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The Biwin NV7200 has all the components that make for a great budget SSD: good performance, good power efficiency, and, most important of all, good pricing. In a time when price hikes are looming even as new hardware is being rolled out, the NV7200 stands as a reminder that you can get a capacious SSD for a reasonable price without having to be fancy. Sure, it’s not exciting or new, but right now it’s best-in-class, and that’s good news for budget hunters.
We’ve recently reviewed the Acer FA200 and TeamGroup MP44Q, two drives also manufactured by Biwin that have the same hardware as the NV7200. We’ve also looked at the newest batch of QLC drives, the Crucial P310 and the SanDisk WD Blue SN5100, which have proven to be the fastest drives in this segment. However, all of these drives are priced higher than the NV7200 at the current time. Take the 4TB prices for example: the NV7200 is $27 less than the MP44Q and $25 less than the P310. You can’t even find the other two. At 2TB? $18 and $30 less, respectively, and $15 under the SN5100. It’s simply a great bargain.
The NV7200 isn’t for everybody, though. While we think it’s great for the PS5 and as a secondary drive for any system, it’s not the best option for a primary drive. Going for something with TLC flash might be a better idea. The best in-class here would be the SanDisk WD Black SN7100 and Samsung 990 EVO Plus, but look for a sale, particularly at 4TB. Older drives like the TeamGroup MP44 and Lexar NM790 still work, too, but keep in mind that these drives perform nearly the same as the NV7200 despite having better flash. That’s because, in most cases, you won’t see the slower performance mode. That means the NV7200 can work as a primary drive as an upgrade from SATA to NVMe, or maybe you just need more capacity, or for lighter workload laptops and desktops. It’s a good choice either way, as long as you can avoid overthinking the value.
Biwin NV7200 Specifications
Swipe to scroll horizontally Product 500GB 1TB 2TB 4TB Pricing N/A $69.98 $114.99 $219.99 Form Factor M.2 2280 (Single-sided) M.2 2280 (Single-sided) M.2 2280 (Single-sided) M.2 2280 (Single-sided) Interface / Protocol PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 2.0 PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 2.0 PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 2.0 PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 2.0 Controller Maxio MAP1602 Maxio MAP1602 Maxio MAP1602 Maxio MAP1602 DRAM N/A (HMB) N/A (HMB) N/A (HMB) N/A (HMB) Flash Memory YMTC 232-Layer QLC YMTC 232-Layer QLC YMTC 232-Layer QLC YMTC 232-Layer QLC Sequential Read 6,300 MB/s 7,200 MB/s 7,200 MB/s 7,200 MB/s Sequential Write 3,100 MB/s 6,200 MB/s 6,200 MB/s 6,200 MB/s Random Read 550K IOPs 1,000K IOPS 1,000K IOPS 1,000K IOPS Random Write 550K IOPs 800K IOPS 800K IOPS 800K IOPS Security N/A N/A N/A N/A Endurance (TBW) 200TB 400TB 800TB 1,600TB Part Number NV7200-500GB NV7200-1TB NV7200-2TB NV7200-4TB Warranty 5-Year 5-Year 5-Year 5-Year
The Biwin NV7200 is available in a wide range of capacities, from 500GB to 4TB, which matches the capacities of some drives we’ve already reviewed with this hardware: the Acer FA200 and the HP FX700. We’ve also reviewed the TeamGroup MP44Q, which lacks the smallest SKU, and two other drives we’ve reviewed, the Silicon Power US75 and UD90, have at least one hardware variant with the same controller and flash as the NV7200. However, given the relative rarity of the FX700, the NV7200 is probably fully and regularly competing only with the FA200, although even that might become hard to find.
Right now, the NV7200 is priced at $69.98, $114.99, and $219.99 for 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. If we’re looking at $/TB, these prices make NV7200 the best deal at its three largest capacities, with the closest superior contenders being the Lexar NM790 at 1TB and the SanDisk WD Black SN7100 at 4TB. The Black SN7100, in particular, is the better deal, and it’s also the better option at 2TB, but the price disparity is much larger, so the NV7200 is most attractive at 2TB. That’s pretty much the sweet spot for capacity at this point, and we suggest going for 2TB if you can afford it.
The NV7200 can reach up to 7,200/6,200 MB/s for sequential reads and writes, and up to 1,000K/800K random read and write IOPS. The drive can reach this even at 1TB, and there’s no drop at 4TB – the Maxio MAP1602 controller has multiple variants, with newer ones specifically designed to handle more flash. Biwin has a five-year warranty on the NV7200 with up to 400TB of writes per TB of capacity. This endurance is on the low side, about two-thirds of what you get with TLC-based drives, but it’s good for a QLC-based drive. This is an adequate amount of writes for the drive’s intended purpose, which is to say, it’s not designed for write caching.
Biwin NV7200 Software and Accessories
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