SK Hynix Releases 2TB Version of Gold P31 NVMe SSD
by Ryan Smith on August 17, 2021 8:00 AM ESTComing off of the warm reception of their first family of retail NVMe SSDs, SK hynix this morning is adding another model to the Gold P31 family: the long-awaited 2TB version. The higher capacity drive, still using SK hynix’s in-house controller and 128L TLC NAND, is being launched with immediate availability today, with retail pricing set at $280.
The 2TB version of the P31 Gold has been something of a long time coming for SK hynix. The company was showing off the drive as early as CES 2020, when the P31 drive family was first announced. At the time, the 2TB drive was set to be released somewhere down the line as the Platinum P31 – SK hynix even had the box art already prepared – but the Platinum P31 remained missing in action after the other P31 drives were launched last summer. Now almost a year later, SK hynix is finally releasing the 2TB drive, and in a change of plans they are selling it under the existing and well-received Gold P31 banner, rather than going with Platinum.
SK Hynix Gold P31 SSD Specifications | ||||
Capacity | 500 GB | 1 TB | 2 TB | |
Form Factor | M.2 2280 single-sided | |||
Interface | PCIe 3 x4 NVMe | |||
Controller | SK Hynix Cepheus | |||
DRAM | SK Hynix LPDDR4-4266 | |||
NAND Flash | SK Hynix 128L 3D TLC | |||
Sequential Read (128kB) | 3500 MB/s | |||
Sequential Write (128kB) |
SLC | 3100 MB/s | 3200 MB/s | |
TLC | 950 MB/s | 1700 MB/s | ||
Random Read (4kB) | SLC | 570k | ||
TLC | 500k | |||
Random Write (4kB) | SLC | 600k | ||
TLC | 220k | 370k | ||
Power | Active | 6.3 W | ||
Idle | < 50 mW | |||
L1.2 Idle | < 5 mW | |||
Warranty | 5 years | |||
Write Endurance | 500 TB 0.5 DWPD |
750 TB 0.4 DWPD |
1200 TB 0.3 DWPD |
|
MSRP | $74.99 (15¢/GB) |
$134.99 (13¢/GB) |
$279.99 (14¢/GB) |
Moving on to the drive itself, other than the increase in NAND capacity, there’s no change in functionality for the 2TB version of the Gold P31. Like the other P31 drives, SK hynix is still using their in-house Cepheus controller, a very energy efficient PCIe 3.0 x4 controller. Similarly, the 2TB drive is still paired with the company’s 128L NAND. And because the 1TB drive was already fully populated from a NAND standpoint, the performance ratings for the 2TB model are otherwise identical to the 1TB model, with peak write speeds of up to 3.2 GB/sec (so long as you’re writing to the SLC buffer).
The additional capacity does mean that SK hynix has needed to tweak the physical layout of the drive. While we’re still waiting on confirmation from the company’s PR department, given that the 1TB drive was single-sided, it’s a safe bet that SK hynix is finally taking advantage of the empty space on the back side of the drive and loading it up with NAND packages Surprisingly, SK hynix tells us that the 2TB drive is single-sided, meaning that the company has been able to add more NAND capacity without resorting to putting chips on the back side of the PCB. Checking with the company, they've confirmed that they are using 1Tbit 128L TLC NAND dies for the 2TB drive (versus 512Gbit NAND dies in the 1TB drive), which is what's allowing them to double capacity without going double-sided. At the same time, the 2TB drive is also getting a unique black PCB, as compared to the green PCB used for both the 500GB and 1TB models.
With the 2TB Gold P31 arriving so late, SK hynix is one of the last vendors to introduce a 2TB mainstream drive. Competing 2TB drives using the Phison E12 and Silicon Motion SM2262EN controllers have already been available for quite some time, and as we’ve already seen with 1TB drive pricing, are priced lower than the 2TB Gold P31. So as they’ve been doing with the rest of the Gold P31 series throughout the last year, SK hynix is going to be riding on the drive family’s great power efficiency – which continues to make for a top-tier laptop SSD – as well as the product consistency afforded by building the drive entirely in-house with their own parts. Otherwise, the drive is easily outperformed by newer high-end PCIe 4.0 drives, but then it’s also a fair bit cheaper than those drives.
Otherwise, given that this is otherwise a minor update to their existing Cepheus/P31 platform, SK hynix is hitting the ground running on the release of the 2TB Gold P31 drive. It’s already available through the company’s Amazon storefront, where they’re charging $279.99 for the drive.
Unsurprisingly, this is just a bit above twice the price of the 1TB drive; so like other mainstream SSDs, the price at higher capacities is scaling fairly flatly with the amount of NAND used. Though if you can wait all of a week, SK hynix is already planning their first sale – the entire Gold P31 family, including the 2TB drive, will be going on sale on August 23rd for 20% off, which will make pricing more competitive with the other mainstream drives.
Source: SK hynix
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Retycint - Wednesday, August 18, 2021 - link
I'm pretty sure ADATA swapped the newer revisions of the SX8200 Pro to the worse SM2262G controller (and probably still is doing so?). Wouldn't touch ADATA personally due to this deceptive behavioursonny73n - Thursday, August 19, 2021 - link
My reply you is the same as I did to Drkrieger01 above. Also, this SX8200 Pro is sold on and shipped by Amazon. They've listed its controller version. It can always be returned if the hardware inside isn't as they advertised.JoeDuarte - Saturday, August 21, 2021 - link
@sonny73n, what are you talking about? Where do you see any mention of the controller version in the Amazon product listing? I see no such information, and I can't even find the word "controller" anywhere. In fact, I've never noticed any mention of a controller version on any SSD product listing at Amazon. It's a technical detail that hardly any buyer knows about or would understand, which is partly why it was possible for ADATA to defraud its customers by switching controllers after the initial reviewer tests.Here's what I'm looking at: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07K1J3C23/
Where do see the controller version?
akramargmail - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
The endurance numbers are getting lower. My Corsair MP510 has 1700TBW, this one only 750.Soulkeeper - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
Yeah, incredible. Every single new drive has lower endurance.Soon enough they'll be rating them for days of use.
Duwelon - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
The number is just an estimate with an upper bound and a lower bound. The industry has been marketing their drives with the upper end of the range, but then chia threw a wrench into the industry's projections about how much warranty claims would cost them and they realized they need to start using the lower-bound projections or it'll cost them a lot more in the long run.Spunjji - Tuesday, August 24, 2021 - link
This still adds up to more than a decade of use by even a moderately intensive user.Wereweeb - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
The endurance numbers are there just for warranty reasons. This is still virtually the same TLC as any other 3D TLC SSD, and for normal consumer workloads it should basically last until you decide to replace it.Panoramix0903 - Thursday, August 19, 2021 - link
My Intel S4610 480 GB has 3.0 PBW ( 3000 TBW ) as system drive,and my data SSD is Intel S4510 1.92 TB with 6.5 PBW ( 6500 TBW )
S4610 1.92 TB with 9.4 PBW was too expensive for me and my wallet...
drexnx - Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - link
when I was in the market for a 2tb nvme drive 6 months ago I was disappointed the P31 wasn't available in that size