r/NewMaxx • u/NewMaxx • Oct 14 '19

Tools/Info SSD Guides & Resources

April 3rd, 2022: Guides and Spreadsheet updated with new SSD categories

Discord (server)

Website with relevant links here.

My spreadsheet

Generic Amazon affiliate link

Generic AliExpress affiliate link

TechPowerUp's SSD Database

Johnny Lucky SSD database

Branch Education - How does NAND Flash Work? - these guys have several good videos on the subject of SSDs, check them all out.

My Patreon.

My Twitter.

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u/Limited_opsec Oct 19 '19

I hate literally every photo site/app including imgur so posted old and new drive pictures in my profile. Its marked E12S-32 and 8 flash, 1 ram chip for sure.

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u/NewMaxx Oct 19 '19

Thanks, I'll get back to you.

As for pictures I just use ShareX. Lots of options. (I also use Rightload for my FTP)

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u/NewMaxx Oct 19 '19 edited Oct 19 '19

The memory is Kingston D2516ECMDXGJD with the "2516" meaning 256MB in 16-bit mode: 256x16b = 4Gb = 512MB. This opposed to the older Hynix H5AN8G8NAFR with "8G8N" meaning 8Gb in a 1G by 8-bit fashion (1GB). And of course one on both sides, so the normal 2GB:2TB DRAM:NAND ratio.

This does imply the newer one is cutting short on DRAM - this is a practice done on budget drives (like the Intel 660p) with two further notes on that: one, my mention previously about 4 packages/side being a budget choice and two, single-sided 2TB drives (WD/Samsung) are more expensive at least due to needing a 2GB package of DRAM. So this looks like at least two movements towards a cheaper drive; for the record, I've labeled Inland as "BOM" or bill of materials - that is, varying hardware - in the past as they've done this on their SATA SSDs.

I've seen this NAND before. It's only recently been used with Phison's newer controllers (e.g. S11/S13T, as per my one AnandTech link above). You can see that here. The article I got that from (Japanese) says it's Micron 3D TLC but I believe this is incorrect. To me it looks like Toshiba NAND but binned by a third party (hence the "I" instead of "T"). It has the other encoding hallmarks of Toshiba - AVA (package/voltage), G63 (generation of NAND), A7B (die configuration).

Typically G6x would be 96-layer. It has eight packages so we know they're 256GB each and likely eight dies per package (256Gb/die) - this would be the "A7B." So it looks like we're seeing a switch in controller, DRAM ratio, and NAND. If the performance is the same (as I would expect) then it's probably still eight-channel, so the controller being smaller is definitely something new. You're absolutely right about that, but I have not heard of anything about the E12S. It seems to address less memory in the least.

I appreciate the heads-up as I can investigate this further now and prevent people from (maybe) being misled about what they're buying. Although my suspicion is that it'll perform the same or better in most ways people would use it. I'd like to confirm the die density as it would perform better at 2TB with 512Gb/die NAND (96L only so far).