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The PX-256M2P comes in a small, blue and grey box. The front advertises many of its key features including its 256GB capacity, SATA 6Gbps interface and True Speed technology. The back of the box has a small picture of the SSD as well as some information regarding its features, specifications and box contents. Inside, you'll find the SSD, a 3.5" adapter bracket, mounting screws, quick installation guide, warranty card and a CD containing Acronis True Image.
Physical Features:
At first glance, the PX-256M2P looks a lot like Plextor's previous SSDs. While a bit darker in color, their new drive shares the same basic design and brushed metal finish.But, instead of cast aluminum, the casing is made out of a metal alloy that is thinner, lighter weight and probably cheaper to manufacture. That being said, it's still quite strong and durable.
For the PX-256M2P, Plextor has gone back to using a 2.5" form factor PCB. The company has also placed thermal pads on the controller, NAND flash and DDR3 cache chips. These pads transfer heat away from the components to the outer casing, which then acts like a large heat spreader.
As I mentioned earlier, the PX-256M2P uses Marvell's 88SS9174-BKK2 controller chip. The 88SS9174-BKK2 can be found in a number of other high-performance SSD's including the Corsair Performance 3 Series and Intel SSD 510 Series as well as Plextor's own M2S Series.
For the PX-256M2P, Plextor has opted to use Toshiba's 32nm TH58TV68D2FDA88 Toggle Mode NAND flash chips. Looking at the picture above, you can see that there are eight of these chips on the top of the PCB. The drive also has two 256MB Nanya DDR3 memory chips that are used for caching and garbage collection.
