BIWIN NV7400 2TB NVMe Review: A Budget PCIe 4.0 SSD That Packs A Punch

BIWIN is not a new name in the industry. For some time, it has been providing memory and storage-related solutions and products to OEMs like HP and Acer/Predator. I guess it was not until the last Computex that the brand showcased RAM and Storage drives under its own umbrella.

We have got BIWIN Black Opal NV7400 2TB NVMe SSD for testing. This is a PCIe Gen4x4 SSD in 2280 form factor that is capable of reaching up to 7450 MB/s sequential reads and 6500 MB/s sequential writes. This is impressive performance data, given it is DRAM-Less drive. These SSDs are available in 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities.

These SSDs are driven by the MaxioTech MAP1602A Falcon Lite controller, which is an efficient controller suitable for DRAM-Less storage drives. This SSD has BIWIN TLC 3D NAND (probably 232 layer). BIWIN is focused on the European market, but it may cover the North American market soon as well.

This SSD comes with a 0.5mm Graphene thermal pad for effective heat transfer. The 2TB variant is listed at £105.99, and it comes with a five-year warranty.

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Key Takeaways

• The BIWIN NV7400 2TB NVMe SSD delivers blazing-fast speeds with up to 7400MB/s sequential read and 6500MB/s sequential write, and has a graphene thermal pad for heat management.
• You should buy the BIWIN NV7400 2TB NVMe if you want a good, affordable SSD that can pair well with a PS5.
• You should not buy the BIWIN NV7400 2TB NVMe if you want a DRAM-enabled SSD.

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Here are the key specs:

Capacity	2TB
Form Factor	M.2 2280
Interface	NVMe 2.0 PCIe Gen 4×4
Controller	MaxioTech MAP1602A
NAND	3D TLC NAND
DRAM Cache Size	N/A. HMB
NAND Cache Size	Dynamic SLC
TBW	2000
MTBF	1,500,000 hours
Sequential Read	Up to 7450MB/s
Sequential Write	Up to 6500MB/s
4K Random Read	Up to 1000K
4K Random Write	Up to 900K
Dimension	80x22x2.45mm

How Is The BIWIN NV7400 2TB NVMe SSD Different?

The BIWIN NV7400 2TB has the highest-rated transfer rates for sequential and 4K throughput. This high rating is based on a DRAM-less design powered by an efficient MPA1602A controller and using a BIWIN 3D TLC NAND Flash package. These SSDs are ideal for notebooks and consoles, with high storage capacities and cost-effectiveness.

Packaging And Unboxing

The drive is shipped inside a paperboard packing box that has a black and blue color theme. The drive and other items are packed inside a transparent container. The following are provided:

• 1x SSD
• 1x Quick Start Guide
• 1x Screw
• 1x Screwdriver

Design

There is a stylish cover on the top of the drive. This drive comes with a Graphene thermal pad (white color). This reminds me of the Teamgroup NVMe SSD that we got back in 2023 with a Graphene pad. This SSD has a dimension of 22x80x2.45mm with the Graphene thermal pad.

The 2.45mm thickness makes this SSD compatible with Sony PlayStation 5 as its height is less than 11.25mm height supported by the console. This is a PCIe Gen 4×4 drive using an NVMe 2.0 interface. The drive has an M.2 2280 form factor using M Key Type.

I have removed the top cover, which has a Graphene thermal pad of 0.5mm thickness. I would not suggest you do that. Just leave it on top of the drive and use it.

A sticker can be seen on the backside showing the part number and serial number of the drive, along with its capacity, which is 2TB (2000GB). The drive is made in China.

The drive supports S.M.A.R.T, TRIM, E.C.C, and 4K LDPC features. The provision of TRIM, advanced full equalization mode, and active garbage collection helps in providing durability.

This SSD has components on one side; hence, it is a single-sided storage solution.

Components

This is my third PCIe Gen4x4 NVMe drive in recent time powered by MaxioTech MAP1602A controller. This 4-channel controller is highly efficient and suitable to drive DRAM-less drives. Since the power requirements are less compared to Phison and other controllers, it is well suited for notebooks and PS5.

This controller is based on ARM 32-bit Cortex R5 chip and it has 4 channels. This drive has 4x die package each of 500GB.  These are BIWIN’s own design and why not. They have been doing this for HP and Acer for quite some time now. They are (232-layer probably) 3D TLC NAND flash chips. These packages operate at 2400MT/s.

There is no DRAM chip on this SSD hence this controller. This is a DRAM-Less design and it uses HMB and SLC caching to make up for no dedicated DRAM chip. HMB simply means that this SSD will use your PC’s main memory and SLC means it will dedicate some free space on the SSD for caching that helps in sustained bursts of writes.

Test Setup

The below-mentioned test build is used for benchmarking the SSD:

• Intel i7 13700k
• DeepCool LQ360
• MSI Z790 ACE MAX WiFi
• XPG Lancer RGB DDR5 7200MHz, CL34 Kit
• Maxsun Intel Arc B580 iCraft 12G [For Display]
• Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2TB NVMe SSD [OS Drive]
• Fractal Design ION+ 2 860W Platinum PSU
• Thermaltake Core P6 TG Snow Edition in an open frame layout
• Microsoft Windows 11 23H2

  

I ran CrystalDiskInfo after installing the disk. The firmware version is SN25043. The interface is listed as NVM Express using 2.0 as standard. It also confirmed that the drive is operating at PCIe 4.0 at an x4 speed link. The supported features are S.M.A.R.T, TRIM, and VolatileWriteCache.

The drive is overpositioned.

Test Results

CrystalDiskMark

Let’s start with three different runs of CrystalDiskMark.

This drive did 7092MB/s in sequential read falling behind the rated 7450MB/s. However, it did pass the 6500MB/s sequential write speeds. I have no issue here. This drive operating at 7000MB/s speeds is good enough.

However, Q1T1 4K performance seems slightly low compared to other DRAM-Less drives. The overall performance in CrystalDiskMark is satisfactory.

BIWIN Black Opal NV7400 2TB drive is doing well in the graph against the likes of Orico O7000 and Netac NV7000-Q drives.

ATTO Disk Benchmark

The maximum read speed on the BIWIN NV7400 2TB drive was 6.61GB/s which is the same as on the other two drives, but it excels in write speed with 6.06GB/s. This is a competitive performance.

Anvil’s Storage Benchmark

Next, I ran the Anvil Storage Utilities benchmark to test the performance of the drive. We can see a tight competition among three DRAM-less drives. BIWIN is neck-to-neck against the Netac drive, though reads are a bit low.

I also ran Threaded Writes in queue depth of 32 and 64. The SSD falls short of the rated 900k IOPS.

Next, I ran the Threaded Reads in queue depths of 32, 64, and 128 threads. The drive again fell short of the rated 1000K IOPS by the manufacturer.

3DMark Storage Test

3DMark Storage test is a relatively new test bench measuring the gaming-only performance of the given drive using three games. It measures the load time of the games, recording the game play, saving the game and moving the game. The overall score is given in the bandwidth and access time.

This drive is at lowest number among three RAM-less drives that I have recently tested.

PCMARK10

We ran two tests from Storage benchmarks in this suite. These are Data Drive Benchmark and Quick System Drive Benchmark.

The BIWIN drive though competitive against the Netac drive is trailing behind the Orico and Netac drives. Please keep in mind that recent software updates might have to do with these numbers as well. It is apparent with the results of Netac and BIWIN which were tested after the update.

Blackmagic Disk Benchmark

We have used the BlackMagic disk benchmark as well. This is a critical benchmark from the point of view that it monitors the three video compression coders against multiple formats and checks if the drive in hand supports that format and if it does then at what speed.

Real World Testing

Now, it is time for a real-world use. For that, we have used DiskBench in multiple scenarios to check the real-world data transfer rates. We prepared a data set of mixed files and folders including compressed files.

Ultimate Performance Tests

Next, I prepared heavy data of 530GB and repeated the copy operation. I have used HWInfo64 to record the drive’s sensor to see how it performed over time.

This operation was completed in 9.53 minutes at a rate of 948 MB/s. The lowest this drive had in the write department was 425MB/s. The lowest in the read department was 490 MB/s.

Next, I wanted to see the impact on the data copy speeds, particularly the write speeds, with the drive filling up to full capacity. For that, I prepared 944GB of heavy data and repeated the copy operation.

It took 12.187 minutes to complete this operation at an average speed of 1187.511MB/s. The lowest in the read  department was 468MB/s in read, and it was 321MB/s in write. Despite filling the space near to full capacity, the drive maintains over 600MB/s write, which is good speed.

Gaming Load Time

I ran the Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Benchmark using High settings to test gaming load times.

It took 6.189 seconds in total to load the game.

Thermals

67ᵒC was the maximum temperature recorded when the simultaneous read and write operation of 944GB data was done on this drive. The ambient was 22ᵒC.

Should You Buy It?

Buy It If

✅You want a high-speed drive: The BIWIN NV7400 2TB NVME SSD is rated for up to 7400MB/s and 6500MB/s sequential read and write, respectively.

✅You are looking for more storage for PS5: The NV7400 2TB drive has a height or thickness of 2.45mm, making it compatible with PS5 for storage expansion.

✅You prefer an affordable SSD: the NV7400 2TB NVMe SSD costs £105.99, which is a pocket-friendly offer from the manufacturer.

Don’t Buy It If

❌You are looking for a DRAM-enabled SSD: This SSD does not have an onboard DRAM chip. Instead, it relies on HMB and SLC caching for this purpose.

Final Words

I have tested the NV7400 2TB NVMe SSD from BIWIN. This series of SSDs is available in 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities. It is a DRAM-less configuration, powered by a highly efficient, 4-channel MaxioTech MPA1602A controller. There is no onboard DRAM chip, hence the low price tag.

This SSD has a 0.5mm Graphene thermal pad for effective heat transfer. This pad is on 4x 3D NAND TCL Flash chips and a controller. These NAND are 232-layered and BIWIN’s own design, with each operating at 2400 MT/s.

This drive has a dimension of 22x80x2.45mm, making this SSD compatible with Sony Play Station 5. This drive features TRIM, S.M.A.R.T, E.C.C. 4K LDPC. This drive uses NVMe 2.0 standard over the PCIe 4 x4 link speed.

This drive is rated for 7400MB/s sequential read and 6500MB/s sequential write. It is rated for 900K IOPS in 4K Random Read and 1000K in 4K Random Write. It has 2000 TBW, which is higher than the NETAC drive and lower than the Orico drive.

One-time testing does not tell us the complete picture, as DRAM-less SSDs may drop performance in the long run. BIWIN has tried to address that with advanced full equalization mode, TRIM, and Garbage Collection. They have also implemented an algorithm for thermal management.

This SSD is fast and it gets the job done. The performance numbers show consistency throughout the test though it was competitive against the Netac NV7000-Q and falling behind the Orico O7000 drives.