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Biwin M560 2TB SSD Review: The DRAM-less drive to beat
The Biwin M560 is one of the best all-around PCIe 5.0 SSDs we’ve tested, with class-leading responsiveness and excellent efficiency.
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We’re back with another drive from Biwin, which has been putting out some good SSDs with minor exceptions. This one uses hardware we’ve wanted to test in retail for quite some time: the SMI SM2504XT SSD controller, which is hard to find. The PCIe 5.0 DRAM-less range is relatively popular because it offers the performance without the power and heat of higher-end options, at a lower price point. The tech’s newer than what PCIe 4.0 drives offer, so you get a better all-around experience if you’re willing to take the plunge. The M560 slots in here perfectly as a real alternative to all the drives in this class with Phison hardware.
The Biwin M560 is available only in 1TB and 2TB capacities. Is that a disappointment? It’s normal to expect at least 4TB SKUs these days, but 8TB is certainly a bridge too far for a four-channel controller. Yes, we have some 8TB DRAM-less drives floating around, but for the most part you can’t find those units. 4TB is more common and highly desired — this is what makes the Lexar NM790 so legendary — but it actually is a decent amount of flash for this type of controller. With the ideal amount of flash for this controller being four dies per channel, or 16 total, 2TB really is the sweet spot. So we’re fine with that for this drive, even if it is higher-end.
Right now the drive can be found for $189.99 and $364.99 for the two SKUs, which is not unreasonably priced for the hardware. At 2TB, it is right in line with the Crucial P510, for example. It’s also below the top drives with DRAM, like the Samsung 9100 Pro, by enough that it makes sense. You can get PCIe 5.0 DRAM SSDs at around this price or cheaper, but you’re giving up some things to do so, which we’ll get into later.
The drive is rated for up to 11,000 / 10,000 MB/s for sequential reads and writes and up to a whopping 1,700K / 1,700K random read and write IOPS. 1.7 million IOPS! That’s astounding, and even exceeds the 1.3+ million, on paper, from direct competitor Phison E31T-based drives, like the Corsair MP700 Elite. This thing is a beast for a DRAM-less drive.
Biwin doesn’t skimp on the warranty, either. It’s the typical five-year affair for duration, but you’re covered for up to 750TB of writes for every TB of space. This is 25% more than is typical, if you care about that sort of thing. We consider it a bonus.
Hitting the download tab for the M560’s site shows three downloads available: the Biwin Data Recovery Tool for macOS, one for Windows, and Biwin Intelligence. The first two are pretty self-explanatory, but we will give kudos to Biwin for having the macOS option. For the last, it is the company’s SSD toolbox, which is an all-in-one software solution dashboard you can use to check your drive’s health, update firmware, and so forth. Biwin lists the supported functions on its page. The toolbox only supports Windows at this time.
The Biwin M560 is, as expected, a single-sided drive, which we prefer. Less that can go wrong, fits into more machines, and can be easier to cool. The top label is heat-spreading. The back label has drive information, including the 3.3 V / 2.0 A rating, which puts the drive power draw below about 7W. According to the S.M.A.R.T. report, the maximum power draw is 8W.
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