Introduction

Acer is a world-leading manufacturer of computer hardware. The company was founded in 1976, in Taiwan. They are mostly famous for their laptops, desktop PCs, and monitors. They have now branched into the field of solid-state storage with OEM partner BIWIN Storage, who are also helping HP produce their SSDs.



The FA100 is part of the Acer SSD lineup, which was announced last week. Designed as a cost-effective, entry-level M.2 NVMe SSD, the FA100 offers performance greater than traditional SATA drives and is much faster than any mechanical HDD too, of course. Acer has built the FA100 using the Innogrit IG5216 controller paired with 96-layer 3D TLC NAND flash from Micron. A DRAM cache chip is not included, probably to save on cost.

The Acer FA100 is available in capacities of 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB. Endurance for these models is set at 70 TBW, 150 TBW, 300 TBW, 600 TBW, and 1200 TBW respectively. None of the price points but for the $125 1 TB FA100 in this review are known. Acer includes a five-year warranty with the FA100.

Packaging

The Drive

The drive uses the M.2 2280 form factor, which makes it 22 mm wide and 80 mm long.


Like most M.2 NVMe SSDs, the Acer FA100 connects to the host system over a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface.


On the PCB, you'll find the controller and four flash chips.


On the back of the SSD, Acer has put a sticker with copper foil inside. While it's not a proper heatsink, it probably helps spread the heat over a larger surface area.

Chip Component Analysis

We've seen the Innogrit IG5216 controller before, on the Lexar NM620. It has four flash channels and supports the NVMe 1.4 specification.


The four 3D TLC flash chips are rebranded by BIWIN. They really are Micron 96-layer 3D TLC chips (B27B).

Test Setup