Corsair Performance 3 Series SSD Made By... Lite-On!?

[Ian]

A few weeks ago I leaked that Lite-On was making Marvell 88SS9174-BKK2 based SSD's for Corsair and another big player in the market that I'll leave unnamed for now. The folks at Lite-On got wind of this and they asked that I remove this information, which I respectfully did. With the Lite-On manufactured Plextor M2S Series now in customer's hands, I can now show you how similar it is to the Corsair Performance 3 Series.

First lets look at the Corsair. I don't have one in hand but TweakTown has some great pictures in their review.

3868_10_corsair_performance_3_series_256gb_solid_state_drive_review.jpg (232.83 KiB) Viewed 2931 times

3868_11_corsair_performance_3_series_256gb_solid_state_drive_review.jpg (223.34 KiB) Viewed 2931 times

Along with the Marvell 88SS9174-BKK2 controller, take note of the Nanya 70nm DDR3-1333 module and Toshiba 32nm flash modules.

[Ian]

Okay and then you have the Plextor M2S series. This is the 128GB version (PX-128M2S) so there are going to be some slight differences (flash modules, etc) between it and the 256GB Corsair in TweakTown's review.

Plextor PX-128M2S PCB Top.jpg (73.93 KiB) Viewed 2928 times

Plextor PX-128M2S PCB Bottom.jpg (70.3 KiB) Viewed 2927 times

As you can see, they're nearly identical. They have the same markings on the PCB and even the same type of sticker with the serial number on it.

In case you're wondering, the M2S is also a 1.8" SSD in a 2.5" case. I'm guessing this means that a line of 1.8" SSD's is in Plextor's future.

Plextor PX-128M2S Internals.jpg (60.1 KiB) Viewed 2926 times

At this point, you're probably wondering why you should care. The simple answer to this is price. The Plextor PX-128M2S currently goes for $280 on Newegg. The Corsair P3-128 goes for $320. You gotta wonder what you're getting from Corsair for that extra $50. A 2.5" to 3.5" adapter? At that price, it better be gold plated.

[Ian]

I just noticed that the Corsair P3-256 is going for $750 on Newegg. The Plextor PX-256M2S is only $570. Seriously... who's going to pay $180 more?