Silicon Power UD90 1TB Performance Testing
We test using both the default smaller test size and larger test sets on our benchmarks. This allows us to see the difference between lighter and heavier workloads.
A note for testing this drive: I do not have many other 2230-sized drives for the UD90 to compete against in my benchmark database. Other than this drive and the Lexar PLAY, every other drive on the chart is a 2280-sized drive.
CrystalDiskMark x64
CrystalDiskMark is used as a basic starting point for benchmarks as it is something commonly run by end-users as a sanity check.
Despite the lower rated specifications, the Silicon Power UD90 2230 1TB claimed nearly identical performance to the Lexar PLAY here. At 5200 MB/s read and 4700 MB/s write, the UD90 2230 is blasting past its advertised specifications and is instead performing where I might have expected, given the similarities to the PLAY.
The Silicon Power UD90 dips a tiny bit in the read speed on the larger CrystalDiskMark set, but it is still performing acceptably. The write speed is still matching up to the Lexar PLAY and vastly outpacing the rated specs. This may be a case of ‘under promise, over deliver,’ but it works here.
ATTO Disk Benchmark
The ATTO Disk Benchmark has been a staple of drive sequential performance testing for years. ATTO was tested at both 256MB and 8GB file sizes.
ATTO allows the UD90 2230 to differentiate itself from the Lexar PLAY by turning in MUCH more consistent test write results. The ATTO result here is great.
The larger ATTO test shows a small dip in write performance, but nothing to be worried about and still markedly more consistent than the PLAY was on the same test.
Anvil’s Storage Utilities
Anvil’s Storage Utilities is a comprehensive benchmark that gives us a very in-depth look at the performance of the drives tested. This benchmark was run with both a 1GB and 8GB test size.
Anvil results for the Silicon Power UD90 2230 1TB return to being a near mirror for the Lexar PLAY drive. Results are right in the middle of the pack of Gen 4 drives and squarely ahead of the P31 standing in for Gen 3 drive performance.
The Silicon Power UD90 2230 continues to perform well in the larger Anvil test. It is near the bottom of this chart, but that is only because I trimmed off a lot of lower-performing Gen 4 drives to keep the chart readable. The UD90 is middle of the Gen 4 pack, and still cleanly ahead of any Gen 3 drives.
AS SSD Benchmark
AS SSD Benchmark is another good benchmark for testing SSDs. We run all three tests for our series. Like other utilities, it was run with both the default 1GB as well as a larger 10GB test set.
AS SSD results for the UD90 2230 1TB are fairly decent. Once again, this drive trades blows with the PLAY, with near identical read speeds and slightly slower write speeds. That said, AS SSD is not the strong point for this drive, trending a bit lower in my absolute results than most of my benchmarks.
Things reverse themselves a little bit on the larger AS SSD test, with the SP UD90 2230 effectively taking another small win over the PLAY. Read performance here keeps up with plenty of Gen 4 2280-sized drives, and write performance is acceptable as well.
SPECworkstation, thermals, and our conclusion are up next.
