SanDisk Extreme PRO 480 GB SSD review - Product showcase

If you remove the sticker on the backside then the SSD can be opened up by removing four screws. This will break warranty of course. Once removed it shows a full-sized PCB. This 6Gbps storage unit makes use of MLC Synchronous NAND (SanDisk 19nm, eX2 ABL MLC, Toggle). A total of eight NAND flash memory ICs can be spotted on the top side of the PCB for this 480 GB model. Obviously the 240 GB model will have 4 ICs. The NAND FLASH partitions are assigned directly to the controller. All the way to the upper left you can see an IC, that in fact is the controller.

Here we can see (well barely)the Marvell 88SS9187 SSD controller. This is an eight-channel controller. The Marvell Monet 88SS9187-BLD2 is an 8-channel dual core controller. The labeling has been a little washed out unfortunately. This is an eight-channel controller with the ability of a possible 200MB/s per channel throughput, which is just a high value. That is good news for the lower 240 GB SKU performance wise. Combined the bandwidth is just exceptional for single non RAID drive. The controller supports TRIM. 

As stated, the MLC NAND used is 20nm in architecture and originates from Sandisk themselves, it is Synchronous NAND (SanDisk 19nm, eX2 ABL MLC, Toggle). A total of eight NAND flash memory ICs are present on the PCB of this 480 GB model. SanDisk doesn't list PE Cycles anymore with all the wearing technologies available, but we expect 3K P/E. The drive is rated/guaranteed to exceed 80.000 GB written endurance wise. So if you write 20 GB of data each day for 365 days per year, these drives would reach end of life slowly after ten years. And even that is theoretical, as we believe the number to be even higher.

You will also spot a Micron RAM IC, bringing 256 or 512 MB of cache memory towards the controller for fast file write operations (respectively for the 240/480/960 GB SSD version). The DDR3 DRAM chip operates at 1333MHz

The backside of the PCB is cleaned out of anything. The PCB has been completely overhauled and redesigned compared to the last generation SSDs (Extreme II).