PNY XLR8 CS3040 1TB SSD Review

1. Introduction2. PNY XLR8 CS3040 1TB3. Testing Methodology4. CrystalDiskMark5. ATTO Disk Benchmark6. AS SSD7. 128KB Sequential Performance8. 4K Sustained Random Read9. 4K Sustained Random Write10. 4K Random 70/30 mix Read/Write.11. 4K Random Performance QD1-QD812. Throughput13. PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark14. Performance Stability15. Drive Temperatures16. Real Life File Testing17. Closing Thoughts18. View All Pages

The CS3040 is the mainstream Gen4 sibling to the high-end CS3140 in PNY’s XLR8 gaming portfolio of SSD drives. It uses a combination of a Phison PS5016-E16 controller (the CS3140 uses the 2nd generation PS5018-E18) and 96-layer 3D TLC NAND.

The drive is available in four capacities, 500GB 1TB, 2TB and 4TB and in two versions; one aimed at desktop use with a well designed extruded aluminium heatsink and the other with just a straightforward product label aimed towards notebook users, compact PC designs and those who want to use the integrated heatsink/cooling technology of a motherboard. The heatsink versions have ‘HS' in the SKU number.

The only official performance figures we could find for the drive (on the spec sheet and box) are for sequential read/writes with not a trace of any random figures. The drive is officially rated as up to 5,600MB/s for reads and up to 4,300MB/s for writes.

 

When we tested the drive with the ATTO benchmark, we got figures of 5,210MB/s and 3,970MB/s for sequential read and writes respectively, both shy of the official maximums. However, using the compressible data test in CrystalDiskMark 6 we could indeed confirm the official sequential read rating with a test result of 5,640.7MB/s. The write result was still a little shy of the official maximum at 4,248.4MB/s. It was the same story with CrystalDiskMark 8, the best read result of 5,620.67MB/s confirming the official figures with the best write performance figure of 4,252.65MB/s a little way off the official maximum.

PNY doesn’t state any 4K random performance figures for the drive but in our tests, the best read/write IOPS figures we got from the drive was when we used the Peak Performance profile in CrystalDiskMark 8 which produced figures of 658,325.68 IOPS and 546,826.17 IOPS for reads and writes respectively.

We found the heatsink version of the 1TB PNY XLR8 CS3040 on Lambdatek for £170.83 (inc VAT) HERE.

Pros

• Overall performance.
• 5-year warranty.
• Heatsink option.

Cons

• 4K performance a little disappointing in some of our tests.
• Faces some serious competition.

KitGuru says: The XLR8 CS3040 is PNY's drive to take on the mainstream Gen4 market, which might be a fairly new sector but is already very competitive. The fact that PNY offers the drive in two versions, one with a heatsink and one without gives them two bites at the cherry.

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