Transcend MTE220S 2TB PCIe Gen 3 NVMe M.2 2280 SSD $208.02 Delivered @ Amazon UK via AU

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Look Up on 22/12/2022 - 17:59 amazon.com.au (605 clicks)

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Bit of a sleeper drive similar to the Kioxia Exceria G2 with TLC, DRAM and ultra high 4400 TB endurance
Not widely reviewed, Amazon reviews are good along with benchmarks
Double sided PCB and runs hot so best used for desktops with a heatsink installed
Tier 1 usage

NVMe Tier	Specs	Recommended Usage
1	TLC + DRAM	Main system drive for power users
1X	TLC + DRAM + Gen 4	PS5 expansion drive (if heatsink not bundled, adding heatsink highly recommended)
2	TLC + no DRAM	Main system drive for everyday users
3	QLC + DRAM	Secondary storage, can be main system drive in very cheap build
4	QLC + no DRAM	Secondary bulk storage only

TS2TMTE220S
Controller: SM2262EN
Memory: Unknown (Micron likely) TLC
DRAM Cache: DDR3
Sequential Read: 3,500 MB/s
Sequential Write: 2,900 MB/s
Random Read: 340,000 IOPS
Random Write: 360,000 IOPS
Endurance (TBW): 4400 TB
Warranty: 5 Years

Transcend specs page

Price History at CamelCamelCamel.

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• 

  DDman7 on 22/12/2022 - 18:18

  Thoughts?

• 

  skooter on 22/12/2022 - 18:30

  Anyone got one of these in the MacBook?

• 

  dfg555 on 22/12/2022 - 18:49

  looks better than the p5 or nv2

  • 

    FireRunner on 22/12/2022 - 18:53

    P5 is high end Gen 3 NVMe (Tier 1)
    NV2 is a budget Gen 4 NVMe (Tier 2)

    Crucial is more reputable than Transcend so I’d rank the P5 above this

    • 

      dfg555 on 22/12/2022 - 19:20

      +1

      Sure if you can find a p5 at $200~ other than that, no deal.

      • 

        FireRunner on 22/12/2022 - 19:32

        Fair. Read your comment and thought you meant was better in quality/performance. This definitely wins in value

• 

  netsurfer on 22/12/2022 - 19:17

  +5

  From AnandTech on the ssd controller:

  The SM2262EN's performance degrades severely when the drive is full, and this effect seems to be even stronger than for the SM2262 drives we've tested.

  If you want to skip all the cons, and want to make up tier levels on really basic parameters then….

  • 

    WhyAmICommenting on 22/12/2022 - 19:57

    It’s pretty big though ;)

  • 

    MHLoppy on 22/12/2022 - 20:38

    +3

    I feel like you're overcorrecting too hard in the other direction. The quote continues:

    For a 2TB drive like our review sample, I'm not too worried about these performance hits: it's pretty hard in practice to fill a really large SLC cache, and this isn't the easiest drive to fill up to 100% with real data. Our toughest benchmarks are well beyond the range of normal usage patterns, so abysmal scores there don't necessarily mean the drive is bad or unsuitable for power users. (emphasis added; one line removed that is model-specific)

    • 

      netsurfer on 22/12/2022 - 20:50

      I also saw an youTube review which showed its performance when thermal throttled, it isn't pretty.

      Another youTube review played down the issue of its performance after SLC cache is depleted (claiming it has decent recovery time). I guess thanks to WD and Samsung both doing NAND swap to lower the cost for their mainstream gen 3 SSDs, when this SSD's SLC cache is depleted, it write performance is now competitive enough for gen 3 (assuming it is not thermal throttled).

      So far, all my 2TB NVMe SSDs are all PCIe gen 4 (decent ones - i.e. WD SN850X, Seagate Firecuda 530). It's just hard to get excited about this supposedly "tier 1" SSD, even though in a more up to date table from another site, my PCIe gen 4 SSDs are already being placed in tier 2, with PCIe gen 5 SSDs now being considered tier 1.

• 

  Skramit on 22/12/2022 - 19:43

  +2

  I need a motherboard with more m.2 slots.

  • 

    corgi-runner on 22/12/2022 - 19:52

    Don’t we all!

  • 

    MasterScythe on 22/12/2022 - 19:57

    Luckily add in cards exist.

    • 

      Skramit on 22/12/2022 - 20:12

      Already have 1 of those :p.

  • 

    getit on 22/12/2022 - 19:59

    Current gen motherboards have 4 or more nvme slots

    • 

      Skramit on 22/12/2022 - 20:12

      +1

      Yeah but $800 for a mb ewwww

  • 

    netsurfer on 22/12/2022 - 20:48

    Both my Ryzen motherboards support PCIe Bifurcation. I have one of these to add 4 more m.2 slots.

    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004638628231.html

    Note: I don't recommend that particular card because it arrives with a few screws unattached (basically lousy quality). Also, don't bother getting it if your motherboard doesn't support PCIe Bifurcation. My cheaper of the two boards is a B450 so it wasn't that expensive.

    • 

      Skramit on 22/12/2022 - 21:49

      I can only use bifurcation if I run 8x with my GPU.

      • 

        netsurfer on 22/12/2022 - 22:00

        Then, you can only add 2 more m.2 SSDs.

• 

  corgi-runner on 22/12/2022 - 19:52

  +2

  Why does Amazon UK go hard on the storage deals?

• 

  Clear on 22/12/2022 - 21:32

  +1

  I love the table. Certainly useful for explaining what it's suitable for. Did you create it?

  • 

    netsurfer on 22/12/2022 - 22:31

    +3

    He created that table. That's why PCIe gen 4 SSDs are mainly for PS5 expansion drive (I don't quite agree with that).

    LTT SSD tier list 2022 quick summary:

    Tier	Info & Chipsets	Description	Usage
    S	PCIe gen 5 (Phison E26)	Ultra High	Bragging, Ultra High End Server
    A	PCIe gen 4 (Phison E18, InnoGrit IG5236, WD Proprietary, Samsung Elpis, Aries)	Upper High	Server, VMs, PS5, Pro Video Content Creation
    B	PCIe gen 4 (Phison E16), PCIe gen 3 quality MLC (Samsung 970 Pro*)	Lower High	Low cost PS5, Secondary PCIe gen 4 SSD
    C	PCIe gen 3 (Samsung Phoenix, WD Proprietary, Phison E12, SM2262EN etc…) Low cost PCIe gen 4 DRAMless (Phison E21, E19T)	Upper Mid	(PCIe gen 3) Balanced mainstream, (PCIe gen 4) Ultra low cost PS5, specialised low cost TLC SSDs
    D	PCIe gen 3 DRAMless (SMI SM2262G, 2262, 2265, Phison E12S, Samsung Pablo (980), WD SN570))	Mid	Cost effective mainstream, Some are suitable for laptops (lower power usage and good thermal)

    Note: * 970 Pro is not PCIe gen 4 (cannot be used for PS5). Also, too lazy to list tier E and lower.
    You can debate whether QLC with PCIe gen 4 + DRAM deserves to be in tier B. Technically, if you managed to run it within the SLC cache, it is still okay. Does get ugly once the SLC cache is exhausted.

    A QLC SSD can be used as a system SSD. It's all about knowing the SSD and use it properly. I have some junk class WD external SSDs which are DRAMless TLC. Write performance is worse than some DRAMless QLC SSDs.

    Use your SSDs any way you like. SSD tables are subject to change and don't mean much. It's more about knowing what you need and want (and knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the SSDs), rather than Crystal DiskMark results or finding some reviews raving the SSDs to numb your brain.

  • 

    Look Up on 23/12/2022 - 09:31

    Yes, something simple that covers the basics

    The deal and the price are the most important, there's always more knowledgeable folks who will point out the intricacies in the comments

• 

  netsurfer on 22/12/2022 - 23:35

  Just to show you guys how useless some CystalDiskMark tests can be:

  Kingston NV2 1TB - CrystalDiskMark 8 Zero Fill Test

  	Read (MB/s)	Write (MB/s)	Mix (MB/s)
  SEQ1M Q8T1	7319.82	6604.37	8109.02
  SEQ1M Q1T1	5686.42	5482.85	5658.55

  All the other tests (zero fill) are also really high. Zero fill is pretty useless. Now, my SN850 1TB cannot beat that (in zero fill tests) so does that mean NV2 1TB is faster?

  Phison E16, E18 do cheat in all zero fill tests. E21 continues that trend. Newer controllers can have some additional optimisation to do well cheat in benchmark tests.

  NV2 is a subpar PCIe gen 4 SSD so it is more like a toy.

• 

  Look Up on 24/12/2022 - 12:05

  Back in stock for $205.39