Previewing Silicon Motion SM2260 NVMe Controller With 3D MLC NAND (512GB)

Sequential Read Performance

The sequential read test requests 128kB blocks and tests queue depths ranging from 1 to 32. The queue depth is doubled every three minutes, for a total test duration of 18 minutes. The test spans the entire drive, and the drive is filled before the test begins. The primary score we report is an average of performances at queue depths 1, 2 and 4, as client usage typically consists mostly of low queue depth operations.

The SM2260 sample's sequential read performance is identical to the TLC-based Intel 600p that uses the same controller. Both fall right in the middle of the large gap between SATA SSDs and the next slowest NVMe SSD.

The story is the same for power consumption: the SM2260 sample with MLC is tied with the Intel SSD 600p with TLC. They are not as power-hungry as most NVMe SSDs, but the low performance means they are still less efficient.

SM2260 512GB 3D MLCADATA Ultimate SU800 512GBCrucial MX300 525GBIntel SSD 600p 512GBIntel SSD 750 400GBOCZ RD400 512GB (M.2)OCZ VX500 512GBPNY CS2211 480GBPatriot Hellfire M.2 480GBPlextor M8PeGN (M.2) 512GBSamsung 850 EVO 500GBSamsung 850 Pro 512GBSamsung 950 Pro 512GBSamsung 960 EVO 1TBSamsung 960 EVO 250GBSamsung 960 Pro 2TB

The SM2260 sample's power consumption tops out at QD4 but performance increases a little further at QD8 to just under 1500 MB/s. This performance at high queue depths is reasonable, but most of the competition can reach these speeds at much lower queue depths.

Sequential Write Performance

The sequential write test writes 128kB blocks and tests queue depths ranging from 1 to 32. The queue depth is doubled every three minutes, for a total test duration of 18 minutes. The test spans the entire drive, and the drive is filled before the test begins. The primary score we report is an average of performances at queue depths 1, 2 and 4, as client usage typically consists mostly of low queue depth operations.

The sequential write speed of the SM2260 sample is slightly slower than the top tier of SATA SSDs, which the rest of the MLC-based NVMe SSDs have no trouble beating.

The SM2260 uses about the same amount of power as its NVMe competition, but delivers much less performance for it.

SM2260 512GB 3D MLCADATA Ultimate SU800 512GBCrucial MX300 525GBIntel SSD 600p 512GBIntel SSD 750 400GBOCZ RD400 512GB (M.2)OCZ VX500 512GBPNY CS2211 480GBPatriot Hellfire M.2 480GBPlextor M8PeGN (M.2) 512GBSamsung 850 EVO 500GBSamsung 850 Pro 512GBSamsung 950 Pro 512GBSamsung 960 EVO 1TBSamsung 960 EVO 250GBSamsung 960 Pro 2TB

The SM2260 sample's write performance starts out at around 900 MB/s but starts dropping due to garbage collection and an exhausted SLC cache less than a third of the way through the QD1 phase of the test. The average performance continues to drop throughout the rest of the test as the drive spends an increasing portion of its time on garbage collection, but it also continues to recover periodically to the 900 MB/s level.