Silicon Motion
Flash-based portable drives have become popular fast storage options for both content creators and backups-seeking consumers. The advent of high-speed interfaces such as USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) and USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) along with Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40 Gbps) have enabled rapid improvements in performance of such portable SSDs over the last few years. While the higher-speed variants have traditionally been premium devices, a push towards lower priced drives was kickstarted by the introduction of native USB flash drive (UFD) controllers. Today, we are taking a look at the performance and value proposition of the complete Kingston XS2000 portable SSD lineup based on the Silicon Motion SM2320 controller.
The Intel SSD 600p (512GB) Review
Intel's SSD 600p was the first PCIe SSD using TLC NAND to hit the consumer market. It is Intel's first consumer SSD with 3D NAND and it is by...
63 by Billy Tallis on 11/22/2016ADATA Launches the SD700 External SSD: Dust, Water and Shock Resistant (with 3D NAND)
ADATA last week introduced its third SSD featuring 3D NAND memory. The new SD700 is a dust, water and shockproof drive that has up to 1 TB of capacity...
8 by Anton Shilov on 11/21/2016ADATA Ultimate SU800 SSDs in M.2 Announced: Entry-Level 3D NAND SSDs for Laptops
This week ADATA expanded the lineup of its SSDs featuring 3D NAND memory by announcing its Ultimate SU800 drives in an M.2 form-factor. The new SSDs offer similar performance...
9 by Anton Shilov on 11/4/2016Plextor Launches S2C SSDs: 16 nm SK Hynix TLC NAND and SMI SM2258
Plextor has introduced its new family of entry-level SSDs, which could become the most affordable drives in the company’s lineup in the coming months. The S2C SSDs use TLC...
18 by Anton Shilov on 10/7/2016ADATA Introduces Ultimate SU800 SSD: SMI Controller, 3D NAND, SATA Interface
ADATA has formally introduced its first SSDs based on 3D NAND flash memory. The Ultimate SU800 drives are designed for price-conscious market segments and use SATA interface, which means...
11 by Anton Shilov on 8/25/2016Micron Cancels Ballistix TX3 NVMe SSD
At Computex in June, Micron announced that Crucial's Ballistix brand was being promoted to a standalone brand for gaming-oriented products. Their exhibit included three tiers of Ballistix DRAM products...
7 by Billy Tallis on 8/18/2016ADATA Introduces Premier SP550 SSDs in M.2 Form-Factor
ADATA has introduced a new family of SSDs that come in M.2 form-factor and are more affordable than the majority of M.2 drives on the market. The Premier SP550...
8 by Anton Shilov on 7/1/2016The Intel SSD 540s (480GB) Review
With no in-house controller or NAND suitable for an entry level consumer SSD to compete in today's market, Intel has turned to third-party suppliers for the key components of...
77 by Billy Tallis on 6/23/2016AMD Changes SSD Strategy: High-End M.2/NVMe SSDs Incoming, Low-Cost R3 Drives Are Here
Over the past week or so, we noticed other news outlets reporting on the AMD R3 series of SSDs, as if there had been a recent press release circulating...
47 by Anton Shilov on 5/16/2016The ADATA Premier SP550 SSD Review: A Second Look At Silicon Motion's SM2256 Controller
Today we're taking a look at ADATA's Premier SP550 SSD, the company's latest entry-level drive. The Premier SP550 gives us a fresh look at Silicon Motion's SM2256 controller by...
25 by Billy Tallis on 3/23/2016OWC Introduces SSD Upgrade for MacBook Pro and MacBook Air PCIe SSDs
Apple's Retina MacBook Pro and all but the earliest MacBook Air models have relied solely on SSDs for internal storage, as Apple slimmed down the designs to the point...
24 by Billy Tallis on 3/9/2016The Crucial BX200 (480GB & 960GB) SSD Review: Crucial's First TLC NAND SSD
The Crucial BX200 is the successor to the very successful BX100 and is Crucial's new value-oriented SSD. The BX200 moves to the newer Silicon Motion SM2256 controller and is...
86 by Billy Tallis on 11/3/2015Strontium Nitro Plus Nano USB 3.0 64GB Flash Drive Capsule Review
Flash drives are a dime a dozen these days, and most of them carry uninteresting specifications. In particular, flash drives advertising smaller physical footprints have tended to carry disappointing...
21 by Ganesh T S on 8/3/2015Silicon Motion SM2256 SSD Controller Preview: TLC for Everyone
The SSD industry has been talking about TLC NAND for over three years now. We published our first post, Understanding TLC NAND, back in early 2012, but in three...
35 by Kristian Vättö on 6/17/2015Silicon Motion Displays Upcoming SM2260 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe Controller
Silicon Motion has remained relatively quiet about its plans for a PCIe controller. We have known that the company is working on one (well, it would be a major...
11 by Kristian Vättö on 6/9/2015ADATA Displays XPG SX930 SSD, Two New TLC SSDs, Several PCIe Drives & USB Type-C Products
After a long week of meetings and over a day worth of traveling, I'm finally back from Taipei. Given our hectic schedule (it was just me and Ian at...
7 by Kristian Vättö on 6/8/2015Crucial BX100 (120GB, 250GB, 500GB & 1TB) SSD Review
Crucial has been doing very well in the client SSD market during the past year. Crucial's/Micron's ability to quickly roll out the 16nm NAND node definitely paid off because...
67 by Kristian Vättö on 4/10/2015Mushkin Reactor 1TB SSD Review
Silicon Motion has practically become the new SandForce. Almost every tier three manufacturer (i.e. one with no controller/firmware IP or NAND fab) has released an SM2246EN based drive in...
69 by Kristian Vättö on 2/9/2015Transcend SSD370 (128GB, 256GB & 512GB) Review
We got the first glimpse of Transcend's SSD370 at Computex last year and now the drive has been in retail for quite some time. The interesting bit about the...
44 by Kristian Vättö on 1/27/2015Mushkin Releases New Striker SSD, Displays an Upcoming M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD
Mushkin had a couple of new and upcoming products in its suite during CES. The first one is a new Striker SSD, which uses Phison's S10 controller coupled with...
15 by Kristian Vättö on 1/13/2015