SK Hynix Platinum P41 Review
A super-speedy SSD that's late to the party
Verdict
The SK Hynix Platinum P41 Gen 4.0 SSD is a powerhouse drive during the generation’s twilight hours. The revised in-house Aries controller makes the most of what’s currently possible on NVMe 1.4 M.2 hardware. While a strong performer, the premium asking price so close to the next generation of storage drives may make this investment a bitter pill to swallow in 2022.
Pros
- Pushes the limits of Gen 4.0
- Strong random performance
- High write endurance and durability
Cons
- Less than a month until Gen 5.0 launches
- Premium price tag
- Availability is limited right now
Availability
- UKRRP: £225
- USARRP: $259.99
Key Features
- SK Hynix Aries controllerThe company’s new in-house controller is fast enough to take on the popular likes of the Phison E18 and get near the cap of what’s possible on Gen 4.0
- 176-layer NAND flash memoryThe high-level onboard memory allows for one of the highest write endurance of any M.2 NVMe form factor drive that we’ve tested
- 5-year warrantyThe SK Hynix Platinum P41 is covered by half a decade of warranty which means that it will last for a long time inside your rig
Introduction
The SK Hynix Platinum P41 is the storage manufacturer’s latest flagship drive and boasts a lot of promise when stacked up against the competition.
This newest Gen 4.0 model pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in the form factor while keeping things entirely in-house rather than using external components to keep those rates consistently high.
There’s certainly something to be said for a bleeding edge NVMe SSD which stays true to the brand’s internal commitment to controllers and flash memory. This is what I saw with the SK Hynix Gold P31, which remains a popular Gen 3.0 option to this day, too. Right at the tail end of Gen 4.0, we’ve got a storage drive that can (at least on paper) hold its own with larger names such as WD Black and Samsung.
Continue reading to discover whether the SK Hynix Platinum P41 has what it takes to dethrone the best SSDs available right now.
Design
- Available in 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB variants
- Incredibly well built
- Can be used in desktops, laptops, and PS5
The SK Hynix Platinum P41 is an aesthetically beautiful and well-crafted storage drive with its sleek black-and-purple colour scheme and low-profile sticker which covers the new Aries controller and 176-layer NAND flash memory.
There’s a premium feel to the drive in the hand, and that translates to the actual installation process in your gaming PC, too, being as plug and play as things get.
My review unit is the largest capacity available, 2TB, which is also the priciest. However, you can also get your hands on the smaller sizes, including 500GB and 1TB should you want to shave a few dollars off your initial purpose. For those gamers wanting the maximum amount of space for your games and files, then the former of the trio is preferable.
What’s absolutely incredible about the SK Hynix Platinum P41 is the write endurance, with the 2TB version specifically capping out at a huge 1,200 TBW. This simple inclusion makes this drive some of the most efficient models that you can slot into your computer’s M.2 port. What’s more, considering the 5-year warranty, you’ll be able to stress this storage drive without fearing for the worst either. Games are becoming more demanding, so there’s going to be no slowdown here.
Performance
- Read and write speeds up to 7000 MB/s and 6500 MB/s respectively
- File transfer times are lightning fast
- Performance scale with the sizes of games and files moved
The SK Hynix Platinum P41 performs incredibly well, coming well within the figures claimed by the company in my testing. Specifically, the 2TB variant is quoted by the manufacturer as achieving up to 7000 MB/s read and 6500 MB/s write, which would position this drive as one of the strongest all-rounders to date.
Although I didn’t quite see the sequential performance pushing the 7000 MB/s figure, CrystalDiskMark reported read rates of 6549.75 which is admirable to be sure. I recorded write rates of 6164.07 which is very much in the upper bracket of what the form factor is capable of. Anvil Pro confirms this, with an overall score of 23,121.18 which positions this drive as balanced for data going both ways.
Random performance is equally strong. SK Hynix claims that the Platinum P41 SSD is capable of hitting random reads and writes of up to 1,400K IOPS and 1,300K IOPS. In my testing, I found that this model held its own with rates of 1,115K and 885K a piece.
File transfer times are lightning fast, though, in real-world applications. For reference, Street Fighter V’s 59GB of data made the jump from another Gen 4.0 drive to the Platinum P41 in just shy of 20 seconds for roughly 3GB/sec.
Things are a little more consistent with smaller file sizes; transferring 7GB worth of images through the File Explorer took just 7.3 seconds to leap between drives. That’s roughly 1GB/sec, meaning that the performance rates scale with the sizes of games and files moved.
In terms of gaming performance, then, this ensures near non-existent loading times in titles specifically optimized for Gen 4.0 speeds, such as Halo Infinite. Seriously fast stuff here.
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Should you buy it?
You want some of the best sequential and random performance capable of this storage generation.
If you’re someone just looking for an upgrade to existing hardware, then there’s a lot to recommend about the SK Hynix P41 Platinum in just about every aspect.
Gen 4.0 is about to become outdated.
At the end of September, AM5 socket motherboards will launch on day one alongside the first Gen 5.0 NVMe SSDs. If you’re planning on building a new rig then you may be better served by waiting.
Final Thoughts
Without a doubt, the SK Hynix Platinum P41 is an excellent NVMe SSD with strong sequential rates and consistently good random reads and writes, too, no question. However, judging by the fact that this model retails new at $259.99 for the 2TB model, you’re paying a premium at the end of Gen 4.0’s lifecycle to make the most of what’s possible.
Other popular Gen 4.0 SSDs pushing the 7,000 MB/s mark are available at the same price or cheaper than this in the same 2TB configuration. Such examples include the WD Black SN850, Samsung 980 Pro, and the Gigabyte Aorus Gen4 7000s. While it’s certainly a competitive price point, that much cannot be understated, it almost seems too little too late with Gen 5.0 SSDs ready to ship out in just a few weeks.
How we test
I used the SK Hynix Platinum P41 SSD as my main drive for working and gaming for just shy of a two-week period.
Tested for two weeks.
Tested with multiple games
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FAQs
NVMe SSDs utilize a much smaller form factor that plugs directly into your motherboard’s M.2 port and offer substantially faster performance than the larger, older SATA storage type. There’s no need for cables here either.
The current generation of NVMe SSDs is Gen 4.0 which tops out at around 7000 MB/s reads and writes respectively. That’s roughly 60% more than what was possible with Gen 3.0, with many models maxing out at 3500 MB/s.
Full specs
Sustainability
TrustedReviews’ holds the fact that global warming is not a myth as a core value and will continuously endeavor to help protect our planet from harm in its business practices.
As part of this mission, whenever we review a product we send the company a series of questions to help us gauge and make transparent the impact the device has on the environment.
We currently haven’t received answers to the questions on this product, but will update this page the moment we do. You can see a detailed breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability info page.
Jargon buster
SSD
Known as Solid State Drive, this is a faster form of a memory than a standard hard drive. Results in faster loading times and more ambitious games.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
