PNY, be careful which revision you buy of this SSD
PNY
ComputerBase, a German news outlet, reported that PNY significantly reduced the durability rating of its XLR8 CS3030 M.2 NVMe SSD. The recent change suggests that the company may have secretly replaced some of the drive's core components with lower quality ones.XLR8 CS3030 is an M.2 2280 SSD that takes advantage of the conventional PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. The drive offers sequential read and write speeds of up to 3,500MB / s and 3,100MB / s, respectively. Apparently, the performance between the new and previous revisions remains unchanged. Comparing the old datasheet with the new one, we can see that PNY no longer specifies the type of NAND used inside the device. In fact, the original XLR8 CS3030 used triple level cell (TLC) chips. However, at this time we don't know if PNY has replaced NAND, SSD controller, or both.
It's not unusual for SSD manufacturers to replace components. Big names like Kingston, Adata and Crucial have also done so in the past. The problem arises when the producer does not communicate the changes to the consumer. Not everyone produces their own components themselves, so companies typically buy what's available on the market. Factors such as cycles or deficiencies play an important role in whether suppliers can guarantee the necessary components that were used in the original product.
Capacity TBW (Original Revision) TBW (New Revision) Difference Part Number Price 4TB N / A 6,070 N / A M280CS3030-4TB-RB 799.99 $ 2TB 3,115 660 78.8% M280CS3030-2TB-RB 329, 99 $ 1TB 1,665 360 78.4% M280CS3030-1TB-RB 149.99 $ 500GB 800 170 78.8% M280CS3030-500-RB 64.99 $ 250GB 380 170 55.3% M280CS3030-250-RB 42.99 $ At least on paper, performance of the XRL8 CS3030 appear unaffected. However, extensive testing will be required to see if the new revision works the same way as the previous one. In the case of PNY, the latest revisions of the XLR8 CS3030 show a substantial reduction in life, which can be as important as performance.
The 500GB, 1 and 2TB variants of the XLR8 CS3030 all feature up to 78 , 8% less at the TBW level (terabytes written). The entry-level 250GB version also suffers from a 55.3% reduction. Despite the shorter lifespan, PNY still offers a five-year warranty.
The biggest question PNY will have to answer is whether the company will meet the previous or new TBW ratings for units already on the market. More importantly, the brand will have to define how it will handle the warranty on previously purchased SSDs. Spec datasheets show that both the original and the new revision have the same part number, so PNY has not openly disclosed the change.
For now, no one knows why PNY has changed the life expectancy of its CS3030 XLR8 SSD. With the recent hype over the farming of the cryptocurrency Chia, PNY may have simply taken a step back in fear of receiving too many RMA requests. Farming Chia on a consumer drive is a bad idea as it will likely fail within a few weeks which is why there are specially designed SSDs like Sabrent's Plotripper.
ComputerBase contacted PNY and the company admitted the change. However, PNY declined to comment on what was changed or the reason for the alteration.
The PNY Elite USB 3.1 240GB Portable SSD is currently on sale on Amazon at a discounted price.
PNY XLR8 Launches 3080 Ti/3070 Ti Graphics Cards
PNY has announced the expansion of its NVIDIA GeForce RTX XLR8 Gaming family of GPUs with the new PNY XLR8 Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. Powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers an incredible leap in performance and fidelity with acclaimed features such as raytracing, NVIDIA DLSS performance-boosting AI, NVIDIA Reflex latency-reduction, NVIDIA Broadcast streaming features and additional memory that allows it to speed through the most popular creator applications as well.
“The GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers the ultra-performance gamers crave, allowing for blistering 4K and 1440p gameplay. It’s built with enhanced RT Cores and Tensor Cores, new streaming multiprocessors, and superfast G6X memory for an amazing gaming experience. Featuring 12 GB of superfast GDDR6X memory and 10240 CUDA cores, the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti delivers ultra-performance gamers, and content creators demand to get the most out of their system.”
The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti is also powered by the NVIDIA Ampere architecture. Built with enhanced RT Cores and Tensor Cores, new streaming multiprocessors, and superfast G6X memory, it gives you the power you need to rip through the most demanding games. With faster memory and more CUDA cores, at higher clock speeds than the non-Ti variant, the RTX 3070 Ti offers more performance without compromise.
Both models feature bold RGB equipped triple fan coolers that offer impressive styling and high performance cooling even during demanding games. Both the REVEL and UPRISING models of the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti are equipped with robust back plates to protect sensitive components and provide sleek aesthetics.
In announcing the launch of their new 3080 Ti and 3070 Ti graphics cards PNY has confirmed the following features and specifications consumers can expect:
PNY GeForce RTX 3080 TiFor more information, you can check out the official PNY Nvidia product website via the link here!
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