PNY CS2150 2TB SSD review: More 'budget' PCIe 5.0 SSD goodness

The PNY CS2150 is another great budget PCIe 5.0 SSD with good all-around performance and high power efficiency.

Pros

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  Strong all-around performance
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  High power efficiency
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  Cool-running for a PCIe 5.0 SSD

Cons

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  Very limited capacity range

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  Pricing

The only thing better than a super-fast SSD is a super-fast SSD that doesn’t need a heatsink to maintain its speed. The PNY CS2150 promises just that, using newer controller tech in a svelte package that makes it hard to believe that this level of performance is just a cart-click away.

PNY has been in the memory business for quite a long time, and with SSDs it's probably best known for offering affordable second-look drives. This means drives that compete with big brand names using the same hardware at usually lower prices. Part of this strategy means having a smaller capacity range, especially with newer SSD hardware, to net sales with the most popular capacities.

Many other companies do this and often with larger ranges — Teamgroup comes to mind — but PNY has enough of a market presence that it doesn’t have to work too hard to compete. Right now, the CS2150 is one of the few options with efficient PCIe 5.0 hardware, and that lets the drive stand out even if it’s otherwise unremarkable and not priced aggressively.

This is a drive not only for those who want the PCIe 5.0 checkbox ticked — though that’s possibly an OEM PC builder’s dream — but by a wider audience who can appreciate the new technology. The drive is incredibly efficient and cool-running with excellent performance almost across the board. It can still hit the right notes in a 4.0 slot and is not limited to desktops as its power consumption and thermal output are both pretty low. Its main weaknesses are pricing and the lack of a 4TB SKU, but it’s positioned perfectly to be an excellent primary drive where you might not need that much space but still want top-tier responsiveness.

The PNY CS2150 is only available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, currently priced at $99.99 and $179.99, respectively. This is in line with the Corsair MP700 Elite

as sold without a heatsink, although the heatsinked MP700 Elite costs more. Currently the CS2150 is $10 less expensive at 1TB when comparing like for like, but for perspective that's $20 more than drives like the Samsung 990 EVO Plus

. You do pay a premium for full-fledged PCIe 5.0 SSDs. PNY tackles the two most popular capacities, which is a good move, but it lets the 990 EVO Plus and WD’s Black SN7100 edge it out at 4TB and 500GB respectively.

The CS2150 can hit up to 10,300 / 8,600 MB/s for sequential reads and writes and manages near this even at 1TB. This is one reason to omit a smaller, 500GB/512GB SKU, as performance at such a small capacity makes the PCIe 5.0 interface less valuable. Although PNY does not explicitly list the drive’s maximum IOPS, we can take a best guess on the hardware with probably around 1,300K / 1,400K for random reads and writes, the same as the MP700 Elite. PNY guarantees the drive for five years and up to 600TB of writes per TB capacity.

The PNY CS2150 is single-sided, which makes it a nice pick for systems that require or prefer thinner drives. Single-sided drives tend to be easier to cool and this form factor implies less heat output, so a drive like the CS2150 is an easy choice for laptops, HTPCs, and more.

This particular drive is DRAM-less, and like most DRAM-less drives it's only a four-channel controller rather than eight. That usually makes for a more efficient SSD as well, due to the lack of a DRAM module. The drive does not come with a heatsink but one can be applied during installation, from your motherboard or a third party. The drive’s rear label implies a peak power draw of around 7.26W — 3.3V / 2.2A — but according to SMART it caps out around 5.90W and in practice it uses less than that, as we'll show in our testing on the next page.

The PNY CS2150 uses the excellent Phison E31T SSD controller, which we’ve previously covered with a preview

and the review of the Corsair MP700 Elite

. The E31T is the first of a new generation of budget PCIe 5.0 controllers created using a smaller process node to handle higher I/O speeds with superior power efficiency. It's one of the best options for laptop users especially, though efficient and higher end drives and controllers are coming.

We’ve teased what is possible in our Silicon Motion SM2508

SSD controller preview and the more recent Micron 4600 review

. If you want the highest speeds but want better power efficiency, you’ll have to wait. In the meantime, drives like the CS2150 are a pretty good compromise.

The CS2150 uses Kioxia’s 218-Layer BiCS 8 TLC flash, which we’ve also seen on the recent WD Black SN7100

. This flash is performant and quite power-efficient, so it's a good match for the CS2150’s controller. You’re not missing out on any exciting technology by opting for this budget drive. On the contrary, the CS2150 represents the future of SSDs and exactly what you want in a retail storage solution: high performance, good power efficiency, and few if any drawbacks.

The main issues in the SSD market right now are, instead, pricing and availability. This can be especially troubling when looking for higher-capacity drives at a reasonable price. Perhaps even worse, there are rumblings that SSD prices may be heading back up again.

Shane Downing is a Freelance Reviewer for Tom’s Hardware US, covering consumer storage hardware.