The Toshiba RC100 SSD Review: Tiny Drive In A Big Market

Sequential Read Performance

Our first test of sequential read performance uses short bursts of 128MB, issued as 128kB operations with no queuing. The test averages performance across eight bursts for a total of 1GB of data transferred from a drive containing 16GB of data. Between each burst the drive is given enough idle time to keep the overall duty cycle at 20%.

The burst sequential read performance of the Toshiba RC100 is faster than any SATA drive can manage, and is only slightly slower than the MyDigitalSSD SBX. The Host Memory Buffer feature has no significant impact here.

Our test of sustained sequential reads uses queue depths from 1 to 32, with the performance and power scores computed as the average of QD1, QD2 and QD4. Each queue depth is tested for up to one minute or 32GB transferred, from a drive containing 64GB of data.

On the longer sequential read test, the RC100 places slightly ahead of other low-end NVMe drives, but there's still a pretty large gap separating it from the high-end drives that can deliver multiple GB/s at low queue depths.

Power Efficiency in MB/s/W	Average Power in W

Power efficiency from the Toshiba RC100 is decent by NVMe standards, but not record setting. Total power draw approaches 2W for the 480GB model, which is still quite low for NVMe drives.

Toshiba RC100 480GBToshiba RC100 240GBToshiba RC100 240GB (HMB Off)Toshiba RC100 480GB (HMB Off)MyDigitalSSD SBX 256GBMyDigitalSSD SBX 512GBIntel SSD 600p 512GBIntel SSD 760p 256GBIntel SSD 760p 512GBSamsung 960 EVO 250GBSamsung 960 PRO 512GBSamsung 970 EVO 500GBOCZ RD400 256GB

HMB appears to have a moderate impact on sequential read performance for the 480GB RC100 at some queue depths. Both capacities hit maximum performance when the queue depth is at least 8.

Sequential Write Performance

Our test of sequential write burst performance is structured identically to the sequential read burst performance test save for the direction of the data transfer. Each burst writes 128MB as 128kB operations issued at QD1, for a total of 1GB of data written to a drive containing 16GB of data.

The burst sequential write performance of the Toshiba RC100 is good for a low-end NVMe drive (or an older high-end drive), but is far below the current high-end drives.

Our test of sustained sequential writes is structured identically to our sustained sequential read test, save for the direction of the data transfers. Queue depths range from 1 to 32 and each queue depth is tested for up to one minute or 32GB, followed by up to one minute of idle time for the drive to cool off and perform garbage collection. The test is confined to a 64GB span of the drive.

On the longer sequential write test, the RC100 performs quite well with HMB on—it slightly outperforms the 250GB Samsung 960 EVO, but can't keep pace with the newer 970 EVO. Even without HMB, the RC100 is one of the faster low-end NVMe drives for sequential writes, but having that extra buffer helps a lot.

Power Efficiency in MB/s/W	Average Power in W

The Toshiba RC100 finally manages to score a power efficiency win: it just barely cracks 2W during this test and performance is better than most NVMe drives that pull 4W on this test.

Toshiba RC100 480GBToshiba RC100 240GBToshiba RC100 240GB (HMB Off)Toshiba RC100 480GB (HMB Off)MyDigitalSSD SBX 256GBMyDigitalSSD SBX 512GBIntel SSD 600p 512GBIntel SSD 760p 256GBIntel SSD 760p 512GBSamsung 960 EVO 250GBSamsung 960 PRO 512GBSamsung 970 EVO 500GBOCZ RD400 256GB

he sequential write speed of the 480GB RC100 plateaus at 1GB/s at a queue depth of 2 or higher, but there was a drop in performance at the end of the test that may have been the SLC cache finally running out. The performance from the 240GB takes a bit longer to reach full speed, and without HMB it is both slower and less consistent.