INTRODUCTION

   When the first M.2 based solid state drives made their appearance a few years back we all knew that due to their impressive read and write performance they'd be able to surpass regular SATA models in sales quite fast. However even the arrival of M.2 NVMe drives wasn't enough to make that possible and quite frankly it will be a while before this happens (if it does) since as we've stated many times in the past since the SATA standard is present in mainboards and laptops dating as far back as 2004 people on a tight budget who just want to update their systems will obviously turn towards such solutions. Still it's crystal clear that most demanding consumers and gamers will choose M.2 NVMe SSDs since not only are they much faster (up to 4-6 times) but they also take less space compared to SATA models. Patriot Memory recently released their Hellfire PCIe 3.0 x 4 NVMe 1.2 M.2 2280 drive and with us we have the 480GB variant.

   Patriot is a leading manufacturer of high performance, enthusiast memory modules, SSDs, flash storage, gaming peripherals and mobile accessories. Founded in 1985 and headquartered in Fremont, CA, USA, Patriot is committed to technology innovation, customer satisfaction and providing the best price for performance on the market. Patriot products have become world renown for their extreme performance, reliability and innovation. Patriot sells its products through original equipment manufacturers, retailers, e-tailers and distributors throughout the world with operations in North America, South America, Asia and Europe.

   Much like several other M.2 NVMe solutions in the market right now the Patriot Hellfire line is based on the PS5007-E7 NVMe controller by Phison (firmware version 2.1 is used) paired with 15nm MLC NAND flash modules by Toshiba and an LPDDR3 cache (256MB for the 240GB model and 512MB for the 480GB model). The Phison E7 is an eight-channel quad-core NVMe controller that features PCIe 3.0 x4 host interface and fully supports TRIM, advanced garbage collection, static and dynamic wear-leveling, bad block management, SmartECC, SmartFlush, GuaranteedFlush, end to end data path protection and AES 256-bit encryption (TCG opal). In terms of reliability the 480GB variant of the Hellfire line which we will be testing today is covered by a 3 year warranty, has an MTBF (meantime between failures) of 2 million hours and is given an endurance of 230 TBW (terabytes written).

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

THE HELLFIRE 480GB

Again just like most similar M.2 models the Hellfire arrived inside a blister pack which allows the consumer to check the drive prior to purchasing it.

The product features are listed at the rear of the box in 9 languages.

The Hellfire M.2 NVMe drive is based on the 2280 type (22mm wide and 80mm long) and has a large sticker at the top.

Typically on one end we find the data/power connector.

Placed under the long sticker are two 128GB 15nm NAND flash MLC modules by Toshiba.

On the other side of the PCB we see two more 128GB 15nm Toshiba NAND flash MLC modules, a 512MB DRAM cache module by Nanya and the Phison E7 eight-channel quad-core controller.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   After roughly 9 years of testing solid state drives we've concluded that it's almost impossible for any single benchmark suite to accurately measure their performance and that's why in certain benchmark suites we see amazing read/write performance numbers with some drives while in others things are quite different. The reason behind this is that some benchmarking suites are configured to read and write random chunks of data while others read and write constant (sequential) ones. So that's why i always use a very wide selection of benchmarking suites including AIDA64, HD Tach RW, HD Tune Pro, Crystal Disk Mark, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, AS SSD, IOmeter and ATTO. To get the most accurate results each test gets repeated a total of 6 times with the average performance numbers recorded into our charts. Also as of February 25th 2015 our results will also include the Storage Networking Industry Association’s (SNIA) IOMeter tests. These tests include a 12 Hour write test used to “simulate” performance degradation over time and a mixed workload test which basically shows what you can expect when using an SSD continuously for roughly two hours. Unfortunately due to the time required for these tests we repeat them a total of 3 times and not 6 as the above.

   Many people have made inquiries about our charts in the past so once again please do keep in mind that the Charts have the average performance numbers of each drive recorded and not the peak (highest) ones. Also although every single one of these programs can help potential buyers choose the right drive for their needs you should also remember that from any kind of benchmark up to real world usage the gap is not small (and usually most differences will go unnoticed by most people). All tests were performed in a fresh Windows 10 Pro x64 installation with every update installed up to February 20th 2017.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK X64

TEST RESULTS – AS SSD / IOMETER

TEST RESULTS – IOMETER SNIA

CONCLUSION

   Before we continue I really need to point out that the Hellfire 480GB NVMe M.2 SSD was tested on our latest Core i7-6700 build and not on our previous Core i7-6700k build like the Samsung 950 Pro 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD so a direct comparison is not 100% valid (our previous system had a slightly higher-end CPU but it was just a tad inferior in pretty much everything other than that). It should be safe to compare the results of these two NVMe drives but do remember that they were not tested on the exact same system. With that out of the way it’s clear that the Hellfire 480GB M.2 NVMe drive is trading blows with the 950 Pro NVMe M.2 by Samsung and that’s no small feat but since we’ve yet to get our hands on the 960 Pro/EVO models we really can’t comment on how it fairs against those. Overheating was also encountered during our tests and although not as much as the 950 Pro still we do feel that a proper heatsink could improve performance even by a small percentage. As for regular SATA drives just like with the 950 Pro there’s no contest really but for people on a tight budget who care not about performance SATA models might just be a better investment.

   So how much do you have to spend in order to get the Hellfire 480GB M.2 NVMe SSD by Patriot? Well currently you can find it for just USD229.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 275Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag which places it lower than the 950 Pro by Samsung and a little bit higher compared to other lower performance M.2 models. Long story short the Hellfire 480GB NVMe M.2 SSD may not be the fastest of its kind but it’s very fast and since it also packs a wide range of features and offers very high endurance numbers it gets our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Top of the Charts Read & Write Performance
- 2 Million Hours MTBF / 230 TBW
- M.2 / PCIe Solution
- 3 Years Warranty
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Heat Buildup