This drive from Patriot is a SATA-3 SSD, using a Phison PS3110-S10 controller, and it measures 22 x 80 x 3.8mm and weighs 9g. Power consumption is 0.25W when idle, 1.1W average, 2.1W maximum read and 5.7W maximum write. Patriot rates the lifespan of the Ignite at a good two million hours, though.
There are some interesting features inherent to the Patriot Ignite, such as End-to-End Data Path Protection, Advanced Wear Levelling and Advanced Garbage Collection. There’s also SmartFlush, GuaranteedFlush and SmartECC. What these all mean of course is that the controller and firmware is loaded with all the latest specifications; you’ll have to look them up individually, as they’re a little too much to get into here. In real-world terms, they are beneficial, but there’s a pretty good chance the average user won’t ever notice the behind-the-scenes technology at work.
We were quite amazed when we ran the ATTO benchmark on the Patriot Ignite, as the numbers were nearly exactly the same as the Transcend MTS400. The 8192KB read test recorded a score of 563MB/s and the write 329MB/s. Similarly, the 4KB test revealed a read score of 301MB/s with a write score of 261MB/s. Clearly, the controllers and chips on both models are very similar in their construction.
The Patriot Ignite therefore performed exactly the same as the Transcend model, booting into Windows 10 in mere seconds to the desktop and running all manner of programs, games and so on. The bigger capacity of 480GB is a plus and allows laptop users or those with limited space to run everything without having worry about running out of space too soon.
The major flaw, though, is the fact that it costs around £170. It’s the highest capacity drive we’ve reviewed so far, and while the performance numbers are good, it does make you wonder if the extra gigabytes are actually worth the expense. After all, you could opt for an equally performing Transcend, Kingston or Samsung model and still have money to spare for a secondary larger spinner.
Despite the cost, though, the Patriot Ignite is a pretty good M.2 SSD. The bigger capacity will be a great benefit to most users, especially those who use video editing and require speedy results, and it’s still quicker than most standard SSDs we’ve used in the past.