The Marvell Switch
A recent trend in the area of high-end SSDs is the steadily increasing favorability of Marvell’s latest 88SS9187 controller amongst the larger players in the market. Plextor’s M5 Pro Extreme was one of the earliest drives to use this controller and Crucial’s new M500 drive also follows suit.
SandForce’s SF-2281 controller is still the most widely used, but it seems that larger SSD manufacturers with the ability to craft their own firmware are realizing that there is little value in opting for SandForce’s solution in this crowded marketplace.
The Extreme II SSD replaces the older Extreme SSD as SanDisk's flagship consumer SSD.
SanDisk is the latest SSD manufacturer to join the steadily growing group offering top-tier drives with Marvell's controller as their new Extreme II SSD also employs Marvell’s 88SS9187 controller. This is paired with custom firmware from SanDisk and 19nm Toggle-Mode MLC NAND that is result of SanDisk’s collaboration with Toshiba. The Extreme II SSD will be offered in three capacity points: 120GB, 240GB and 480GB. This drive is also SanDisk's latest flagship, replacing the old SandForce-powered Extreme SSD, which won the Best Value award in our previous High-end SSD Shootout.
To further differentiate themselves from its competitors, the Extreme II SSD also implements new SanDisk’s own nCache technology to improve random write performance. nCache is interesting because a portion of the Extreme II SSD’s MLC NAND die is set to operate in SLC mode to improve random write performance. It’s a low-latency, high performance write buffer than works in conjunction with the main DRAM cache, the objective of which is to cache small random writes and then write them to the main MLC NAND storage when the drive is idle. Additionally, because it is built into each MLC NAND die, this means that it is able to maximize all the memory channels that is built into the controller.
Along with SanDisk’s mainstream offering, the SanDisk Ultra Plus, this means that all of SanDisk’s drives are now running on Marvell silicon.
Launched just over a week ago at the company's 25th anniversary event, we've been lucky to give the new Extreme II SSD a closer look in this review. As usual, we sampled the 240GB capacity which is a popular size among seasoned enthusiasts. On the other hand, we noted newcomers venturing into SSD territory tend to want to keep expenses manageable and often opt for the 120GB sized options to augment their terabyte-sized storage HDD. We start the review rolling with the following snapshots of the drive:-
Obviously, as SanDisk's latest flagship, the Extreme II SSD uses the SATA 6Gbps interface. Also, it has a thickness of 7mm, which makes it ideal for upgrading most Ultrabooks.
SanDisk placed thermal pads on the controller and all the memory chips, which is a bit unusual - usually only the controller gets the thermal pad treatment. On the bottom right is the Marvell controller and to its left are SanDisk's latest 19nm Toggle-Mode MLC NAND memory chips.
Test Setup
The new SanDisk Extreme II was tested on our updated testbed. The main changes are the faster Core i5-2500K processor and an accompanying Z77 motherboard which has native Thunderbolt connectivity.
- Intel Core i5-2500K (3.3GHz)
- ASUS P8Z77 Pro Thunderbolt (Intel Z77 chipset)
- 2 x 2GB DDR3-1600 memory
- MSI GeForce 8600 GTS
- Windows 7
A point to note is that we have also recently revised our testing methodology of SSDs. Mainly, we have trimmed down the list of benchmarks used and also included real world timing tests. By combining benchmarks with real world tests, we think that this will give users a more complete picture of how they can expect an SSD to perform. We've already been using these updated tests for the last few reviews.
The list of benchmarks used are as follows:
- AS-SSD benchmark 1.7.4739
- CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1
- PCMark 7 (Storage suite)
- Iometer (version 2006.07.27)
- Timing Tests (Cold start, Reboot, Apps Launching)
We have high hopes for SanDisk’s latest flagship and we will be paying close attention to how it compares against its predecessor. We have also included results from some of the fastest drives available today as well as Plextor’s M5 Pro Extreme, which uses the same Marvell controller as SanDisk.
- SanDisk Extreme II SSD (240GB)
- SanDisk Extreme SSD (240GB)
- Samsung SSD 840 Pro (256GB)
- OCZ Vector (256GB)
- Corsair Neutron GTX (256GB)
- Plextor M5 Pro Extreme (256GB)
CrystalDiskMark 3.0.1 Results
CrystalDiskMark is an easy-to-run and quick utility to use to gauge a drive’s performance. It measures sequential read and write performance and random read and write speeds of random 4KB, 4KB (queue depth 32) and 512KB data.
Generally speaking, the SanDisk Extreme II SSD’s performance was decent, but we noted that 512K read speeds were below average. Overall, its performance was better than its predecessor and this was obvious on the most demanding 4K, queue depth 32 workload, where its read and write speeds were 81% and 28% faster respectively.
AS SSD 1.7.4739 Results
AS SSD is a benchmark that uses non-compressible and completely random data. What this means is that the drives using the SandForce SF-2281 controller cannot compress the data first, which takes away one of the strong advantages of this controller. Therefore this is a useful benchmark because drives that use the SF-2281 controller don't gain an upper hand.
Looking at the Copy benchmark, we can see that the new SanDisk Extreme II SSD is a better performing drive than the outgoing Extreme SSD, recording at least 20% faster copying speeds across the three scenarios. Moving on, we noted that the Extreme II SSD also recorded impressive sequential read and write speeds and its results on the crucial 4K, 64 threads workload were decent and much improved compared to the older Extreme SSD. However, its write performance on the 4K, 64 threads workload was still significantly poorer than other comparable drives.
PCMark 7 Results
PCMark 7 is a benchmarking suite from FutureMark that evaluates the performance of Windows 7 machines. It tests a wide range workloads and aspects of the system ranging from computation, image and video manipulation and storage. We’ll be looking solely at the storage test here.
The SanDisk Extreme II SSD managed a score of 5394 which is about on a par with its predecessor’s score of 5410. Looking at the breakdown performance in the second graph, we can see that its performance on the various workloads was nearly identical to the older Extreme SSD drive. This score is the second lowest recorded amongst the six drives, but the fact is all six drives have pretty comparable scores, with the exception of the Samsung SSD 840 Pro - which was the standout performer in this benchmark.
Iometer Results (Part 1)
Lastly, we put the drives through the rigorous grind of Iometer, with different workloads and I/O queue depths. We have chosen to show results from a queue depth of 1 to 5 as this better represents the workloads a typical consumer might face.
The SanDisk Extreme II SSD’s recorded very high IOPs on both the 64k streaming reads and writes workloads, easily one of highest. On the 64k streaming write workload, we also noted the poor performance of the older Extreme SSD. Whereas the current crop of high-end SSDs are racking up in excess of 6000 IOPS, the old SanDisk flagship SSD struggled to get past even 4500 mark.
However, the Extreme II SSD did falter a bit when it came to the File and Web server workloads. On these two workloads, its performance was in the middle of the pack, and not as impressive. Even so, its scores were still appreciably better than its predecessor’s.
Iometer Results (Part 2)
Finally, we look at the I/O response times for the workloads reported on the previous page. Unsurprisingly, the SanDisk Extreme II SSD’s average response timings for the 64k streaming reads and writes workloads were amongst the lowest. Moving on the timings on the File and Web server workloads, we can see that its timings were noticeably poorer than the rest of the pack, especially when compared to drives like the Plextor M5 Pro Extreme and Samsung SSD 840 Pro.
Timing Tests
New to our evaluation of SSDs is how they perform in real world everyday situations, namely booting up from a cold start, reboot and launching applications. As for the applications used, we made the drives launch 11 applications from the Adobe CS6 suite of utilities simultaneously, which includes resource intensive applications such as Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Premiere Pro amongst others. As a point of reference, a 7200rpm mechanical hard disk would take over 5 minutes to open all the applications.
The SanDisk Extreme II SSD’s recorded timings were pretty comparable to its predecessor’s, especially its "cold start" and "reboot" timings. There was a some improvement in the "apps launch" test timings when compared to the Extreme SSD. Overall, the Extreme II SSD’s recorded timings, though not class-leading, were respectable.
A Worthy Successor
At this point in time, the performance of these high-end SSDs are approaching a plateau. With SSD manufacturers acknowledging the limitations of the SandForce controller, many are turning to Marvell or their own custom solutions. Even so, the main cause of this plateauing is the bandwidth limitations of the SATA 6Gbps interface, which has led to companies like Apple, seeking out PCIe-based SSDs in their latest MacBook Air notebook - the PCIe interface offers significantly more bandwidth, thus maximizing the potential of SSDs and their advancing controllers and flash memory structures.
As for SanDisk’s latest flagship, the new Extreme II SSD drive has certainly lifted SanDisk’s profile in the high-end SSD market. Overall performance is much better than the older Extreme SSD, making the new drive a worthy successor. Write performance, in particular, has improved significantly as seen on CrystalDiskMark, AS SSD and Iometer. The gains in performance is in no small part due to the decision to ditch SandForce’s SF-2281 controller for Marvell’s 88SS9187.
On the whole, the Extreme II SSD’s performance is respectable and certainly competitive against the fastest drives in the market. It cannot challenge top tier drives such as the OCZ Vector and Samsung SSD 840 Pro, but it is more than capable of going against the likes of the Corsair Neutron GTX and Plextor M5 Pro Extreme - two very good drives in their own rights.
With regards to SanDisk’ nCache technology, it is hard to say how much of it contributed to the gains in performance over the older Extreme SSD since we were not briefed specifically on how it works or how much memory is set aside for this buffer. Based on our observations, it seems that nCache technology only benefits the drive in certain scenarios, such as on Iometer's 64k streaming writes workload, where the Extreme II SSD recorded the highest IOPS we have ever come across. On other benchmarks, the benefits of nCache technology were not so apparent.
The SanDisk Extreme II is a worthy successor, but is priced significantly higher. Thankfully it backs up its higher price tag with good, consistent performance.
The question of value for money with regards to the new Extreme II SSD depends on how much you can get them for. Officially, SanDisk has placed a recommended retail price of S$390 for the 240GB, which is far too high because both the OCZ Vector and Samsung SSD 840 Pro have a street price around S$360 to S$380. Furthermore, the suggested price is only for the barebones kit, which means the drive comes with no accessories. SanDisk also offers the drive in two additional SKUs with different accessories. If you want a 9.5mm spacer, it's an extra S$69; and if you want 3.5-inch HDD bracket and SATA cable that will be an additional S$79. If you ask us, the prices for the additional accessories are ludicrous.
Fortunately, upon further investigating we found that the street price of the Extreme II SSD is likely to be at a more reasonable S$325 with accessories likely to cost $10-$20 more, which is more reasonable, even if it is still considerably more expensive than the older Extreme SSD that's going for less than S$300. SanDisk’s old flagship drive was well-liked by us because it offered good performance at an attractive price - it was one of the most affordable high-end drives of its time. Now that the Extreme II SSD costs considerably more than the model it replaces, it seems that SanDisk is attempting to move upmarket. At its new price point, it is pitted squarely against the Corsair Neutron GTX, Plextor M5 Pro Extreme and recently reviewed OCZ Vertex 450.
In this scenario, the Vertex 450 is ruled out because despite its slightly better performance, it only has a 3-year warranty - SanDisk, Corsair and Plextor are all offering 5-year warranties because it is their flagship drive. Of the three, their performance, features and price are all very comparable. One thing SanDisk has going for it is that unlike Corsair and Plextor, it has its own NAND foundry (in collaboration with Toshiba) which means it gets to pick the best quality chips for its own use. If that is important to you, then SanDisk is the one to pick.
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