Corsair Neutron XT SSD Review (240GB) – New Phison Controller Creates a Top Contender

TSSDR X99 ASROCK EXTREME11 TEST BENCH

SSD Testing at TSSDR differs slightly, depending on whether we are looking at consumer or enterprise SSDs.  For consumer SSDs, our goal is to test in a system that has been optimized with our SSD Optimization Guide. To see the best performance possible the CPU C states have been disabled, C1E support has been disabled and Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST) has been disabled. Benchmarks for consumer testing are also benchmarks with a fresh drive so, not only can we verify that manufacturer specifications are in line but also, so the consumer can replicate our tests to confirm that they have an SSD that is top-notch.  We even provide links to most of the benchmarks used in the report.

This is a brand new test bench and, as such, we would love to thank those who jumped in specifically to help the cause.  Key contributors to this build are our friends at ASRock, Corsair, Kingston with components from past contributors to include In-Win, EVGA, beQuiet, and QNIX.  We have detailed all components in the table below and they are all linked should you wish to make a duplicate our system as so many seem to do, or check out the price of any soul component.  As always, we appreciate your support in any purchase though our links!

SYSTEM COMPONENTS

This Test Bench build was the result of some great relationships and purchase; our appreciation goes to the below mentioned manufacturers for their support in our project.  Our choice of components is very narrow, in that, we choose only what we believe to be among the best available and links are provided to each that will assist in hardware pricing and availability, should the reader be interested in purchase.

PC CHASSIS:	InWin D-Frame Open Air Chassis
MOTHERBOARD:	ASRock X99 Extreme11 Socket LGA 2011-3
CPU:	Intel Haswell-E I7-5930K 6-Core CPU
CPU COOLER:	Corsair Hydro Series H105 Extreme Water Cooled
POWER SUPPLY:	be quiet Dark Power Pro 10 1000W PSU
SYSTEM COOLING:	be quiet Silent Wings 2 PC Fans
GRAPHICS CARD:	EVGA GTX 770 Superclocked with ACX Cooler
MEMORY:	Kingston HyperX Predator DDR4
KEYBOARD:	Corsair Vengeance K95 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
MOUSE:	Corsair Vengeance M95 MMO/RTS Laser Mouse
MONITOR:	QNIX 27″ QX2710 2560×1440
SYSTEM SSD	Intel P3700 800GB NVME SSD

BENCHMARK SOFTWARE

The software we will be using for today’s analysis is typical of many of our reviews and consists of ATTO Disk Benchmark, Crystal Disk Info, Crystal Disk Mark, AS SSD, Anvil’s Storage Utilities, and PCMark Vantage. We prefer to test with easily accessible software that the consumer can obtain, and in many cases, we even provide links. Our selection of software allows each to build on the last and to provide validation to results already obtained.

CRYSTAL DISK INFO VER. 6.1.14

Crystal Disk Info is a great tool for displaying the characteristics and health of storage devices. It displays everything from temperatures, to the number of hours the device has been powered, and even to the extent of informing you of the firmware of the device.

Crystal Disk Info validates that this SSD provides us with a healthy outlook on SMART attributes, lets us know that TRIM is supported, as well as DevSleep.

ATTO DISK BENCHMARK VER. 2.47

ATTO Disk Benchmark is perhaps one of the oldest benchmarks going and is definitely the main staple for manufacturer performance specifications. ATTO uses RAW or compressible data and, for our benchmarks, we use a set length of 256mb and test both the read and write performance of various transfer sizes ranging from 0.5 to 8192kb. Manufacturers prefer this method of testing as it deals with raw (compressible) data rather than random (includes incompressible data) which, although more realistic, results in lower performance results.

Many people discount ATTO Disk Benchmark simply because it tests with compressible data, that of which so many believe is an unfair way of determining SSD performance…and perhaps it can be.  Testing in compressible data should never be totally discounted however, and looking at things within just may provide a different outlook than originally expected.  Such may be the case when we see performance that does not graduate at a steady pace, as file sizes are increased.  In this case, the Corsair Neutron XT displays excellent progression and tells us that this may be a very strong SSD.

If we take a look at the low 4K transfer speeds as well, this also gives us an indicator of SSD quality as not all SATA 3 SSDs are capable of reaching 6Gbps speeds for both read and write data transfers.  This drive, not only hits SATA 3, but has excellent SATA 3 results for both read and write; speeds then just climb from there.  For a SATA 3 SSD, this is one of the best ATTO results we have seen to date.