PNY XLR8 CS3040 2TB M.2 SSD

Here you will find a detailed speed, performance and benchmark test review. Tested was the M.2 NVMe SSD XLR8 CS3040 with 2TB (M280CS3040-2TB-RB) from the brand PNY.

Performance score 
6510
Price/GB
0.36 $
Read
5,600 MB/s
Write
4,300 MB/s
Connector
M.2 2280
Interface
PCIe 4.0 x4
Technical specifications (manufacturer information)
Product image Product image XLR8 CS3040
Manufacturer PNY  
Model number M280CS3040-2TB-RB
Capacity 2048 GB (1863 GiB)
Read speed 5600 MB/s
Write speed 4300 MB/s
Interface PCIe 4.0 x4
Connector M.2 2280
Memory module (NAND) TLC
DRAM cache ✓ Yes
TBW (Total Bytes Written) 3600 terabyte
Controller Phison PS5016-E16

Product
Score
Price
  Current price
~ 744 $
(= 0.36 $ / GB)
Compare product Compared to the test winner*
Read speed
67 %
Write speed
60 %
*) Test result rated by AS SSD score within the same capacity.

We put the PNY NVMe M.2 SSD through a detailed test. You can find the test result / test report here:


AS SSD Benchmark

Standard performance test

The standard test was performed with a 5 GB file. A total score of 6510 points was achieved.

AS SSD Benchmark Screenshot: TEST: PNY XLR8 CS3040 2TB
AS SSD Read: Write:
Seq
in megabytes per second
4,228.09 MB/s
3,856.12 MB/s
4K
in megabytes per second
54.84 MB/s
183.32 MB/s
4K-64Thrd
in megabytes per second
1,651.87 MB/s
2,737.57 MB/s
Access time
in milliseconds
0.022 ms
0.102 ms
Score
2130
3307
Total score 
6510

Copy performance test

A common everyday scenario is simulated here. Three test folders are created:

  • ISO (folder with two large files)
  • Program (folder with many small files)
  • Game (folder with small and large files)

The three folders are copied using the Windows copy command (cache remains enabled). The real-world test from 28 July 2022 shows performance during simultaneous write and read operations. The lower the duration, the better.

AS SSD TEST: PNY XLR8 CS3040 2TB
AS SSD Copy Benchmark Transfer rate: Duration:
ISO
two large files
1,945.47 MB/s
1.18 s
Program
typical program folder with many small files
1,236.43 MB/s
5.69 s
Game
a game folder with small and large files
1,842.91 MB/s
3.75 s

Compression performance test

Here, speed is measured depending on how compressible the data is.

AS SSD TEST: PNY XLR8 CS3040 2TB

CrystalDiskMark Benchmark

Similar to AS SSD, two sequential and two random performance tests are carried out here and the write and read speed (manufacturer: 5600 MB/s and 4300 MB/s) the PNY SSD is determined.

CrystalDiskMark Benchmark Screenshot: TEST: PNY XLR8 CS3040 2TB
CDM Read [MB/s] Write [MB/s]
SEQ1M
Q8T1
5,008.86
4,231.40
SEQ1M
Q1T1
3,191.01
4,177.71
RND4K
Q32T16
2,826.26
2,422.68
RND4K
Q1T1
57.75
184.54

IOPS (Input/Output operations per second)

CDM Read [IOPS] Write [IOPS]
SEQ1M
Q8T1
4,776.80
4,035.40
SEQ1M
Q1T1
3,043.20
3,984.20
RND4K
Q32T16
690,005.00
591,474.00
RND4K
Q1T1
14,098.40
45,054.40

Average latency

CDM Read [µs] Write [µs]
SEQ1M
Q8T1
1,673.87
1,979.22
SEQ1M
Q1T1
328.43
250.75
RND4K
Q32T16
729.62
862.99
RND4K
Q1T1
70.82
22.06

HD Tune Pro long-term test

A long-term test was performed to fully utilize the storage. You can see from when a possible cache is full and write performance drops.

HD Tune endurance test TEST: PNY XLR8 CS3040 2TB

HD Tune Pro Benchmark

HD Tune writes a 5 GB file to the PNY NVMe M.2 SSD. The transfer data of the read speed is displayed graphically. The minimum, maximum and average values are also determined. The measured access time and burst rate are also shown.

HD Tune TEST: PNY XLR8 CS3040 2TB

ATTO Disk Benchmark

Here, a 256 MB file is written to the PNY NVMe M.2 SSD multiple times. The I/O block size varies (from 512 bytes to 64 megabytes). The larger the blocks, the faster writing and reading usually becomes.

ATTO Disk Benchmark TEST: PNY XLR8 CS3040 2TB

SSD-Z Benchmark

Similar to HD Tune, a 500 MB file is written to the PNY NVMe M.2 SSD here. The transfer data is displayed. The more consistent the line, the better. Unfortunately, the tool no longer works correctly from around 4,000 MB/s and no line is displayed (and sometimes incorrect min/max data is shown).

SSD-Z TEST: PNY XLR8 CS3040 2TB


You can find information about the test system at the bottom of the homepage.
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