Acer FA200 NVMe SSD Review

When you think of SSDs there are several names that percolate to the top mind including, Patriot, Samsung, Lexar and Micron.  Many of these have been featured on Hardware Asylum and some have even been moved into perpetual usage around the lab.  As DIY’ers we often forget that when large OEMs assemble machines they will source components from various vendors such that a HP desktop might have DRAM from one source while the SSD will be from another.  This changes in the enterprise space where the vendor name is hidden behind HP branding to symbolize that the components have been customized for a particular purpose.

In this review we will be looking at a drive from ACER called the FA200.  This drive is designed to be a budget friendly storage solution that still keeps up with many of the performance demands that hardware enthusiast and gamers want. 

M.2 devices require a dedicated 4 Lane PCI Express interface which allows them direct access to the subsystem, processor and memory.  The ACER FA200 is a 4x4 NVMe 2.0 QLC SSD that is available in a variety of different capacities ranging from 500GB up to 4TB.  As with most SSDs the performance and durability change based on the capacity.  The sweet spot is 2TB with a maximum rated speed of 7200 MB/s Read and 6200 MB/s Write with a TBW of 1000 over the 5-year warranty.

Capacities: 500GB/1TB/2TB
Form Factor: M.2 2280
Interface: PCIe Gen 4 x4, NVMe 2.0
Speed:

• 500GB—Sequential read up to 6300MB/s, sequential write up to 3100MB/s
• 1TB—Sequential read up to 7200MB/s, sequential write up to 6200MB/s
• 2TB—Sequential read up to 7200MB/s, sequential write up to 6200MB/s
• 4TB—Sequential read up to 7100MB/s, sequential write up to 6100MB/s

Operating Temperature: 0°C to 70°C (32°F to 158°F)
Storage Temperature: -40°C to 85°C (-40°F to 185°F)
Dimensions (L x W x H): 80.0 x 22.0 x 2.45 mm
Weight: Less than 10g
Warranty: Five-year limited warranty
Shock-resistant: 100G, duration 6ms
Vibration-resistant: 3.1 GRMS (2-500 Hz)
TBW: 500GB: 250 TBW, 1TB: 500 TBW, 2TB: 1000 TBW, 4TB: 2000 TBW
MTBF: 1,500,000 Hours

Be sure to consult the product page on the ACER website for more info