Solidigm P44 Pro 2TB SSD Review - Performance to Value Leader

TweakTown's Rating: 99%

The Bottom Line

Price to performance leader, enough said.

Pros

• + Gaming PC or console performance
• + Pricing
• + NVMe driver

Cons

• - None

Should you buy it?

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Buy at Amazon

Introduction & Drive Details

Having just reviewed Solidigm's first client SSD, the P41 Plus and coming away thoroughly amazed with what Solidigm can achieve with a DRAMless QLC drive, we have another Solidigm offering on the bench today.

The Solidigm P44 Pro client SSD is the polar opposite of what the P41 Plus is all about. Solidigm's newest offering is simply stated as the second fastest flash-based SSD we've ever tested. This is unheard of for a client SSD, where performance is generally tempered with lower clocks and less power consumption. Additionally, and like Solidigm's basal client SSD offering, the aforementioned P41 Plus, Solidigm's P44 Pro can be acquired through retail channels and is available for general consumer consumption right this minute at Solidigms Amazon Store.

Some of you may be asking, who is Solidigm? As you may or may not know, Intel sold off its flash business to the South Korean memory giant SK hynix. Intel SSDs are now Solidigm SSDs, and as far we can discern, SK hynix isn't changing a thing, not even the employees, as all the familiar formerly Intel SSD crew are now the Solidigm SSD crew. Until now, we assumed that Solidigm would primarily function as the enterprise and density arm of SK hynix, having its Intel roots sunk deep into those market segmentations. Well, today's test subject demonstrates otherwise, as it is a pure SK hynix SSD. In fact, under its Solidigm label, this SSD is, in terms of its hardware, an SK hynix Platinum P41 built by SK hynix. So, what's up with that? Seems kind of redundant. Well, maybe not when we consider that the P44 Pro is technically a client SSD destined to make its way into a broad range of OEM PCs and just so happens to be available for retail consumption.

So, what exactly is the difference between a SK hynix Platinum P41 and Solidigm's P44 Pro? To state it simply, the P44 Pro can be made to go faster and is typically the cheaper option. How's that? Faster? Same hardware, right? Correct. Solidigm's P44 Pro, while literally the same SSD as the SK hynix Platinum P41, employs different firmware and, more importantly as it relates to performance, is fully compatible with Solidigm's proprietary NVMe driver.

Solidigm's Intel DNA is showing through as they have always been about performance that matters, which is exactly what Solidigm's NVMe driver is bringing with it. Solidigm states that its proprietary NVMe driver can deliver up to 12% better random read performance than the Windows NVMe driver. This is performance that matters, where it matters most, and the primary reason the P44 Pro can be made to go faster than the Platinum P41. Our findings indicate about a 5% real performance increase when everything is running to its full potential.

Alright then, now that we know exactly what Solidigm's P44 Pro client SSD actually is, let's put some numbers to the newest face of client SSDs.

Drive Details

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The second-best performing flash-based SSD we've ever tested can be had for as little as 10 cents per gigabyte? Yep, that's right. Incredible.

Jon's Test System Specifications

Intel Test System

• Motherboard: ASUS ROG Z690 HERO
• CPU: Intel Core i9-13900K - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: Sabrent Rocket DDR5 32GB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: MSI SUPRIM X RTX 3080 12GB - Buy from Amazon
• Case: PrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit - Buy from Amazon

AMD Test System

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE X670E AORUS Master
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 7600X - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: Sabrent Rocket DDR5 32GB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: MSI SUPRIM X RTX 3080 12GB - Buy from Amazon
• Case: PrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit - Buy from Amazon

Because we at TweakTown like to be first at everything whenever we can, we will present our storage performance results for the test subject on both 13th Gen Intel and 7000 Series AMD platforms going forward for the foreseeable future. Because Intel still delivers the best real-world storage performance, (Look Here), our running chart will continue to be Intel-based until AMD can deliver better real-world storage performance than its rival.

Solidigm P44 Pro 2TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 SSD

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$219.99	$219.99	$219.99	$219.99	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 12/26/2022 at 2:14 pm CST - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Sony PlayStation 5 - M.2 Storage Expansion

PS5 Read Performance

With Sony's wildly popular PlayStation 5 console now enabled for M.2 NVMe SSDs to be used as fast storage expansion, we include results for PS5 compatible SSDs we test as a part of our reviews going forward.

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For 5,500 MB/s plus capable SSDs that don't have an adequately sized PS5 compatible heatsink or other SSDs where the heatsink provided doesn't fit right and can be removed, we both use and recommend Sabrents unparalleled PS5 heatsink available here.

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We only chart SSDs that can deliver a minimum of 5,500 MB/s read, which is Sony's original recommendation.

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Solidigm is going after the PS5 internal storage expansion market with its P44 Pro. Solidigm states, "By adding the P44 Pro SSD to your Sony PS5, you can increase your performance over the onboard storage that comes with the console. With P44 Pro, you get super-fast speed, so loads and saves are quick, and transferring games takes mere moments." Solidigm offers the following tables as compelling evidence as to why its P44 Pro is ideal for PS5 storage expansion:

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We recommend a good heatsink like Sabrent's PS5 heatsink linked above to be added to the mix, ensuring throttle-free enjoyment.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, Anvil, ATTO

CrystalDiskMark

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AMD continues to deliver the highest sequential throughput, so it's no surprise to see the lone AMD result at the top of our Intel-based chart. However, do keep in mind that sequential throughput is not a true measure of real-world performance in any way, shape, or form.

On the Intel side of things, our 2TB test subject is delivering among the highest sequential throughput we've ever extracted from a PCIe Gen4 SSD. Moving to the all-important Q1T1 random read chart, we are greeted with more than 1% better than its driverless clone, the Platinum P41. This is performance that matters and our first indication that Solidigm's proprietary NVMe driver is beneficial on the performance front.

Anvil's Storage Utilities

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Impressive results here, coming from both Intel and AMD platforms. On Intel, the P44 Pro again slightly outperforms the P41 Platinum giving us, for only the second time ever, a score of 12K+. Outstanding. Looking at MAX random read IOPS, we are seeing what we rarely see here, and that's an SSD meeting its stated up to factory specs, in spite of our far more demanding user state. Performance that matters.

ATTO

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More than anything else, ATTO gives us a clear picture of what transfer sizes a particular SSD favors in terms of sequential throughput. The 2TB P44 Pro favors sequential transfers of 2 MB or larger when serving data to the host and 128 KB or larger when programming data.

Real-World Testing: Transfers, 3DMark SSD Gaming Test, PCM10 Storage

Transfer Rates

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Our 100GB data transfer test is not your ordinary 100GB of data. Ours is a crushing mix composed of more than 62K files. Write performance random or sequential, is an infrequent operation, and as such, we do not consider it to be an important performance metric in the consumer space. An example being how many times is a game installed vs. how many times it's played.

On the Intel side of things, we typically see better results when programming data than we get from AMD, which is exactly what the above chart demonstrates. The P44 Pro impresses by returning the third-best result we've obtained to date from our 13th Gen-based platform and once again edging out the Platinum P41.

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Exactly what we want to see when it comes to an all-important performance metric like serving data to the host. It's what consumer SSDs are doing 80% of the time on average. Here, AMD has the advantage for whatever reason and, as expected, lands on top of our Intel-based chart.

Setting the lone AMD result aside, we take note that our test subject again outperforms the Platinum P41 and again gives us the second-best result we've obtained to date, coming from our 13th Gen Intel platform.

3DMark SSD Gaming Test

UL's newest 3DMark SSD Gaming Test is the most comprehensive SSD gaming test ever devised. We consider it superior to testing against games themselves because, as a trace, it is much more consistent than variations that will occur between runs on the actual game itself. This test is in fact the same as running the actual game, just without the inconsistencies inherent to application testing.

In short, we believe that this is the world's best way to test an SSDs gaming prowess and accurately compare it against competing SSDs. The 3DMark SSD Gaming Test measures and scores the following:

• Loading Battlefield V from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Call of Duty Black Ops 4 from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Overwatch from launch to the main menu.
• Recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) while playing Overwatch.
• Installing The Outer Worlds from the Epic Games Launcher.
• Saving game progress in The Outer Worlds.
• Copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike Global Offensive from an external SSD to the system drive.

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Gaming is a performance metric that matters to the majority of DIY consumers, especially to the enthusiast crowd that TweakTown caters to. Here is where we really begin to see Solidigm's NVMe driver being a difference maker. As relates to gaming-related storage activities, Solidigm's NVMe driver is returning 5% better results than its driverless clone, the Platinum P41. This is real performance - performance that matters.

PCM10 Storage Tests

PCMark 10 Storage Test is the most advanced and most accurate real-world consumer storage test ever made. There are four different tests you can choose from; we run two of them.

The Full System Drive Benchmark and the Quick System Drive Benchmark. The Full System Drive Benchmark writes 204 GB of data over the duration of the test. The Quick System Drive Benchmark writes 23 GB of data over the duration of the test. These tests directly correlate with mainstream user experience.

PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark

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This particular test writes 204GB data and covers a broad range of common consumer tasks, including booting Windows 10, file transfers, Adobe and Office applications, and startup times for games, including Battlefield V, COD Black Ops 4, and Overwatch. Unlike synthetic numbers, this is comprehensive real-world data which is why we use it to rank SSDs in terms of user experience.

Once again, we see Solidigm's NVMe driver being the difference maker in a significant way.

PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark

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More performance that matters. Third best we've obtained from any SSD to date. Impressive.

Final Thoughts

Solidigm's P44 Plus is unquestionably the best-performing client SSD we've ever tested, and we've tested some good ones. It's also the first time we've seen a "client" version of an SSD able to outperform the retail model it is based upon. So, what do we have here in Solidigm's P44 Pro? Well, provided the drive is driven by Solidigm's proprietary NVMe driver, we have the second-best performing flash-based SSD we've ever tested. Unprecedented for a Client SSD.

Then we have the somewhat unusual situation where regular consumers can directly purchase this "client" SSD. We love it. Finally, and most importantly, the P44 Pro, as it is currently priced, is, as we see it, the unquestioned price to performance leader. Think about it. For 10 cents per gigabyte at 2TB, you get the second-best performing flash-based consumer SSD on the planet.

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We rank SSDs in terms of overall user experience (performance where it matters most) as expressed by PCMark 10 storage and 3DMark gaming storage tests. We consider a user experience score of 12K or more to verify an SSD as a TweakTown Elite performer. This is where it all comes together, and we can see deep into an SSDs soul to see what it's really made of. We are looking for 12K here, and we get more than 15K. Performance where it matters most.

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Solidigm is not the most familiar name out there, but if they keep doing what they are doing, they will inevitably become one of the first names that come to mind regarding Solid State Storage. Solidigm's P44 Pro is groundbreaking for a client SSD or any SSD for that matter, and as such, it is well deserving of our highest award. Editor's Choice.