Apacer Panther AS330 240GB Solid State Drive Review

Apacer Panther AS330 240GB Apacer revealed their Panther memory products a while ago, and today I'm taking a closer look at the storage drive of the product family. The Apacer Panther AS330 SSD has capacity options up to 1TB and it comes in a traditional 2.5-inch form factor. That makes them ideal drives as a replacement for your ageing mechanical drive. The capacity options and form factor make the Panther SSD an ideal replacement for your ageing mechanical drive. You'll get a much better performance with shorter boot and loading times. It is less prone to damage by physical factors, consumes less power, and it makes no noise. Capacity Options When it comes to SSD purchases, users will opt for the largest version possibly by their budget. Budgets vary a lot and as such it's clever from Apacer to launch as many capacity options as they do. It starts out at a modest 120GB and goes over the 240GB model that I'm testing today. From there, it moves to the larger 480GB and 960GB models. As you see from the capacity ratings, the drives use part of the NAND for TLC caching, an easy way to improve the burst performance of a SSD. Performance Rating As mentioned in the previous section the Apacer Panther AS330 uses a pseudo-SLC (pSLC) mode where part of the NAND is run in SLC mode. This is an effective way to improve the performance of an SSD and it's something we see quite often. Further, the AS330 comes with DRAM for caching too. Those factors allow the AS330 to come with a performance rating of up to 545MB/s reading and 520MB/s writing on the largest capacity. The 240GB model is rated at 515MB/s read and 475MB/s write with a random IOPS performance of 95K/39K reading/writing. Controller and NAND Since I already started talking about the NAND, it's time to talk about the internal components. Apacer chose the Silicon Motion SM2258 controller and paired it with Toshiba 3D TLC NAND. TLC might not be as fast as MLC, but it's cheaper which is perfect for a budget or entry-level drive. Apacer also added a DRAM chip for further caching abilities. The controller, and thereby the drive, support S.M.A.R.T., Trim, and error correction code with up to 72bit/1KB. Endurance Apacer backs the drive with a 3-year warranty and an MTBF rating of 1 million hours. But those are just the worst-case figures. Generally speaking, a solid state drive like the AS330 is a lot more durable than a mechanical hard disk drive. The AS330 can withstand 20G vibrations and 500G shocks. It can operate in temperatures from zero to 70 degrees Celcius and in areas with up to 95% humidity. https://youtu.be/cQqKHaRyNwI Packaging and a Closer Look The Packaging The package is quite colourful. The front displays the name and capacity, but not the drive itself. On the back side are more details of the drive and the benefits of upgrading from an HDD to an SSD. The Accessories There are none, but there is a downloadable software toolbox which is available from the official website. The Details There aren't many details to cover with a 2.5-inch drive. One thing that isn't seen very often is the included protector cap for the power and SATA connections. While it isn't relevant once installed, it's a nice touch. The Apacer Panther AS330 is a classic 7mm drive which will make it fit almost any system. Testing & Methodology In a bid to make our testing as thorough and as accurate as possible, we have devised a testing methodology that will give us the maximum amount of data. While this means that testing each drive will take considerably longer – easily up 36 hours – the overall picture that we can gather is bigger too. It helps both you as the reader and us as the reviewer’s to gain a clearer view of the drive’s overall performance, strengths, and weaknesses. It also provides a more accurate analysis on how each drive performs under different conditions. Data Fillage There are many ways to test a storage drive, and we have chosen to include close to every test possible. We will start with a typical benchmark analysis of the formatted drive with various village scenarios. However, depending on how a drive is built, the performance may differ depending on how much data it is already storing. Testing this, the drive will be tested empty as well as with 25%, 50%, and 75% space usage. For these tests, we will be using Anvil’s Storage Utilities, AS SSD Benchmark, ATTO Benchmark, and CrystalDiskMark. Application and Gaming Besides these synthetic fill tests, the drive is tested with PCMark 8’s storage benchmark to get real-world performance results. Plain Drive Performance Following the fillage tests, the partition gets removed, and we check the drive’s raw performance. These tests will determine the hardware’s capabilities while eliminating any interference from the set file system. AIDA64’s storage benchmark and IOmeter are both great tools for this, and they help us paint an even clearer picture of the drive. The IOmeter tests I run are quite different from the rest as they will give a final result after a longer performance test rather than a maximum or average score; this gives us yet another view of the tested drive over the regular tests. Drive Conditioning Durability is a vital factor when it comes to NAND-based drives as the chips only can be rewritten so many times before they’ll stop working properly. Modern SSDs come with wear-level algorithms to increase the lifetime and reduce this factor as much as possible. We also take this into consideration in our reviews even tho it would take years to simulate this under real-world conditions. Luckily, Anvil’s Storage Utilities comes with an endurance test that can perform this action much faster, but it is still a time-consuming process. process. Depending on the hardware, this can easily take several days, and we write thousands and thousands of small files in various sizes and compressibility to drive over and over. Following this conditioning process, all of the previous benchmarks will be run again in the same scenarios and the same order. This will give us a great view on how a drive will perform after prolonged usage, and that is a very vital factor when you pick out your storage drive. The Preparation and In Between The drive will be formatted as NTFS with default settings, as most users will do. The quick format option isn't used as that might affect the performance the first time data is written. Modern operating systems all take care of the TRIM command in the background and it isn’t something to worry about for regular users. However, for these reviews, I will add a waiting period between each benchmark to make sure that the TRIM command has been fully executed and finished. After all, we want a clear picture of the drive’s performance with minimal interference from the operating system. On each page that follows with the benchmark results, I have inserted result screenshots from the benchmarks, created drive analysis chart for the fill-level performance, and added drive comparison charts where possible. Hardware Supermicro C7Z170-PG Intel Core i7-7700K Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR4 2400MHz (4x8GB) Toshiba OCZ VX500 512GB SSD be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 (1200W) Noctua NH-D15S Software AIDA64 Storage Benchmark Anvil's Storage Utilities AS SSD Benchmark ATTO Benchmark CrystalDiskMark IOMeter PCMark 8 Storage Benchmark Windows 10 AIDA64 AIDA64 is a streamlined Windows diagnostic and benchmarking software for home users with a broad range of features to assist in overclocking, hardware error diagnosis, stress testing, and sensor monitoring. The app has unique capabilities to assess the performance of the processor, system memory, and disk drives and is compatible with most Microsoft Windows operating systems. It also has a disk benchmark tool, and that is the one I'll be using. Fresh Drive The Linear Read and Write tests measure the sequential performance by reading or writing all sectors without skipping any. It gives us a view of the drives overall performance from start to end. The Random Read and Write tests measure the random performance by reading or writing variable-sized data blocks at random locations on the surface of the drive. The Random tests are a combination of both speed and access times as it moves the position before each new operation. The Access time tests are designed to measure the data access performance by reading or writing small 0.5KB data blocks at random locations on the drive surface. Conditioned Drive The Linear Read and Write tests measure the sequential performance by reading or writing all sectors without skipping any. It gives us a view of the drives overall performance from start to end. The Random Read and Write tests measure the random performance by reading or writing variable-sized data blocks at random locations on the surface of the drive. The Random tests are a combination of both speed and access times as it moves the position before each new operation. The Access time tests are designed to measure the data access performance by reading or writing small 0.5KB data blocks at random locations on the drive surface. Performance Analysis Anvil's Storage Utilities Anvil’s Storage Utilities is a complete benchmark solution used to test any writeable storage drive. It also has a drive endurance test that consistently reads and writes data to the selected medium to deliver days, months, and potentially even years of use in a shorter period. Such a feature is perfect for us reviewers as it allows us to show you how a drive will fare over a longer period. Fresh Drive Conditioned Drive Drive Performance Analysis Drive Comparison For the purpose of drive comparison, I will be using the performance figures from both unconditioned and conditioned tests with 0% data-fill. AS SSD Benchmark The AS SSD software determines the performance of Solid State Drives (SSD). The tool contains five synthetic and three practice tests. The synthetic tests determine the sequential and random read and write performance of the SSD, and they aren't using the operating system cache. Fresh Drive Conditioned Drive Performance Analysis Drive Comparison For the purpose of drive comparison, I will be using the performance figures from both unconditioned and conditioned tests with 0% data-fill. ATTO Disk Benchmark The ATTO Disk Benchmark performance measurement tool is compatible with Microsoft Windows. Measure your storage systems performance with various transfer sizes and test lengths for reads and writes. Several options are available to customise your performance measurement including queue depth, overlapped I/O and even a comparison mode with the option to run continuously. Use ATTO Disk Benchmark to test any manufacturers RAID controllers, storage controllers, host adapters, hard drives and SSD drives and notice that ATTO products will consistently provide the highest level of performance to your storage. Fresh Drive Conditioned Drive Performance Analysis Drive Comparison For the purpose of drive comparison, I will be using the performance figures from both unconditioned and conditioned tests with 0% data-fill. CrystalDiskMark CrystalDiskMark is a small HDD and SSD benchmark utility that allows you to measure a drive's sequential and random performance. Fresh Drive Conditioned Drive Performance Analysis Drive Comparison For the purpose of drive comparison, I will be using the performance figures from both unconditioned and conditioned tests with 0% data-fill. IOMeter IOMeter is an I/O subsystem measurement and characterization tool for single and clustered systems. As a benchmark and troubleshooting tool, it is configurable to replicate the behaviour of many popular applications. One commonly quoted measurement provided by the tool is IOPS. Sequential Performance Random 4K Performance Drive Comparison PCMark 8 Storage Benchmark PCMark 8 Storage benchmark tests the performance of SSDs, HDDs, and SSHD hybrid drives with traces recorded from Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office and a selection of games. You can test any recognised storage device, including local external drives. Unlike synthetic storage tests, the PCMark 8 Storage benchmark highlights real-world performance differences between storage devices. Fresh Drive Conditioned Drive Drive Comparison Final Thoughts Pricing and Availability The Apacer Panther AS330 with 240GB capacity can be a bit tricky to find. At the time of writing, Amazon UK has a listing for the 120GB model for £58.72 and the 480GB model for £183.13. We can expect the 240GB model to be right in between those two. Amazon US has the 240GB listed for $143.00. But that looks more like a placeholder. Overview Apacer built a classic budget drive without any large surprises. The 2.5-inch form factor and 4 capacity options make it valid options for a lot of people who wish to ditch their ageing mechanical drive with a faster and silent SSD. What does set the drive apart from the competition is the physical design of the drive chassis. The Panther logo and pattern give it a special look which might be appealing to those with the drive mounted in a visible area. It will also match Apacer's Panther RAM modules for a themed setup. The performance was as rated and there isn't much to say to the sequential speeds. The random speeds are something else and the drive exceeded the ratings by quite a bit. That's a surprising result, but a very welcome one. The drive did also do well at continues sequential operations, which usually is a problem for TLC-based drives. With the Apacer Pather AS330, you can experience faster load times, faster boot times, and a smoother overall experience. That is if you're currently using a mechanical drive. With up to 1TB capacity, there should be plenty of space for games, applications, and data files. Pros Solid performance Up to 1TB capacity 3-years warranty Cons TLC isn't as effective as MLC Neutral Physical design with Panther pattern "Apacer's Panther AS330 is a safe choice when upgrading from a mechanical drive to a modern solid state drive." We would like to thank Apacer for providing us with this sample.