Neo Forza eSports NFP075 M.2 2280 1TB PCIe SSD Review

SSD by stefan @ 2021-03-22

The NFP075 eSports M.2 SSD from Neo Forza does fall in line with the rated specifications, while the capacity does make the drive ideal as a boot drive. It does incorporate selected 3D TLC ICs but also DRAM cache for storing the mapping tables; the controller is a Phison PS5012-E12S with LDPC error correction and NVM Express 1.3 standard support. Neo Forza rates the drive for 1350TB writes (much higher than QLC models) when talking about the 1TB SKU and offers a 3-year warranty. By using 3D TLC instead of QLC, the drive can sustain higher performance levels, without dropping so much as a regular QLC model.

Introduction

At first, we would like to thank Neo Forza for sending us a sample of their eSports NFP075 m.2 2280 1TB PCIe SSD for testing and reviewing.

About Neo Forza:

“Capacity is Power, Speed is King

We are a professional team, studying in computer memory and storage devices industry for more than 10 years.

In order to meet the rising demand on speed and capacity of the high-end gaming market players, we created Neo Forza, a new generation of ultra-standard overclocking module, SSD and other related storage device designing brand.

— Neo Forza – The New Force for Gaming market?

Neo-represents from virtual to reality, showing our core value for product innovation.

Forza– shows our strength and determination to meet gamers every need.

Neo Forza possess strong resources, focus on core technology. From research & design, specific production to exceed the testing benchmark; Neo Forza keep pushing over technical boundary, providing top-notch performance and quality, providing gamers / game players extraordinary using experience.

Neo Forza beliefs

– High components integration

– Top-notch engineering technology

– Uncompromising for quality and effectivenes

– Constant logistics and services

– Constant upgrading and breaking boundaries”

Product Features, Specifications

Product Features:

World-Class Quality

Designed specifically for eSports machines, state-of-the-art home-theater system libraries, content-creation PCs, 24/7 storage appliances, workstations, DIY family-cloud servers. No heat-spreader needed.

Outstanding Throughput

PCIe Gen3.1 x4 with ideal 32Gbps bandwidth, large capacity DRAM and very high read-write speeds.

Superior Durability

LDPC error correction for drive longevity and reliability.

Certification & Compliance

RoHS / WHQL / PCI Express Base 3.1 / UNH-IOL NVM Express 1.3

Compatibility

PCIe Gen 3.1 x 4 lanes backward compatible with PCIe Gen 3.0 / 2.0 / 1.0 systems. 8 IO queues supported (1 admin queue and 8 IO queue). Each IO queue support 256 entries.

Supports APST / ASPM / L1.2 power management.

Supports SMART and TRIM commands.

Backed by a 3-year warranty

The eSports NFP075 is made using the finest 3D NAND Flash with custom circuitry and boards. Every component passes meticulous screening, testing, and certification. The eSports NFP075 therefore ships with the comfort of a 3-year warranty.

Product Specifications:

Form Factor: M.2 2280 PCIe M Key

NAND Flash: 3D TLC special-selection

Dimensions (mm): 22 x 80 ultra-thin fits into all M.2 2280 NVMe ultrathin laptops and super mini-PCs

Interface: NVMe 1.3, PCIe 3.1 x 4

Capacity: 1TB

Rated speeds (1TB capacity): 3400MB/s Read | 3000MB/s Write

4K IOPS: 580000 Read | 580000 Write

TBW: 1350TB

Temperature: Operating: 0°C-70°C @ 3.3V±5% Storage: -40°C- 85°C

Warranty: TBW or 3 Years (whichever first reached)

Packaging, A Closer Look

The M.2 2280 SSD we are going to review in this article is coming from Neo Forza brand by Goldkey Technology Corporation, based in Taiwan since 1998. Until quite recently it has been working as an OEM brand for other companies, as an IC design house. The company has been streamlining its wafer design process and has designed ICs suitable to be used at different timings but also lots of frequency choices. The chips are carefully selected and binned from the factory, so all meet the same criteria on a single RAM stick.

The drive comes in a compact cardboard packaging with a small window, so the potential customer can have a clear view on what they are purchasing. Here we will note pictograms of supported technologies such as 3D NAND, SLC caching, LDPC ECC:

On the back side of the small box, we will note of the technical specifications of not one but all members from the same series which does include the 256GB version, the 512GB version, one 1TB version but also the 2TB SKU. The company address together with the product code name / serial number and warranty are also found here:

Inside the box we will find the drive sitting inside a transparent plastic mold:

The NFP07 drive has a sticker attached to the frontal area of the PCB, highlighting the product internal code name, its serial number but also the form factor, supported bus and total storage capacity:

On the back side of the PCB we will note place holders for four additional NAND ICs but also for a RAM cache:

By removing the top sticker, we will note the four available NAND ICs, the main controller but also a RAM cache:

The RAM cache for storing the tables has the D1216ECMDXGJD code name, a capacity of 256MB and was manufactured by Kingston:

The PS5012-E12S controller does support up to 8 channels with 32 chips, has a dual-CPU architecture with built-in 32-bit microcontroller, does have support for the PCIe Gen 3x4 interface and is compliant with the NVMe 1.3 standard. It was built on TSMC 28nm process technology, was made to support both 3D TLC and QLC NAND flash packages and regarding data reliability options we have support for LDPC ECC and RAID ECC, a DDR ECC engine but also End-to-End Data Path Protection: