INTRODUCTION

    M.2 NVMe SSD models may not enjoy the same compatibility levels as 2.5" SATA models but due to their impressive read and write numbers they are without doubt leading the market in terms of performance. On top of that add the fact that SSD prices haven’t really stopped dropping for a while now and it's very easy to understand why these drives enjoy such high popularity levels among enthusiasts, gamers and professionals alike. Of course, just like everything else in the market (or even the world) not everything is created equal and so there are many classes of M.2 NVMe models in the market ranging from entry-level ones that feature read and write speeds of up to 1000MB/s, mid-end ones that go up to 1500-2000MB/s and high-end models that climb all the way up to 3000-3500MB/s (always talking about advertised numbers). Silicon Power may have a rather long history with SSDs but they just recently entered the M.2 NVMe market and so today we'll be testing their flagship model the P34A80.

    Founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic data storage industry experts, Silicon Power is committed to delivering outstanding product and service quality. Headquartered and with our own state-of-the-art production site in Taipei, we have become a leading manufacturer of flash memory cards, USB flash drives, portable hard drives, solid state drives, DRAM modules and industrial-grade products. As an international player with four branch offices around the globe, we continuously strive to offer the perfect data storage solution for all requirements of modern digitalized life. With a strong focus on combining innovative technology and award-winning design, we live up to our brand promise to reliably preserve and protect your most valuable data. Because memory is personal.

    The P34A80 M.2 NVMe SSD (currently available in 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB capacities) is part of Silicon Power's new XPOWER Gaming line and is based on the E12 high performance controller by Phison (PS5012-E12 / Gen3x4 NVMe 1.3 interface) complete with Toshiba 64-layer BiCS3 3D TLC NAND flash and 1GB DDR4 SDRAM by SKhynix allowing the drive to hit numbers of 3200MB/s read and 3000MB/s write. The Phison PS5012-E12 controller used here is updated to version ECFM12.1 (the one used in the CORSAIR MP510 we reviewed a while back was ECFM11.0) and features a total of eight NAND channels with 32 CE targets, supports up to 8TB of NAND and packs several interesting technologies aimed at both high performance and reliability including as StrongECC, SmartRefresh, SmartFlush, end-to-end data protection, thermal monitoring, AES-256 encryption and TCG Pyrite/OPAL support. Another difference between the P34A80 we have here and the CORSAIR MP510 is the amount of overprovisioning so whereas the P34A80 has a total usable capacity of 1024GB the MP510 has 960GB and that basically means that it should perform better in some scenarios. Unfortunately, Silicon Power doesn't disclose MTBF (meantime between failure) numbers for their P34A80 line (should however be very close if not identical to the numbers of the MP510 models) but they do cover it with a 5-year limited warranty.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The P34A80 1TB arrived inside a small box that has an opening at the front from where you can see the drive (the drive capacity, interface and 5-year warranty are also printed at the front).

The supported interface is also printed at the rear right over contact information for Silicon Power.

Just the P34A80 M.2 NVMe SSD is placed inside the box.

THE P34A80 1TB

On a long sticker located at the top of the drive are the part number, barcode, model name and drive capacity (the drive follows the typical 2280 form factor).

Removing the sticker reveals two Toshiba 64-layer BiCS3 3D TLC NAND flash modules (256GB in size each), the Phison PS5012-E12 controller and 512MB of DDR4 SDRAM by SKhynix.

On the opposite side of the PCB we find two more Toshiba 64-layer BiCS3 3D TLC NAND flash modules and another 512MB DDR4 SDRAM module by SKhynix.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   After almost 10 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 April 22nd 2019.

* Since November 2018 our SSD comparison charts have been divided to 2.5” and M.2 ones to reduce their growing size.

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

   When we learned that the P34A80 by Silicon Power was using the exact same configuration as the MP510 by CORSAIR (minus the difference in overprovisioning, firmware and reported performance numbers – up to 3480MB/s for the MP510 and 3200MB/s for the P34A80) we knew two things from the get go, not only that it would perform better than most NVMe models in the market today but at the same time that the latter should be slightly better/faster in some tests. Well just by looking at our charts it’s easy to see that the MP510 is quite a bit better in some tests (especially when it comes to write performance) and not quite as good in others. These results of course are both due to the difference in overprovisioning and installed firmware (unfortunately thermal throttling was again evident in our SNIA tests – hopefully all manufacturers will eventually start shipping their M.2 drives complete with their very own heatspreaders). One thing is for certain, the P34A80 1TB is not only a very fast M.2 NVMe drive but it also offers a higher usable capacity (64GB) compared to the MP510 so all that’s really left is cost.

   At the time of this review the P34A80 1TB M.2 NVMe by Silicon Power retails for just USD129.99 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 127.99Euros inside the EU (Amazon.de) a price tag which is actually around 20% less compared to what you need to spend in order to get your hands on the MP510 960GB model. Of course, the extra performance may be incentive enough for some people to go for the MP510 instead but the P34A80 is almost as good and its more affordable price combined with the extra usable capacity could be more important to some people. At the end of the day we feel that the P34A80 1TB should easily cover most consumers and professionals out there and that’s why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Excellent Performance (Up To 3200MB/s Read & 3000MB/s Write)
- Sustained Performance Levels (SNIA Tests)
- 5 Years Warranty
- Usable Capacity (1024GB)
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Thermal Throttling