PNY CS900 vs PNY CS1311: Choose the Right One!

Both PNY CS900 and CS1311 are highly renowned SSDs in the market. Both of them have identical looks and similar user ratings on the internet.

Also, if you look at the official product pages, they both have very little difference in the speed. Both of the SSDs use various other similar things including the controller i.e. Phison PS3110-S10-X. It is a 32 bit quad-core SATA III controller utilizing 8 channels.

Still, you can see some differences for sure. To help you make the right decision and choose the best SSD, I am here with this article to provide you with some actual and helpful information about them both.

This article is basically going to be a comparison between these SSDs. But, by the end of this article, you will see my suggestions on the right decision. In fact, with the information, you will find it easier to make the decision on your own. So, let’s get started.

1. Storage Space

Here, the biggest advantage is offered by the PNY CS900. CS900 comes in various storage variants including 120GB, 240GB, 250GB, 480GB, 500GB, 960GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and wobbling 8TB.

But, the CS1311 has only five variants which are 120GB, 240GB, 480GB, 960GB, and 2TB.

However, 2TB is enough for most of the users. But, when you need a good storage amount in a single SSD, the CS900 can become handy.

2. Theoretical Read/Write Speed (Seq)

I am considering the theoretical Speed of both the SSDs based on their official landing pages.

Theoretical Read/Write Speed of PNY CS900 (Seq.)

We can say that the average sequential read speed of PNY CS900 is around 540MB/s. The average sequential read/write speed is around 520MB/s average. However, the highest read/write speed of this SSD can is achieved in 4TB and 8TB versions.

Theoretical Read/Write Speed of PNY CS1311 (Seq.)

The CS900 has the same read speed across all its variants which is 550MB/s. However, the write speed is averaging on 520MB/s with all the variants.

With the tables above, we saw that the PNY CS900 and CS1311 have no big difference when it comes to the theoretical read/write speed. But, how well they are going to perform in the actual Benchmarking. Let’s see below.

3. Benchmark Results

I have done these tests using a normal commercial laptop with an Intel i3 10th Gen Processor and 8GB 3000MHz RAM. The results are as follows.

PNY CS900 Benchmark Results

PNY CS1311 Benchmark Results

With the tables above, we saw that the PNY CS1311 is slightly faster than the CS900 if we talk about sequential reading and writing. However, random data processing is the same because the same controller and storage technology are used in both drives.

You should keep the thing in mind that these scores can vary depending on the system configurations and the total space free on your drive most importantly. But, if you have a normal system that supports the SATA 3 protocols, you will see the results just nearby these ratings.

4. Price Difference

Let’s see how much price difference is there between these SSDs. The prices may vary depending on the market and platform you are choosing for the purchase.

Note: The prices of PNY CS1311 may not be accurate because the 240GB, 480Gb, 960GB, and 1TB versions of this product are out of stock since a long ago. But, I will update once they arrive back.

But, if we look at the prices, the CS1311 is clearly a much more affordable product as compared to the CS900.

5. Nand Type and other things

Both the CS900 and CS1311 are using the TLC NAND for storage purposes. Since this NAND type is less durable than the MLC, the MTBF rates are good enough.

The CS900 is a DRAM-less SSD while the CS1311 is using the Flash-based cache. So, you can’t expect great results from both of them during huge workloads, especially with the random read/write tasks.

The PNY CS900 has 2M hours MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) which is pretty good if we look at the type of flash. However, the MTBF for the CS1311 is not disclosed by the company.

Which one should you go for? PNY CS900 or CS1311

In my opinion, you should definitely go for CS1311. Although both the drives are offering nearly the same theoretical read/write speed, the actual benchmark scores are in the favor of CS1311.

Also, the prices of CS1311 are a little bit lesser than the CS900 which is another great reason to go for it. All the other components including the NAND storage and controllers are the same in both these SSDs. So, you do not have to worry about those things.

Although, we can’t compare them with the SAMSUNG EVO or Crucial MX500 they are good enough for normal tasks. Lots of positive reviews are there for both the products. But, I would suggest you go for the practically reliable SSD i.e. PNY CS1311.

Final Verdict

I hope you have found this article helpful. If you want me to review or compare any other SSD in the market, just ping me using the Contact page. I will definitely help you.

Thanks for reading!!!