SSD by stefan @ 2016-06-23
The S55 TLC series of SSDs from Silicon Power are offering quite a bit of storage space at acceptable performance levels unless the buffer gets filled; if we are used to transferring frequently large batches of files to the drive, the speed will decrease to a minimum of about 95MB/s (regular HDD performance levels), but we will still benefit from very good access times.
We would like to thank at first Silicon Power for supplying a sample of their S55 TLC 120GB and 240GB SSD for testing and reviewing.
“Silicon Power Computer & Communications Inc., founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic specialists in International Business, Global Marketing, and Technical Engineering of flash data storage industry. Well dedicated in brand image and product quality, Silicon Power has been recognized and well accepted by millions of end-users in more than 100 countries, becomes the world's leading manufacturer of flash memory cards, USB flash drives, card readers, DRAM modules, solid state disks, and portable hard drives in less than a decade. Headquartered in Taipei, we continuously established various branches throughout the world including Netherlands, Japan, Russia, Mainland China and other emerging market to reach the worldwide market.
Silicon Power's overall performance has gradually drawn great attention worldwide. In 2006, we received Taiwan Rising Star Award for our foreign business achievement. In 2008, we won 17th National Outstanding Small & Medium Enterprise Award for our outstanding progress. Moreover, with superior quality and innovative design, our products stood out in several competitions and awarded Taiwan Excellence and COMPUTEX Design & Innovation Award in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Winning trust of global consumers, Silicon Power holds a record of successive double-digit revenue growth for last seven years. According to the Common Wealth Magazine's 2010 Survey of Taiwan Top 1000 Manufacturers, our 2009 revenue growth rate was ranked No.11 among Taiwan's top 1000 manufacturers, and even ranked No.1 in semiconductor industry.
Positioned as Passionate, Creative and Hungry for Success, Silicon Power introduces products for users who are seeking individualized, unique and personal digital storage devices. With the mission of creating unprecedented experience for users, Silicon Power will endeavor to deliver a full range of high quality products that have innovative designs, distinctly unique features and comprehensive after sales services to create and fulfill your personal memory.”
Renew your computer with little cost
Dedicated to providing high quality products for budget-minded consumers, the S55 is positioned as one of the most cost-effective models. With advanced SATA III 6Gb/s interface and affordable prices, everyone can get old computers upgraded without spending a fortune.
Truly a time saver!
Still waste time booting up your computer or loading applications? It's time to get rid of your old hard drive and switch to a SSD. Powered by SATA III 6Gbps interface, the S55 is able to boot up your computer and launch applications within seconds.
Upgrade with easy DIY steps
Easy and effortless to upgrade your computer. Only 3 steps to get it renewed!
Step1. Backup your data to other storage devices
Step2. Remove the old HDD from your computer
Step3. Insert the SSD in your computer
Absolutely durable
Equipped with original controller and selected NAND Flash, the S55 can not only guarantee the stability and durability of the SSD but also deliver outstanding performance that enables 10-second quick boot up, shorter application load time and faster data transmission speed. No matter it comes to paperwork, web-surfing or video watching, you can enjoy the lag-free experiences with no waits.
We care more about your data with higher reliability
If a new disk contains one or more bad blocks, this may cause irreparable damages to your system. However, the S55 is built with Bad Block Management, which can continually monitor and replace bad blocks to keep your system in good condition with prolonged lifespan of the SSD. This is why the S55 offers a lower capacity than other SSD, we have sacrificed capacity for durability and reliability because we care more about your DATA!
Multiple techniques supported
The S55 is one of the lightest and thinnest SSD of its kind yet it is shock- and vibration-proof since it contains no moving parts. Furthermore, S.M.A.R.T. monitoring system and ECC technology are built to promise higher data transmission safety.
Capacity: 32GB, 60GB (MLC) / 120GB, 240GB, 480GB, 960GB (TLC)
Dimensions: 100.0 X 69.85 X 7.0 mm
Weight: 41g~60g
Interface: SATA III
Performance Read(max.): 960GB 540 MB/s, 480GB 540 MB/s, 240GB 540 MB/s, 120GB 520 MB/s, 60GB 450 MB/s (CDM)
Performance Write(max.): 960GB 480 MB/s, 480GB 480 MB/s, 240GB 510 MB/s, 120GB 370 MB/s, 60GB 80 MB/s (CDM)
IOPS(4K Random): 43K/24K
Operation Voltage: 5V
Vibration Resistance Test: 20 G
Shock Resistance Test: 1500G Max
Warranty : 3 years
In this article we are going to take a look at the refresh of the Silicon Power S55 SSD, which no longer comes with MLC flash, but TLC, which brings the sale price down quite a bit. We have actually received the 120GB version first, which will be used for taking a closer look, while the 240GB unit arrived later, but managed to test that out too for comparison purposes. The product is shipped inside a really simple plastic blister packaging, which allows us to see how the SSD does look like in reality; here the manufacturer also reminds us that we are dealing with a slim, 7mm design which makes it compatible with a wide range of devices:
On the back side of the packaging we will get to see some product features written in different languages, but also a comparison chart with regular HDDs. Since we are dealing with a TLC SSD, after the SLC buffer area is filled, the performance will drop quite a bit but in a regular usage pattern this should not happen often:
On the inside of the cardboard leaflet, we will get to see a presentation of the product in more detail, but also the technical specifications:
Further down, we’ve got the installation instructions applicable for notebook setups and also some BIOS settings we should look for before the first boot:
The S55 SSD from Silicon Power does come with an all-black metallic chassis and on the top area we’ve got a large sticker with the total capacity and also the product serial number:
Here is also a view from the bottom area of the product; there are no additional stickers to be found on this area and we would also like to mention that the chassis does feature a screw-less design, which means that the top and the bottom parts snap together and it is quite difficult to take them apart:
A closer look reveals the SATA Data/Power connectors with golden pins:
After dismantling the chassis, we will end up checking out the back side of the PCB, which does lack the TLC NAND Flash chips (they are present on the 240GB version):
The 2/3-sized PCB comes on the front with the PHISON controller, RAM buffer but also four TLC NAND chips:
The NAND modules are practically Toshiba 15nm TLC:
The PHISON PS3110-S10C-12 is the smaller variant of the PS3110-S10-X of their S10 controller and features only four NAND channels instead of eight; this one is used on smaller capacity SSDs. However, the 240GB variant of the S55 comes with the fully-fledged S10-X controller:
Both 120GB and 240GB variants feature a 256MB NT5CC128M16IP-DI IC IC from Nanya, which is specced DDR3L-1600 with 11-11-11 timings:
CPU : Intel i5 3570K Retail
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
Motherboard : ASRock Z77 Extreme6
RAM :GeIL PC3-17000 2133MHz 8GB EVO Leggera
Video : Sparkle X560 Calibre
Power Supply : Cooler Master 850W
HDD : OCZ Vector 150
Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840
Both drives shipped unformatted:
120GB
240GB
Here is the total free space reported by Windows:
120GB
240GB
With the help of AIDA64, we could extract more information regarding the drive:
120GB
240GB
Blank SSD 120GB
Filled SSD 120GB
Blank SSD 240GB
Filled SSD 240GB
Blank SSD 120GB
Filled SSD 120GB
Blank SSD 240GB
Filled SSD 240GB
Blank SSD 120GB
Filled SSD 120GB
Blank SSD 240GB
Filled SSD 240GB
Blank SSD 120GB
Filled SSD 120GB
Blank SSD 240GB
Filled SSD 240GB
Blank SSD 120GB
Filled SSD 120GB
Blank SSD 240GB
Filled SSD 240GB
Blank SSD 120GB
Filled SSD 120GB
Blank SSD 240GB
Filled SSD 240GB
The S55 TLC series of SSDs from Silicon Power are offering quite a bit of storage space at acceptable performance levels unless the buffer gets filled; if we are used to transferring frequently large batches of files to the drive, the speed will decrease to a minimum of about 95MB/s (regular HDD performance levels), but we will still benefit from very good access times.
Again, if we consider the performance of both drives in a regular, day-to-day usage environment, the 120GB and the 240GB are quite the same in the read speed department, but the 240GB drive manages to surpass the 120GB most of the times when discussing about write speeds.
The S55 SSDs are using 15nm TLC NAND from Toshiba, while the PHISON PS3110-S10C-12/ PS3110-S10-X are joined by 256MB of Nanya buffer RAM for complement the SLC portion of the ICs.
The S55 120GB SSD can be found online for just about 36 Euros, while the 240GB one can be had for about 58 Euros.
We would like to thank again to Silicon Power for offering these samples to review!