Summary
Content
Introduction
GOODRAM is a brand of storage and memory products made by the Polish company Wilk Elektrnik. The GOODRAM brand exists since 2003 and is used for mobile storage such as SSDs and USB sticks, but also for RAM. They offer products for consumers and solutions for industry. In addition, they have their own R&D department and quality control procedures so that the products are innovative and reliable.
The 256 GB version we received from GOODRAM costs about 58 Euro in the shop at the time of writing.
Specifications
The GOODRAM IRDM PRO Gen 2. SATA III SSD has a 2.5″ format. The SSD is according to GOODRAM special made for reliability and stability. It’s actually a refresh of their high-end Iridium Pro. The SSD comes in 4 different sizes: 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB and 2 TB.
All specifications can be found on the manufacturer’s website.
| Capacities |
| 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, 2TB |
| Interface |
| SATA III (6 Gb/s). Backwards compatible with SATA II and I |
| Form factor |
| 2,5" |
| NAND Flash |
| 3D TLC NAND Flash |
| Controller |
| Phison PS3112-S12 |
| IOPS |
| up to 100 000 for read operations |
| up to 90 000 for write operations |
| MTBF |
| 1 500 000 hours |
| Data security |
| End-to-end data protection, Thermal throttling, SmartRefresh™, SmartECC™, Firmware update |
| Operating temperature |
| 0-70°C |
| Storage temperature |
| -45 - 85°C |
| Dimensions |
| 100 x 69,85 x 7 mm |
Unboxing
The GOODRAM IRDM PRO Gen 2. comes in a thin cardboard box. The box is quite nicely executed by using black, red and white. On the front is a logo which gives us a “gamer feeling”. We wonder if this is the target group of GOODRAM for this product, but if this is indeed the target group then they have certainly succeeded. The packaging radiates at least high quality and speed, so they did a good job.
The box is sealed with standard transparent stickers in the shape of a circle. In the box itself is a plastic containing the SSD. You also get a small spacer of 2.5mm (or 1 inch) for mounting in a 3.5″ mount. There are no screws included, so you really need to take them out of the box of your closet.
Design
Design
The SSD is cast in 2.5″ SATA III format with 3D TLC memory. The SSD seems to be made of thin matt aluminum with a black coating. Screw holes have been drilled at the sides for mounting in a 2.5″ bracket. On the back we find the well-known SATA connection, power connection and a sticker. The sticker contains information such as firmware version and serial number.
Performance
Hardware
The performance of the SSD is directly influenced by the hardware used. The IRDM PRO gen.2 has 3D TLD NAND and a quad-core PS3112-S12 Phison controller for data handling. This controller is well known and is also used in other brands of SSDs. This controller ensures data security, consistency and protection in the event of a sudden power failure. There is also end-to-end data protection and thermal throttling in case the SSD gets close to or above 70 degrees. The 3D TLC cells have a mean time between failures (MTBF) of one and a half million hours. In practice, however, there is a limit, because the 5-year warranty only applies if the total bytes written (TBW) is below a certain number. So the 5-year warranty expires if you write too much data to the SSD. This warranty period is 220, 438, 870, and 1700 TB for the 256, 512, 1024 and 2048 GB versions respectively. However, you will receive free technical support, should you need it.
Synthetic benchmarks
For the synthetic benchmarks we used CrystalDiskMark and ATTO. CrystalDiskMark had to work on 0fill instead of random, because otherwise the writing speeds were only a moderate 40 MB/s, the reason for this we don’t know but we guess that the benchmark was not compatible with the SSD. However, when we used the 0fill mode we did get useful results. Because we wanted to show the difference between a NVMe (PCI-e) SSD, a Sata III SSD and a HDD you can see the results below.
Difference between NVMe SSD, SATA III SSD and SATA III HDD
CrystalDiskMark
In the comparison we used the 7 year old Vertex 3 Max IOPS, one of the first SATA III SSDs, and the well known Samsung 860 EVO. If we look at the data, we see that the GOODRAM and the Samsung perform the same on almost every level, but that the GOODRAM does better in terms of sequential writing (Q1T1). Besides that, the SSD really seems to excel at reading random data packets with a size of 4 KB.
ATTO Disk Benchmark
In ATTO Disk Benchmark we see in terms of reading speeds that the differences between the GOODRAM and the Samsung are minimal. At writing speeds, however, it becomes more interesting. We see that the GOODRAM first leads between 512 B and 2 KB, but then the Samsung has to leave between 4 KB and 32 KB. The samsung also performs slightly better on 512 KB, 2 MB, 4 MB and 12 MB files. The Goodram clearly wins when the traffic jams get even bigger.
Software
Optimum SSD Tool
It is nice to see that GOODRAM not only provides the SSD but also a small piece of software called “Optimum SSD Tool”. The tool allows you to read Smart values from the SSD. In addition, you can do a speed test, update firmware, migrate data and request support. It’s nice that GOODRAM did not turn on “start on system startup” automatically. In the software you can see the current state of your SSD.
Duurzaamheid
For durability we look at 5 properties:
- Sustainable ambitions of the company
- Durable packaging
- Durable design
- Energy efficiency
- Security
When it comes to GOODRAM’s sustainable ambitions, there is little to be found on the website. However, under fire there is a heading “ecology”, in which GOODRAM explains that it is important to recycle equipment at the end of its life. GOODRAM in Poland, for example, also has a certain collection point for used electronics, so that this can be recycled in an environmentally friendly way.
The packaging of the SSD is made of cardboard with a little bit of plastic. We wonder why the SSD had to be in the special box and not I could get a smaller box.
The SSD is made of thin aluminium. We don’t know where this aluminium comes from or if it’s recycled. The design however has a CE-certification
Nothing is known about the energy efficiency, nor have we tested it.
Safety includes quality control, which is very good at GOODRAM. The company is ISO 9001 certified for the production and sale of DRAM modules and FLASH storage. The reason why GOODRAM started the production line in Europe instead of outside Europe in 2003 was to guarantee the quality of the products. The SSD gets Firmware updates, this can be done via the software provided by GOODRAM.
Conclusie
The GOODRAM SSD IRDM PRO gene.2 is a SATA III SSD that hits the limits of the SATA III connection. The SSD is with the 3D TLD NAND memory a fast SSD and has the Phison controller among other things end-to-end data protection and thermal throttling. This way the data on the SSD doesn’t get corrupted when the power suddenly goes out or you have to reset the computer if necessary. The average time between errors is one and a half million hours and the warranty is 5 years. However, the guarantee expires after the writing of 220 TB for the smallest model. This means that you can write 120 GB per day to the disc to still be covered by the warranty after exactly 5 years. In addition, we find it worth mentioning that GOODRAM is a European company with quality control in Europe. However, it’s all about your data so this kind of reliability is important to us.
The performance of the SSD is good and comparable to the high-end SATA III competitors. For about 60 euros for the 256 GB version, the GOODRAM IRDM PRO gen.2 is absolutely recommended.
- Good reading performance
- Excellent writing performance
- 5 Year Warranty
- High reliability
- Warranty expires after writing 220 TB for smallest model.
Review GOODRAM IRDM PRO GEN.2: Fast lad with long warranty - Astronautech
The performance of the SSD is good and comparable to the high-end SATA III competitors. For about 60 euros for the 256 GB version, the GOODRAM IRDM PRO gen.2 is absolutely recommended.
Product SKU: IRP-SSDPR-S25C-256
Product Brand: Goodram
Product In-Stock: https://schema.org/OutOfStock
4.2
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