SanDisk Extreme Pro M.2 NVMe 3D SSD Review: SanDisk Joins The NVMe Club

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Conclusion

If SanDisk released the Extreme Pro 3D NVMe SSD in January, we would have erupted with thunderous applause. A lot has happened since then, but there is even more just under the surface.

For SanDisk, the slew of products shipping with the new SMI SM2262 controller pose a much larger threat. When it comes to consumer storage HP doesn't have strong brand recognition or the long history of reliability like SanDisk has, but the SMI-powered 1TB HP EX920 is impressive. That said, what about Adata, or Intel? Both will have 1TB SM2262 products on the market soon. More will show up before the end of the summer, and at some point, the performance-oriented SM2262EN will finally land.

The SanDisk Extreme Pro is still a very good product. The company obviously built this as a Samsung 960 EVO challenger, and it hit the mark. The two drives traded shots in our testing, and if you understand your workload, you can choose one or the other based on certain strengths. The Extreme Pro is better for sequential workloads, so the true "creatives" have a targeted drive that performs best with large files (videos, high-resolution pictures, high-bit-rate audio). In contrast, the 960 EVO works best for general computing due to its stronger performance in random workloads.

Given the Extreme Pro's history, we really wanted to see a 960 Pro competitor with a ten-year warranty and class-leading performance. Instead, we got a more subdued upper mainstream NVMe SSD that is targeted to a specific segment of the market. In this case, the segmentation actually works, but that only means a smaller group of users will actually benefit.

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Chris Ramseyer
Chris Ramseyer
Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews consumer storage.
5 Comments Comment from the forums
  • marcelo_vidal
    still testing without meltdown and spectre patch!???? Our that review will be what we will get ???
    Reply
  • Giroro
    You guys really need to invest in a 1TB Intel 760p - It performs way better and it is priced very similarly to the 600p.
    I'm not even sure if Intel is still making the 600p any more because the pricing is inconsistent and there's no official Amazon/Newegg listing only third party/resellers.
    Reply
  • sunday_afternoon
    "is like the hot sister"

    Sexism much?
    Reply
  • CRamseyer
    20987890 said:
    still testing without meltdown and spectre patch!???? Our that review will be what we will get ???

    It takes time to retest the 180 or so drives needed for SATA and NVMe to fill the different capacity charts. The newer tests we're dropping in like the Final Fantasy load time run on a fully patched system. Please keep in mind that patches are still coming out. Just this week a new Intel patch arrived so every existing retest result is invalid...again.

    The patches do not change the ranking. The fastest drive before the patch is still the fastest drive after. The only question is how much percent gets shaved off of every single product. In our testing so far it's a linear drop.
    Reply
  • CRamseyer
    20988439 said:
    You guys really need to invest in a 1TB Intel 760p - It performs way better and it is priced very similarly to the 600p.
    I'm not even sure if Intel is still making the 600p any more because the pricing is inconsistent and there's no official Amazon/Newegg listing only third party/resellers.

    The 600p represents a number of drives purchased last year with the SMI SM2260 controller and 1st gen IMFT 3D flash. The 760p uses the SM2262 controller and 2nd gen IMFT 3D flash. It's a good drive but we've shown that the Adata SX8200 and HP EX920 are better due to improved firmware. Even if I had a 1TB 760p, it wouldn't likely appear in many reviews.
    Reply