Transcend SSD230S 512GB SSD Review

Transcend’s efforts in bringing storage solutions have been nothing but strong, and we’ve seen the company releasing a bevy of its products to the consumers for a multitude of options. And for the gamers looking to step up their machines, Transcend has a couple of offerings in its lineup. What we have at the moment is the company’s SSD230S, a 512GB 3D NAND SSD that can give you enough room for your decent gaming library.

Transcend’s efforts in bringing storage solutions have been nothing but strong, and we’ve seen the company releasing a bevy of its products to the consumers for a multitude of options. And for the gamers looking to step up their machines, Transcend has a couple of offerings in its lineup. What we have at the moment is the company’s SSD230S, a 512GB 3D NAND SSD that can give you enough room for your decent gaming library.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Capacity	128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
Dimensions	100mm × 69.85mm × 6.8mm (3.94" x 2.75" x 0.28")
Weight (max.)	63g (2.22oz)
Storage Media	3D TLC NAND flash memory
Operating Voltage	DC 5V
Operating Temperature	0°C (32°F) to 70°C (158°F)
Certificates	CE, FCC, BSMI
Warranty	Three-year Limited Warranty (Warranty does not apply when SSD Scope's wear-out indicator displays 0% within 3 years.)
Note	Speed may vary due to host hardware, software, usage, and storage capacity.
Package contents	SSD230S

PACKAGING

Transcend has a signature for packaging its products, and the SSD230S comes in one that follows that very familiar compact white-red-black box. Once you pop open the packaging, you’ll be met with the SSD230S, a couple of paper work for manuals and other promotional items, a plastic spacer, and some screws for mounting the SSD itself. Pretty much the basics are covered, so no worries on this field.

DESIGN

The SSD230S is a standard 2.5-inch SSD, pretty much the standard here. One thing you’ll like about it is its metal housing. It feels so solid to the touch, and it reinforces its build quality up a level. There are mounting holes on each side and corners at the back, so that pretty much covers sticking it into your PC.

When it comes to aesthetics, the SSD230S looks classy AF. Its metal housing really does look nice, and the branding and logos sit well on the front. On the flipside, there’s a sticker sheet that gives a rundown on the certifications, serial key, and so forth.

PERFORMANCE

TEST SYSTEM SETUP
Motherboard	ECS Z270H4-I
CPU	Intel Core i5 6500
GPU	ZOTAC GTX 1060 6GB AMP
RAM	ADATA 8GB DDR4 2133MHz
Storage	128 GB HyperX Fury SSD + Seagate BarraCuda 4TB + 2TB Western Digital Green HDD + Transcend SSD230S 512GB SSD
PSU	Corsair VS450
Case	Deepcool Tesseract
OS	Windows 10 Pro N
Display	BenQ GW2270H

ATTO Disk Benchmark

ATTO Disk Benchmark is an industry leading benchmark that help measure performance of system storage such as hard drives, solid state drives, RAID arrays, and so forth.

Crystal Disk Mark

We begin with one of the storage benchmark standards with Crystal Disk Mark to measure both of its read and write rates through a series of tests.

AS SSD Benchmark

AS SSD Benchmark can determine an SSD's performance by conducting several specific tests on sequential or random read/write performance without using the cache.

Real World Performance

For the real world performance, we'll be using a set of 20GB file consisting of 119 video files, as well as an archived 16GB to test it out. The time is measured in seconds, and of course, lower is better.

CONCLUSION

The Transcend SSD230S SSD is right where it should be. It delivers a decent performance as it is intended to, so there really isn’t any problems when it comes to that. Furthermore, it also comes with a proprietary software that lets you do a number of essentials when it comes to storage needs – handy, and first party. Easily said, the Transcend SSD230S is a capable performer for your storage requirements.

Now, at the end of the day, we’re always one for value. The 512GB version sits with price of $200 north. The competition is quite stiff in this category, as we see more aggressive pricing from other manufacturers, which puts the SSD230S at a tight spot.