SK Hynix Gold P31 review: "Very likely all the SSD you actually need" - layneacket1982

Our Verdict

A great value PCIe 3.0 SSD settled on TLC rather than cheaper QLC retentiveness.

Pros

Good all-round performance
A proper TLC rather than QLC drive
Five-year warranty

Cons

'Only' a PCIe 3.0 drive
Somewhat patchy 4K performance
Lack of AES 256-flake encryption if you're beingness picky

GamesRadar+ Verdict

A great value PCIe 3.0 SSD based on TLC rather than cheaper QLC memory.

Pros

+
Good totally-round performance
+
A right TLC rather than QLC push on
+
Five-year warranty

Cons

-
'Only' a PCIe 3.0 drive
-
Slightly patchy 4K performance
-
Lack of AES 256-bit encryption if you're existence picky

The original SK Hynix Gold P31, reviewed present in 1TB spec, bucks the trend by not orthodox to the latest, fastest, and funkiest solid drives that use quad-lane PCI Express 4.0 connections - complete 8GB/s of them. This is an M.2 SSD that sticks with the older PCIe 3.0 user interface, which is precisely half as fast. In other words, this is a Thomas More mainstream, affordable contender for primo SSD for gambling. And that might live precisely what you motive.

Affair is, raw storage bandwidth International Relations and Security Network't always a major limitation to carrying out. Not if the context is the high-grade gaming PC or the top-quality gaming laptop. For surely, you want plenty of bandwidth, only decreasing returns do kick back in. Piece this labour isn't up there with the very fastest in terms of peak throughput, that doesn't necessarily impact real-world performance including game level load times.

So, it's arguably other metrics that decide just how compelling an SSD is. Like value, features, reliableness, and some of the better details of performance, including random entree. The last mentioned can have a much bigger impact on how responsive your PC feels than the big, fat serial translate and write numbers.

Design & Features

With that in mind, the Book of Numbers bode beautiful well for the SK Hynix Gold P31. For starters, it uses TLC quite than QLC show off memory. That means it can store three bits of data per memory cell rather than four. That's an manifest density disadvantage, but information technology's also a clear performance win as QLC store is farther slower than TLC.

Of course, SLC operating theater single-bit memory is even faster, which is why the SK Hynix Gold P31 has some 90GB of its TLC memory allocated dynamically in SLC mode (in practice that requires three times that much actual Tender loving care content). It's a feature film commonly offered by modern SSDs and it improves immediate performance under extreme load, after which data send away be re-allocated into TLC cells in the background while the drive is idling.

The other notable spec point is the quad-lane PCIe 3.0 rather than 4.0 interface. That obviously limits performance but information technology's also somewhat academic if your PC doesn't backing PCIe 4.0, something literal of all Intel-based systems preceding to the introduction of the latest Rocket Lake chips.

As for how this actually translates into performance, SK Hynix says the Gold P31 is healthful for crown reads and writes of 3,500MB/s and 3,200MB/s respectively. However, those figures are for SLC mode; the underlying write hasten of the TLC memory is really 1,700MB/s. There's a similar split for claimed random access carrying out, with 570K read IOPS and 600K write IOPS in SLC mode, patc the base performance of the TLC cells is rated at 500K read and 370K spell IOPS.

Backing this up is 1GB of DRR4 DRAM cache and it's all marshalled by SK Hynix's own Cepheus controller chip. All told, the Gold P31 1TB is said to be good for 750TB of write endurance, which is very good and reflects the superior endurance of TLC store compared to cheaper QLC chips.

One arguable weak area is a lack of hardware encryption. Acknowledged, data can still cost encrypted using software system tools, just at the toll of C.P.U. load. If you wish all your data encrypted all the meter, that's a serious trouble. But unless your gaming PC also doubles as, easily, a server system in a bank or new business, that's implausible to be an issue. You can simply encrypt selectively.

For the record, the SK Hynix Gold P31 1TB comes in amply biodegradable publicity, which is an unusual detail in this class of device. That attention paid to sustainability may also excuse the slightly ugly green PCB board happening which the board is based. That has no relevance for short-term execution, though degradable materials Crataegus laevigata raise oblong-terminus reliability concerns. Conspicuously, the SK Hynix Gold P31 too lacks any sort of cooling or a heat spreader. That said, this drive comes with a full five-yr warranty for peace of mind, as well.

At long last, at fully 1TB this drive is big enough for a moderately generous games library. Certainly, IT's large enough to have all your favourites and regulars addressable via speedy solid storage, relegating occasional flings to mass store thereon clunky old magnetic secondary drive.

Performance

The SK Hynix Gold P31 1TB's nam performance metrics are mostly what you'd expect for this class of drive. Elevation bandwidth is close to 3.5GB/s for both reads and writes, which is slew.

The story around random access operation is a little more complicated. In the initial few runs, 4K QD1 carrying into action is 74MB/s. But that drops into the mid-50s, hence the comparatively poor scaling as the queue depth increases. The numbers aren't lousy per se, it's honorable a runty blot on a broadly positive functioning copybook.

As for game level load performance, well, SSD performance only has a constricted impact on it. The likes of, say, a Samsung 980 In favour of offers twice the peak bandwidth of this drive. Only when it comes to game level loads it's nine and a minute seconds versus 11 and a minute seconds in the Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers benchmark, which conveniently records level load multiplication. In truth, much of the bottleneck when IT comes to spirited load times is due to the PC platform, not SSD carrying into action. That Crataegus laevigata change when Microsoft's Direct Computer memory technology comes to the PC with Windows 11 later this yr.

But what of that 90GB SLC cache, what impact does that feature? Steady plenty, afterwards around 90GB/s of sustained data transfer when copying large telecasting files internally, drive performance does pretermit off. But it's not a huge fall. First internal file copy performance is 1.2GB/s, which then drops to 900MB/s for a further 200GB. The drive out then sustains more or less 750MB/s to 900MB/s until totally full, which should exist fine for almost the most demanding users.

Total - should you pip out?

If you're in the market for a good value 1TB M.2 SSD with decent all-round performance, then the answer has to be affirmative. The SK Hynix Gold P31 doesn't set any public presentation records. It power non contact the cockeyed speeds and performance of the like the WD AN1500 and WD SN850, for lesson, but it's a solid real-world performer, comes with a 5-twelvemonth warranty, and is same likely all the SSD you in reality necessitate.

WD Black SN850 1TB

A great value PCIe 3.0 SSD based on TLC rather than cheaper QLC memory.

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A serious dissertation on the better points of input lag and wave-off followed by a rhetorical examination of AI-accelerated worldly upscaling. Such is a routine day in the working lifespan of long-time tech wordsmith, Jeremy Laird. On with GamesRadar, Jeremy's 15-year back catalogue includes a host of tech and gambling outlets, including TechRadar and PC Gamer, not to name contributions to mainstream media from the Breakaway to the Evening Standard. Complimenting Jeremy's debilitating addiction to all kinds of digital hardware, he is likewise afflicted by an obsession with and a pregnant occupational sideline in cars and automotive technology.