TRIM Performance:
While SSD's offer many benefits, there are some downsides to using flash memory. One of the biggest issues people run into is performance degradation. Over time, an SSD will run out of fresh blocks and will have to write over data the file system has marked as deleted. This procedure is very complicated and can slow an SSD's write speeds considerably.
To fix this problem, most manufacturers have added TRIM support to their SSDs. The TRIM command allows an operating system, such as Windows 10, to tell an SSD which data blocks are no longer in use. Using this information, the drive pro-actively erases these blocks and adds them to the free block pool.
To test the P34A60's TRIM and garbage collection functions, I first put the drive in a "dirty" state. I used Iometer to fill 80% of the drive and then ran a random write test for 30 minutes. This had little impact on the P34A60's read speed. However, its average writing speed dropped to 149.60 MB/s.
Silicon-Power P34A60 - Dirty
To see how well the P34A60 could recover, I let the computer sit for about 30 minutes and then reran the test. The drive wasn't able to reach the factory fresh performance shown in our earlier tests. However, its sequential write speed jumped up to 1559.65 MB/s.
Silicon-Power P34A60 - After TRIM
Lastly, I used Parted Magic to perform a secure erase on the P34A60. With the drive wiped clean, it had average read and write speeds of 1852.77 MB/s and 1571.93 MB/s, respectively.
Silicon-Power P34A60- Secure Erased
Final Thoughts:
The Silicon Power P34A60 may not be the fastest or most feature packed PCIe SSD to come through the 'Labs. However, this compact, M.2 form factor drive provides plenty of bang for your buck. The P34A60 is powered by Silicon Motion's SM2263XT controller and is available with up to 2TB of Micron's 64-layer TLC 3D NAND flash. Combine this with a PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe 1.3 interface and you have a reasonably priced drive capable of delivering up to four times the performance of your average SATA 6Gb/s SSD. In our sequential read and write tests, the 1TB version of the P34A60 was able to read at speeds as high as 2,030 MB/s and write at speeds in excess of 1,684 MB/s. It also did relatively well in our random write tests, producing more than 152,000 IOPS at low queue depths.
Of course, fast read and write speeds aren't the only things the P34A60 has to offer. Like most TLC-based SSDs, the drive uses an SLC caching algorithm to optimize performance during sustained writes. The P34A60 also employs features like LDPC (Low-Density Parity Check) error correction, End-To-End (E2E) data protection and a RAID engine for enhanced data integrity and stability. To top it all off, the P34A60 is covered by a five year warranty.
The P34A60 is available now in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB capacities. Prices on Amazon.com start at $47 and go up to $129 for the 1TB version reviewed here. There is no word yet on when the 2TB drive will be available or how much it will be.
Highs:
- Available in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities
- PCIe 3.0 x4 interface with NVMe protocol
- Silicon Motion SM2263XT controller
- Equipped with Micron 64-layer TLC 3D NAND
- Good sequential and random read and write performance
- Small M.2 2280 form factor
- LDPC (Low-Density Parity Check) error correction code (ECC) technology
- End-To-End (E2E) data protection
- RAID engine for enhanced data integrity and stability
- HMB (Host Memory Buffer) and SLC Caching
- Reasonably priced
- 5 year warranty
Lows:
- Write speed drops when SLC cache is full
- Does not support hardware based encryption
