Introduction

Apacer is a well-known DRAM and SSD manufacturer based in Taiwan. The company was founded in 1997, selling memory modules for computers. Since then, the company has expanded into many fields, like USB products and flash storage.

Today, we are reviewing the Apacer AS2280 P2 SSD in its 480 GB variant. The drive uses the compact M.2 form factor with a PCI-Express x2 connection to the rest of the system. This is in contrast to the majority of M.2 NVMe drives which use a x4 connection for twice the theoretical throughput. As we'll see later in our testing, this only matters for read speeds. As the controller, a four-channel Phison PS5008-E8 is used, and the flash chips are 3D TLC made by Toshiba.

The Apacer AS2280P2 is available in capacities of 120 GB ($35), 240 GB ($50), and 480 GB ($100). Endurance is rated at 60 TB, 120 TB, and 240 TB respectively.

Packaging and Contents

The Drive

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


Instead of PCIe x4 3.0, Apacer has opted for a narrower x2 interface, which has a theoretical transfer rate limit of 2 GB/s.


You will find the SSD controller, four flash chips, and the DRAM chip on the PCB. The other side of the PCB is empty.


The Phison PS5008-E8 is a 4-channel SSD controller with support for TLC flash. It is designed to optimize price/performance, which is why the interface is limited to two PCIe lanes. It is produced using a 40 nm production process at UMC Taiwan.


The four TLC flash chips are made by Toshiba, using their 64-layer 15 nanometer 3D NAND production process.


A Kingston 512 MB DDR3L-1600 DRAM chip provides fast DRAM storage for the controller to store the mapping tables in.

Test Setup