SanDisk Extreme II 120 - 240 and 480 GB SSD review

Memory (DDR4/DDR5) and Storage (SSD/NVMe) 366 Page 2 of 17 Published by

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Specifications and Features

Specifications & Features

The samples that has arrived in our secret test facility came in threefold, a 120GB, 240GB and 480GB version of the Extreme II series drives. The Extreme II series has been released with Synchronous MLC NAND, flash memory from the SanDisk new 19nm node. The 19nm NAND flash memory is tied towards the latest revision of the Marvell 88SS9187-BLD2 (Monet) controller. This is an 8-channel NAND flash controller and the third revision from Marvell, it comes with a dual-core architecture that is very fast per channel.

On the next pages we'll be showing you some PCB photo's as well, and what you'll notice is that it carries DDR memory caches as well. Inbetween the different SKUs the RAM buffer will be different. It's configured in a 1:1 style, this 240 GB has a 256MB cache whilst the 480Gb version will have 512MB. Bare in mind that write speed can vary with the lower capacity 120GB model. 

 
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As you can see, over the a SATA3 interface you may expect read speeds up to 550 MB/s and writes up to 510 MB/s depending on volume size of the SSD. The fastest SSD in this series will be the 240GB model, which these days also is a size we feel you should have in your PC or laptop.

Features

  • SATA 6 Gb/s compliant; Backwards compliant to SATA 3 Gb/s & SATA 1.5 Gb/s
  • ATA8-ACS v6
  • NCQ support up to queue depth = 32
  • Support for TRIM
  • S.M.A.R.T. feature supported
  • Advanced Flash Management:
    • nCache™ – Non Volatile Write Cache
    • Dynamic and Static Wear-leveling
    • Bad Block Management
    • Background Garbage Collection
  • Advanced features:
    • Tiered caching – Volatile and non-volatile cache
    • Supports multi stream – improves user experience in multitasking systems
    • Minimal write amplification – increases endurance and performance
  • Support for Thermal throttling
    • Performance will be throttled in the event junction temperature of critical components is measured to be exceeding the maximum allowable for the product

Tiered Caching

The SanDisk Extreme II SSD supports a unique feature to improve random write performance and ensure very positive user experience. Studies show that modern operating systems mostly access the storage device using small access blocks, with the majority being 4 KB access blocks. The small logical access blocks conflict with the physical block structure (>1 MB) for the newer generation flash memory technology. Therefore, to bridge this difference, SanDisk SSD employs three storage layers:

  • Volatile cache – DDR DRAM cache
  • nCache – A non-volatile flash write cache
  • Mass storage – MLC NAND flash

The nCache is used to accumulate small writes (called segments) at high speed and then flush and consolidate them to larger MLC sections of the NAND Flash memory array.

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SanDisk PR

Based on SanDisk’s cutting-edge flash memory architecture, the SanDisk Extreme II SSD is SanDisk’s highest performing retail SSD to date. The SanDisk Extreme II SSD, offered in the 2.5” form factor, takes full advantage of the SATA 6Gb/s high performance interface, achieving sequential read and write speeds of up to 550 MB/s and 510 MB/s respectively for the 240 GB* capacity drive (see Product Specifications chart on pages five and six for more details). Leveraging a Marvell® 88SS9187 SATA controller, SanDisk Extreme II is well suited to bring a fast and enjoyable user experience to multimedia applications, including digital music and photography. SanDisk Extreme II SSD supports TRIM and S.M.A.R.T. features and has a mean time between failures (MTBF2) of 2,000,000 hours, making the drives highly reliable to secure valuable personal data, essential for today’s mobile computing applications. The SanDisk Extreme II SSD comes in 120, 240 and 480 GB capacities, and offers consumers who are looking to upgrade their current computing experience, significant value for money.

The second generation SanDisk Extreme II SSD is orderable in the following configurations.

Notebook – Comes with 7mm to 9.5mm Shim

  • 120 GB SDSSDXP-120G-G25
  • 240 GB SDSSDXP-240G-G25
  • 480 GB SDSSDXP-480G-G25
Desktop – Comes with 2.5” to 3.5” Bracket, SATA cable and Screws
  • 120 GB SDSSDXP-120G-G26
  • 240 GB SDSSDXP-240G-G26
  • 480 GB SDSSDXP-480G-G26

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