Price and Availability
The Zotac Sonix PCIe NVMe SSD is now available in the US and UK. It’s currently retailed for around $369.99 USD. Zotac is also offering a 3 year limited warranty. For the latest pricing and availability visit the following links below.
Zotac Sonix 480GB SSD Review: Conclusion
Zotac’s first NVMe SSD product seems to be a really serious and fast storage device based on the benchmark results I got. Even the fastest hard disk drive, is just a mere turtle compared to the speed of the Sonix. And when compared to the fastest SATA based SSD around, the Sonix read/write speeds are still significantly faster. The Sonix was able to achieve a sequential read speed of around 2000 MB/s and a sequential write of around 1300 MB/s; and its overall IOPs are also very good as well. It’s clear that the future of storage devices will be going towards the direction of NVMe type.
When it comes to its interface, the PCIe is the most commonly used connector around, aside from SATA. The M.2 (supporting NVMe PCIe SSD) and U.2 are still relatively new types of connector (specially the U.2), and because of this not many motherboards have these connectors specially the previous generations, like X79 and Intel 9-series motherboards and many AMD motherboards with Gen 3.0 PCIe. Forget SATA Express, we didn’t see a fully launched and available to buy storage drive using this connector. I think Zotac is just on the right track when they opted for PCIe interface since they can target more users who want to take advantage of the speed that the Sonix has to offer. And hopefully we will see Zotac launching an M.2 variant in the near future.
Aesthetically speaking, the Zotac Sonix doesn’t have any of those RBG LEDs and it’s rather neat and clean looking. It will blend easily with your build or system no matter what the color scheme your system has. All the major components like the memory, NAND flash and controller are adequately cooled by the front and back heatsinks. No need to worry about thermal throttling with the Sonix. Using this as your OS drive is really a step up and a huge upgrade, specially if you are coming from a hard disk drive. The Windows boots, loads and wakes up really fast, just a few seconds. Applications, programs and even games loads faster than ever; and the overall desktop operation is noticeably more fluid and smooth.
I can’t seem to find any con with this storage drive. The only deciding factor left, just like with any SSD (or product) is the price. More and more NVMe SSDs are coming out, so it’s best to check the prices from time to time. The prices mentioned in this review may no longer be valid, specially if you have read this review on a much later date.
Finally, the Zotac Sonix PCIe NVMe SSD is a really fast storage drive. You can’t go wrong with this specially if you (really) need that speed. The fastest SATA-based SSD is already significantly faster than a hard disk drive. But if your work load demands more speed, the Sonix is a great option specially if you need a PCIe storage solution.
