PNY CS3250 2TB SSD Review - An Ultra Elite Enthusiast SSD

TweakTown Rating: 99%

Our Verdict

PNY's CS3250 2TB drive is the most powerful and efficient retail SSD currently in circulation.

Pros

• Throughput performance
• Real-world performance
• Single-sided design
• Efficiency

Cons

• None

Should you buy it?

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Buy at Amazon for $249.99 USD

Buy at Amazon for $1066.77 CAD

Buy at Amazon for £226.18

Introduction & Drive Details

PNY, as a longtime Phison partner, always delivers its own latest and greatest Phison-controlled consumer SSDs. This round, it's their enthusiast-focused CS3250 SSD powered by Phison's recently unleashed PCIe Gen5 x4 PS5028-E28 controller, better known as simply the "E28" controller. Phison's E28 controller has laid claim to the crown of the world's most powerful and efficient PCIe Gen5 controller, snatching both accolades away from Silicon Motion's recently launched SM2508 controller.

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For its CS3250 BOM, PNY is pairing Phison's E28 controller with Sandisk BiCS8 3D TLC NAND. This is the same component configuration as found on Corsair's MP700 Pro XT SSD we reviewed last month, so we already know that this SSD can and will deliver what is currently the world's highest and simultaneously most efficient performance.

According to Phison's internal testing, its E28 SSD controller runs so cool and is so power efficient that it makes for an ideal laptop computer storage upgrade. What's that you say? An 8-channel PCIe Gen5 SSD in a laptop? You read that correctly. E28 controlled SSDs can, in fact, run cooler and are more power efficient than typical PCIe Gen4 SSDs. Amazing. We have no independent verification of these claims; however, we can get a decent feel for the accuracy of these claims by running our standard heat test of CDM Sequentials 9x4:

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A maximum of 45c with nothing but a motherboard heatsink and zero airflow is, in our considered opinion, all the proof we need to see to consider these lofty claims to be valid. It runs cool, is single-sided and extremely power efficient, while at the same time it can deliver over 14,000 MB/s throughput, which sounds like the ideal gaming laptop upgrade to us.

Additionally, gamers take notes because the CS3250 is fortified with Phison's exclusive gaming firmware - fully optimized for DirectStorage. Microsoft's DirectStorage technology loads high-resolution, detailed game assets faster and maximizes I/O performance. When enabled, a properly equipped device can load up to 60% more gaming data with 99% less CPU utilization.

Now, let's get into this review so we can show you firsthand what PNY's 2TB CS3250 SSD can do for you by the numbers.

Drive Details

Further SSD Reading – Our Latest Reviews

• SK hynix Platinum P51 2TB SSD Review - A Powerful Gen5 Alternative
• Biwin Black Opal X570 Pro 8TB SSD Review - Massive Capacity with Elite Performance
• Samsung 9100 PRO 1TB SSD Review - Lab Champion at 1TB

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The drive we have in hand is Phison E28-controlled and Sandisk BiCS8 TLC arrayed. The drive is a preferred single-sided design. Like most PNY SSDs, its CS3250 is supported by free Acronis and SSD Toolbox software, enabling convenient features such as secure erase, system migration, and firmware updates directly from your desktop. Get them both HERE.

Jon's Test System Specifications

Intel Test System

AMD Test System

Please note: We employ an M.2 AIC for testing on our Intel Core Ultra 9 285K platform.

Best Deals: PNY CS3250 2TB SSD

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	$249.99 USD	$249.99 USD	$249.99 USD	Buy
	$1066.77 CAD	-	-	Buy
	£226.18	£241.17	£239	Buy
	$249.99 USD	$249.99 USD	$249.99 USD	Buy
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Sony PlayStation 5 - M.2 Storage Expansion

PS5 Read Performance

With Sony's wildly popular PlayStation 5 console now enabled for M.2 NVMe SSDs to be used as fast storage expansion, we are including results for PS5-compatible SSDs we test as a part of our reviews going forward.

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For SSDs that don't have an adequately sized PS5-compatible heatsink or other SSDs where the heatsink provided doesn't fit right and can be removed, we both use and recommend Sabrent's unparalleled PS5 heatsink available HERE.

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We only chart SSDs that can deliver a minimum of 5,500 MB/s read, which is Sony's original recommendation.

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Just as we've seen from Samsung's 9100 Pro and Corsair's MP700 Pro XT, PNY's fastest and most powerful SSD is not its fastest when employed for PS5 M.2 storage expansion. Performance here is acceptable if you just want to use it, and because it is so power-efficient, it shouldn't present any thermal issues if using a PS5-compatible heatsink.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, Max IOPS, ATTO

CrystalDiskMark

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We employ CDM as our standard measurement for both sequential throughput and 4K Q1T1 random read. Looking at our Intel platform results, sequential read checks are the fourth best we've achieved to date. Running on our AMD platform, we find our test subject exceeds PNY's up to a sequential read performance quote of 14,900 MB/s. Impressive.

At whopping 14,127 MB/s via our AMD platform, we are exceeding the quoted factory up to sequential write throughput. Outstanding.

4K Q1T1 random read is looking great here as well. Our test subject delivers the second-best result we've ever attained from any flash-based SSD. This is a powerful synthetic indicator that its real-world performance will be a cut above.

Max IOPS

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Max 4K random performance for our E28 controlled preview SSD is stated as up to 2.5 million IOPS for random read. Random writes are specified at up to 3 million IOPS. Our Intel platform falls just short on random read throughput and is well short on random write throughput. However, our AMD platform exceeds factory spec for random read, but again falls short with random writes. This is exactly as expected, considering our far more demanding user state of the OS disk vs. an empty secondary device.

ATTO

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ATTO gives us a clear picture of what transfer sizes a particular SSD favors in terms of QD4 sequential throughput. We chart 128K transfers. At a queue depth of four, our 2TB PNY SSD favors sequential transfers of 128KB or larger when serving data to the host (reading) and 128KB or larger when programming (writing) data. Stunning small file performance, exactly what we are looking for.

Real-World Testing: Transfers, 3DMark SSD Gaming Test, PCM10 Storage

Transfer Rates

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Our 100GB data transfer test is not your ordinary 100GB of data; ours is a crushing mix composed of more than 62K files. Write performance, random or sequential, is an infrequent operation and as such, we do not consider it to be an important performance metric in the consumer space. An example is how many times a game is installed vs. how many times it's played. A new lab record for a retail SSD via our Intel platform.

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Unlike programming (writing) data, serving data to the host (reading) is typically an important performance metric as it relates to the consumer space. This is where transfer rates matter most, and we love what we see from our test subject. Another lab record for a retail SSD. Impressive.

3DMark SSD Gaming Test

UL's newest 3DMark SSD Gaming Test is the most comprehensive SSD gaming test ever devised. We consider it superior to testing against games themselves because, as a trace, it is much more consistent than variations that will occur between runs on the actual game itself. This test is the same as running the actual game, just without the inconsistencies inherent to application testing. In short, we believe that this is the world's best way to test an SSDs gaming prowess and accurately compare it against competing SSDs. The 3DMark SSD Gaming Test measures and scores the following:

• Loading Battlefield V from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Call of Duty Black Ops 4 from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Overwatch from launch to the main menu.
• Recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) while playing Overwatch.
• Installing The Outer Worlds from the Epic Games Launcher.
• Saving game progress in The Outer Worlds.
• Copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike Global Offensive from an external SSD to the system drive.

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Gaming is a performance metric that matters to most DIY consumers, especially for the enthusiast crowd that TweakTown caters to. Now we've reached the point where results start to matter as they are a direct reflection of user experience.

We consider a score of 8,000 here to be a milestone achievement, and our test subject delivers that and a lot more, dishing up the third-best we've ever recorded for a retail SSD.

PCM10 Storage Tests

PCMark 10 Storage Test is the most advanced and most accurate real-world consumer storage test ever made. There are four different tests you can choose from; we run two of them. The Full System Drive Benchmark and the Quick System Drive Benchmark. The Full System Drive Benchmark writes 204 GB of data over the duration of the test. These tests directly correlate with mainstream user experience.

PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark

This test writes 204GB of data and covers a broad range of common consumer tasks, including booting Windows 10, file transfers, Adobe and Office applications, and startup times for games such as Battlefield V, COD Black Ops 4, and Overwatch. Unlike synthetic numbers, this is comprehensive real-world data, which is why we use it to rank SSDs in terms of user experience.

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Exactly like the previous test, we consider a score of 8,000 here to be a milestone achievement, and our test subject responds with yet another lab record for any flash-based SSD we've tested at any time ever. Incredible real-world performance.

PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark

The Quick System Drive Benchmark writes 23 GB of data over the duration of the test.

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Of all the benchmarks we run, it can be argued that this one offers the best reflection of a typical consumer use case scenario. We consider a score of 10,000 here to be a milestone achievement, and our test subject responds by delivering the second-highest score we've ever attained with a flash-based SSD. Elite.

Final Thoughts

Having recently gained some experience with this exact hardware configuration, we knew what this SSD could deliver. Even so, it's still a bit mind-blowing to see it delivered again and doing so with such ease and consistency. PNY's CS3250 is indeed the most powerful retail SSD ever made, and it may potentially be an even better deal than Corsair's variant when its pricing settles into more of a steady state. This is what we've seen happen with other of PNY's SSD offerings.

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We rank SSDs in terms of overall user experience (performance where it matters most) as expressed by PCMark 10 storage and 3DMark gaming storage tests. Currently, we consider a user experience score of 19K or more to verify an SSD as a TweakTown Elite performer. We no longer consider any flash-based PCIe Gen4 SSD to be a TT Elite performer. Just 2 points away from the highest we've ever recorded is Ultra Elite.

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PNY's CS3250 2TB SSD is the best of its kind ever made. Editor's Choice.