slim S80 480GB offers a very affordable solution for people looking for a high capacity SSD with very good overall performance and that's why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Very Good Overall Performance
- 3 Year Warranty
- Current Price (For Some)

CONS

- IOmeter Performance