INTRODUCTION

   Even though we're all eagerly awaiting the arrival/unveiling of the next-gen PCIe 5.0 motherboards PCIe 4.0 is still a very interesting subject especially when NAND controller and flash manufacturers keep improving both performance and durability. This last year alone for example Phison has further improved its PCIe 4.0 NAND flash controllers (with the E18 being their best consumer oriented model to date) whereas Micron has introduced new 3D TLC NAND flash (176-layer) with better performance and endurance numbers (not to mention capable of higher storage capacities). Both these technological leaps have led to the introduction of numerous new M.2 NVMe v1.4 solid state drives in the market such as the XS70 model by Silicon Power which i have here with me today.

   Founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic data storage industry experts, Silicon Power is committed to delivering outstanding product and service quality. Headquartered and with our own state-of-the-art production site in Taipei, we have become a leading manufacturer of flash memory cards, USB flash drives, portable hard drives, solid state drives, DRAM modules and industrial-grade products. As an international player with four branch offices around the globe, we continuously strive to offer the perfect data storage solution for all requirements of modern digitalized life. With a strong focus on combining innovative technology and award-winning design, we live up to our brand promise to reliably preserve and protect your most valuable data. Because memory is personal.

   Silicon Power currently has 3 capacities in their new XS70 line of M.2 PCIe 4.0 (Gen4) M.2 NVMe SSDs (1/2/4TB) all of which feature a thick aluminum heatsink that surrounds the entire PCB for optimal heat dissipation (today I’ll be testing the 1TB variant - 2TB variant review soon). As with many other models the XS70 line is based on the award winning 8-channel tri-core (32-bit ARM Cortex R5 CPUs) PS5018-E18 NVMe v1.4 compatible NAND flash controller by PHISON which Silicon Power has paired with Micron’s latest 512Gb 176-layer 3D TLC NAND flash (B47R) together with DDR4 2666MHz SDRAM by Samsung (1GB for the 1TB model). This hardware marriage pushes the maximum performance of the XS70 line up to 7300MB/s in reads and 6800MB/s in writes (should be around 7000-5500MB/s for the 1TB model). Once again, the PS5018-E18 NAND flash controller sits at the top in terms of performance currently and sports numerous features like PHISON's 4th Gen LDPC engine (low-density parity check) along with end-to-end data path protection, advanced wear leveling, thermal throttling (70 degrees Celsius limit), TRIM, SMART, bad block management, dynamic range SLC cache and SmartECC (RAID ECC). Finally, Silicon Power covers the entire line with a 5-year limited warranty and as for endurance numbers they report an MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of 1.6 million hours for the entire XS70 line and a TBW (Terabytes Written) of 700 for the 1TB model, 1400 for the 2TB model and 3000 for the 4TB model.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

THE XS70 1TB

Silicon Power uses a regular blister package to ship the XS70 line so from the front you can actually see the top of the drive.

The NVMe version along with contact information for Silicon Power and numerous certifications are printed at the rear.

Once again in my hands i have an M.2 2280 SSD but thanks to the thick aluminum heatsink this one looks like a tank.

A sticker on the other side of the heatsink has the serial number, barcode and product name and capacity.

Removing the top of the heatsink is not hard and since the XS70 1TB is a single side SSD that's all that's needed.

So here we see the E18 NAND flash controller by Phison, 1GB DDR4 2666MHz SDRAM by Samsung and the four 176-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules by Micron.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Not long after I first started testing SSDs back in 2008, I concluded that it's almost impossible for any single benchmark suite to accurately measure their performance and that's why in certain benchmark suites we see amazing read/write performance numbers with some drives while in others things are quite different. The reason behind this is that some benchmarking suites are configured to read and write random chunks of data while others read and write constant (sequential) ones. So that's why i always use a very wide selection of benchmarking suites including AIDA64, HD Tach RW, HD Tune Pro, Crystal Disk Mark, Sisoftware Sandra Pro, AS SSD, IOmeter and ATTO. To get the most accurate results each test gets repeated a total of 6 times with the average performance numbers recorded into the charts*/****. Also, as of February 25th 2015 our results will also include the Storage Networking Industry Association’s (SNIA) IOMeter tests. These tests include a 12 Hour write test used to “simulate” performance degradation over time and a mixed workload test which basically shows what you can expect when using an SSD continuously for roughly two hours. Unfortunately, due to the time required for these tests they get repeated a total of 3 times and not 6 as the above.

   Many people have made inquiries about our charts in the past so once again please do keep in mind that the Charts have the average performance numbers of each drive recorded and not the peak (highest) ones. Also, although every single one of these programs can help potential buyers choose the right drive for their needs you should also remember that from any kind of benchmark up to real world usage the gap is not small (and usually most differences will go unnoticed by most people). All tests were performed in a fresh Windows 10 Pro x64 installation complete with every update up to the date of this review.

* Since November 2018 the SSD comparison charts have been divided to 2.5” and M.2 models to reduce their growing size.
** Unless stated otherwise the Ryzen 9 3950x based Test Rig used for M.2 Gen 4 SSD reviews is not located in the lab.
*** As of January 2021 for Gen 3x4 models I’ll be using the Core i9-7980XE test rig (after numerous tests the up to 6% difference in read & write performance compared to the i7-6700 system simply wasn’t enough to justify having an extra test rig around).
**** Since February 2022 M.2 NVMe Gen3 and Gen4 SSD drives are placed in different charts.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TACH RW / HD TUNE PRO

TEST RESULTS - SISOFTWARE SANDRA PRO / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

TEST RESULTS - AS SSD / IOMETER

TEST RESULTS - IOMETER SNIA

CONCLUSION

   There may have been many M.2 NVMe Gen4 SSDs to arrive in the lab wearing the E18 NAND flash controller by Phison (and some even the 176-layer 3D TLC NAND flash by Micron) but the XS70 did something none other has, it showed no signs of thermal throttling during my mixed SNIA tests. Yes, the 12 hour test is a bit extreme so even the XS70 did show signs of thermal throttling (alas limited compared to other models) but I expect this is not something which many out there will take into account. Moving to performance things are very good and honestly slightly better than expected across the board, just as you’d expect by the hardware configuration Silicon Power chose. My sole "issue" with the XS70 is that probably because of the large heatsink fitting into an M.2 port was not as easy as with all other drives I’ve tested to date. Now since the 3950X system that I use for gen4 SSD tests is not located in the lab (and thus I’m clearly not as accustomed to it as my very own) I also mounted the XS70 onto my Z490/Z590 DARK motherboards with the same results so I do recommend a bit of caution when mounting it.

   With a retail price tag currently set at USD132.99 inside the USA (Newegg.com) and at around 190Euros inside the EU the XS701TB M.2 NVMe Gen4 SSD is priced extremely well, on the other side of the Atlantic (Silicon Power needs to focus more on EU prices). Price aside however the XS70 1TB is a very good PCIe 4.0 SSD not only because of its performance but also because of its endurance (yes, not stellar but on par with other PCIe 4.0 Gen4 SSDs) and the large heatsink and that’s why it deserves the Golden Award.

PROS

- Excellent Performance Levels
- Endurance (700TBW / 1.6 Million Hours MTBF)
- Large Aluminum Heatsink
- 5 Year Limited Warranty
- Price (USA)

CONS

- Thermal Throttling (Limited - During SNIA 12 Hour Tests)
- Price (EU)