Introduction, Specifications and Packaging
Good speeds on a budget?
Introduction:
When one thinks of an M.2 SSD, we typically associate that with either a SATA 6GB/s or more recently with a PCIe 3.0 x4 link. The physical interface of M.2 was meant to accommodate future methods of connectivity, but it's easy to overlook the ability to revert back to something like a PCIe 3.0 x2 link. Why take a seemingly backward step on the interface of an SSD? Several reasons actually. Halving the number of lanes makes for a simpler SSD controller design, which lowers cost. Power savings are also a factor, as driving a given twisted pair lane at PCIe 3.0 speeds draws measurable current from the host and therefore adds to the heat production of the SSD controller. We recently saw that a PCIe 3.0 x2 can still turn in respectable performance despite lower bandwidth interface, but how far can we get the price down when pairing that host link with some NAND flash?
Enter the MyDigitalSSD SBX series. Short for Super Boot eXpress, the aim of these parts is to offer a reasonably performant PCIe NVMe SSD at something closer to SATA SSD pricing.
Specifications:
- Physical: M.2 2280 (single sided)
- Controller: Phison E8 (PS5008-E8)
- Capacities: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
- PCIe 3.0 x2, M.2 2280
- Sequential: Up to 1.6/1.3 GB/s (R/W)
- Random: 240K+ / 180K+ IOPS (R/W)
- Weight: 8g
- Power: <5W
Packaging:
The MyDigitalDiscount guys keep things extremely simple with their SSD packaging, which is eaxctly how it should be. It doesn't take much to package and protect an M.2 SSD, and this does the job just fine. They also include a screwdriver and a screw just in case you run into a laptop that came without one installed.
Review Terms and Disclosure All Information as of the Date of Publication |
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How product was obtained: | The product is on loan from MyDigitalDiscount for the purpose of this review. |
What happens to product after review: | The product remains the property of MyDigitalDiscount but is on extended loan for future testing and product comparisons. |
Company involvement: | MyDigitalDiscount had no control over the content of the review and was not consulted prior to publication. |
PC Perspective Compensation: | Neither PC Perspective nor any of its staff were paid or compensated in any way by MyDigitalDiscount for this review. |
Advertising Disclosure: | MyDigitalDiscount has not purchased advertising at PC Perspective during the past twelve months. |
Affiliate links: | This article contains affiliate links to online retailers. PC Perspective may receive compensation for purchases through those links. |
Consulting Disclosure: | MyDigitalDiscount is a not current client of Shrout Research for products or services related to this review. |
“The SBX uses the Phison
“The SBX uses the Phison PS5008-E8 controller, not the PS5008-E8T (dramless), so we find NANYA / Micron flash accompanying the controller on each part.”
Is this supposed to be NANYA / Micron DRAM?
LOL yup. Fixed, thanks!
LOL yup. Fixed, thanks!
I have a bpx… I would have
I have a bpx… I would have sent it back compared to my samsung ssd if i needed the money. Building a PC, sure buy this. Upgrading, anything less than a 1TB just doesn’t seem to add much value. About the only thing it does noticeably faster is unrar. At least with 1TB, you could put a few games on it since games are now 100GB each.
anyways, nice review.
Great in depth review.
Great in depth review. Thanks for bringing new products like this to us. I am definitely interest in getting a 500 or 1 TB for my next build.
I’m still using spinning
I’m still using spinning rust, and I can multitask while the lappy boots up by gettng my coffee ready during the process. Whenever they decide to make a 500GB SSD/1TB hard-drive hybrid drive I’ll become interested. I still like laptops that come with CD/DVD/Blu-ray drives as that can be swapped out for a hard/SSD drive caddy also.
Is MyDigital a Chinese firm?
Is MyDigital a Chinese firm? Where would you have to send their products for RMA if worst were to happen?
Their website shows their
Their website shows their location as in Oswego, NY, and they have a US toll free number for customer service.
i still rather get something
i still rather get something from westerndigital. at least i know t hey stand behind their stuff.
How would performance be
How would performance be affected on a system with PCIe 2.0? I appreciate the power efficiency and cost saving of using PCIe 3.0 (2x), but I’m considering using one of these drives to update an older system that only has PCIe 2.0. I’d be using an m.2 to PCIe adapter. It would be going into a 16x slot running 8x,but as far as I can tell, it will run at 2x speed, which tops out well below the speed of this drive. A drive with 4x should still have plenty of overhead, even at PCIe 2.0 speeds.