Marvell and LAMD controllers in 60-64GB drives : Specs| Hashrate

Small Standard Foreword

The solid state flash storage (SSD) market is under pressure from price competition. As a result, companies are forced to constantly seek ways to reduce production costs.

Manufacturers of the first echelon and “close” ones with special contracts (Crucial-Micron, Intel, LiteON, Plextor, Samsung, SanDisk, Toshiba, Transcend, etc.), as a rule, more or less comply with the original specifications of the released model, maneuvering in pricing policy due to a higher margin, as well as the scale of production. Although they can also present surprises.

Companies that order finished products from ODM / OEM-manufacturers with their own brands (ADATA, PQI, PNY, Silicon Power, SmartBuy, etc.) are often deprived of this opportunity. Therefore, they apply a policy of making the price cheaper by choosing cheap hardware configurations (non-original flash memory, asynchronous flash memory instead of synchronous one, simplified controller, etc.). In this case, the formal name of the model of this or that drive during its hardware “modernization” most often remains the same.

Therefore, when reading the review, you should also check the availability of newer materials on this model (not necessarily of the same volume) in the corresponding section of articles – as far as possible, we try to track changes in hardware platforms. There is a separate section on drives on Phison controllers – there is a special conversation about this developer (for example, GoodRAM C100, SmartBuy Ignition 2 and Silicon Power V55 / S55 were at one time the same drive, just with different labels and packaging).

And an overview of a particular drive at a certain moment turns into a historical reference for advanced readers and those who, by the will of fate, became the owner of the old configuration, which is often no less valuable than a reflection of the current state of affairs in the solid-state drive market. This is normal in view of the rapid growth and development of the latter.

Continuation.
Choosing a 60-64 GB SSD: test of five models of Kingston, SanDisk, Kingmax, ADATA and Intel.
Choosing a 60-64 GB SSD: Let SandForce take a break! Introducing JMicron, Phison, and Indilinx.

Introduction

Why such a name?

Firstly, such a volume is the minimum at present – there is practically no point in purchasing even smaller drives, unless you plan to use a completely “bare” OS in the system, without any software. The option to install applications in parallel on a traditional HDD is also not optimal: the increase in performance will be noticeable only at the stage of starting the operating system, while other applications will start at almost unchanged speed. Therefore, drives with a volume of 60-64 GB are the very minimum, below which there is no point in going down at present.

Secondly, as we already know, the Marvell and LAMD controllers themselves do not use any data compression algorithms, so their speed characteristics do not depend on the structure of the recorded data stream. The fact that these controllers are not supplied with a ready-made reference design and firmware for serial production also plays a role. Therefore, the manufacturer of disks on these controllers requires its own technological base. Thus, the cost price will not be so modest in comparison with SandForce. This, in turn, translates into the corresponding price and marketing positioning of such models.

Regard has kindly provided four drives for testing – one on the LAMD controller and three on different variations of Marvell controllers. In turn, the laboratory decided to add Plextor, which has now practically disappeared from the market, but is very popular.

Final list of tested drives:

• Corsair Neutron 64GB (CSSD-N64GB3-BK)
  … The approximate price in Moscow retail is about 2800 rubles;
• Crucial M4 64GB (CT064M4SSD1). The approximate price in Moscow retail is about 2700 rubles;
• Plextor M5S 64 Гбайта (PX-64M5S)
  … The approximate price in Moscow retail is about 2200-2500 rubles (the drive disappeared from retail sale);
• SanDisk Ultra Plus 64 Гбайта (SDSSDHP-064G-G25)
  … The approximate price in Moscow retail is about 2700 rubles;
• Toshiba THNSNH GBST 60 Гбайт (THNSNH060GBST)
  … The approximate price in Moscow retail is about 3,500 rubles.

Test participants

Corsair Neutron 64GB (CSSD-N64GB3-BK)

Corsair is better known as a manufacturer of overclocking RAM and powerful power supplies. For the most part, she prefers to use non-standard solutions in her products. But one thing cannot be taken away from her: this brand is deprived of its own production. For the same memory modules, chips from Powerchip, Samsung and other manufacturers are used. Power supplies are manufactured by CWT, Seasonic and so on. Of course, there is nothing at the heart of an SSD that Corsair can manufacture in-house. But yes, the filling is traditionally not quite standard: the Link_A_Media Devices (LAMD) controller is used here. This brand has practically never been seen in consumer models before.

Before us is the youngest representative of the Neutron series, which is based on MLC NAND, produced according to the 25 nm process technology by Micron and the LAMD LM87800 controller. Interface – synchronous, ONFI 2.x.

The drive comes in a glossy dark blue box.

You will not find any technical information about the product, except for the thickness of the case and volume, on the box.

The package is pretty simple:

The SSD itself is in a plastic box, a warranty card, an adapter from the 3.5 ” to 2.5 ” format and eight bolts for attaching to it.

The metal case of the drive with a matte gray finish is made in a Slim version, that is, its thickness is 7 mm. Only the serial number is present.

The firmware version flashed into the drive at the factory is not indicated. On the back there are no stickers at all:

But the contents of the drive are protected by two seals at once.

With CrystalDiskInfo, you can see the following information:

After creating the file system (MBR, NTFS), 59.6 GB becomes available to the user.

Crucial M4 64 GB (CT064M4SSD1)

This time, the drive was taken in the basic configuration (here you can learn about the principles of labeling and the different delivery of Crucial drives), in other words, with its complete absence and the minimum packaging size.

On the back of the box – various information about it, including consumer characteristics.

Inside is the solid-state drive itself in an antistatic bag and a small warranty card.

The SSD is based on Micron’s 25nm MLC NAND, operating in synchronous mode, and a Marvell 88SS9174 controller.

SMART modest, thermal monitoring is not available:

There is also no statistics for the written / read data

After creating the file system (MBR, NTFS), 59.6 GB becomes available to the user.