Disclosure: This review unit is provided by SanDisk
SanDisk SSD Plus uses a DRAM-less implementation unlike the newer entry-level SSDs, namely the SSDNow UV300 and the UV400. But it uses TLC flash chips and I am curious to know if a bit older SSD is any good compared to the newer entry-level SSDs. This would make a good comparison now since it will tell us where the newer and the older drives stand in terms of performance. Would it make a lot of difference for home users, notebook users and for gamers?
Available capacities: 120GB, 240GB, 480GB
Seq. Read(up to): 530 MB/s, 530MB/s, 535 MB/s
Seq. Write(up to): 400MB/s, 440 MB/s, 445 MB/s
Dimensions: 2.75 x 3.96 x 0.28 in. (69.85mm x 100.5mm x 7.0 mm)
Interface: SATA Revision 3.0 (6 Gb/s)
Operating temperature: 32ºF to 158ºF (0ºC to 70 ºC)
Shock: Resistant up to 1500G
Vibration: 5 gRMS, 10-2000 HZ / 4.9 gRMS, 7-800 HZ
The SSD Plus series is available in three storage variants- 120 GB, 240 GB and 480 GB. As per SanDisk’s materials, this drive weighs 30.9 gms. In comparison, Kingston SSDNow UV400 which uses a metal casing weighs 57 gms.
The price-per-GB from respective countries are as follows:
While 120 GB and 240 GB variants are of similar cost to that of Kingston UV400, the 240 GB SSD Plus G25 costs bit more per GB. In any case, its a lot for an older SSD.
SSD Plus contents feel more ‘complete’, with proper packaging, a couple of reading materials including information about its SSD Dashboard and a spacer. The casing is plastic which makes it extremely light- and low cost. Kingston SSDNow and HyperX uses metal casings since day 1. Not that it makes any difference in terms of aesthetics or performance.
Not that it does matters unless dissipating heat through plastic affects the performance of the drive. SanDisk SSD Plus 120GB is a 7mm thin drive. SanDisk stopped using screws for a long time and uses clips within the plastic casing to hold it together.
Not surprising for a San Disk drive, the PCB is more than half of the drive’s width, with nothing more than a set of four-channel Silicon Motion SM2246XT controller and 15nm SanDisk labeled chips. This chip is specifically made for small-form-factor systems like PCs, tablets, notebooks, netbooks and embedded systems. There is a version of this controller for industrial use.
The formatted drive gives you 111 GB of space.
During the write-intensive endurance testing, it was noticed that the temperature of the drive touched a maximum temperature of 56 degrees celsius. While such write intensive loads are unlikely to be done on an entry-level drive, it’s well within 70 degrees celsius maximum operating temperature spec.
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