--- description: The SK hynix Gold P31 2TB SSD offers a capacity bump for an SSD that was launched in August of 2020. The Gold P31 is ... title: SK hynix Gold P31 2TB SSD Review image: https://www.storagereview.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/storagereview-hynix-gold-p31-2tb-lifestyle.jpg --- [![Storage Review]()](https://storagereview.com/) --- [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/@storagereview) [X (Twitter)](https://twitter.twitter.com/storagereview) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/storagereview/) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/storagereview-com) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/storagereview?sub_confirmation=1) [Email](mailto:info@storagereview.com) [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/1y6VnznABhHeOSMOmbDTz0) [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/StorageReview/) [Discord](https://discord.gg/TwMHb4azdC) [RSS Feed](https://www.storagereview.com/rss.xml) [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@storagereview) [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/@storagereview) [X (Twitter)](https://twitter.com/storagereview) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/storagereview/) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/storagereview-com) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/storagereview?sub_confirmation=1) [Email](mailto:info@storagereview.com) [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/1y6VnznABhHeOSMOmbDTz0) [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/StorageReview/) [Discord](https://discord.gg/TwMHb4azdC) [RSS Feed](https://www.storagereview.com/rss.xml) [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@storagereview) [![StorageReview.com]()](https://www.storagereview.com) ≡ Menu - [Home](https://www.storagereview.com/) - [Storage Reviews](https://www.storagereview.com/review) - [End User Reviews](https://www.storagereview.com/consumer) - [Enterprise Reviews](https://www.storagereview.com/enterprise) - [Ubiquiti Reviews](https://www.storagereview.com/best/ubiquiti-reviews) - [SR Merch](https://store.storagereview.com) - [Leaderboards](https://www.storagereview.com/best) - [Best Storage Arrays](https://www.storagereview.com/best/storage-arrays) - [Best Enterprise SSDs](https://www.storagereview.com/best/enterprise-ssds) - [Best Servers](https://www.storagereview.com/best/servers) - [Best Enterprise GPUs](https://www.storagereview.com/best/enterprise-gpus) - [Best Desktops for Local AI](https://www.storagereview.com/best/desktops-local-ai) - [Best Laptops for Local AI](https://www.storagereview.com/best/laptops-local-ai) - [Best Local LLM Tools](https://www.storagereview.com/best/local-llm-tools) - [Agentic AI Hardware](https://www.storagereview.com/best/agentic-ai-hardware) - [Best SSDs & Hard Drives](https://www.storagereview.com/best_drives) - [Best Portable SSDs](https://www.storagereview.com/best/portable-ssds) - [Best Business Laptops](https://www.storagereview.com/best/business-laptops) - [Best Mobile Workstations](https://www.storagereview.com/best/mobile-workstations) - [Best Desktop Workstations](https://www.storagereview.com/best/desktop-workstations) - [Best Mini PCs](https://www.storagereview.com/best/mini-pcs) - [Best Laptop Battery Life](https://www.storagereview.com/best/laptop-battery-life) - [Storage Reference Guide](https://www.storagereview.com/storage-reference-guide) - [About SR](https://www.storagereview.com/about-storagereview) - [StorageReview.com Sweepstakes Rules and Regulations](https://www.storagereview.com/storagereview-com-sweepstakes-rules-and-regulations) Search [Home](https://www.storagereview.com/) » [Review](https://www.storagereview.com/review) » SK hynix Gold P31 2TB SSD Review # SK hynix Gold P31 2TB SSD Review by Brian Beeler on September 7, 2021 [Client SSD](https://www.storagereview.com/consumer/client-ssd)  ◇  [End User](https://www.storagereview.com/consumer) SK hynix brought their first end-user SSD to the US market [about a year ago](https://www.storagereview.com/review/sk-hynix-gold-p31-ssd-review). The Gold P31 offered one of the best performance to cost ratios we had seen. As such, it has been our go-to recommendation for the mainstream SSD category for the last year. The only thing is, the drive only came in 500GB and 1TB capacities. Two weeks ago SK hynix rectified this issue and dropped the Gold P31 2TB. We’ve had the SSD in our test lab, hoping the performance profile is similar, if not a little better, than the [1TB drive we reviewed previously](https://www.storagereview.com/review/sk-hynix-gold-p31-ssd-review). ![Gold P31 2TB]() Aside from the capacity bump, nothing else really changed with this drive. As a reminder, the P31 Gold is an M.2 PCIe Gen3 SSD, delivered in the common 2280 form factor. The 128-layer NAND and controller are in-house, making this one of the few vertically integrated SSDs on the market. The SSD comes with a 5-year warranty and an endurance rating of 1,200 TBW. ![Gold P31 2TB back]() The pricing has remained stable on the P31 Gold, the 500GB version still retails at $75 and the 1TB at $135, the same as their launch. The new [2TB capacity retails at $280](https://amzn.to/3zFt7hV), though at the moment Amazon offers a $15 off coupon. ## SK hynix Gold P31 2TB Specifications | Model name | Gold P31 | | --- | --- | | SSD capacity | 2TB/1TB/500GB | | Product Type | Internal SSD | | Interface | PCIe NVMe Gen 3 | | Form Factor | M.2 (2280) | | NAND Type | 128-layer NAND | | Controller | SK hynix Cepheus Controller | | Sequential Read | up to 3,500MB/s | | Sequential Write | up to 3,200MB/s | | Warranty | 5 years | | TBW | 750TBW (1TB), 1,200TBW (2TB) | ## SK hynix Gold P31 2TB Performance **SQL Server Performance** Each SQL Server VM is configured with two vDisks: 100GB volume for boot and a 500GB volume for the database and log files. From a system resource perspective, we configured each VM with 16 vCPUs, 64GB of DRAM and leveraged the LSI Logic SAS SCSI controller. While our Sysbench workloads tested previously saturated the platform in both storage I/O and capacity, the SQL test is looking for latency performance. This test uses SQL Server 2014 running on Windows Server 2012 R2 guest VMs and is stressed by Quest’s Benchmark Factory for Databases. StorageReview’s  [Microsoft SQL Server OLTP testing protocol ](https://www.storagereview.com/sql_server_oltp_benchmark)employs the current draft of the Transaction Processing Performance Council’s Benchmark C (TPC-C), an online transaction-processing benchmark that simulates the activities found in complex application environments. The TPC-C benchmark comes closer than synthetic performance benchmarks to gauging the performance strengths and bottlenecks of storage infrastructure in database environments. Each instance of our SQL Server VM for this review uses a 333GB (1,500 scale) SQL Server database and measures the transactional performance and latency under a load of 15,000 virtual users. **SQL Server Testing Configuration (per VM)** - Windows Server 2012 R2 - Storage Footprint: 600GB allocated, 500GB used - SQL Server 2014 - Database Size: 1,500 scale - - Virtual Client Load: 15,000 - RAM Buffer: 48GB - Test Length: 3 hours - 5 hours preconditioning - 30 minutes sample period Looking at SQL Server average latency, the SK hynix Gold P31 had an average latency of 4ms, which placed it in the middle part of the leaderboard (and a bit slower than the 1TB model). ![sk hynix sql server latency]() **Houdini by SideFX** The Houdini test is specifically designed to evaluate storage performance as it relates to CGI rendering. The testbed for this application is a variant of the core Dell PowerEdge R740xd server type we use in the lab with dual Intel 6130 CPUs and 64GB DRAM. In this case, we installed Ubuntu Desktop (ubuntu-16.04.3-desktop-amd64) running bare metal. The output of the benchmark is measured in seconds to complete, with fewer being better. The Maelstrom demo represents a section of the rendering pipeline that highlights the performance capabilities of storage by demonstrating its ability to effectively use the swap file as a form of extended memory. The test does not write out the result data or process the points in order to isolate the wall-time effect of the latency impact to the underlying storage component. The test itself is composed of five phases, three of which we run as part of the benchmark, which is as follows: - Loads packed points from disk. This is the time to read from the disk. This is single-threaded, which may limit overall throughput. - Unpacks the points into a single flat array in order to allow them to be processed. If the points do not have a dependency on other points, the working set could be adjusted to stay in-core. This step is multi-threaded. - (Not Run) Processes the points. - Repacks them into bucketed blocks suitable for storing back to disk. This step is multi-threaded. - (Not Run) Writes the bucketed blocks back out to disk. Here, we see the SK Hynix Gold P31 (2TB) hit 2,363.7 seconds, which places it near top of the leaderboard, trailing the 1TB model. ![sk hynix p31 houdini]() **VDBench Workload Analysis** When it comes to benchmarking storage devices, application testing is best, and synthetic testing comes in second place. While not a perfect representation of actual workloads, synthetic tests do help to baseline storage devices with a repeatability factor that makes it easy to do apples-to-apples comparison between competing solutions. These workloads offer a range of different testing profiles ranging from “four corners” tests, common database transfer size tests, to trace captures from different VDI environments. All of these tests leverage the common vdBench workload generator, with a scripting engine to automate and capture results over a large compute testing cluster. This allows us to repeat the same workloads across a wide range of storage devices, including flash arrays and individual storage devices. Our testing process for these benchmarks fills the entire drive surface with data, then partitions a drive section equal to 5% of the drive capacity to simulate how the drive might respond to application workloads. This is different than full entropy tests which use 100% of the drive and take them into a steady state. As a result, these figures will reflect higher-sustained write speeds. Profiles: - 4K Random Read: 100% Read, 128 threads, 0-120% iorate - 4K Random Write: 100% Write, 64 threads, 0-120% iorate - 64K Sequential Read: 100% Read, 16 threads, 0-120% iorate - 64K Sequential Write: 100% Write, 8 threads, 0-120% iorate Comparables - [Sabrent Rocket Gen3 2TB ](https://www.storagereview.com/review/sabrent-rocket-pcie-gen3-ssd-review) - [SK Hynix Gold P31 1TB](https://www.storagereview.com/review/sk-hynix-gold-p31-ssd-review) - [WD Black 1TB](https://www.storagereview.com/review/wd-black-sn750-nvme-ssd-review) - [Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB](https://www.storagereview.com/review/samsung-970-evo-plus-1tb-review) - [Crucial P5 2TB](https://www.storagereview.com/review/crucial-p5-2tb-ssd-review) - [Samsung 980 Pro 1TB](https://www.storagereview.com/review/samsung-980-pro-pcie-4-0-nvme-ssd-review) In 4K random read, the SK Hynix Gold P31 (2TB) boasted a peak performance of 459,744 IOPS and a latency of 277.1µs, trailing just the 1TB model (which will be an occurring trend in all of the remaining tests). ![SK Hynix Gold P31 2TB Random Read 4K performance]() For 4K write, the Gold P31 (2TB) showed results in the middle of the leaderboard (though well back of the leader) with a peak of 151,610 IOPS with a latency of 843.2µs.![SK Hynix Gold P31 2TB Random Write 4K performance]() Switching to sequential workloads we look at our 64K tests. In read, the Gold P31 (2TB) Plus recorded 39,576 IOPS or 2.47GB/s with a latency of 401.6µs, again trailing just the 1TB model.![SK Hynix Gold P31 2TB 64K sequential read performance]() In 64K writes, the Gold P31 (2TB) placed 4th, posting a peak score of 17,522 IOPS or 1.10GB/s at a latency of 905.4µs.![SK Hynix Gold P31 2TB 64K sequential write performance]() Next, we looked at our VDI benchmarks, which are designed to tax the drives even further. These tests include Boot, Initial Login, and Monday Login. Starting with Boot, the Gold P31 (2TB) had a peak of 67,353 IOPS with a latency of 515.5µs, placing it in the lower-middle part of the leaderboard. ![]() In VDI Initial Login, the Gold P31 (2TB) placed 3rd with a peak of 42,200 IOPS and a latency of 707.7µs before it had a slight spike in performance at the end.![]() Finally, VDI Monday Login saw the Gold P31 (2TB) peak at 32,946 IOPS with a latency of 487.6µs for middle of the pack results.![SK Hynix Gold P31 2TB VDI monday login ]() ## Conclusion ![Gold P31 2TB jeep]() Not everyone needs the latest and greatest Gen4 SSD for their rigs. Mainstream users are plenty happy with any SSD in their system for most use cases. That said, it’s important to buy quality, whenever possible, so your workflow is less likely to be disrupted with a failed drive.  The P31 gold 2TB SSD is a vertically integrated solution, which means SK hynix owns the entire thing. This typically leads to drives that are well-supported for a long time. ![Gold P31 2TB back jeep]() In addition to being reliable, we do also want to see a good cost/performance profile out of mainstream SSDs. The P31 Gold 1TB drive was excellent at that [when we reviewed it](https://www.storagereview.com/review/sk-hynix-gold-p31-ssd-review) about a year ago, making it our favorite entry-SSD. The newly launched 2TB capacity shifts the math a little, as it’s not quite as peppy as the 1TB version. The P31 Gold 2TB is still a strong SSD, but just not as much as the smaller capacities. This one has much more price competition for the 2TB drive as well. So your buying decision for a 2TB mainstream SSD gets a little more cloudy, meaning the decision will probably just come down to price. With something like the [EVO 970 Plus](https://www.storagereview.com/review/samsung-970-evo-plus-2tb-review) also [sitting at $280](https://amzn.to/3BUh017) today and performing better, the SK hynix drive probably needs to be closer to $250 for us to give it a more strong recommendation. [2TB Gold P31 at Amazon](https://amzn.to/3zFt7hV) **Engage with StorageReview** [Newsletter](https://www.storagereview.com/storage_newsletter) |  [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/StorageReview "Opens in a new window") | Podcast  [iTunes](https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/storagereview-com-storage-reviews/id1060681115 "Opens in a new window")/ [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/1y6VnznABhHeOSMOmbDTz0 "Opens in a new window") |  [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/storagereview/ "Opens in a new window") |  [Twitter](https://twitter.com/storagereview "Opens in a new window") |  [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@storagereview? "Opens in a new window") |  [RSS Feed](https://www.storagereview.com/rss.xml) ![]() ### Brian Beeler Brian is located in Cincinnati, Ohio and is the chief analyst and President of StorageReview.com. Previous post: [Samsung PRO Plus microSD Card Review (512GB)](https://www.storagereview.com/review/samsung-pro-plus-microsd-card-review-512gb) Next post: [Dell Precision 7560 Review](https://www.storagereview.com/review/dell-precision-7560-review) Trusted Vendors Products and solutions from our affiliate partners: - [ ![Ubiquiti Logo]() Ubiquiti ](https://store.ui.com/us/en?a_aid=StorageReview "Opens in a new window") - [ ![Newegg Logo]() Newegg ](https://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=g5terNMDhz0&offerid=1207190.18&subid=0&type=4 "Opens in a new window") - [ ![Amazon Logo]() Amazon ](https://amzn.to/4fLJUEW "Opens in a new window") Newsletter Subscribe to the StorageReview newsletter to stay up to date on the latest news and reviews. We promise no spam! 1 Leave this field empty if you’re human: ## Advertisement Content Categories [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/@storagereview) [X](https://twitter.com/storagereview) [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/storagereview/) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/storagereview-com) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/user/storagereview?sub_confirmation=1) [Email](mailto:info@storagereview.com) [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/1y6VnznABhHeOSMOmbDTz0) [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/StorageReview/) [Discord](https://discord.gg/TwMHb4azdC) [RSS](https://www.storagereview.com/rss.xml) [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@storagereview) Copyright © 1998-2025 Flying Pig Ventures, LLC Cincinnati, Ohio. All rights reserved. Manage your privacy To provide the best experiences, we and our partners use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us and our partners to process personal data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site and show (non-) personalized ads. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. Click below to consent to the above or make granular choices. Your choices will be applied to this site only. You can change your settings at any time, including withdrawing your consent, by using the toggles on the Cookie Policy, or by clicking on the manage consent button at the bottom of the screen. Functional Functional Always active The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. Preferences Preferences The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. Statistics Statistics The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. Marketing Marketing The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes. Statistics Marketing Features Always active Special features Special purposes Always active - Manage options - Manage services - Manage {vendor\_count} vendors - [Read more about these purposes](https://cookiedatabase.org/tcf/purposes/) Accept Deny Manage options Save preferences Manage options - {title} - {title} - {title} Manage your privacy To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions. Functional Functional Always active The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. Preferences Preferences The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user. Statistics Statistics The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. Marketing Marketing The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes. Statistics Marketing Features Always active Special features Special purposes Always active - Manage options - Manage services - Manage {vendor\_count} vendors - [Read more about these purposes](https://cookiedatabase.org/tcf/purposes/) Accept Deny Manage options Save preferences Manage options - {title} - {title} - {title} Manage consent Manage consent ```json {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/review\/sk-hynix-gold-p31-2tb-ssd-review","url":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/review\/sk-hynix-gold-p31-2tb-ssd-review","name":"SK hynix Gold P31 2TB SSD Review - StorageReview.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/review\/sk-hynix-gold-p31-2tb-ssd-review#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/review\/sk-hynix-gold-p31-2tb-ssd-review#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/storagereview-hynix-gold-p31-2tb-lifestyle.jpg","datePublished":"2021-09-07T18:46:30+00:00","description":"The SK hynix Gold P31 2TB SSD offers a capacity bump for an SSD that was launched in August of 2020. The Gold P31 is ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/review\/sk-hynix-gold-p31-2tb-ssd-review#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/review\/sk-hynix-gold-p31-2tb-ssd-review"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/review\/sk-hynix-gold-p31-2tb-ssd-review#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/storagereview-hynix-gold-p31-2tb-lifestyle.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/storagereview-hynix-gold-p31-2tb-lifestyle.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"caption":"Gold P31 2TB jeep"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/review\/sk-hynix-gold-p31-2tb-ssd-review#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Review","item":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/review"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"SK hynix Gold P31 2TB SSD Review"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/","name":"StorageReview.com","description":"StorageReview.com is a leading provider of news and reviews throughout the entire IT stack - from the datacenter to the edge, and all points in between.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/#organization","name":"StorageReview.com","url":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Storage-Reviews-2-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Storage-Reviews-2-2.png","width":344,"height":61,"caption":"StorageReview.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.storagereview.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/storagereview","http:\/\/youtube.com\/user\/storagereview"]}]} ```