Silicon Motion SM2246EN SSD Controller Review

ANVIL STORAGE UTILITIES PROFESSIONAL (BETA)

You may not see this for long (and it’s definitely not common) but you get a freebee simply for reading! Over the last little while, we have been assisting with beta testing new benchmark software called Anvil Storage Utilities which is an absolutely amazing SSD benchmarking utility. Not only does it have a preset SSD benchmark, but also, it has included such things as endurance testing and threaded I/O read, write and mixed tests, all of which are very simple to understand and use in our benchmark testing.

Again we see decent scores in both throughput and IOPS and an above average Total Point Score.  System and SSD identification can be found on the lower left and right of ASU.

PCMARK VANTAGE X64 HDD SUITE

The SSD Review uses benchmark software called PCMark Vantage x64 HDD Suite to create testing scenarios that might be used in the typical user experience. There are eight tests in all and the tests performed record the speed of data movement in MB/s to which they are then given a numerical score after all of the tests are complete. The simulations are as follows:

• Windows Defender In Use
• Streaming Data from storage in games such as Alan Wake which allows for massive worlds and riveting non-stop action
• Importing digital photos into Windows Photo Gallery
• Starting the Vista Operating System
• Home Video editing with Movie Maker which can be very time consuming
• Media Center which can handle video recording, time shifting and streaming from Windows media center to an extender such as XBox
• Cataloging a music library
• Starting applications

SILICON MOTION SM2246EN CONTROLLER VANTAGE TESTING

Our prototype SSD containing the SM2246EN controller completed PCMark Vantage testing with a high score of 52912 and a top transfer speed of 348MB/s while testing in Media Center.  This is not the highest PCMark Total Score we have seen to date and that makes sense as this is not a SSD marketed by any company is, in fact, our first look at a SSD controller as a prototype that is still being worked on and has not found its way onto the SSD scene as of yet.  Our Vantage results below display results for all eight tests:

REPORT ANALYSIS AND FINAL THOUGHTS

In looking at the Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller, their are plenty of unexpected positives that might make this controller very appealing to SSD manufacturers today.  We might still place this in the mid-tier level of controllers, alongside of that of JMicron and Phison, however, SMI has put much more into this controller than one might expect.  First and foremost, their demonstrating it live while utilizing Samsung’s newest TLC memory at Flash Memory Summit caught our eye and the performance displayed, matched that of what we might expect from a comparable Samsung product.

Now let’s add to that the fact that this SSD controller is not only compatible with every other variation of flash memory on the market and in use in SSDs today, but also, it is a low power solution that runs 25% below Intel’s Ultrabook power specs, is SATA Device Sleep capable, and is TCG Opal Compliant.  Throw in further features such as realtime 128/256-bit AES encryption and you have a controller made for tyoday but with the features of tomorrow!