Review of Biwin Black Opal X570 2TB Solid State Drive: Stuck Between Quality and Quantity
The Biwin Black Opal X570, a PCIe 5.0 SSD, has been making waves in the storage market, offering a balanced performance that outshines mid-range competitors while falling short in certain areas.
Powered by a proprietary controller, the S4LY027 Gen5 NVMe SSD controller, the Samsung 9100 Pro sets a high standard for the X570. This controller, manufactured on a 5nm process with an 8-channel design and a 5-core ARM 32-bit Cortex-R8 CPU complex, delivers efficient performance that, in most cases, negates the need for a heatsink.
In a test on an Alder Lake platform, with background applications such as indexing, Windows updates, and anti-virus disabled, the X570 demonstrated impressive results. It performed better than the Corsair MP700 Elite and Crucial P510 in all modes, and even outpaced any Phison E26-based drives like the MP700 Pro SE.
The drive's actual steady state performance is around 3.3 GB/s. After the cache is exhausted, it writes in a TLC mode at between 3.6 and 3.7 GB/s. However, when compared to newer PCIe 5.0 options, the X570's power efficiency leaves much to be desired. Its top power state is at 6.5W, but in reality, it peaks at 8.48W.
The X570 performs better at higher queue depths, particularly for reads. In CDM's sequential results, it can beat any PCIe 4.0 drive in file transfer performance tests. However, it doesn't offer anything compelling in the PCIe 5.0 realm, and it can't quite keep up with the very best drives in terms of writes.
When we look at random performance, particularly QD1 for 4K, the X570 doesn't perform very well, falling behind in CDM's results. This could be a potential drawback for those seeking high-end performance in random read and write operations.
In PCMark 10, the X570 fares a little better than mid-range PCIe 5.0 drives but still falls short of the high-end. Each SSD was prefilled to 50% capacity and tested as a secondary device. Unless noted, active cooling was used for all SSDs.
The X570 could be a harder sell at lower capacities, performing closer to mid-range DRAM-less PCIe 5.0 drives based on the Phison E31T controller in 3DMark's Storage Benchmark. However, its lower pricing compared to high-end drives makes it a reasonable alternative in PCMark 10.
The X570 is not a good drive for primary storage solutions due to poor random performance, particularly QD1 for 4K. However, for those seeking a PCIe 5.0 SSD that competes with high-end drives and mid-range options, the Biwin Black Opal X570 is worth considering.
The storage landscape is continually evolving, and the X570, while not reaching the high notes that high-end PCIe 5.0 drives like the WD_Black SN8100 can in ATTO results, demonstrates a promising balance of performance and cost, particularly at the 4TB capacity. The X570 could be a compelling option for those seeking high-performance storage without breaking the bank.
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