ADATA Introduces Premier SP580 SSD: TLC NAND, LDPC and Marvell Controller
by Anton Shilov on June 16, 2016 8:00 AM EST
Last week, ADATA announced its new inexpensive lineup of SATA SSDs: the new Premier SP580 drives use Marvell’s 'Artemis' controller aimed at value storage, as well as TLC NAND flash from SanDisk.
The new ADATA Premier SP580 family consists of two models, with 120 GB and 240 GB of TLC NAND produced using 15 nm process technology by SanDisk. The new drives are based on the Marvell 88NV1120 controller and do not use DRAM cache, which lowers their cost and puts them further into the cheap SSD category: DRAM-less controllers are expected to populate the low-cost segment over the next year. The manufacturer declares 560 MB/s / 410 MB/s maximum sequential speed for the 120 GB version of the SP580 SSD. ADATA notes that the 120 GB version is slower than the higher-capacity model, but does not elaborate as to the 240GB specification. Keeping in mind SATA performance limitations and how these drives work, read performance of both Premier SP580 SSDs should be similar, but expect the 240 GB model to offer slightly better write performance.
| ADATA Premier SP580 | |||
| Capacity | 120 GB ASP580SS3-120GM-C |
240 GB ASP580SS3-240GM-C |
|
| Controller | Marvell 88NV1120 | ||
| NAND | SanDisk 15 nm TLC | ||
| Sequential Read | Up to 560 MB/s | ||
| Sequential Write | Up to 410 MB/s | >410 MB/s | |
| TBW | 70 TBW | >70 TBW | |
| MTBF | 1.5 million hours | ||
| Form-Factor | 2.5"/7mm | ||
| Warranty | Three years | ||
| Availability | Mid-2016 | ||
The Marvell 88NV1120 controller was specifically designed for entry-level SATA drives. It enables SSD makers to build DRAM-less solid-state storage devices and supports pseudo-SLC caching to speed up writing performance of TLC NAND-based drives, a near-must feature on low capacity hardware. One of the most important capabilities of the Artemis controllers is support for Marvell’s third-generation NANDEdge error correction control and management technology. This is based on low-density parity-check (LDPC) code and reduces data errors, improves data integrity and thus should increase the endurance of NAND from constant rewrites.
Formally, the Adata Premier SP580 is positioned above the Adata Premier SP550, which was introduced in August 2015, and should be one of the most affordable SSDs available. The SP550 is based on the Silicon Motion SM2246EN controller as well as TLC NAND from SK Hynix. Performance specifications declared by the manufacturer are similar for both drives, hence, it is impossible to even make guesses regarding their real-world performance because of different controllers and different memory.
What should be kept in mind is that the SP580 is DRAM-less and could be $1.5 – $2 cheaper (the average spot price of one 4Gb DDR3-1600 memory chip at press time was $1.454) to make than the SP550, assuming that other costs (NAND flash, controller, etc.) are the same. If ADATA managed to make a DRAM-less SSD faster than a drive with DRAM cache, this could be an important achievement. In particular, it could enable manufacturers to improve the performance of inexpensive SSDs while making them even more affordable.
The manufacturer plans to release the 120 GB model first and then follow up with higher-performance 240 GB configuration. The more affordable model carries a $49.99 price tag, whereas the 240 GB version will have MSRP of around $79.99.
Source: ADATA
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r3loaded - Thursday, June 16, 2016 - link
Absolutely incredible how affordable SSDs are becoming nowadays.DanNeely - Thursday, June 16, 2016 - link
That's OK, if/when it is reviewed it'll be massively flamed in the comments for being slower than the fastest high end SSDs.CaedenV - Thursday, June 16, 2016 - link
Yep!Wondering if we can get a levy passed in my district if I can buy a bunch of cheap SSDs and RAM to breathe some life in our aging computers. Most of our systems are in the CeleronD to i3 Sandy Bridge range with 1-2GB of ram and 80GB HDDs... The CPUs still wouldn't be fantastic, but they would at least run smoothly for a few more years.
JoeyJoJo123 - Thursday, June 16, 2016 - link
>Muh MLC!>Muh endurance!
>Muh data retention!
>Muh reliability!
>Muh random I/O!
>Muh this drive isn't exactly what I want in my PC, so instead of using PC Part Picker to find a suitable drive for my incredibly critical tastes, I'm going to post a comment on a news article expressing how disgusted I am by how this drive isn't up to _MY_ standards.
I'm waiting for the usual SSD memes. Go ahead, throw 'em out there, because I know the usual group of Anandtech readers are going to get triggered by the mere mention of "TLC".
trparky - Thursday, June 16, 2016 - link
I'm more disappointed by the fact that it's 15 nm planar NAND as versus 3D-NAND.MrSpadge - Friday, June 17, 2016 - link
Well, 15 nm planar is still cheaper than current 3D-NAND.doggface - Thursday, June 16, 2016 - link
Ha! Lol.Can i add to your tropes ->
I dont know why anyone would buy this, personally i have 2 x 950 pros 512gb in raid 0, and a couple of EVO 1tb for my games. </brag> its not that expensive to have decent performance and this kind of drive is just terrible, and has no reason for being. /s
eldakka - Thursday, June 16, 2016 - link
I'd never heard of PC Part Picker, thanks for that!chlamchowder - Monday, June 27, 2016 - link
It's not "incredibly critical tastes", nor is it about comparing cheap SSDs to high end ones. It's about what you're getting by paying a lot more per GB, compared to HDDs.Some recent TLC drives have been incredibly disappointing with sequential write speeds, to the point of being slower than a 7200 RPM drives. AT got 88 MB/s out of the BX200, and 65-103 MB/s out of the SP550 (depending on capacity). A modern 7200 RPM drive can easily exceed that. Large file copies and application installs might actually be slower on a TLC SSD than on a 7200 RPM HDD.
DomOfSF - Thursday, June 16, 2016 - link
wait...DRAM-less as in no DRAM cache as in nothing to worry about flushing at power loss? Even if it *is* mucho slower, this could be the in-between that many have been looking for to move to all-flash in their home arrays.