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REPORT ANALYSIS AND FINAL THOUGHTS
When it comes to upgrading your computer’s disk drive, really two things should come to your mind when starting to shop around. The first being what you use your computer for, and the second being how much do you want to spend. If you are into gaming or video editing on a daily basis, then the PNY OPTIMA SSD is clearly the wrong decision for you. However, if you are making the upgrade from a hard disk drive to a solid state drive, you are going to immediately notice an increase in your computers performance. Better yet, the PNY solid state drive is not going to cost you an arm and a leg to speed up your system. PNY has covered all their bases with the OPTIMA SSD SERIES, again provided you keep in mind that this is your budget-friendly option when it comes to choosing your SSD.
A couple of things we would have liked to have seen come with the PNY OPTIMA SSD are a software toolkit, similar to ADATA’s SSD Toolbox, and maybe some more gear in the SSD’s packaging. We previously took a look the ADATA SP920, where this drive also included a 3.5″ drive bay adapter. While we are not explicitly asking for another drive bay adapter, we are merely suggesting other components that may have fit well with PNY’s direction with the OPTIMA SSD SERIES.
other than honing in on a one year warranty, it is hard to say something negative about this drive, considering the market for which it was intended. PNY has clearly pointed the OPTIMA SSD SERIES towards those who are looking to make the jump from a hard drive to a solid state drive, and this is definitely a great option to do so. It’s for this reason that we award the PNY OPTIMA SSD SERIES with The SSD Review’s Top Value Award!
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According to the PNY Optima specifications page the company uses three different types of NAND for the Optima ssd – Synchronous Mode MLC, SLC or TLC. It is similar to what Kingston did with the SSDNow V300. The major difference is that PNY published the fact while Kingston made no mention of it until problems developed and customers complained.
Hmm, That would optima the second manufactur to use TLC flash..
i wonder how that performs 😉
The problem here is that vendors are still selling 240GB SSDs with Toshiba toggle NAND and SF controllers for the same price. No comparison in terms of performance. Until the old inventories run out this imbalance will remain.
Looks like a decent drive (especially given, that it uses 128Gbit flash), although i wonder how this controler performs consistency wise…
The Kingmax SME XValue launched October 2013 uses the same silicon motion controller.
Review: https://goughlui.com/?p=7294
In the store a saleman attempted to upsell me on crucial, but could not give a rational much better than name recognition. He did state speed, but had no evidence. With this drive at $90 (including rebate $110-20) is this a better deal than the crucial with the same listed stats, but with a $130 ticket and no rebate?
The Marvell controller of the rucial is a bit more preferable….better performance.
How much better is the performance? The answer to that question is the big deal.
The performance is totally dependant on your use of this drive. If you are using it for just surfing the net, e-mails etc…you won’t every see the difference between this and any drive. If you are a professional manipulating media…that is an entirely different story.
Are there any comparative standards or is all information regarding SSDs anecdotal and based on opinion?
From the review:
“BENCHMARK SOFTWARE
The software used for today’s analysis is typical of many of our reviews and consists of ATTO Disk Benchmark, Crystal Disk Info, Crystal DiskMark, AS SSD, and PCMark Vantage. In consumer reports, we prefer to test with easily accessible software that the consumer can obtain, and in many cases, we even provide links. Our selection of software allows each to build on the last and to provide validation to results already obtained.”
So they used five different non-anendotal tools to test the drive. Read the review on the Crucial model you are considering. Compare.
Being a novice in understanding SSD stats, it’s unclear to me how this is a poor option for gaming. Also, the text isn’t clear to me whether it’s talking about this drive being the “wrong” choice compared to just other SSDs or also in even replacing an HDD for gaming.
It is a poor option in comparison to other SSDs that handle compressible writes much better. It is still a huge step up from a hard drive. In gaming, the only real benefit is transition timing through the loading of scenes.
Did anyone figure out how to enable the encryption that is advertised? I didn’t find any software on the PNY website.
I just had a virus on my laptop a while back so I went in with geek squad. When I picked up my laptop and got home I was surprised to find one of these. I had no idea what it was. I am not a tecky person. So what exactly is it, how do I install it and basically just a memory or a drive?
You picked up your laptop from the geek squad and when you got home you found an SSD? Was it in the bag or installed in your laptop? Why would you want to know how to install something you just paid someone to install unless it was not installed, and if so, why?
PS It replaces your hard drive, but it’s not soft! It’s not a floppy, it’s a Solid State Drive – no moving parts, so it’s fast, and cool! Enjoy!
A local shop has the 480GB version on sale for only €117. Is it worth buying? For that price I can barely get a 250GB 850 evo
Bought this disk recently for £55 and it says 3 year warranty on the box. Where is the catch?