The PNY CS1311 and CS2211 SSD Review: MLC vs TLC at 15nm

Mixed Random Read/Write Performance

The mixed random I/O benchmark starts with a pure read test and gradually increases the proportion of writes, finishing with pure writes. The queue depth is 3 for the entire test and each subtest lasts for 3 minutes, for a total test duration of 18 minutes. As with the pure random write test, this test is restricted to a 16GB span of the drive, which is empty save for the 16GB test file.

The mixed random I/O performance of the CS2211 is a little above average for MLC drives, while the CS1311 is pretty much at par for a planar TLC drive.

Power draw on the mixed random test follows the same patterns we've been seeing: the slowest and smallest drive draws the least power, while the largest fastest drive draws the most. All of the PNY drives are in the average range for power consumption, and the MLC drives are significantly more efficient.

PNY CS1311 120GBPNY CS1311 240GBPNY CS1311 480GBPNY CS2211 240GBPNY CS2211 480GBADATA Premier SP550 120GBADATA Premier SP550 240GBADATA Premier SP550 480GBADATA XPG SX930 120GBADATA XPG SX930 240GBADATA XPG SX930 480GBCorsair Neutron XT 480GBCrucial BX100 120GBCrucial BX100 250GBCrucial BX100 500GBCrucial BX200 480GBCrucial MX100 512GBCrucial MX200 256GBCrucial MX200 512GBOCZ ARC 100 240GBOCZ Trion 150 240GBOCZ Trion 150 480GBOCZ Vector 180 240GBOCZ Vector 180 480GBPlextor M6V 256GBSamsung 850 EVO M.2 120GBSamsung 850 EVO M.2 500GBSamsung 850 EVO mSATA 250GBSamsung 850 Pro 512GBSanDisk Extreme Pro 480GBSanDisk Ultra II 240GB

It's typical for power consumption to increase over the course of this test while performance bottoms out somewhere in the middle. The biggest difference in character between the TLC and MLC drives from PNY is that the MLC drives get a huge boost in the all-writes last phase of the test, bringing their average score way up.

Mixed Sequential Read/Write Performance

The mixed sequential access test covers the entire span of the drive and uses a queue depth of one. It starts with a pure read test and gradually increases the proportion of writes, finishing with pure writes. Each subtest lasts for 3 minutes, for a total test duration of 18 minutes. The drive is filled before the test starts.

On the mixed sequential I/O test, PNY's drives range from slightly above average to second worst. The 240GB CS2211 in particular is underperforming a bit compared to its competition while the 480GB OCZ Trion 150 performs surprisingly well compared to the other TLC drives (including the 480GB CS1311).

Both of the CS2211s average lower power consumption than the CS1311s  of the same capacity, while the slower 120GB CS1311 again comes in as the least power-hungry of the batch (though its efficiency is nothing praiseworthy).

PNY CS1311 120GBPNY CS1311 240GBPNY CS1311 480GBPNY CS2211 240GBPNY CS2211 480GBADATA Premier SP550 120GBADATA Premier SP550 240GBADATA Premier SP550 480GBADATA XPG SX930 120GBADATA XPG SX930 240GBADATA XPG SX930 480GBCorsair Neutron XT 480GBCrucial BX100 120GBCrucial BX100 250GBCrucial BX100 500GBCrucial BX200 480GBCrucial MX100 512GBCrucial MX200 256GBCrucial MX200 512GBOCZ ARC 100 240GBOCZ Trion 150 240GBOCZ Trion 150 480GBOCZ Vector 180 240GBOCZ Vector 180 480GBPlextor M6V 256GBSamsung 850 EVO M.2 120GBSamsung 850 EVO M.2 500GBSamsung 850 EVO mSATA 250GBSamsung 850 Pro 512GBSanDisk Extreme Pro 480GBSanDisk Ultra II 240GB

The key factor in the 120GB CS1311's low power consumption is its low performance on the pure-write phase of the test, which is an unsurprising result. The other CS1311s are large enough to deliver significantly higher performance on that part of the test, but they pay the cost in increased power draw.