The Solidigm P41 Plus is the successor to the Intel 670p and uses the same QLC flash but with a DRAM-less PCIe 4.0 design. QLC has sustained performance limitations, but the hybrid pSLC cache overcomes this weakness well. This drive isn’t particularly power efficient, but it runs cool, doesn’t break the bank, and like its predecessor is ideally suited for general laptop and desktop PC use. The drive’s new controller has proven capable, but there remains stiff competition in the market, including drives such as Crucial’s P3 Plus.
Solidigm was officially launched last December as part of the larger Intel-SK hynix deal, in which SK hynix acquired Intel’s NAND and SSD business. Solidigm is a subsidiary of SK hynix. SK hynix recently announced two excellent of his SSDs, Gold P31 and Platinum P41.
The new P41 Plus uses the same flash as the Intel 670p, but SK hynix has its own 176-layer QLC based on a different architecture. The drive’s controller is also new, but with the same focus as the 670p. In other words, strong everyday performance. Combined, these make the P41 Plus his drive designed for OEMs, pre-assembled laptops, budget builds, and more.
Solidigm took Intel’s foundation from 660p, 665p, and 670p drives and did their homework to apply their own knowledge to create a capable SSD. Solidigm released a wealth of information in a webinar ahead of the drive’s release. Special emphasis is placed on drives designed for real-world workloads. Solidigm also offers a suitable software package for the P41 Plus that includes drivers that introduce additional features that improve your everyday experience, such as new types of caching.
Does it live up to the hype? Modern PCIe 4.0 SSDs are ahead of the curve with new controllers and flash. However, Solidigm may find it difficult to find a foothold in the current market. Especially as prices continue to fall. SK hynix’s parent created a popular drive that often struggled to achieve global availability.Time will tell about Solidigm, but the P41 Plus is a first effort seems to be excellent.
specification
| product | 512GB | 1TB | 2TB |
|---|---|---|---|
| price | $49.99 | $89.99 | $169.99 |
| Capacity (User / Raw) | 512GB / 512GB | 1024GB / 1024GB | 1024GB / 1024GB |
| form factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| interface/protocol | PCIe 4.0 x 4 | PCIe 4.0 x 4 | PCIe 4.0 x 4 |
| controller | SMI SM2269XT | SMI SM2269XT | SMI SM2269XT |
| DRAM | No (HMB) | No (HMB) | No (HMB) |
| flash memory | 144-layer Solidigm QLC | 144-layer Solidigm QLC | 144-layer Solidigm QLC |
| Sequential read | 3,500MBps | 4,125MBps | 4,125MBps |
| Sequential write | 1,625MBps | 2,950MBps | 3,325MBps |
| random read | 115K | 225K | 390K |
| random write | 390K | 520K | 540K |
| safety | none | none | none |
| Endurance (TBW) | 200TB | 400TB | 800TB |
| part number | SSDPFKNU512GZX1 | SSDPFKNU010TZX1 | SSDPFKNU020TZX1 |
| guarantee | 5 years | 5 years | 5 years |
The Solidigm P41 Plus is available in 512GB, 1TB and 2TB. This is comparable to its predecessor, the Intel 670p, and Solidigm doesn’t offer a 4TB option like the Crucial P3 Plus. This drive uses the same flash as the 670p, no DRAM, but a similar controller when new. Performance is rated at up to 4125/3325 MBps for sequential reads and writes, and up to 390K/540K IOPS for random reads and writes. It’s not as fast as other mid-range PCIe 4.0 SSDs. Solidigm may have chosen consistency and reliability over peak performance.
Solidigm backs this with a 5-year warranty and 400 TB of write endurance per 1 TB of capacity. This level of write endurance is pretty good for QLC and easily beats the P3 Plus. It also has a low MSRP across all densities, making it an affordable option. However, as with 670p, 512GB is probably best avoided unless budget is a top priority. Higher capacity allows better utilization of dense QLC and correspondingly larger pSLC caches to better hide native performance penalties.
Software and accessories
Solidigm offers several software for the P41 Plus including Solidigm Storage Tool (SST), Solidigm Firmware Update Tool (SFUT) and Solidigm Synergy Software (SSS). SST works like an SSD toolbox with a GUI, command line (CLI) capabilities, and includes SMART with utilities for secure erase, firmware updates, and other diagnostics. Provides information about the drive. SFUT is a USB or CD bootable tool that can be used to update the drive’s firmware.
Apart from SST, SSS includes storage drivers for the P41 Plus that provide additional functionality. Specifically, this improves the communication path between the host and storage. This optimizes how data is stored by using host metadata to detect what kind of data is stored and how users tend to use that data. Such drivers also allow the host to manage caching (HMC), prefetching, and data queuing through NVMe to transparently improve performance. The P41 Plus can also do read caching from the pSLC.
This type of hierarchical caching reminds me of Enmotus FuzeDrive which can have separate pSLC and QLC sections. In that case, you could improve performance and durability, but you also needed a dedicated driver. Solidigm says on her website that its drivers can improve performance by up to 21%. We have tested this feature and it did not affect our normal benchmarks. You may actually see an improvement, but this depends on how you use the drive.
look carefully
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The P41 Plus has labels on the front and back. The front label uses an attractive purple background color to display the subsidiary’s logo and name. A rear label provides detailed information about the drive. A single-sided SSD with a controller and just two NAND packages, made possible by using high-density QLC.
The controller is a Silicon Motion (SMI) SM2269XT. This controller appears in his SSDs in the Micron 2400 OEM series and these drives are paired with Micron’s 176-layer QLC. The performance characteristics of this controller rival competing products such as the InnoGrit IG5220, Phison E21T, and his WD proprietary design on the SN770.
SMI is a bit behind the game with its new PCIe 4.0 controller, partly due to moving from Cortex-R5 to Cortex-R8 based. The latter offers significantly better performance per clock, but there are other differences as well. So, while not necessarily more efficient, his 12nm dual-core design in SM2269XT should keep it competitive.
The flash package is labeled 29F08T4A0CQK2. This is from Intel, 8Tb or 1TB per package, and 144 layers (K) generation. This is currently Solidigm NAND, but as announced at ISSCC 2022, SK hynix has its own 176-layer QLC. This particular 144-layer flash is also used in the Intel 670p and utilizes the floating gate architecture. SK hynix’s QLC is a charge trap flash, much like Micron’s 176-layer QLC. The performance of all these flashes are essentially equivalent.
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