PNY CS2111 XLR8 SSD Review (480GB)

POWER CONSUMPTION

For our power consumption testing, we have the drive connected to the system as a secondary drive. To record the wattage, we use an Amprobe AM-270 multimeter connected in line with the 5v power on our SATA power cable to the drive. The multimeter records the min/max amperage draw from the drive over our testing period.

We also record the drive’s sequential and random read and write power draw using Iometer. We then take the values recorded and calculate the wattage of the drive. Some of the results may seem high compared to a standard notebook HDD because as these are peak values under load. When we see average power draw, SSDs are still more power efficient because they only hit max power for a short period of time.

When it comes to our power testing we can see very good idle power consumption. At idle it consumes only 245mW, under half of the rated value of 0.5W. During startup, it peaked out at 1.7W. 4K read and write consumption is fairly low as well with it consuming under 1W for read and under 2.5W for write. Sequential reads and writes take up most of the power as there are 16 NAND packages.

REPORT ANALYSIS AND FINAL THOUGHTS

PNY’s latest XLR8 is a nice step forward from yesterday’s SandForce powered SSDs; it is powered by a Silicon Motion SM2246EN and Micron L95B NAND flash memory. With this combination, the endurance rating is very high. The Samsung 850 Pro, which has a 10 year warranty, is only warrantied up to 150TB…this SSD with a 2+2 year warranty is rated for up to 600TBW which is very impressive and nice to see.

Their choice of a Silicon Motion controller has not only proven valuable in the reliability department, but in performance as well. Throughout our testing the PNY CS2111 XLR8 has performed very similar to other SSDs with the same controller. We were able to see very strong 4K performance as well as great sequential speeds. Its PCMark Vantage score reached over 85K, definitely a score of a great performing SSD. PCMark 8’s consistency test definitely put this SSD through its paces. While heavy workload performance was better than that of the Samsung 850 EVO we reviewed last December, its light workload performance follows that of the Patriot Ignite.

Overall, we are quite impressed with their latest SSD offering. We still would have liked to see a longer warranty without having to register, but, at the end of the day, it offers robust endurance and very good performance. And let’s not forget the flaming tiger design!  For the gamer or enthusiast, no other SSD in the market can compare in terms of looks and because of that, coupled with its strong performance, and excellent value, we are awarding the PNY XLR8 CS2111 with our Silver Seal.

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