Corsair Neutron GTX SSD Review (240GB): Link A Media Controller Tested
by Anand Lal Shimpi on August 20, 2012 6:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Storage
- SSDs
- Corsair
- Neutron
- Link a Media
The Neutron GTX
Corsair sent me a 240GB Neutron GTX. The non-GTX version uses ONFi NAND (Intel/Micron) while the GTX version uses Toggle NAND (Samsung/Toshiba). The controller supports capacities up to 1TB, however initial drives will be limited to 120, 240 and 480GB models when they're released later this month.
The Neutron GTX comes in a 7mm thick chassis with no outward facing screws. The PCB enclosure just snaps together.
Inside there's a smaller than normal PCB, held in place by three screws. There's a single 128MB DDR2-800 package on the back side of the PCB. Flipping it over reveals eight quad-die NAND packages, a second 128MB DDR2-800 DRAM device and the Link A Media LM87800 controller itself.
The Neutron
Brandishing a blue logo is the regular Neutron SSD, equipped with ONFi NAND:
Corsair sent along a 240GB drive, which uses 16 x 16GB Micron NAND packages and features the same 256MB of DDR2-800 as the GTX version. Spare area is identical to the GTX at 12.7% of total on-board NAND, the chassis and PCB layouts are the same as well. I tested the same 2.06 firmware on the regular Neutron as on the Neutron GTX. The only change here is the type of NAND used, everything else seems the same between these drives.
Pricing
Corsair sent us along pricing for the Neutron and Neutron GTX:
| Corsair Neutron/Neutron GTX Pricing | ||||
| 120GB | 240GB | |||
| Corsair Neutron | $119.99 | $209.99 | ||
| Corsair Neutron GTX | $139.99 | $249.99 | ||
Street pricing of SSDs can be highly volatile, but there's nothing too outrageous about these prices. The standard Neutron is priced where I'd like to see the GTX however.
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qwertymac93 - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Has more to do with SATA than NAND.SlyNine - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Thats Sata 3 limits. Not NAND flash.surt - Wednesday, August 22, 2012 - link
NAND can go faster. That's why products like the fusionio go to 2Gbps or higher. 500 is just the most you can get across a single sata3 connector.B3an - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
When will the Plextor M5 Pro review be up?I've seen some other reviews popping up and it's looking very good, maybe the best SSD around, but these other reviews are not as detailed as Anandtech reviews.
Kristian Vättö - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Some odd behavior with the M5 Pro came up which has delayed the review a bit. I'll try to have it ready in the next few days, then posting it is up to Anand.B3an - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Thanks Kristian... and i hope you mention what this odd behaviour was in the review.Movieman420 - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Too soon for a review...a pre-view maybe Anand?M5P will do for now tho..;)
jwcalla - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
At this point it seems that there is little, if any, real-world difference in the latest gen drives of similar NAND.seapeople - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Agreed. Crazy how everyone and his brother now has a blazing fast SSD out there that puts the x25-g2 to shame. Just three years ago we were happy when an SSD controller came out that didn't have stuttering issues.maximumGPU - Monday, August 20, 2012 - link
Agree with some of the previous comments, we need a comparison with the latest Plextor M5 pro.Btw Is the M5 pro the first to use Marvell's new controller, or is it the vertex 4?