The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD is the first SanDisk solid state drive to feature their 64-layer 3D NAND technology that delivers higher storage capacities, performance and endurance, with lower power consumption. Let’s see if the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD delivers on that promise!
The SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD Family
The SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD family consists of four models built upon the same technology. They mainly differ in storage capacities, with some performance characteristics. Here’s a table comparing their key specifications :
| Specifications | 2 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 500 GB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 250 GB SanDisk Ultra 3D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model Number | SDSSDH3-2T00 | SDSSDH3-1T00 | SDSSDH3-500G | SDSSDH3-250G |
| Storage Capacity | 2048 GB (Total) 2000 GB (Effective) | 1024 GB (Total) 1000 GB (Effective) | 512 GB (Total) 500 GB (Effective) | 256 GB (Total) 250 GB (Effective) |
| Overprovisioning | 48 GB (2.4 %) | 24 GB (2.4 %) | 12 GB (2.4 %) | 6 GB (2.4 %) |
| SSD Controller | Marvell 88SS1074-BSW2 | Marvell 88SS1074-BSW2 | Marvell 88SS1074-BSW2 | Marvell 88SS1074-BSW2 |
| NAND Flash Type | 64-layer WD 3D NAND (BiCS3) | 64-layer WD 3D NAND (BiCS3) | 64-layer WD 3D NAND (BiCS3) | 64-layer WD 3D NAND (BiCS3) |
| SDRAM Cache | None | None | 512 MB DDR3 | 256 MB DDR3 |
| Interface | SATA 6 Gb/s | SATA 6 Gb/s | SATA 6 Gb/s | SATA 6 Gb/s |
| Peak Sequential Read | 560 MB/s | 560 MB/s | 560 MB/s | 550 MB/s |
| Peak Sequential Write | 530 MB/s | 530 MB/s | 530 MB/s | 525 MB/s |
| Random Read I/O | 95,000 IOPS | 95,000 IOPS | 95,000 IOPS | 95,000 IOPS |
| Random Write I/O | 84,000 IOPS | 84,000 IOPS | 84,000 IOPS | 81,000 IOPS |
| Write Endurance | 500 TB | 400 TB | 200 TB | 100 TB |
| Slumber Power | 56 mW | 56 mW | 56 mW | 56 mW |
| DEVSLP Power | 5-12 mW | 5-12 mW | 5-7 mW | 5-7 mW |
| Ambient Temperature Range | 0°C to 70°C (Operating) | 0°C to 70°C (Operating) | 0°C to 70°C (Operating) | 0°C to 70°C (Operating) |
| Vibration Range | 5.0 gRMS, 10-2,000 Hz (Operating) 4.9 gRMS, 7-800 Hz (Non-Operating) | 5.0 gRMS, 10-2,000 Hz (Operating) 4.9 gRMS, 7-800 Hz (Non-Operating) | 5.0 gRMS, 10-2,000 Hz (Operating) 4.9 gRMS, 7-800 Hz (Non-Operating) | 5.0 gRMS, 10-2,000 Hz (Operating) 4.9 gRMS, 7-800 Hz (Non-Operating) |
| Shock | 1,500 G @ 0.5 ms half sine | 1,500 G @ 0.5 ms half sine | 1,500 G @ 0.5 ms half sine | 1,500 G @ 0.5 ms half sine |
| Warranty | 3 Years | 3 Years | 3 Years | 3 Years |
| Dimensions | 100.5 mm x 69.85 mm x 7.0 mm | 100.5 mm x 69.85 mm x 7.0 mm | 100.5 mm x 69.85 mm x 7.0 mm | 100.5 mm x 69.85 mm x 7.0 mm |
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD Up Close!
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) comes in a deceptively light cardboard box. Let’s unbox it and take a closer look!
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) is a low-profile 2.5″ drive, with a thickness of only 7 mm. This is thinner than the regular 9.5 mm drives, making it suitable for all 2.5″ drive bays, even in thin laptops.
Next Page > 3D NAND, nCache 2.0 Technology, SSD Controller & SATA Interface
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The WD 3D NAND Technology
Western Digital first announced their 64-layer 3D NAND technology, also known as BiCS3, last year. However, it was only slated for commercial volume production in the first half of 2017.
BiCS3 was developed jointly with their technology and manufacturing partner, Toshiba. It not only uses 64-layers, but also 3-bits-per-cell technology to achieve high capacity (256 to 512 gigabits per chip) and performance at a much lower cost.
SanDisk nCache 2.0 Technology
SanDisk nCache 2.0 is a proprietary pseudo-SLC caching technology that greatly increases the write performance of the solid state drive. Here is an old infographic (from their Ultra II SSD) that shows how it works :
A small portion (about 4%) of the NAND memory blocks are set to run in the SLC mode, which allows for a much higher write speed. This SLC portion serves as a fast write cache for all writes to the drive, allowing for write speeds of up to 530 MB/s.
The data is later transferred to the TLC portion using the special On Chip Copy feature. This proprietary feature allows the transfer to occur internally on-die without affecting any other transfers.
In a 1TB drive, about 40 GB is reserved for use as the nCache 2.0 write cache. That translates into an effective write cache size of about 13 GB.
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The Marvell 88SS1074 SSD Controller
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) uses the Marvell 88SS1074 SSD controller, which boasts the following key features :
- Supports up to 4 NAND channels, with up to 8 NAND chips per channel
- Features Marvell’s third-generation NANDEdge low-density parity check (LDPC) technology
- Supports SATA 3.2 (6.0 Gbps)
- Toggle 2 and ONFI2 support at up to 400 MT/s
- Integrated DEVSLP (Device Sleep) mode for low power support
- Supports 256-bit AES hardware encryption
- Built on 28 nm CMOS process
The Marvell NANDEdge LDPC technology allows for reliable on-the-fly error correction of the 3-bit TLC flash memory, with minimal impact on latency, performance and power consumption.
However, the Marvell 88SS1074 is likely to fall short in sustained throughput, because it only supports 4 NAND channels. Competing controllers like the Phison S10, for example, boast 8 NAND channels, allowing twice as many NAND chips to be accessed simultaneously.
SATA 6 Gb/s Interface
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) is a Serial ATA drive, with native support for SATA 6 Gb/s interface. It is backward-compatible, so you will have no problem using it with older SATA 3 Gb/s controllers. However, the faster SATA 6 Gb/s interface is necessary for optimal performance because this SSD is capable of a peak transfer rate of 560 MB/s.
Like all Serial ATA drives, it comes with the standard SATA data (left) and power (right) connectors, and is hot-pluggable. That means you can connect and disconnect this solid state drive while the PC is still running. There is no jumper block, because there’s really nothing for you to set. It’s just plug and play!
Next Page > SSD Endurance & Maintenance
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SSD Endurance
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) is rated for a lifetime write lifespan of 400 TBW (Terabytes Written). That does not seem like a lot (equal to overwriting the drive just 400 times), but it is considered enterprise-grade endurance. Many consumer-grade SSDs of equivalent capacity are rated at around 75-100 TBW.
Based on a typical consumer DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day) of 20 GB per day, this 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) will last at least 54 years.
Please note that this long lifespan is due to the large capacity. The 500 GB and 250 GB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs are rated at 200 TBW and 100 TBW respectively. That corresponds to an estimated lifespan of 27 years and 13.5 years respectively.
Like all other current SSDs, the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) comes with certain features to help extend its lifespan :
Wear Levelling
Unlike hard disk drives, flash-based SSDs write and overwrite data in large blocks of 512 KB to 1 MB in size. Even if you only need to write one byte of data, it has to erase and overwrite an entire block. This causes a lot of wear on the memory cells and greatly reduces their lifespan.
To help extend the lifespan of the drive, SSDs perform wear levelling by spreading the writes, so that the flash memory cells have equal wear. The lifespan of the memory cells remain unchanged, but it prevents some of them from failing earlier due to excessive wear.
Write Combine Cache
SSDs also use a write buffer to temporarily store and combine the writes before they are actually written to the flash memory. This reduces the number of block erases required, and consequently, extends the lifespan of the flash memory cells.
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) uses the aforementioned nCache 2.0 technology instead of a dedicated SDRAM write combine cache. It reserves about 4% of the NAND blocks and uses them in the SLC mode.
The resulting nCache 2.0 write cache may not be as fast as an SDRAM cache, but it is much larger in size. The 1TB WD Blue SSD, for example, boasts a large 1 GB DDR3L memory cache, but that is nothing compared to the 13 GB (or so) SLC cache in the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD.
TRIM
Current SSDs support the TRIM command, otherwise known as the ATA8-ACS-2 DATA SET MANAGEMENT command. Operating systems that support TRIM (e.g. Microsoft Windows 7) will notify the SSD when data blocks are deleted in the file system. This allows the SSD to perform garbage collection in the background – internally erasing the affected blocks so that they are ready to be written to.
Without the TRIM command, the SSD will not know when a block of data has been deleted by the operating system. When new data is written to the same block of data, it will force the SSD to perform the time-consuming read-erase-modify-write cycle, which not only cripples performance but also increases wear on the affected memory cells.
Multi-Stream
This is a new SSD technology that was introduced in May 2015, as part of the T10 SCSI Standard. Multi-stream greatly improves performance and extends lifespan by reducing or even eliminating garbage collection.
It achieves this by marking data writes that are associated with one another, or have a similar lifetime, with a unique stream ID. This allows the SSD controller to pack all data writes with the same stream ID into the same block.
When the operating system deletes data, it is likely that they are all packed into the same block. If the block has not been written to the SSD, then this eliminates the pending write operation completely. If the block has been written to the SSD, then this would only require that single block to be erased, instead of multiple blocks (which would happen if the data was not all packed into the same block).
SSD Maintenance
First of all, you should never, ever defragment solid state drives. Spatial fragmentation of data on the SSD has no effect on its performance. Fragmented data are accessed as quickly as nicely-packed blocks, so it’s pointless to defragment the data blocks. Doing so will only reduce the lifespan of the flash memory cells by putting them under additional wear.
3D NAND flash memory will only last about 1,000 erase/write cycles – about the same as TLC NAND memory. You will want to minimise the number of times each flash memory cell is erased.
[adrotate group=”2″]You should also use an operating system that supports the TRIM command. If you are using one of the following operating systems, then you have nothing to worry about :
- Microsoft Windows 7, or better
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, or better
- Linux 2.6.33, or better
- FreeBSD 8.2, or better
- Mac OS X Snow Leopard, or better
If not, you should consider upgrading your operating system. Otherwise, you will need to perform manual garbage collection on a regular basis, either using a manufacturer utility, or newer defragmentation software that specifically supports solid state drives.
Basically, these utilities will retrieve the list of free blocks from the operating system’s file system and pass it to the SSD in the form of TRIM commands, so that it will know which blocks to erase internally. Again, these utilities are not necessary if you are using an operating system that supports TRIM.
Next Page > Over-Provisioning, Capacity, Transfer Rate Profile, WinBench Results & Transfer Rate Range
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Testing The SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD
| Processors | Intel Core i7-2600K |
| Motherboard | Intel DP67BG |
| Memory | Four Kingmax 2 GB DDR3-1333 modules |
| Graphics Card | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 |
| SSD & HDD Drives | 8 TB Western Digital Gold 1 TB + 120 GB WD Black² 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD 1TB WD Blue SSD 1 TB WD VelociRaptor 256 GB OCZ Vector 240 GB HyperX Savage 240 GB Intel 520 Series 160 GB Intel X25-M G2 120 GB OCZ Vertex 2 (E) |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 64-bit Microsoft Windows Vista 32-bit |
Testing Methodology
Over-Provisioning & Usable Capacity
This 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) has a maximum storage capacity of 1,024 GB, courtesy of eight 128 GB SanDisk 3D NAND chips. Of that, a mere 24 GB has been set aside for garbage collection, wear levelling and replacement of failing blocks.
After it is formatted in NTFS, the actual formatted capacity is 1,000,202,039,296 bytes. This is slightly (202 MB) more than the official formatted capacity of 1,000 GB.
With about 124 MB of space allocated to the NTFS file system, the actual usable capacity is just above 1,000 GB.
Transfer Rate Profile
We compared the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) to the 1TB WD Blue SSD. As you can see, it has a sustained throughput of about 410 MB/s, which makes it almost twice as fast as the 1TB WD Blue SSD, which uses TLC NAND memory.
Business Disk WinBench 99
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) virtually matched the 1TB WD Blue SSD in this test.
| Drive Model | Capacity | Business Disk WinMark 99 |
Difference | Useful Links | |
| Intel 520 Series | 240 GB | 77.7 MB/s | + 25.3% | Review | Lowest $ |
| OCZ Vertex 2 (E) | 120 GB | 74.4 MB/s | + 20.0% | Review | Lowest $ |
| Western Digital Black² | 120 GB | 63.1 MB/s | + 1.8% | Review | Lowest $ |
| OCZ Vector | 256 GB | 62.1 MB/s | + 0.2% | Review | Lowest $ |
| SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB | 62.0 MB/s | Baseline | – | Lowest $ |
| WD Blue SSD | 1 TB | 62.0 MB/s | – | Review | Lowest $ |
| HyperX Savage | 240 GB | 61.9 MB/s | – 0.2% | Review | Lowest $ |
| Intel X25-M G2 | 160 GB | 50.4 MB/s | – 23.0% | Review | Lowest $ |
| WD VelociRaptor | 1 TB | 29.8 MB/s | – 51.9% | Review | Lowest $ |
| WD Gold | 8 TB | 23.3 MB/s | – 62.4% | Review | Lowest $ |
High-End Disk WinBench 99
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) did very well in the High-End test, beating virtually all other competitors, except for the 240 GB HyperX Savage and the 240 GB Intel 520 Series SSDs.
| Drive Model | Capacity | High-End Disk WinMark 99 |
Difference | Useful Links | |
| Intel 520 Series | 240 GB | Beyond limit | NA | Review | Lowest $ |
| OCZ Vector | 256 GB | Beyond limit | NA | Review | Lowest $ |
| SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB | 277 MB/s | Baseline | – | Lowest $ |
| HyperX Savage | 240 GB | 262 MB/s | – 5.7% | Review | Lowest $ |
| OCZ Vertex 2 (E) | 120 GB | 250 MB/s | – 10.8% | Review | Lowest $ |
| Western Digital Black² | 120 GB | 246 MB/s | – 12.6% | Review | Lowest $ |
| WD Blue SSD | 1 TB | 62.0 MB/s | – 25.9% | Review | Lowest $ |
| Intel X25-M G2 | 160 GB | 215 MB/s | – 128.8% | Review | Lowest $ |
| WD VelociRaptor | 1 TB | 172 MB/s | – 161.0% | Review | Lowest $ |
| WD Gold | 8 TB | 23.3 MB/s | – 208.3% | Review | Lowest $ |
Transfer Rate Range
This chart shows you the range of memory cell-to-controller transfer rates for SSDs, or the range of platter-to-buffer transfer rates from the innermost track to the outermost track in HDDs.
Despite boasting an official peak read speed of 560 MB/s, the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) could only hit 411 MB/s. That is impressive in its own right, but puts it below the 256 GB OCZ Vector and the 240 GB HyperX Savage SSDs.
Next Page > IO Meter Benchmark Results
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IO Meter
We compared the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) against the 1TB WD Blue SSD. If you wish to see how the SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD compares to other solid state drives, take a look at our Solid State Drive Performance Comparison Guide, which we will be updating shortly.
Throughput (Random Access)
| Test | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 512 KB Read | 388.48 MB/s | 239.84 MB/s | + 62.0% |
| 512 KB Write | 494.05 MB/s | 257.09 MB/s | + 92.2% |
| 4 KB Read | 31.57 MB/s | 24.93 MB/s | + 26.6% |
| 4 KB Write | 75.97 MB/s | 53.31 MB/s | + 42.5% |
The small random reads and writes are the most important tests for applications that make a lot of random accesses, so these would be key performance indicators for SSDs that are often used as boot drives.
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) did incredibly well in this test, solidly beating the 1TB WD Blue SSD. Thanks to its built-in nCache 2.0 technology, it delivered almost twice the large random write performance of the 1TB WD Blue SSD!
Random Access Time
| Test | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 512 KB Read | 1.35 ms | 2.19 ms | – 38.3% |
| 512 KB Write | 1.06 ms | 2.04 ms | – 48.0% |
| 4 KB Read | 0.13 ms | 0.17 ms | – 22.8% |
| 4 KB Write | 0.05 ms | 0.08 ms | – 29.9% |
The random write performance of the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) was truly stellar, in comparison to the 1TB WD Blue SSD.
Random CPU Utilization
| Test | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 512 KB Read | 30.21 % | 7.16 % | + 321.9% |
| 512 KB Write | 29.72 % | 7.31 % | + 306.8% |
| 4 KB Read | 32.15 % | 9.94 % | + 223.4% |
| 4 KB Write | 35.61 % | 11.91 % | + 199.0% |
The only downside – the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) uses up a lot more CPU performance than the 1TB WD Blue SSD. About 3X more CPU performance, on average!
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IO Meter (Sequential Accesses)
We compared the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) against the 1TB WD Blue SSD. If you wish to see how the SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD compares to other solid state drives, take a look at our Solid State Drive Performance Comparison Guide, which we will be updating shortly.
Sequential Throughput
| Test | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 512 KB Read | 511.36 MB/s | 250.14 MB/s | + 104.4% |
| 512 KB Write | 494.07 MB/s | 255.54 MB/s | + 93.3% |
| 4 KB Read | 84.83 MB/s | 63.35 MB/s | + 33.9% |
| 4 KB Write | 75.63 MB/s | 59.15 MB/s | + 27.9% |
The sequential read and write performance indicators determine how fast you can copy and move files. This is also important in determining how fast you can launch an application or game.
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) did marvellously in this test, coming in twice as fast as the 1TB WD Blue SSD in large, sequential reads and writes. It also had a nice boost in small sequential read and write performance.
Sequential Access Time
| Test | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 512 KB Read | 1.02 ms | 2.10 ms | – 51.2% |
| 512 KB Write | 1.06 ms | 2.05 ms | – 48.3% |
| 4 KB Read | 0.05 ms | 0.07 ms | – 26.8% |
| 4 KB Write | 0.05 ms | 0.07 ms | – 22.1% |
Sequential CPU Utilization
| Test | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 512 KB Read | 30.17 % | 8.69 % | + 247.1% |
| 512 KB Write | 30.11 % | 5.76 % | + 422.7% |
| 4 KB Read | 36.07 % | 15.93 % | + 126.4% |
| 4 KB Write | 35.74 % | 15.42 % | + 131.9% |
Again, the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) took up a significant amount of CPU processing power.
Next Page > IOPS Scaling Results
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IOPS Scaling (Random)
In these tests, we tested the drive’s ability to tackle multiple input/output operations. We compared the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) against the 1TB WD Blue SSD. For more performance comparisons, please take a look at the Solid State Drive Performance Comparison Guide.
Even though the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) is rated for enterprise-class endurance, its Marvell 88SS1074 controller is just not capable of handling too many simultaneous operations. It appears to handle up to 8 simultaneous transactions.
Its nCache 2.0 technology appears to have compensated for its limited NAND channels, allowing it greatly supersede the performance of the 1TB WD Blue SSD, even though they both use the same SDD controller.
4 KB Random Read
| Outstanding I/Os | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 1 | 7,706 IOPS | 6,086 IOPS | + 26.6% |
| 8 | 46,752 IOPS | 38,444 IOPS | + 21.6% |
| 32 | 64,618 IOPS | 36,145 IOPS | + 78.8% |
4 KB Random Write
| Outstanding I/Os | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 1 | 18,547 IOPS | 13,015 IOPS | + 42.5% |
| 8 | 49,086 IOPS | 39,066 IOPS | + 25.6% |
| 32 | 52,569 IOPS | 39,115 IOPS | + 34.4% |
512 KB Random Read
| Outstanding I/Os | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 1 | 741 IOPS | 457 IOPS | + 62.0% |
| 8 | 1,078 IOPS | 537 IOPS | + 101.0% |
| 32 | 1,078 IOPS | 544 IOPS | + 98.1% |
512 KB Random Write
| Outstanding I/Os | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 1 | 942 IOPS | 490 IOPS | + 92.2% |
| 8 | 952 IOPS | 522 IOPS | + 82.4% |
| 32 | 966 IOPS | 522 IOPS | + 85.2% |
IOPS Scaling (Sequential)
In these tests, we tested the drive’s ability to tackle multiple input/output operations. We compared the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) against the 1TB WD Blue SSD. For more performance comparisons, please take a look at the Solid State Drive Performance Comparison Guide.
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) did much better than the 1TB WD Blue SSD, even though they both use the same SDD controller.
4 KB Sequential Read
| Outstanding I/Os | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 1 | 20,709 IOPS | 15,466 IOPS | + 33.9% |
| 8 | 65,241 IOPS | 41,425 IOPS | + 57.5% |
| 32 | 65,160 IOPS | 37,963 IOPS | + 71.6% |
4 KB Sequential Write
| Outstanding I/Os | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 1 | 18,465 IOPS | 14,440 IOPS | + 27.9% |
| 8 | 51,812 IOPS | 38,840 IOPS | + 33.4% |
| 32 | 50,670 IOPS | 39,188 IOPS | + 29.3% |
512 KB Sequential Read
| Outstanding I/Os | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 1 | 975 IOPS | 477 IOPS | + 104.4% |
| 8 | 1,070 IOPS | 544 IOPS | + 96.6% |
| 32 | 1,045 IOPS | 540 IOPS | + 93.4% |
512 KB Sequential Write
| Outstanding I/Os | 1 TB SanDisk Ultra 3D | 1 TB WD Blue SSD | Difference |
| 1 | 942 IOPS | 487 IOPS | + 93.3% |
| 8 | 1,048 IOPS | 521 IOPS | + 100.9% |
| 32 | 1,008 IOPS | 521 IOPS | + 93.4% |
Next Page > AS SSD Benchmark Results
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AS SSD Benchmark
AS SSD Benchmark is a simple and easy-to-use SSD benchmark by Alex Intelligent Software. It not only tests the drive’s sequential transfer rates and access times, but also its performance at both single-threaded and multi-threaded 4K IOPS.
Sequential Transfers
| Drive Model | Read + Write Average | Difference | Quick Links |
| HyperX Savage | 516.0 MB/s | + 4.6% | Price, Review |
| OCZ Vector | 500.3 MB/s | + 1.4% | Price, Review |
| SanDisk Ultra 3D | 493.5 MB/s | Baseline | Price |
| Intel 520 Series | 293.9 MB/s | – 40.4% | Price, Review |
| Western Digital Black² | 280.6 MB/s | – 43.1% | Price, Review |
| WD Blue SSD | 260.2 MB/s | – 47.3% | Price, Review |
| Intel X25-M G2 | 179.0 MB/s | – 63.7% | Price, Review |
| OCZ Vertex 2 (E) | 172.3 MB/s | – 65.1% | Price, Review |
Single-Threaded 4K IOPS Performance
| Drive Model | Read + Write Average | Difference | Quick Links |
| SanDisk Ultra 3D | 48.1 MB/s | Baseline | Price |
| Intel 520 Series | 45.7 MB/s | – 4.9% | Price, Review |
| OCZ Vertex 2 (E) | 40.6 MB/s | – 15.5% | Price, Review |
| HyperX Savage | 40.2 MB/s | – 16.3% | Price, Review |
| OCZ Vector | 38.6 MB/s | – 19.7% | Price, Review |
| Western Digital Black² | 35.0 MB/s | – 27.3% | Price, Review |
| WD Blue SSD | 31.7 MB/s | – 34.1% | Price, Review |
| Intel X25-M G2 | 30.7 MB/s | – 36.2% | Price, Review |
Multi-Threaded 4K IOPS Performance
| Drive Model | Read + Write Average | Difference | Quick Links |
| SanDisk Ultra 3D | 347.3 MB/s | Baseline | Price |
| OCZ Vector | 338.6 MB/s | – 2.5% | Price, Review |
| HyperX Savage | 257.8 MB/s | – 25.8% | Price, Review |
| WD Blue SSD | 193.6 MB/s | – 44.3% | Price, Review |
| Intel 520 Series | 177.5 MB/s | – 48.9% | Price, Review |
| Western Digital Black² | 164.9 MB/s | – 52.5% | Price, Review |
| Intel X25-M G2 | 125.2 MB/s | – 64.0% | Price, Review |
| OCZ Vertex 2 (E) | 122.1 MB/s | – 64.9% | Price, Review |
Access Time
| Drive Model | Read + Write Average | Difference | Quick Links |
| HyperX Savage | 0.065 ms | – 14.6% | Price, Review |
| OCZ Vector | 0.067 ms | – 11.3% | Price, Review |
| SanDisk Ultra 3D | 0.076 ms | Baseline | Price |
| WD Blue SSD | 0.078 ms | + 3.3% | Price, Review |
| Intel X25-M G2 | 0.089 ms | + 17.2% | Price, Review |
| Western Digital Black² | 0.119 ms | + 57.0% | Price, Review |
| OCZ Vertex 2 (E) | 0.148 ms | + 95.4% | Price, Review |
| Intel 520 Series | 0.162 ms | + 113.9% | Price, Review |
Next Page > ATTO Disk Benchmark Results, Verdict & Award
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ATTO Disk Benchmark
ATTO Disk Benchmark is a free benchmark that allows you to compare the performance of solid state drives using a variety of transfer sizes. It also allows us to determine if the SSD performs data compression to improve performance, and extend lifespan.
I/O Comparison
| Results | Compressible Data | Non-Compressible Data | ||
| Minimum | Maximum | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Read Speed | 11.6 MB/s | 426.1 MB/s | 11.6 MB/s | 427.1 MB/s |
| Write Speed | 7.6 MB/s | 526.3 MB/s | 7.6 MB/s | 525.1 MB/s |
The Marvell 88SS1074 controller does not perform any data compression, which is why the performance results are the same for both compressible and non-compressible data. The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) reached its peak transfer rate with a block size of 1 MB.
Multiple I/O Comparison
| Results | Compressible Data | Non-Compressible Data | ||
| Minimum | Maximum | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Read Speed | 25.8 MB/s | 559 2 MB/s | 26.7 MB/s | 580.5 MB/s |
| Write Speed | 16.2 MB/s | 538.1 MB/s | 16.1 MB/s | 538.1 MB/s |
With just 8 simultaneous transactions, the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) reached its peak transfer rate with a block size of 128 KB.
Our Verdict & Award
The first 1 terabyte solid state drive we tested was the 1TB WD Blue (WDS100T1B0A) SSD. While it had a large storage capacity, high endurance and a affordable price point, it was not particularly fast.
That changed with the introduction of the 64-layer 3D NAND technology, which not only increases storage capacity and performance, but also reduces cost and power consumption. Now we can have our cake and eat it too.
The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) is the first SanDisk solid state drive to make use of the 64-layer 3D NAND technology and it sure impressed us with its performance.
Despite using the same SSD controller as the 1TB WD Blue, the 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) was twice as fast in large reads and writes. It accomplished this without using any SDRAM cache, thanks to nCache 2.0 technology.
[adrotate group=”2″]The 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (Price Check) will work well as a boot drive, thanks to its excellent small random performance. It will be particularly attractive as an upgrade option for laptops still running on hard disk drives, or smaller SSDs.
Just note that its high performance requires a significant amount of CPU performance. So make sure you pair it with a decent processor.
We like its combination of great performance, large storage capacity and lower cost so much, we think it deserves our Editor’s Choice Award. Great work, SanDisk!
SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD Price Check
The SanDisk Ultra 3D SSDs are available in storage capacities from 250 GB to 2 TB in the 2.5-inch / 7mm cased drive form factor.
- 2TB SanDisk Ultra 3D (SDSSDH3-2T00) : Price Check
- 1TB SanDisk Ultra 3D (SDSSDH3-1T00) : Price Check
- 500GB SanDisk Ultra 3D (SDSSDH3-500G) : Price Check
- 250GB SanDisk Ultra 3D (SDSSDH3-250G) : Price Check
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