Introduction

In terms of pricing, Patriot has positioned their new Hellfire M.2 NVMe SSD right between upper tier NVMe SSDs and top performing SATA SSDs. We feel this is a good position for the Hellfire. The Hellfire is less expensive than upper tier NVMe SSDs and justifiably more expensive than many lower-performing SATA-based SSDs. Based on most benchmarks, the Hellfire is a mid-level performing NVMe SSD. However, benchmarks alone do not tell the whole story. In the end, the user experience is what matters most. We will tell you up front that the Hellfire delivers a user experience that rivals that of Samsung's 950 Pro.

Patriot's Hellfire is one of the first Phison PS5007-E7-based M.2 NVMe SSDs to hit retail channels. The Hellfire features Phison's latest firmware version 2.1. This is good news because Phison's newest firmware revision is a vast improvement over earlier revisions. With the newest revision, we have seen a substantial increase in moderate workload performance. We feel that moderate workload performance is the best indicator of how well a drive will perform for the majority of users, the majority of the time.

The Hellfire pairs Phison's potent E7 NVMe controller with Toshiba 15nm MLC flash and an LPDDR3 cache. The Hellfire is appealing not only because of the premium components utilized but also because of its M.2 form factor. No power or data cables - just a tiny gum stick-sized SSD that delivers a ton of performance. The tiny Hellfire is powerful, outperforming Intel's 750 Series NVMe SSDs on two of our three moderate workload tests, and more importantly, the Hellfire delivers a noticeably superior user experience.

Intel, Samsung, and OCZ have developed proprietary NVMe drivers that are designed to improve performance and compatibility with their NVMe offerings. Phison has no such plans. Phison feels that their NVMe SSDs perform well enough that a proprietary driver is not necessary. While we would like to see Phison develop a dedicated NVMe driver, we also understand that this can become extremely complicated for them to do because Phison SSDs are branded and sold my many different vendors.

Let's take a close look at the Patriot Hellfire.

Specifications

Patriot's Hellfire M.2 x 2280 NVMe SSD is available in two capacities: 240GB and 480GB. The 480GB model we have on the bench sports the following factory specifications:

• Sequential Read (ATTO): up to 3,000 MB/s
• Sequential Write (ATTO): up to 2,400 MB/s
• Sequential Read (CDM): up to 2,700 MB/s
• Sequential Write (CDM): up to 1,260 MB/s
• Max 4K Random Read Speed: up to 170,000 IOPS
• Max 4K Random Write Speed: up to 210,000 IOPS
• Endurance: 230 TBW
• MTBF: 2 Million Hours
• Warranty: 3-Year Limited Warranty
• SMART
• TRIM
• Garbage Collection
• Software: Patriot PCIe Tool Box

The 480GB Patriot Hellfire is currently selling at Amazon for $279.99.