SK Hynix Gold P31 1 TB NVMe SSD PCIe x4 Benchmarked
Announced earlier this year at CES 2020, the Gold P31 NVMe SSD from SK Hynix is finally available on Amazon for a relatively low price of $135 USD. The drive is notable for its dense 128-layer 4D NAND flash compared to half that on alternatives like the Samsung PM981 commonly found on most laptops.
The Gold P31 series is shipping only in 500 GB and 1 TB capacities for now with similar read, write, and TBW values between each of them. Enterprise or professional users can consider the Platinum P31 series where TBW is doubled (1500 TB) for increased longevity.
| SK Hynix Gold P31 1 TB | Samsung PM981 1 TB | Kingston A2000 1 TB | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NAND Flash | 128-layer 4D NAND | 64-layer V-NAND | 96-layer TLC Flash |
| Controller | SK Hynix | Phoenix | SMI SM2263EN |
| Sequential Read | 3500 MB/s | 3200 MB/s | 2200 MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 3200 MB/s | 2400 MB/s | 2000 MB/s |
| Warranty | 5 years | -- | 5 years |
| TBW | 750 | -- | 600 |
| Price | $135 | $260 | $120 |
Test System
Our host system will be the 17.3-inch Eluktronics RP-17 gaming laptop equipped with the Ryzen 7 4800H and GeForce RTX 2060 GPU. The laptop supports up to two M.2 PCIe x4 2280 NVMe SSDs simultaneously to make it a good match for the Gold P31.
See our full review on the RP-17 for more information on the laptop.
AS SSD & CrystalDiskMark
CDM, AS SSD, and DiskSpd confirm the advertised read and write speeds of up to 3500 MB/s and 3200 MB/s, respectively, which are extremely fast rates considering the price. Keep in mind that you will need a PCIe x4 interface or else performance will be limited to about 2000 MB/s.
| Eluktronics SK Hynix Gold P31 SK Hynix Gold P31 1TB SHGP31-1000GM-2 | Intel NUC8i7BEH Asura NVMe SSD Asura Genesis Xtreme NVMe M.2 SSD 1 TB | Asus Zephyrus S17 GX701LXS Samsung PM981a MZVLB1T0HBLR | Kingston A2000 Kingston SA2000M81000G | Dell Precision 5000 5750 P92F Toshiba Kioxia XG6 KXG60PNV1T02 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS SSD | -27% | -42% | -32% | -54% | |
| Seq Read (MB/s) | 2211 | 2288 3% | 2744 24% | 1622 -27% | 2025 -8% |
| Seq Write (MB/s) | 2953 | 1908 -35% | 1351 -54% | 1936 -34% | 1438 -51% |
| 4K Read (MB/s) | 66.7 | 51.9 -22% | 47.24 -29% | 61 -9% | 38.77 -42% |
| 4K Write (MB/s) | 178.2 | 173.3 -3% | 109.1 -39% | 150.6 -15% | 96.9 -46% |
| 4K-64 Read (MB/s) | 1991 | 1222 -39% | 1118 -44% | 1098 -45% | 1105 -45% |
| 4K-64 Write (MB/s) | 2878 | 1829 -36% | 1926 -33% | 1041 -64% | 1435 -50% |
| Access Time Read * (ms) | 0.02 | 0.031 -55% | 0.064 -220% | 0.024 -20% | 0.08 -300% |
| Access Time Write * (ms) | 0.064 | 0.083 -30% | 0.034 47% | 0.075 -17% | 0.116 -81% |
| Score Read (Points) | 2279 | 1502 -34% | 1439 -37% | 1321 -42% | 1347 -41% |
| Score Write (Points) | 3352 | 2193 -35% | 2170 -35% | 1385 -59% | 1676 -50% |
| Score Total (Points) | 6841 | 4454 -35% | 4283 -37% | 3413 -50% | 3686 -46% |
| Copy ISO MB/s (MB/s) | 1787 | 1542 -14% | 1612 -10% | 2609 46% | |
| Copy Program MB/s (MB/s) | 1199 | 747 -38% | 703 -41% | 740 -38% | |
| Copy Game MB/s (MB/s) | 1725 | 1577 -9% | 1425 -17% | 1624 -6% | |
| CrystalDiskMark 5.2 / 6 | 9% | -22% | -6% | -27% | |
| Write 4K (MB/s) | 209.9 | 272.4 30% | 120 -43% | 193.7 -8% | 103.5 -51% |
| Read 4K (MB/s) | 60.5 | 57.1 -6% | 45.24 -25% | 71 17% | 44.56 -26% |
| Write Seq (MB/s) | 3072 | 2019 -34% | 2090 -32% | 2044 -33% | 1934 -37% |
| Read Seq (MB/s) | 2716 | 1701 -37% | 2246 -17% | 1992 -27% | 1937 -29% |
| Write 4K Q32T1 (MB/s) | 453.3 | 844 86% | 392.5 -13% | 623 37% | 372.9 -18% |
| Read 4K Q32T1 (MB/s) | 523 | 884 69% | 348.4 -33% | 704 35% | 358.9 -31% |
| Write Seq Q32T1 (MB/s) | 3405 | 2110 -38% | 3015 -11% | 2173 -36% | 2894 -15% |
| Read Seq Q32T1 (MB/s) | 3461 | 3463 0% | 3445 0% | 2279 -34% | 3082 -11% |
| Write 4K Q8T8 (MB/s) | 1072 | ||||
| Read 4K Q8T8 (MB/s) | 1167 | ||||
| Total Average (Program / Settings) | -9% /
-14% | -32% /
-33% | -19% /
-23% | -41% /
-44% |
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
ATTO
ATTO tests transfer rates across a wide range of block sizes to paint a bigger overall picture of drive performance. Results show read and write rates topping out at blocks of 32 KB or greater which is earlier than what we observed on the Lexar NM610 or Kingston KC2500. The drawback, however, is the much slower performance on very small block sizes of less than 8 KB.
| Eluktronics SK Hynix Gold P31 , , SK Hynix Gold P31 1TB SHGP31-1000GM-2 | Western Digital Blue SN550 NVMe , , Western Digital Blue SN550 NVMe SSD 1 TB WDS100T2B0C | Samsung 960 Pro 1TB Titan X Pascal, E5-2680 v4, Samsung SSD 960 Pro 1TB m.2 NVMe | Kingston A2000 , , Kingston SA2000M81000G | Intel NUC8i7BEH Asura NVMe SSD Iris Plus Graphics 655, i7-8559U, Asura Genesis Xtreme NVMe M.2 SSD 1 TB | Walmart EVOO Gaming 17 Lexar NM610 , , Lexar NM610 1TB | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ATTO Disk Benchmark | -42% | -21% | -36% | -25% | -47% | |
| 8192KB write (KB/s) | 3260000 | 1830000 -44% | 2079890 -36% | 2000000 -39% | 1960000 -40% | 1570000 -52% |
| 4096KB write (KB/s) | 3260000 | 1760000 -46% | 2090010 -36% | 2000000 -39% | 1960000 -40% | 1580000 -52% |
| 2048KB write (KB/s) | 3260000 | 1760000 -46% | 2090010 -36% | 1860000 -43% | 1970000 -40% | 1580000 -52% |
| 1024KB write (KB/s) | 3260000 | 1780000 -45% | 2100230 -36% | 1760000 -46% | 1960000 -40% | 1610000 -51% |
| 512KB write (KB/s) | 3260000 | 1810000 -44% | 2090010 -36% | 1940000 -40% | 1960000 -40% | 1600000 -51% |
| 256KB write (KB/s) | 3250000 | 1780000 -45% | 2098690 -35% | 2000000 -38% | 1920000 -41% | 1470000 -55% |
| 128KB write (KB/s) | 3240000 | 1780000 -45% | 2078800 -36% | 2000000 -38% | 1940000 -40% | 1580000 -51% |
| 64KB write (KB/s) | 3240000 | 1740000 -46% | 2073620 -36% | 1920000 -41% | 1870000 -42% | 1550000 -52% |
| 32KB write (KB/s) | 3080000 | 1640000 -47% | 2054220 -33% | 1760000 -43% | 1620000 -47% | 1510000 -51% |
| 16KB write (KB/s) | 1760000 | 1390000 -21% | 1102410 -37% | 1410000 -20% | 1160000 -34% | 1150000 -35% |
| 8192KB read (KB/s) | 3360000 | 2260000 -33% | 2960680 -12% | 2030000 -40% | 2970000 -12% | 1910000 -43% |
| 4096KB read (KB/s) | 3360000 | 2310000 -31% | 3019900 -10% | 2060000 -39% | 2960000 -12% | 1930000 -43% |
| 2048KB read (KB/s) | 3270000 | 2290000 -30% | 3026480 -7% | 1990000 -39% | 2920000 -11% | 1940000 -41% |
| 1024KB read (KB/s) | 3170000 | 2260000 -29% | 3263860 3% | 1870000 -41% | 2860000 -10% | 1940000 -39% |
| 512KB read (KB/s) | 3050000 | 1630000 -47% | 3197250 5% | 2060000 -32% | 2820000 -8% | 1860000 -39% |
| 256KB read (KB/s) | 2890000 | 2280000 -21% | 3230230 12% | 2080000 -28% | 3080000 7% | 1870000 -35% |
| 128KB read (KB/s) | 3020000 | 2070000 -31% | 3003310 -1% | 2070000 -31% | 2670000 -12% | 1700000 -44% |
| 64KB read (KB/s) | 3000000 | 1430000 -52% | 2458920 -18% | 2030000 -32% | 2550000 -15% | 1480000 -51% |
| 32KB read (KB/s) | 2780000 | 917140 -67% | 2432300 -13% | 1730000 -38% | 2190000 -21% | 1210000 -56% |
| 16KB read (KB/s) | 1600000 | 550840 -66% | 1257110 -21% | 1450000 -9% | 1440000 -10% | 799250 -50% |
Data Compression
Temperature
Verdict
Achieving both read and write rates of over 3000 MB/s each on a 1 TB SSD at this price range helps the Gold P31 stand out from competitors. It's a value drive that doesn't sacrifice performance when moving large files.
The main disadvantage of the drive is its slow performance when reading and writing small block sizes. Though most SSDs are poor in this regard, the P31 is notably worse at one-half or even one-fifth the speeds of the Lexar NM610 or Kingston KC2500 for <4 KB block sizes. If your workloads involve countless small files instead of larger ones, then we recommend looking elsewhere. For everyone else, the value and performance proposition of the Gold P31 series is hard to beat.
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