PNY XLR8 CS3030 1TB SSD Review

Rating: 8.0.

PNY's latest SSD addition to the ranks of their XLR8 gaming arm is the CS3030, an NVMe M.2 drive using a combination of a Phison controller and 3D TLC Flash NAND. Priced at around the £130 mark, is this worth buying?

The CS3030 is available in four capacities; 250GB, 500GB, 1TB (the drive we are reviewing here) and a flagship 2TB model. Sequential read speed is 3,500MB/s for all four drives while the write performance varies with size. The 250GB drive is rated at up to 1,050MB/s, the 500GB drive 2,000MB/s and the 1TB and 2TB drives at 3,000MB/s. Oddly PNY don't state any official random performance figures.

The drive uses the popular combination of a Phison PS5012-E12 8-channel controller and Toshiba 64-layer BiCS3 3D TLC NAND.

PNY rate the drives endurance as 380TBW for the 250GB drive, 800TBW for the 500GB, 1665TBW for the 1TB and 3115TBW for the 2GB model.

PNY back the drive with a 5-year warranty.

Physical Specifications:
Usable Capacities: 1TB
NAND Components: Toshiba 64-layer 3D TLC NAND
NAND Controller: Phison PS5012-E12
Cache: DDR4
Interface: PCIe x4 NVMe
Form Factor:M.2
Dimensions: 22 x 80 x 2mm
Drive Weight: 6.6g

Firmware Version: CS3003121

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