Silicon Power Slim S70 120GB 7mm 2.5" SATA 3 MLC [F/W 5.0.5] SSD Review @ ModSynergy.com
By: Michael Phrakaysone
So the next generation of the Microsoft Windows Operating System is finally here, fittingly named Windows 8. There is a buzz surrounding the release of the new OS and it's funky tile system meant for tablets and touch screen systems including those new thin Ultrabooks. With Windows 8 and its updated graphical interface, it's now more intensive than ever making more use of such components as the hard drive.
Ultra-thin notebooks are the new wave of beautiful, lightweight, and thin notebooks that are taking the market by storm. The correct term is called Ultrabook, and it's a form factor coined by Intel, they actually have the Ultrabook name registered as a trademark if you can believe it. Think about something like the Macbook Air, but for the PC form factor. They are so thin that they have no optical drive like a netbook, and sometimes no Ethernet port relying only on wireless connectivity. Since space is such a concern on an Ultrabook, a slimmer hard drive form factor requirement of only 7mm was assigned. Conventional hard drives for the notebook are 9.5mm in height. A normal SATA connector is used.
This review will mark our first foray into the 7mm SSD market. All of our SSD reviews so far have been on the 2.5" and mSATA variety, but we know that many of you will be seeking one for your own Ultrabook purchase.
The hard drive is an integral part of the performance of a computer system, and if you've been keeping track of the prices of storage solutions, you might have noticed that prices have been steadily dropping at a rapid pace. Storage mediums such as the conventional spinning hard disk are finally dropping in price from the recent price hikes seen by retailers.
The negative that came of out of the hard drive situation (flood in Thailand) made way for the Solid State Drive (or SSD) to increase its awareness as manufactures took this opportunity to implement deals to place their SSD's price in line with the price of normal conventional spinning hard disks. Now you can purchase an SSD for even less than before, some models more affordable than others. Sure the price per GB needs improving, but that will improve in time. With the prices of SSD's being similar to normal hard drives on the market it gives an enticing argument.
As SSDs continue to fall in price and offer incentives such as main-in-rebates to entice customers to buy their products, most customers are not sure who's product is better. Most people who know a bit about SSDs know that there are a handful of companies that offer them. The most popular brands you have out there right now are companies such as Intel, Patriot Memory, Corsair, Crucial, Kingston and maybe OCZ. But what about the companies you don't know about? Do you just turn a blind eye and not give them a chance?
This leads me into introducing the Silicon Power brand (or SP for short).
Silicon Power Computer & Communications Inc., founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic specialists in International Business, Global Marketing, and Technical Engineering of flash data storage industry. Well dedicated in brand image and product quality, Silicon Power has been recognized and well accepted by millions of end-users in more than 100 countries, becomes the world's leading manufacturer of flash memory cards, USB flash drives, card readers, DRAM modules, solid state disks, and portable hard drives in less than a decade. Headquartered in Taipei, we continuously established various branches throughout the world including Netherlands, Japan, Russia, Mainland China and other emerging market to reach the worldwide market.
Silicon Power's overall performance has gradually drawn great attention worldwide. In 2006, we received Taiwan Rising Star Award for our foreign business achievement. In 2008, we won 17th National Outstanding Small & Medium Enterprise Award for our outstanding progress. Moreover, with superior quality and innovative design, our products stood out in several competitions and awarded Taiwan Excellence and COMPUTEX Design & Innovation Award in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Winning trust of global consumers, Silicon Power holds a record of successive double-digit revenue growth for last seven years. According to the Common Wealth Magazine's 2010 Survey of Taiwan Top 1000 Manufacturers, our 2009 revenue growth rate was ranked No.11 among Taiwan's top 1000 manufacturers, and even ranked No.1 in semiconductor industry.
Positioned as Passionate, Creative and Hungry for Success, Silicon Power introduces products for users who are seeking individualized, unique and personal digital storage devices. With the mission of creating unprecedented experience for users, Silicon Power will endeavor to deliver a full range of high quality products that have innovative designs, distinctly unique features and comprehensive after sales services to create and fulfill your personal memory.
Always looking to review the products from companies that most have never heard of and looking for the unique products that customers might want to own, I jumped at the possibility in reviewing Silicon Power's 7mm SATA 3 SSD in the form of the 7mm thick Slim S70. One of the key selling points of the Slim S70 is not only does it fit the Ultrabook bill of being 7mm thick, the box states High Performance Synchronous TOGGLE MLC.
This is speaking about the NAND flash memory that is inside the SSD. To this date the only Toggle Mode MLC SSD we have ever reviewed is the Patriot Memory Wildfire SSD. When you hear about MLC NAND flash memory, the Toggle Mode variant is the best you can get. Toggle is at the top of the MLC food chain. Only Toshiba and SanDisk manufactures Toggle Mode NAND, at least the majority of it. It offers the highest level of performance when compared to regular synchronous, and slower asynchronous memory chips. So we are excited in the possibility of reviewing another Toggle Mode MLC SSD once again. It just so happens that the Patriot Memory Wildfire SSD with its Toshiba Toggle Mode memory was and remains today, the fastest SSD we've ever tested.
Sporting 120GB of capacity, while making use of the SandForce SF-2281 controller, read on to know more about the Silicon Power brand, and what you can expect from their SSD products. With a three year warranty on the Slim S70, read on to see results with the latest SandForce 5.0.5 firmware.
About Silicon Power Computer & Communications Inc.
Silicon Power Computer & Communications Inc., founded in 2003 by a group of enthusiastic specialists in International Business, Global Marketing, and Technical Engineering of flash data storage industry. Well dedicated in brand image and product quality, Silicon Power has been recognized and well accepted by millions of end-users in more than 100 countries, becomes the world's leading manufacturer of flash memory cards, USB flash drives, card readers, DRAM modules, solid state disks, and portable hard drives in less than a decade. Headquartered in Taipei, we continuously established various branches throughout the world including Netherlands, Japan, Russia, Mainland China and other emerging market to reach the worldwide market.
Silicon Power's overall performance has gradually drawn great attention worldwide. In 2006, we received Taiwan Rising Star Award for our foreign business achievement. In 2008, we won 17th National Outstanding Small & Medium Enterprise Award for our outstanding progress. Moreover, with superior quality and innovative design, our products stood out in several competitions and awarded Taiwan Excellence and COMPUTEX Design & Innovation Award in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Winning trust of global consumers, Silicon Power holds a record of successive double-digit revenue growth for last seven years. According to the Common Wealth Magazine's 2010 Survey of Taiwan Top 1000 Manufacturers, our 2009 revenue growth rate was ranked No.11 among Taiwan's top 1000 manufacturers, and even ranked No.1 in semiconductor industry.
Positioned as Passionate, Creative and Hungry for Success, Silicon Power introduces products for users who are seeking individualized, unique and personal digital storage devices. With the mission of creating unprecedented experience for users, Silicon Power will endeavor to deliver a full range of high quality products that have innovative designs, distinctly unique features and comprehensive after sales services to create and fulfill your personal memory.
Silicon Power Slim S70 7mm Product Overview
The new Slim series 7mm 2.5” SSD for the new generation of ultra slim notebook. Built in a slim and stylish enclosure, the new SSD unleashes the full potential of the 6Gbps SATA III interface to further expand computing experiences and mobility.
SP Slim series features a new slim 7mm form factor for easy integration into the latest mobile computing platforms. Presented in a chic aluminum metal body, the Slim series SSD perfectly complements Ultrabook in design, and its impressive transfer rates make it the ideal SSD upgrade solution. Powered by the latest SandForce technology, SP Slim series can significantly reduce boot time, quickly load applications and provide higher reliability and durability over traditional hard drive.
The S70 utilizes the latest SandForce SF-2281 controller with synchronous NAND flash and the new optimized firmware to deliver superior high data transfer rates at 557MB/s in read speed and 507MB/s in write speed. Slim S70 is also more durable and reliable as it can endure more write cycles for longer life span.
Weighing only 63 gram, SP Slim series SSD is one of the lightest of its kind yet it is shock and vibration proof as it contains no moving parts. The Slim series is now available in 60GB, 120GB, 240GB and 480GB and is backed by a three year warranty.
Silicon Power Slim S70 7mm Product Features
- 7mm Ultra slim design: SP/Silicon Power launches the new Slim series 7mm 2.5” SSD for the new generation of ultra slim notebook. Built in a slim and stylish enclosure, the new SSD unleashes the full potential of the 6Gbps SATA III interface to further expand computing experiences and mobility.
- High performance & capacity: The S70 utilizes the latest SandForce SF-2281 controller with synchronous NAND flash and the new optimized firmware to deliver superior high data transfer rates at 557MB/s in read speed and 507MB/s in write speed. Slim S70 is also more durable and reliable as it can endure more write cycles for longer life span.
- Higher reliability and longer life span: The new Slim series is more reliable and durable than a hard drive. Weighing only 63 gram, SP Slim series SSD is one of the lightest of its kind yet it is shock and vibration proof as it contains no moving parts.
- 7mm slim design suitable for Ultrabooks and Ultra-slim notebooks
- SATA III 6Gbps backwards compatible with SATA II 3Gbps
- Super-high transfer rate: 557MB/s max. Read speed/507MB/s max. Write speed
- Random 4K write speed up to 86000 IOPS
- Toggle/Synchronous flash built-in
- Supports TRIM command and Garbage Collection technology
- NCQ and RAID ready
- Equipped with DureWriteTM and wear leveling, to extend endurance
- Implemented with ECC technology to guarantee data transmission reliability
- Built-in with SMART monitoring system
- Low power consumption
- Shockproof & Anti-Vibration
- Noiseless operation, no latency delay and no seek error
- 3 year warranty
Silicon Power Slim S70 7mm Product Specifications
- Capacity: 60GB/120GB/240GB/480GB
- Dimensions: 100mm x 69.85mm x 7mm
- Weight: 63g
- Ultra Slim 7mm depth
- Vibration Resistance Test: 20G
- Shock Resistance Test: 1500G Max
- Color: Champagne gold
About SandForce
‘SandForce Flash Storage and SSD Processors are designed to provide innovative and differentiated solutions for standard NAND flash memory to reliably operate in enterprise storage environments. SandForce Flash Storage and SSD Processors with DuraClass technology provide SSDs with best-in-class reliability, performance, and power efficiency.’
‘SandForce® Flash Storage and SSD Processors use DuraClass™ technology with RAISE™ and patented and patent pending DuraWrite™ to drive ubiquitous deployment of volume flash memory into primary and I/O intensive data storage applications. SandForce Driven™ SSDs dramatically optimize mission-critical application reliability, IT infrastructure ROI, green power preservation, and everyday computing user experiences.’
About SandForce SF-2200/2100
‘Today’s award-winning SandForce Driven™ SSDs are well known for their performance and features. The SandForce® SF-2200/2100 - the second generation of SandForce SSD Processors - continue accelerating SSD deployment in enthusiast and mainstream client computing platforms. The SF-2200/2100 is an ideal solution for portable storage applications where power consumption, boot-up time, application performance, responsiveness, and small form factor are important.
The Client SSD Processors have integrated enhanced DuraClass™ Technology that is architected to leverage today’s densest SLC and MLC NAND flash memory. They deliver best-in-class performance, endurance, security, and power efficiency in a “DRAM-less”, single chip solution.’
Features:
- Second generation SSD Processor with enterprise-class features for cost-sensitive client environments
- 6Gb/s SATA III with NCQ support
- Best-in-class, consistent read and write performance (500MB/s, 20K Random Writes IOPS) for client applications
- Automatic double encryption (AES-256, 128), TCG OPAL and password at the drive level ensures secure data protection
- Supports the latest 3xnm & 2xnm SLC & MLC flash memory with Asynch/Toggle/ONFi2 interfaces
- DuraClass™ technology provides best-in-class endurance, performance, and low power
- Optimized, single-chip eliminates need for external memory saving cost, power and space
- High integration supports up to 512GB on a 2.5” or 1.8” drive
- Power balancing optimizes energy consumption (# active flash devices) vs. performance
- Ultra low-power mode to maximize battery life
- RAISE™ provides RAID-like protection for single SSD client systems
- Highly intelligent block management & wear leveling optimizes SSD longevity
- Complete solution provided through ASIC, FW, turnkey reference designs, tools, documentation and support
First Impressions
This review will mark our first foray into the 7mm Solid State Drive. All of our SSD reviews so far have been of the 2.5" and mSATA variety, but there being a buzz regarding Ultrabooks and their size dynamic, we are sure our readers are looking for a 7mm SSD for their purchase of an Ultrabook.
Being the first Silicon Power product I've ever reviewed, I was anxious and energized going into this review. Not knowing anything beforehand about the product and company leaves me with an open-mind and unbiased viewpoint.
I love the design of SP Slim S70 because its environmentally friendly. It's very compact and easy to dispose of. It is comprised out of a paper outer shell and inner plastic casing that houses the SSD from damages and contains a small installation guide. Both ends of the flap on the box contain a clear seal protecting it from tampering.
I believe the SP Slim S70 has one of the nicest looking designs I've seen from any of the previous SSD's I've looked at. It's on par with how I felt about the Patriot Memory' Wildfire and Torqx2 product packaging's. It has that smooth high quality paper material feel, a sensible design front and rear and contains features, but also some specifications on what the Slim S70 can do at the back. I love the mixture of all different gradients between red, green, light blue, yellow because it looks like a rainbow of colors all squashed together.
The front design looks really nice. You have the Silicon Power logo top left, model number and capacity top right, lower left we have in big golden font the word SSD,and also notification of being 7mm ultra-slim and the High Performance Synchronous TOGGLE MLC with up to 86K IOPS performance. And the lovely overlay of the actual SP Slim S70 SSD is smack right center left of the design leaving no empty spaces disrupting the design.
Coming to the rear we have information on supported features such as SATA III 6Gbps, NCQ, TRIM, RAID ready, 7mm slim design, suitable for Ultrabooks, Sandforce Driven sticker, and the top left contains the general data transfer rate of what you can expect from the Slim series when compared to a traditional spinning hard drive. The box actually has the data transfer rate for the Slim S60, which I found funny because the golden bar says S70. The box states the read transfer rate of 550MB/s, and write transfer rate of 500MB/s. The actual specifications for the Slim S70 calls for a maximum read speed of 557MB/s, and maximum write speed of 507MB/s.
Open up the box to slide out the inner plastic casing. There's not really a bundle with the Slim S70 as it's going directly into a Ultrabook. All you have is the SP Slim S70 SSD, and 4 mounting screws. There's no need for anything else.
Visual Overview
If you've seen most Ultrabooks on the market today, they look very upscale and elegant. And the elegant design demands a price premium. Some Ultrabooks are just bloody gorgeous and have an aluminum unibody design.
Likewise when seeing the SP Slim S70 SSD for the first time, you can't but help love the sexy look it boldly exudes with its beautiful top exterior shell draped in a brushed aluminum champagne gold color.
The SP Slim S70 look absolutely stunning and is without hesitation the nicest SSD's I've ever seen in person. Needless to say I'm a sucker for brushed aluminum, and this SSD has real and not fake brushed aluminum. When you look at the solid state drive under different lighting conditions, it sparkles while you notice all the uniform lines from the brushed golden aluminum exterior. It's just a look that is modern and industrial, something unusual from the standard drab exteriors of some SSD's The edges are rounded out to put a stop to any possible cuts when handling the SSD.
The bottom shell of the Slim S70 is more typical in the sense that it's painted in black semi gloss paint. Would have been great if Silicon Power added a sticker on the black sided shell displaying features and specifications of the SSD. Would have been helpful to know these numbers on the drive itself.
Notice around the sides are two Philips screws on each side that hold the enclosure shut. One of these screws cover the warranty sticker. But don't worry, I will forfeit that warranty by opening the Slim S70 up to show you what the S70 is comprised of internally.
Tearing it down -- I mean opening it up :)
Please note that by opening the Silicon Power Slim S70 SSD, you forfeit the 3-year warranty that comes along with the drive. Luckily I will take that burden for you by breaking the warranty seal on the side, and opening it up to see the components that make up the Slim S70.
Have a look at the internals of the SP Slim S70 120GB SSD. It's made from a predictable green color printed circuit board. You can read the numbers near the SATA connector pins 1503110 V1.0 that I think reveals the internal model number and revision number of version 1.0. You can tell it's finished on a SMD machine since all the solder contacts are flawlessly finished with no goops or mess. There seems to be no mistakes on this board. There are no re-works on the board, the last thing you want to see on a PCB.
The layout of the board is spacious, and just about fully occupied. You can see some spots on the PCB that haven't been filled, but those are probably reserved for Enterprise level offerings..
One of the first things you become aware of is the SandForce SSD controller. It's very close to the gold SATA contact pins to ensure the least amount of latencies and fastest operational speed. This SandForce SF-2281VB1-SDC processor is used to support features such SATA 6GB/s with Native Command Queuing support, TRIM, automatic data encryption AES-128, 48-bit LBA, APM, and has a host of algorithms that control and extend the life of the SSD with features such as Garbage Collection, read and block management for wear leveling purposes.
The other glaring thing I noticed was the NAND flash memory. Umm...did we not just read on the front of the box that indicates clearly there is High Performance Synchronous TOGGLE MLC NAND flash memory? Wasn't that the whole premise of putting that label on the front of the box? This is even stated on the Silicon Power website as one of their features of the Slim S70. How come I don't see Toshiba or SanDisk branded Toggle MLC NAND? What the heck is going on? Now when I pop open the cover I see no Toggle Mode chips? Maybe I'm missing something...I don't see any asterisk or fine prints stating the opposite on the box.
What I see on this SP Slim S70 SSD are a total of 16 individual Intel 29F64G08ACME3 chips that are marked as made in 2009. Toshiba and SanDisk are the only makers of Toggle Mode NAND flash.
These Intel chips are MLC, 5000 P/E cycle, they are synchronous, but they are NOT Toggle Mode memory! I can only believe that the Toggle Mode logo at the very front of the box is completely misleading and is false advertising! My mind is puzzled to why they would state Toggle Mode memory when its clearly not. Why even put the claim and icon on the box, and on the website in the very first place?
This is like buying a box of expensive truffles only to open it and find that there are regular chocolates inside the package. Makes completely no sense at all, unless there somehow is two different versions of the Slim S70 that I'm not aware of. This alone is very upsetting for a company to do to a customer, it's actually shameful.
16 pieces of Intel 29F64G08ACME3 (8GB each chip) MLC NAND flash memory chips cover and occupy both top and bottom of the PCB, 8 on each side. They equal 128GB in total space, however, 8GB is reserved for SandForce firmware, provisioning, and other functions pertaining to the SandForce firmware.
These Intel chips are rated for a program-erase cycle of 5000 before the wear begins to deteriorate the integrity of the storage, however, that is where the SandForce SF-2281 SSD controller comes in to extend the lifecycle of the SSD with its block management and wear leveling algorithms. Other companies may use NAND flash memory that is only rated for a program-erase cycle of 3000 (sometimes even 1000 with new TLC NAND flash), so it is nice to see Silicon Power using longer lasting memory.
Performance Benchmarks and Real-World Tests
ATTO Disk Benchmark is a trusted and established application that tests raw data in compressible form within the drive being tested. It's demonstrated over the years to supply steady and consistent results, one of the reasons why ATTO Disk Benchmark is the preferred benchmark in order to give a baseline score of maximum throughput performance. Most SSD manufacturers' maximum sequential read/write speed claims are done with ATTO Disk Benchmark for this very reason.
The numbers you see here are the best case scenario numbers you can expect from this SSD. The default transfer size of 0.5 to 8192KB was selected to be tested along with a length of 256MB.
All remaining benchmarks used here such as AS SSD and CrystalDiskMark are testing with (for the most part) Incompressible data, which some SSD drive controllers may or may not struggle with. That is why on occasion you see the disparity between numbers that are in ATTO Disk Benchmark compared to those of other benchmarks. If the numbers are drastically different, you can draw the conclusion that the particular SSD drive controller suffers when reading/writing incompressible data.
For example, in AS SSD benchmark, the write numbers are much different than those of seen on ATTO Disk Benchmark, and the reason is because one is testing Compressible data, while the other Incompressible data. Without further ado, let's see what the Silicon Power S70 Slim can do in our Intel based 2012 PC build. Full specifications on our test bed can be found here.
I also found a new and interesting SSD benchmark called Anvil's Storage Utilities that I will start to use from this point on because it tests a variety of scenarios and combines many of what the other benchmarks do separately into one full fledged benchmark with more flexibility. The SSD is tested under different queue lengths for read and write testing, it reports on access times and also IOPS performance. The version I am using is RC2. More information can be found here regarding Anvil's Storage Utilities.
URL: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?273661-Anvil-s-Storage-Utilities
Editors Note: The Silicon Power Slim S70 SSD comes with the latest SandForce firmware 5.0.5.
The Results
I calculated with a stop-watch the boot up time into a brand new Windows 7 installation takes only about 14 seconds, whereas using a regular 2.5" 10,000RPM hard drive took up to 30 seconds to fully load.
As I mentioned before, the SP Slim S70 was found with Intel 29F64G08ACME3 chips instead of what thebox lead us to believe in the faster and premium based Toggle Mode memory chips. Because of this confusion and the omission of Toggle Mode memory, the Slim S70 performed like a mid-range performer, but did not set itself apart from other SSD's. These are MLC based synchronous NAND flash memory, but should have been Toggle Mode as clearly displayed on the front of the box, which is unacceptable.
The SP Slim S70 surprisingly beat it's rated sequential read number of 557MB/s, and rated sequential write specification of 507MB/s. Silicon Power underrated their read speed as the ATTO Disk Benchmark revealed a much higher speed. In the ATTO Disk Benchmark it managed in our Intel Core i7-2600K/Intel DP67BG(B3) combo a maximum of 559MB/s read, and 527MB/s write, beating and meeting its rated specification.
Anvil's Storage Utilities 0-Fill compressible benchmark test revealed a high of 84,217.67 write IOPS for its 4K QD16 test. This is a very high performing score, but below the rated 86,000 write IOPS on the box. If it had the Toggle Mode memory, it would have met the number. It's also well below the 91,730.44 score posted by the CoreRise Venus 3S SSD.
We saw a high of 27,716.88 IOPS 4K QD16 read which is not a bad score and places it in the upper end of what other reviewed SSD's could achieve, but lower than 33,100.72 IOPS posted by the speedy Silicon Power S70 Slim SSD.
I find it odd that in one spectrum the drive managed a 4K QD16 score of 84,217.67 write IOPS, but in the other spectrum only managed 27,716.88 IOPS for its 4K QD16 read score. The gap between the two is too large. The SandForce controller obviously excels more with compressible data as opposed to incompressible data when looking at the results, so take that into consideration when SSD hunting.
AS SSD Benchmark typically shows the worst possible performance scenario you can expect from the SSD. The SP Slim S70 scores an overall score of 518. This score is slotted in between the CoreRise Comay Venus Pro 3 and the mSATA Kingfast KF1310MCF SSDs. The Patriot Memory Wildfire with its Toshiba Toggle Mode NAND and the Silicon Power S70 Slim with its synchronous NAND remains the fastest drives benchmarked on AS SSD to date.
The Toggle Mode based Patriot Memory Wildfire has an overall score of 650, while the synchronous based Silicon Power S70 Slim has the second highest score of 541, a sizeable advantage compared to the 518 posted by the Slim S70.
In AS SSD Benchmark, the Slim S70 achieves 462.10MB/s read, and 169.71MB/s write with a total combined score of 518. We saw a high of 40970 write IOPS and 30741 read IOPS.
Anvil's Storage Utilities incompressible benchmark test revealed a high of 42,629.99 write 4K QD16 IOPS, and a high of 18,147.02 read 4K QD16 IOPS score.
CrystalDiskMark showed that the Slim S70 achieved 507.0MB/s read, and 78.5MB/s write sequential speeds for its incompressible test.
Don't forget about the 4K QD32 test in CrystalDiskMark because this one also is something that can determine real world performance, and makes use of the NCQ and AHCI support of the SSD. The Slim S70 manages 199.6MB/s read, and 177.9MB/s write for its 4K QD32, not the fastest but just good enough. 4K-64Thrd results were much slower than the top rated SSDs.
CrystalDiskMark showed that the Slim S70 achieved 511.4MB/s read, and 500.6MB/s write sequential speeds for its 0-Fill compressible test.
Access time numbers posted by the Slim S70 was comparable to just about non Toggle Mode SSDs.
About the only interesting and unusual sight were the write graphs that the HD Tune benchmark demonstrated. For the write benchmark tests, those lines are not smooth and consistent as in some of my other SSD reviews, but rather squiggly and atypical. The graph for the write benchmark, those orange lines are consistently large, meaning the SSD performance isn't as consistent throughout the whole drive capacity. Sometimes the performance is fast, then drops for a bit, then picks back up, this cycle would continue throughout.
Compared to the Patriot Memory Wildfire, the squiggly lines are much closer in comparison, and shows it can sustain consistent performance for a longer period of time. The SATA2 Patriot Memory Torqx original was the closest thing you had to a straight line that I could remember. I thought this was something interesting I should bring up, but I didn't feel it was that detrimental to its performance because it still churned out good numbers. The average speed of 331.8MB/s puts it a slower than the Patriot Memory Wildfire average write speed of 343.7MB/s.
Where? How Much?
Conclusion
The Silicon Power Slim S70 can be found selling through Amazon.com for about $120 with free US shipping. Considering that this is a 7mm thickness SSD, the price is at least competitive with other similarly spec 7mm SSDs on the market. Compared to other comparable performance SSD's we've reviewed that resemble what the Slim S70 can achieve, it is a little pricey. But those ones are not 7mm.
The Silicon Power Slim S70 is a good performer, but it's no different than any other average SSD out there. It's not close to being the fastest SSD out there, however, it's far from the worse. It would make a fairly good addition to any Ultrabook. The SSD looks fantastic in the champagne gold brushed aluminum exterior, and the packaging design is very nice.
However, my biggest complaint has to definitely be the large icon marked on the package that clearly states (on the website too) Toggle Mode NAND flash memory being one of the key selling points of the SP Slim S70. Is it a stretch for one to believe that "hey this box says Toggle Mode memory, so it means the Silicon Power Slim S70 has Toggle Mode inside of it?".
However, in reality when popping the enclosure open to see the goodies inside, the Slim S70 had no Toggle Mode memory chips inside at all! To me it's just misleading and downright trickery (it's a lie) if you clearly say a product has Toggle Mode MLC memory, but end up not putting Toggle Mode MLC inside the product. I just can't get over that major negative. I don't know what they were thinking.
And if it turns out to be the case that only specific models have Toggle Mode memory, than Silicon Power is even more at fault in not specifying which capacities have Toggle Mode memory, and are to blame for not covering up the Toggle Mode memory icon on the boxes of specfic capacities that do not have this feature or even mentioning which ones specifically have Toggle Mode memory on their website. You cannot just use the same box.
I think the famous Forrest Gump quote puts it the best when talking about the Silicon Power Slim S70: Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.
