SSD TIER LIST

[Wooden Law - Black]

30 minutes ago, Tan3l6 said:

I wonder if Patriot Viper Gaming VP4100 is still in Tier A?

Old PCIe 4.0 but yes, it is Tier A SSD, it doesn’t have PCIe 3.0 performance (like the S50 Lite). It is the same as the Sabrent Rocket 4.0, Corsair MP600, Silicon Power UD70 and other Phison E16 + 96L Micron/Kioxia TLC SSDs.

[Wooden Law - Black]

On 9/28/2021 at 8:39 AM, STRATEGO-LV said:

*snip*

Uhm. Can I ask you if you can link a review about the Kingston Q500 with a teardown? I arleady searched, but I didn't find anything.

By the way, you have to update some infos like 3D flash for the Kingston A400 (Micron B17A), 128L Micron TLC (B37R) for the Crucial BX500, Samsung Elpis controller and 128L Samsung TLC for the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, Silicon Motion SM2262ENG controller and 64L IMFT (Micron + Intel) TLC flash for the Silicon Power P34A80, the configuration of the 980 (dual-core, four-channel, 14nm controller), etc.

[STRATEGO-LV]

8 hours ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

Uhm. Can I ask you if you can link a review about the Kingston Q500 with a teardown? I arleady searched, but I didn't find anything.

By the way, you have to update some infos like 3D flash for the Kingston A400 (Micron B17A), 128L Micron TLC (B37R) for the Crucial BX500, Samsung Elpis controller and 128L Samsung TLC for the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, Silicon Motion SM2262ENG controller and 64L IMFT (Micron + Intel) TLC flash for the Silicon Power P34A80, the configuration of the 980 (dual-core, four-channel, 14nm controller), etc.

I had a Q500 come through my hands a while ago, will check if I have pics left,  I've seen a review with teardown on it as well, maybe Johnny Lucky has it , but I don't have a link to a good review rn, I think I need to add a reviews row to the spreadsheet as well as I don't really keep a list of those, but well Q500's aren't particularly popular and it's more or less an A400 V2.
Anyways, here's a vid where you can see the firmware version of the controller, which pretty much confirms S11T/S13T revisions

A400 is something I personally don't want to talk about, haven't seen so many failures with anything else on the market, I wish I could just tell everyone to look at MX500 and SU800...

128L for BX500? I just noticed the 1-2TB versions come with QLC (probably had already seen this and never updated the spreadsheet though)? Will need to update, last big update I made was in June iirc and I didn't recheck a lot of drives already existing in the spreadsheet.

My fault on Elpis for 970 Evo Plus, I hadn't wrote that, only a note that they changed the controller when I first found out about the changes and performance impact.

Isn't IMFT completely dead? But eh I guess you're right on inclusion here.

May I get a source for "dual-core", I know that Anand's review said 4 channels though.

If you have other suggestions I'm open for those, I'm always trying to improve on things, you don't want to see how 1.0 of the spreadsheet looked like , but well my main objective with this spreadsheet has always been informative, easy to overview spreadsheet, with all the data and no strings attached, although, it does take a lot of time to work on it, manufacturers do hate clear specifications of their SSD's on their own websites .

[Wooden Law - Black]

7 hours ago, STRATEGO-LV said:

but well Q500's aren't particularly popular and it's more or less an A400 V2.

Got it. My question is now: if the A400 recently ugpraded its hardware from usign 2D flash to use 3D flash (Micron B17A - 64L TLC), the Kingston Q500 which hardware uses? From the VLO of my friend who reviewed the Kingston A400:
 

Spoiler

1. v0.84a
   Drive: 0(ATA)
   OS: 10.0 build 19043
   Model: KINGSTON SA400S37480G
   Fw : SBFKB1C3
   Size : 457862 MB
   P/N : 8278128
   S11fw: SBFKB1C3, 2018Dec 5
   S11rv: KB1C2-17
   Bank00: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank01: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank02: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank03: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank08: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank09: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank10: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank11: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Controller : PS3111
   Flash CE : 8
   Flash Channel : 2
   Dram Size,MB : 32
   Flash CE Mask : [++++---- ++++----]
   Flash Mode/Clk: 5/7 (Set 5/7)
   Block per Die : 2016
   Block per CE : 2016
   Page per Block: 2304
   SLC Cache : Default
   PE Cycle Limit: 1000
   MaxBBPerPlane : 56
   
   ParPage : 00
   Plane : 4

It uses Phison S11 (single-core - 200 MHz + Crystal 30 MHz, dual-channel, 8 CE per channel, 40nm) and Micron 64L TLC, B17A (512Gb density of dies, 533-667 MT/s, 16 KB pages, 4 planes, 1500-1000 P/E cycles) with using 8 dies and 8 CEs as total.

 

7 hours ago, STRATEGO-LV said:

128L for BX500? I just noticed the 1-2TB versions come with QLC (probably had already seen this and never updated the spreadsheet though)? Will need to update, last big update I made was in June iirc and I didn't recheck a lot of drives already existing in the spreadsheet.

Yes, 128L (B37R), the same as Lexar NQ100. NW987 = MT29F1T08EELDEH6-M:D, and for example you can see from TechInsights that they wrote under "Micron 128L CuA CTF" "Micron Crucial BX500 2.5 SSD 480 GB". So it uses 128L also for under 1 TB SKUs (and yes, up to 1 TB SKUs it uses TLC NANDs, while from 1 TB up it uses 96L QLC NANDs - N28A).

I can't quote the other sentences, so:

"Isn't IMFT completely dead? But eh I guess you're right on inclusion here.": yes, theoretically yes, but that doesn’t mean there are still no SSDs that use NAND Flash from them. Here the TechPowerUp's review about the Silicon Power P34A80: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/silicon-power-a80-ssd-1-tb/2.html

"May I get a source for "dual-core", I know that Anand's review said 4 channels though.": you can see it from the spreadsheet of Gabriel Ferraz: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BseYC1anSnrXorTuSLpuxIVUKm07SXy45ddVcpnHtas/edit#gid=630251863

[TVwazhere]

@Wooden Law - Black do you know if they changed anything from the PCI-e 3.0 to 4.0 SN750's?

 

WDS100T3X0C

WDS100T1B0E

 

Currently the 4.0 is on sale for $98, but I'm noting listed max read/write speeds are actually lower on the 4.0 Drive. The PCB also looks way less busy, I'm assuming that means it's missing key features?

[Wooden Law - Black]

8 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

@Wooden Law - Black do you know if they changed anything from the PCI-e 3.0 to 4.0 SN750's?

Both are PCIe 3.0, but one of them (the first) is the SN750 and the other one’s the SN750 SE.

 

The differences between them is that the SN750 SE is worse since it lacks DRAM cache and for the different controller (it isn’t in-house as the SN750 has but it is the Phison E19T. It is worse since it is dual-core and four-channel while the SN750’s in-hours controller is tri-core and eight-channel). The flash is better (BiCS54 vs BiCS3 - 96L TLC vs 64L), but despite that the SN750 SE has worse performance and reliability.

[TVwazhere]

2 minutes ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

Both are PCIe 3.0

Even though WD lists it as 4.0 on their site?

https://shop.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-black-sn750-se-nvme-ssd#WDS250G1B0E

[Wooden Law - Black]

22 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Even though WD lists it as 4.0 on their site?

https://shop.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-black-sn750-se-nvme-ssd#WDS250G1B0E

Oh, I didn’t remember that it is PCIe 4.0 and not PCIe 3.0. Anyway, the concept is the same: it is worse than the SN750 PCIe 3.0.

 

The SN750 SE is like the S50 Lite: PCIe 4.0 SSDs with PCIe 3.0 performance.

[TVwazhere]

40 minutes ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

The SN750 SE is like the S50 Lite: PCIe 4.0 SSDs with PCIe 3.0 performance.

I was literally going to make that comparison based on the PCB layout (even though I know VERY little about SSD design). Glad I wasn't far off!

 

Thank you man, your in depth knowledge and professional responsiveness here is found seldom often in forums (coming from someone who helps moderates them)

[STRATEGO-LV]

On 9/29/2021 at 9:29 AM, Wooden Law - Black said:

Got it. My question is now: if the A400 recently ugpraded its hardware from usign 2D flash to use 3D flash (Micron B17A - 64L TLC), the Kingston Q500 which hardware uses? From the VLO of my friend who reviewed the Kingston A400:
 

  Hide contents

1. v0.84a
   Drive: 0(ATA)
   OS: 10.0 build 19043
   Model: KINGSTON SA400S37480G
   Fw : SBFKB1C3
   Size : 457862 MB
   P/N : 8278128
   S11fw: SBFKB1C3, 2018Dec 5
   S11rv: KB1C2-17
   Bank00: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank01: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank02: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank03: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank08: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank09: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank10: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Bank11: 0x89,0xc4,0x8,0x32,0xa6,0x0,0x0,0x0 - Intel 64L(B17A) TLC 512Gb/CE 512Gb/die
   Controller : PS3111
   Flash CE : 8
   Flash Channel : 2
   Dram Size,MB : 32
   Flash CE Mask : [++++---- ++++----]
   Flash Mode/Clk: 5/7 (Set 5/7)
   Block per Die : 2016
   Block per CE : 2016
   Page per Block: 2304
   SLC Cache : Default
   PE Cycle Limit: 1000
   MaxBBPerPlane : 56
   
   ParPage : 00
   Plane : 4

It uses Phison S11 (single-core - 200 MHz + Crystal 30 MHz, dual-channel, 8 CE per channel, 40nm) and Micron 64L TLC, B17A (512Gb density of dies, 533-667 MT/s, 16 KB pages, 4 planes, 1500-1000 P/E cycles) with using 8 dies and 8 CEs as total.

 

Yes, 128L (B37R), the same as Lexar NQ100. NW987 = MT29F1T08EELDEH6-M:D, and for example you can see from TechInsights that they wrote under "Micron 128L CuA CTF" "Micron Crucial BX500 2.5 SSD 480 GB". So it uses 128L also for under 1 TB SKUs (and yes, up to 1 TB SKUs it uses TLC NANDs, while from 1 TB up it uses 96L QLC NANDs - N28A).

I can't quote the other sentences, so:

"Isn't IMFT completely dead? But eh I guess you're right on inclusion here.": yes, theoretically yes, but that doesn’t mean there are still no SSDs that use NAND Flash from them. Here the TechPowerUp's review about the Silicon Power P34A80: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/silicon-power-a80-ssd-1-tb/2.html

"May I get a source for "dual-core", I know that Anand's review said 4 channels though.": you can see it from the spreadsheet of Gabriel Ferraz: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BseYC1anSnrXorTuSLpuxIVUKm07SXy45ddVcpnHtas/edit#gid=630251863

Q500 uses a revision of S11/13 and Micron 64L, performance wise they don't differ much, might have some optimizations for lifespan though. Basically, I think they tried to fix the A400 by releasing Q500 and failed at it

Added SN750 SE and SN850 on my spreadsheet, smhw I had missed that they aren't there

[Wooden Law - Black]

18 minutes ago, STRATEGO-LV said:

Added SN750 SE and SN850 on my spreadsheet, smhw I had missed that they aren't there

You confused the configurations of controllers. The SN750 SE uses the Phison E19T, non a WD in-house. The Phison E19T - taking into account the CoXProcessor - is a dual-core four-channel, while the WD in-house - which is the controller that the SN750 uses - is a tri-core eight-channel as you wrote. 

[STRATEGO-LV]

12 hours ago, Wooden Law - Black said:

You confused the configurations of controllers. The SN750 SE uses the Phison E19T, non a WD in-house. The Phison E19T - taking into account the CoXProcessor - is a dual-core four-channel, while the WD in-house - which is the controller that the SN750 uses - is a tri-core eight-channel as you wrote. 

Good catch, didn't confuse, just wrote in the wrong row, gotta sleep more

[praescepter]

Hi.

 

Are there any in-depth reviews about the Samsung 970 Evo Plus with the new (changed) controller?

 

I would like to buy a new NVME drive, and so far i did not have any problems with the dozen Samsung drives we had so far in the family, so i would like to stay with Samsung... but the one that would suit my needs... just found the articles about the component changes.

Dont like the 980. The 980 Pro is overkill for my Z490 with a 10th gen intel...

 

[Wooden Law - Black]

2 hours ago, praescepter said:

Are there any in-depth reviews about the Samsung 970 Evo Plus with the new (changed) controller?

No, only tests and the teardown. 

 

2 hours ago, praescepter said:

just found the articles about the component changes.

It changed the performance, but it keeps its good quality, in fact it uses new flash, 128L (V6). If you want a Samsung drive, you can buy it, or also the 970 EVO, they have more or less the same performance. 

[Jeze]

Okay, so im in a pickle right now on what to pick between the WD Black SN750 250gb M.2 NVME
price: 58$ and Corsair MP510 256gb M.2 NVME Price: 48$. The corsair one is 10 dollars cheaper and they are both at TIER B so kindly help a fellow out, i watched all the review on both of them and i'm still not sure, i kinda want an advice on persons who have used them both should i go with the cheaper corsair one? because im only planning in making it my boot drive and maybe add 1-2 games in it, thank you and happy gaming. 

[Wooden Law - Black]

1 hour ago, Jeze said:

Okay, so im in a pickle right now on what to pick between the WD Black SN750 250gb M.2 NVME
price: 58$ and Corsair MP510 256gb M.2 NVME Price: 48$.

They are both good SSDs, but the SN750 is better as performance (after the SLC cache it do around 1700 MB/s while the MP510 around 1050 MB/s according to Tom's Hardware review - keep in mind the Corsair MP510 is the old and first revision, now it uses Phison E12S controller and 96L flash) and probably also as endurance since the SLC cache design (hybrid vs dynamic), so I would choose the SN750 even if the Corsair is cheaper. By the way you can take a look - if you can buy from amazon.com - at the Mushkin Pilot-E, it is better and cheaper than the MP510. 

[WkdPaul]

* thread cleaned *

[uwshirk]

I didn't see this one on the tier list, it is a shellshocker on Newegg for $200. Eluktronics MANIX 2TB PCIe 4. Does anyone know where something like this would land?

[Wooden Law - Black]

1 hour ago, uwshirk said:

Does anyone know where something like this would land?

Tier A (Ultra High-end), the same level as the Sabrent Rocket Q4. It is QLC and I think that it uses the same controller as the Q4, so the Phison E16 (in fact they have the same speed on specs). Since it is QLC, post-SLC cache it has worse performance than high-end TLC-based PCIe 3.0 SSDs (970 EVO Plus, Sabrent Rocket non-Q, WD SN750, Crucial P5, ADATA SX8200 Pro, etc.).

[NewMaxx]

9 hours ago, uwshirk said:

I didn't see this one on the tier list, it is a shellshocker on Newegg for $200. Eluktronics MANIX 2TB PCIe 4. Does anyone know where something like this would land?

Probably E16 + QLC (i.e. Rocket Q4 clone), although you might see these drives migrate to the E21T.

[Phantom-XT]

On 8/9/2019 at 12:17 PM, VEXICUS said:

Welcome to the SSD tier list.

 

SSD or Solid State Drive is a storage device containing non-volatile flash memory, used in place of hard drive because of its much greater speed. Unlike a hard drive, a solid state drive doesnt have any moving parts. It has two main components - A flash controller and  NAND flash memory chips.

More information on solid state drives can be had from here..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive

 

This guide differentiates SSDs in different tiers based on their DWPD, sustained writes, controllers, NAND types and value for money.

 

Make Ctrl + F your Best Friend...

 

  Reveal hidden contents

NAND TYPES

 

SLC

MLC

TLC

QLC

 

Underline denotes the best SSDs in their respective tiers.

 

SSD's without DRAM cache are marked with an asterisk *

SSD's that support HMB are marked with [1] (Work In Process)

 

NVMe

 

Tier A (Ultra High-end)

• ADATA - S50 (Phison E16), S70 (Innogrit IG5236)
• Addlink - S90 (Phison E16), S92 (Phison E16), S95 (Phison E18)
• Apacer - AS2280Q4 (Phison E16)
• Corsair - MP600 (Phison E16), MP600 Pro (Phison E18), MP600 Core (Phison E16)
• Essencore - ECT455 (Phison E16)
• Galax - HOF 4.0 (Phison E16), HOF 4.0 Extreme (Phison E18)
• Gigabyte - AORUS PCIe 4.0 (Phison E16)
• Goodram - IRDM Ultimate X (Phison E16)
• Inland - Performance (Phison E16)
• KingMax - PX4480 (Phison E16)
• MSI - Lightning (Phison E16)
• Patriot - Viper VP4100 (Phison E16)
• PNY - CS4040 (Phison E16)
• Sabrent - Rocket 4.0 (Phison E16), Rocket 4 Plus (Phison E18), Rocket Q4 (Phison E16)
• Samsung - 970 Pro (Samsung Phoenix), 980 Pro (Samsung Elpis)
• Seagate - FireCuda 520 (Phison E16)
• Silicon Power - US70 (Phison E16)
• Team Group - Cardea Zero Z440 (Phison E16), Cadea Ceramic C440 (Phison E16), Cardea Zero (Phison E16)
• Western Digital - Black SN850 (WD Proprietary), AN1500 (WD Proprietary)

 

Tier B (High-end)

• ADATA - SX8200 Pro v1 (SMI SM2262EN), Gammix S11 Pro (SMI SM2262EN), SX8800 Pro (Realtek RTS5762), Spectrix S40G / RGB (Realtek RTS5762), SX8100 (Realtek RTS5762), Gammix S7 (Realtek RTS5762)
• Addlink - S70 (Phison E12), X70 (Phison E12)
• Asgard - AN3 (SMI SM2262EN), AN3+ (Starblaze STAR1000P)
• Asura - Genesis Xtreme (Phison E12)
• Corsair - MP510 (Phison E12)
• Digifast - Ace (Phison E12)
• Galax - HOF (Phison E12)
• Gigabyte - AUROS RGB AIC (Phison E12)
• Hikvision - C2000 (Phison E12)
• HP - EX950 (SMI SM2262EN)
• Inland - Premium (Phison E12)
• KingMax - PX3480 (Phison E12)
• Kingston - KC2000 (SMI SM2262EN), KC2500 (SMI SM2262EN)
• LiteOn - MU X1 (Phison E12)
• Mushkin - Pilot-E (SMI SM2262EN)
• MyDigitalSSD - BPX Pro (Phison E12)
• Patriot - Viper VPN100 (Phison E12), Viper VPR100 (Phison E12)
• Pioneer - APS-SE20G (Phison E12)
• Plextor - M9PeY/G/GN (Marvell 88SS1093)
• PNY - CS3030 (Phison E12)
• Toshiba / Kioxia - RD500 (Phison E12S), Exercia Plus (Phison E12S)
• Sabrent - Rocket (Phison E12)
• Samsung - 970 EVO Plus (Samsung Phoenix), 970 EVO (Samsung Phoenix), 960 EVO (Samsung Polaris), 960 Pro (Samsung Polaris)
• SanDisk - Extreme Pro NVMe (WD Proprietary)
• Seagate - BarraCuda 510 (Phison E12), FireCuda 510 (Phison E12)
• Silicon Power - P34A80 (Phison E12)
• SK Hynix - Gold P31 (SK Hynix Cepheus), Platinum P31 (SK Hynix Cepheus)
• Team Group - Cardea II (Phison E12), Cardea Liquid (Phison E12), MP34 (Phison E12), Z340 (SMI SM2262EN)
• Transcend - SSD 220S (SMI SM2262EN), SSD 240S (SMI SM2267)
• Western Digital - Black / SN750 (WD Proprietary)
• Zadak - Spark (Phison E12)

 

Tier C (Mid-end)

• ADATA - SX8200 Pro v2 (SMI SM2262G), SX8200 (SMI SM2262), Gammix S11 (SMI SM2262), Falcon* (Realtek RTS5762DL) [1], S50 Lite (SMI SM2267)
• Corsair - MP400 (Phison E12S) 
• Crucial - P5 (Micron DMO1B2)
• Drevo - D1 Xtreme (SMI SM2262)
• HP- EX920 (SMI SM2262)
• Inland - Platinum (Phison E12S)
• Intel - 760p (SMI SM2262), 670p (SMI SM2265)
• Lexar - NM700 (Marvell 88SS1092)
• Mushkin - Pilot (SMI SM2262)
• Pioneer - APS-SE20Q (Phison E12)
• Plextor - M9P+ (Marvell 88SS1092) 
• PNY - CS2130 (Phison E12S)
• Sabrent - Rocket Q (Phison E12S)
• Samsung - 950 Pro (Samsung UBX), 980* (Samsung Pablo)
• Silicon Power - UD70 (Phison E12S)
• Western Digital - Black 2018 (WD Proprietary)

 

Tier D (Budget)

• ADATA - SX6000 Pro* (Realtek RTS5763DL), Gammix S5* (Realtek RTS5763DL), SX6000 Lite* (Realtek RTS5763DL), Swordfish* (Realtek RTS5763DL) [1]
• Addlink - S68* (Phison E13T) [1]
• Asgard - AN1/AN2* (SMI SM2263XT) [1]
• Biostar - M700* (SMI SM2263XT) [1]
• Colorful - CN600* (SMI SM2263XT) [1]
• Corsair - MP500 (Phison E7)
• Crucial - P1 (SMI SM2263), P2* (Phison E13T) [1]
• Gigabyte - NVMe v2* (Phison E13T) [1]
• Greenliant - ArmourDrive* (Phison E13T) [1]
• Goodram - PX500* (SMI SM2263XT) [1]
• HP - EX900* (SMI SM2263XT)
• Inland - Pro QLC* (Phison E13T) [1]
• Intel - 660p (SMI SM2263), 665p (SMI SM2263)
• Kingston - A2000 (SMI SM2263)
• KLEVV - KRAS C700 / RGB (SMI SM2263), KRAS C710* (SMI SM2263XT) [1]
• Lexar - NM600* (SMI SM2263XT), NM610* (SMI SM2263XT)
• Mushkin - Enhanced Helix-L* (SMI 2263XT)
• MyDigitalSSD - BPX (Phison E7), SBXe 2nd Gen* (Phison E13T)
• Orico - V500* (SMI SM2263XT) [1]
• Patriot - P300* (SMI SM2263XT or Phison E13T) [1]
• SanDisk - Ultra* (WD Proprietary) [1]
• Silicon Power - P34A60* (SMI SM2263XT)
• TC SUNBOW - NVMe* (SMI SM2263XT)
• Team Group - MP33* (SMI SM2263XT or Phison E13T), Z330* (Phison E13T) [1]
• Toshiba / Kioxia - RC500 (Phison E12S), Exercia (Phison E12C)
• Transcend - SSD 110S* (SMI SM2263XT)
• Verbatim - Vi3000* (Phison E13T)[1]
• Western Digital - SN500* (WD Proprietary), SN550* (WD Proprietary)[1], SN350* (WD Proprietary)

 

Tier E (OKAYish)

• ADATA - SX6000 (Realtek RTS5760), Gammix S10* (SMI SM2260)
• Apacer - AS2290P2 Pro* (Phison E8T) [1]
• Corsair - MP300 (Phison E8)
• Gigabyte - NVMe* (Phison E8T) [1]
• Inland - Basic* (Phison 8T) [1], Professional (Phison E8)
• Kingston - A1000 (Phison E8)
• Lexar - NM500* (Marvell 88NV1160), Lexar NM520 (Phison E8)
• MyDigitalSSD - SBX (Phison E8), SBXe* (Phison 8T)
• Patriot - Scorch (Phison E8)
• Silicon Power - P32A80* (Phison 8T)
• Team Group - MP32 (Phison E8)

 

 

SATA

 

Tier A (High-end)

• Samsung - 850 PRO (Samsung MEX), 860 PRO (Samsung MJX)
• Seagate - Ironwolf 110 (Seagate 500021768)

 

Tier B (Mid-end)

• ADATA - SX950U (SMI SM2258), SU800 (SMI SM2258), SX850 (SMI SM2258), SU750* (Realtek RTS5733DMQ), SU760* (Realtek RTS5733DMQ)
• Addlink - S20 (Phison S10)
• Corsair - Neutron XTi (Phison S10)
• Crucial - MX500 (SMI SM2258), BX300 (SMI SM2258), MX300 (Marvell 88SS1074), MX200 (Marvell 88SS9189)
• Gigabyte - UD Pro (Phison S10)
• HP - S700 Pro (SMI SM2258)
• Intel - 545s (SMI SM2259), 540s (SMI SM2258)
• Kingston - KC600 (SMI SM2259)
• KLEVV - NX500 (SMI SM2258)
• Lexar - NS200 (SMI SM2258), NM210 (SMI SM2258)
• Micron - 1100 (Marvell 88SS1074), 1300 (Marvell 88SS1074)
• Mushkin - Triactor 3DX (SMI SM2258) 
• MyDigitalSSD - BP5e Slim 7 (Phison S10)
• Neo Forza - NFS06 (SMI SM2258)
• PNY - CS1311 (Phison S10)
• Samsung - 850 EVO (Samsung MGX), 860 EVO (Samsung MJX), 860 QVO (Samsung MJX), 870 QVO (Samsung MKX)
• Sandisk - Extreme Pro (Marvell 88SS9187), Ultra 3D (Marvell 88SS1074)
• Seagate - Barracuda (Phison S10)
• SK Hynix - Gold S31 ( Quartz SH87830CC), SL308 (SK hynix SH87820BB)
• Team Group - L5 Lite 3D (SMI SM2258), Delta RGB (SMI SM2258), Vulcan (SMI SM2258) 
• Toshiba - Vector 180 (OCZ Barefoot 3 M00)
• Transcend - SSD370* (Transcend TS6500), SSD370S* (Transcend TS6500), SSD430S ( SMI SM2258), SSD830S (SMI SM2258), SSD230S (SMI SM2258)
• Western Digital - Blue 3D (Marvell 88SS1074), Blue (Marvell 88SS1074)

 

 

Tier C (Budget)

• ADATA - SU650* (SMI SM2258XT), SU655* (SMI SM2258XT), SP900 (SandForce SF-2281)
• Colorful - SL500* (SMI SM2258XT)
• Crucial - BX500* (SMI SM2258XT), MX100 (Marvell 88SS9189)
• Drevo - X1 Pro* (SMI SM2258XT)
• Gigabyte - SSD* (Phison S11)
• HP - S700* (SMI SM2258XT), M700* (SMI SM2258XT), P600* (SMI SM2258XT)
• KingDian - S280 (SMI SM2258)
• KingSpec - P4* (Maxio MAS0902A)
• Kingston - UV400 (Marvell 88SS1074), KC300 (SandForce SF2281) , UV500 (Marvell 88SS1074)
• Lexar - NS100* (Marvell 88NV1120)
• Mushkin - Source* (SMI SM2258XT), Reactor (SMI SM2258EN), Reactor LT (SMI SM2258EN), Triactor 3DL* (SMI SM2258XT), Raw* (SMI SM2259XT)
• Neo Forza - NFS01* (SMI SM2258XT)
• Patriot - Burst* (Phison S11), P200* (SMI SM2258XT)
• Pioneer - APS-SL3* (Phison S11)
• PNY - CS900* (Phison S11), CS2211* (Phison S11), CS2040* (Phison S11)
• Sandisk - Ultra II (Marvell 88SS9190), Ultra Plus (Marvell SS889175)
• Silicon Power - S55* (SMI SM2258XT), A55* (SMI SM2258XT), A58* (Phison S11)
• TC SUNBOW - X3 (SMI SM2258) [Although some units in USA and Canada ship with a DRAM-less SMI SM2258XT]
• Team Group - Elite GX1* (SMI SM2258XT), Elite GX2* (SMI SM2258XT), MS30* (SMI SM2258XT), EX2* (SMI SM2258XT)
• Toshiba - TR200* (Phison S11)
• Transcend - SSD420S* (SMI SM2258XT), SSD820S* (SMI SM2258XT)

 

Tier D (OKAYish)

• ADATA - SU630* (Maxio MAS0902A), SU635* (Maxio MAS0902A)
• Addlink - S22* (Phison S11T)
• HP - S600* (Marvell 88NV1120)
• Hyundai - Sapphire* (Marvell 88NV1120)
• Inland - Professional* (Phison S11)
• KingDian - S400* (SMI SM2258XT)
• Kingston - A400* (Phison S11), SSDNow V300* (Sandisk SF-2281), HyperX RGB (Marvell 88SS1074), Q500* (Phison S11T/S13T)
• Sandisk - SSD Plus* (SMI SM2256S)
• Team Group - L5 Lite* (SMI SM2256S), Dark L3 (Phison S8), L3 EVO* (Phison S11)
• Western Digital - Green* (SMI SM2258XT)

 

 

EXTERNAL

 

Tier A (Ultra High-end)

• LaCie - Rugged SSD (Phison E12)
• Patriot - EVLVR 2 (Phison E12)

 

Tier B (High-end)

• HP - P800* (SMI SM2263) [1]
• LaCie - Rugged SSD (Phison E12)
• Sabrent - Rocket Pro (Phison E12)
• Western Digital - P50 (WD Proprietary)

 

Tier C (Mid-end)

• ADATA - SE760* (Realtek RTS5763DL) [1], SE800* (Innogrit IG5208) [1]
• HP - P700* (SMI SM2263) [1]
• Lexar - SL100 Pro* (Marvell 88NV1160) [1]
• Mushkin - CarbonX* (SMI SM2263XT)
• Orico - GV100* (SMI SM2263XT) [1]
• Patriot - PXD* (Phison E13T) [1]
• PNY - Pro Elite (Phison E8)
• Sabrent - Rocket Nano* (Phison E13T) [1]
• Samsung - T5 (Samsung MGX), T7* (Samsung Pablo)
• Sandisk - Extreme Portable (Marvell 88SS1074)
• Seagate - Fast SSD (Phison S10)
• Team Group - PD1000* (SMI SM2263XT)
• Transcend - ESD350C* (SMI SM2263XT)
• Western Digital - My Passport SSD (New) (Marvell 88SS1074)

 

Tier D (Budget / Storage)

• ADATA - SC680* (SMI SM2259XT), SD600Q* (Maxio MAS0902A), SD700 (SMI SM2258)
• Buffalo - SSD-PSMU3 (Phison S10)
• HP - P600* (SMI SM2258XT)
• LaCie - Portable SSD (Phison S10)
• Lexar - SL200* (Marvell 88NV1120)
• Mushkin - Source Q* (SMI SM2259XT)
• PNY - Elite* (Phison S11)
• Seagate - One Touch SSD (Phison S10)
• Silicon Power - Bolt B75 Pro* (Phison S11), PC60* (SM2259XT)
• Team Group - PD400 (SMI SM2258)

 

PM me for any changes.

Updated - 04/04/2021

 

 

CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE

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This work by VEXICUS is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

 

did you have expanded sheet?

[compprof]

thank you for making this list.

first time ssd buyer here.

what's the best buy for SATA Tier C now?

[Wooden Law - Black]

1 hour ago, compprof said:

what's the best buy for SATA Tier C now?

I think the Kingston UV500 (DRAM-based) and the Crucial BX500 (DRAM-less). I'd prefer the Kingston UV500 even if it uses older flash and controller than the BX500.

[Vespa]

Is the SN550 NVMe worth getting for basic storage and loading small-ish game roms/isos for a something like a MisterFPGA or retro pi setup? it's currently £36.99 on the WD store for 500gb

[Tan3l6]

PNY XLR8 CS3040 any good?

4TB version costs 350€ here.