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A Closer Look
Toshiba's packaging only lists a few details about the drive, and doesn't include any performance data.
The Q300 Pro uses the same chassis design we've seen for a few of Toshiba's product generations.
All of the components are on one side of the PCB. The NAND and controller are topped with thermal transfer material to help dissipate heat to the thin metal enclosure.
What about the DRAM buffer we normally see under the hood? As mentioned, this is a DRAM-less design, so the page table map normally cached there is held in flash instead. As a result, you'll see some random performance loss compared to other SSDs using the same flash.
Initial Performance Testing
This is a familiar sight for owners of OCZ SSDs, dating back to the Vertex 4 days. Adaptive SLC technology is notorious for its inconsistent sequential write performance when the drive is full of data. On the right side of the graph is a latency scale. There is a single 2.75ms outlier just before the Q300 Pro changes over from performance mode to a less aggressive state designed to reduce flash wear.
Toshiba's TC358790 controller doesn't give up performance when it reads or writes incompressible data. However, the Q300 with TLC flash does slow down writing incompressible data, just like the Phison S10-based products we've tested.
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