China’s Semiconductor Ambitions Evident in New High-Performance SSDs Featuring YMTC’s 128-Layer NAND Flash.
While I’m accustomed to buying Chinese SSDs, it’s still a challenge for me to spend nearly $100 on a 2TB drive, especially from a lesser-known brand.
My previous experience with a Chinese SSD from a brand called “SomnAmbulist” was negative, as it used recycled NAND, the NAND manufacturer and specifications were concealed, and it failed in less than a year.
Nevertheless, the allure of cost-effectiveness is hard to resist. This time, I purchased an SSD from a brand called Fanxiang.
UNBOXING
The packaging is a box featuring a Peking Opera mask design. It definitely has a… Chinese aesthetic.
Inside the package, the SSD itself is housed in a plastic case, along with a screwdriver and screws.
Oh, and it also includes a manual.
EQUIPMENT
I immediately installed it. My motherboard is a B650M PG Riptide, and the graphics card you can see next to it is a SOYO RX 6600M.
DETAIL
First, I’ll check the NAND flash memory. This can be done using a Maxio controller utility.
The controller used is the Maxio MAP1602, and for the NAND flash, it utilizes four 512GB 128-layer chips from YMTC.
Checking with CrystalDiskInfo, I don’t see any unusual or concerning details.
Finally, we have the dirty test. The average speed exceeds 5000MB/s, and even after the caching stage, there’s no significant drop in performance. Since the advent of HMB, NVMe SSD speeds have become less of a concern.
OVERALL
With discounts during sales on AliExpress, especially combined with coin discounts, you can purchase this SSD for under $100. It’s likely the best performing product in this price range.
I’m writing this review after using this SSD for nine months, and I haven’t encountered any stability issues. It does seem to get a bit warm, but it hasn’t caused any problems.
This product makes you understand why the US might be concerned about competition from China.