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The Acer Predator GM3500 is your run-of-the-mill PCIe 3.0 SSD. It uses old hardware and doesn’t try to do anything new. Its limited capacity makes it ideal for cheap builds or upgrades where you don’t need anything fancy. It has enough performance to get the job done, but it’s not as fast or efficient as newer drives. Acer backs it with a valid warranty and some software, which makes it a good option if the price is right. But otherwise there is nothing very interesting here.
The “gold” standard for PCIe 3.0 SSDs remains the SK hynix Gold P31, with the exception of the Samsung 970 Evo Plus. The Evo Plus has seen some hardware changes over the past year or so and also had some serious sales that put it back into contention. It’s still heavy compared to four-channel drivers like the Gold P31 and more often cool drivers like the Saber Rocket or this GM3500. A more immediate impact will be newer, DRAM-less drives, especially those with PCIe 4.0 capabilities, which have largely rendered DRAM-equipped PCIe 3.0 SSDs obsolete.
Of course, the downside to PCIe 3.0 SSDs like the Gold P31 is that they tend to be a bit cheaper. This makes drives like the GM3500 a good option when they’re on sale, something you’re looking to upgrade an old machine or fill out a cheap build. It is a mature, proven technology that is “fast enough” for most cases. The GM3500 doesn’t take any risks, which can be a good thing. You don’t always need the latest technology, especially when it comes to NVMe storage. Of course there are SATA options, but the innovation there has stalled. And those looking for the best reliability should look to technologies that are still actively being developed and improved.
Details
| Product | 512 GB | 1 TB |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $54.99 | $94.99 |
| Capacity (User/Raw) | 512GB / 512GB | 1024GB / 1024GB |
| Form factor | M.2 2280 | M.2 2280 |
| Interface / Protocol | PCIe 3.0 x4 | PCIe 3.0 x4 |
| Controller | SM2262EN | SM2262EN |
| dram | DDR4 | DDR4 |
| Flash memory | 96-layer micron TLC | 96-layer micron TLC |
| Continuous reading | 3,400 Mbps | 3,400 Mbps |
| Write a series | 2,400 Mbps | 3,000 megabytes |
| Random reading | 190 thousand | 320 thousand |
| Write random | 350 thousand | 350 thousand |
| Security | N/A | N/A |
| Endurance (TBW) | 300 TB | 600 TB |
| Room no | BL.9BWWR.101 | BL.9BWWR.102 |
| Warranty | 5-year | 5-year |
The Acer GM3500 is only available in two capacities: 512GB and 1TB. Although this may seem restrictive, it is sufficient if you need a basic drive for your operating system. This is a PCIe 3.0 drive and as such is limited to 3.4/3.0GB/s for sequential read and write speeds. As expected from using older hardware, IOPS is sluggish. However, Acer backs it with a 5-year warranty and 600TB capacity.
The real issue with this drive is that its price at the time of the review puts it very close to mid-range PCIe 4.0 drives. Choices like the WD SN770, HP FX900, and Silicon Power UD90 are less than a dram. Greater capacity is offered by drives like the Crucial P3 and P3 Plus, as well as DRAM-less QLC. This puts the GM3500 at a bit of a disadvantage because all these drives use newer hardware that easily compensates for the lack of RAM.
Software and accessories
Acer offers an OEM version of Acronis True Image with this drive. This is convenient and good for cloning, which people often do during storage upgrades.
A closer look
Fig 1 of 3
This is a basic drive with no fancy cooling or styling. Under the top label we see two NAND packs, the controller and a DRAM pack. This position is a little different from the usual, especially single-sided.
This controller, as used in the past, had a different physical configuration with respect to its components and was typically double sided even at low power. So the GM3500 can be easier to cool and works better on some machines like laptops with single sided drives.
Fig 1 of 2
The controller SMI SM2262EN is an outdated but effective design. In some ways this was improved by the SM2267 as used on the Data S50 Lite, but the controller did not see widespread use. The SM2262EN and its earlier SM2262 predecessor, along with Pison’s E12 (later E12S) controller, were important in opening up the consumer NVMe market. The SM2262EN isn’t as efficient or powerful as newer controller designs right now, but it offers a mature platform for someone who doesn’t want the fastest technology.
The RAM is 1GB DDR4, which is a good pair for 1TB of storage.
The flash is named BW29F4T08EMLCE. This is managed by Bwin, which has traditionally worked with HP for its SSD products. The rest of the code, respectively, tells us that this Micron NAND is available in 4Tb or 512GB modules with an 8-bit configuration. The last part is similar to the flash we saw on the HP FX900 Pro, but not exactly the same. This indicates a different generation, especially when comparing the two “C”s with the “E” – 96-layer here versus 176-layer, although Micron’s 128-layer generation is not at all common.
Micron actually had more than one configuration of this 96-layer TLC, but the most common was the later B27B. Some early drivers with the SM2262EN controller had a B27A instead, or, more commonly, a 64-layer B17A. The B27B has a few changes over the B27A, such as faster I/O speed and a smaller block size. This isn’t massively relevant, but it does suggest some improvements to endurance and performance with the flash the GM3500 is using.
There are also drives with this controller using older 64-layer TLC, as popularized by the Adata SX8200 Pro hardware swap. Those drives are more likely to use 96-layers or higher, as 64-layer storage is exhausted.
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