Toshiba rc500 review in Spanish (complete analysis)

The competition in the NVMe SSD market is getting tougher, and this is good for the user by finding more and more options at more reasonable prices. The SSD we are analyzing today is the Toshiba RC500 500GB, at a price of only 75 euros. An excellent value for money unit with 96-layer BiCS TLC memories and a 5-year warranty.

It is the most recommended version in length, since the 250 GB model is only 25 euros below. In this case we have a performance around 1700/1600 MB / s in sequential reading and writing working on NVMe 1.3c in a 2280 format ideal for laptops and desktops.

We will see that this unit gives of itself, but not before thanking Toshiba for its trust in us by giving us this unit to carry out its analysis.

Toshiba RC500 technical characteristics

Unboxing

This Toshiba RC500 uses a good presentation in the form of a flexible cardboard box of small dimensions as is customary by the manufacturer. Never neglecting aesthetics, since outside we have a photo of the product accompanied by the corporate colors and minimal specifications on the back.

Inside we have a transparent semi-rigid plastic sandwich mold to store the SSD. In addition to the Toshiba RC500, we only found a small assembly instruction sheet and a booklet with more instructions.

SSD Design

In full hallmark of this new SSD would be Toshiba OCZ RC500, a new series that changes its name due to Toshiba's name change in Europe as Kioxia Memory Europe GmbH. For us it will remain Toshiba for life, a manufacturer that renews its series of low-cost NVMe SSDs with drives that double the performance of a SATA SSD for practically the same price, which is very positive for us users.

In fact, there is strong competition in this price range with the WD Blue, Crucial P1 and Kingston A200, the latter being slightly more expensive. The most interesting thing about the model proposed by Toshiba is that it implements excellent components such as its TLC type BiCS memories instead of QLC and a greater guarantee of up to 5 years. You already know that many other manufacturers use precisely memories from this manufacturer, for example, AORUS or Corsair in some models.

Focusing a little more on the design of the Toshiba RC500, we do not have excessive news regarding other models as is normal, nor is it that an SSD has too much play in this aspect. So a 2280 format PCB has been used, that is, measures 80 mm long, 22 mm wide and only 2.23 mm thick. It seems silly, but having a thickness less than 1 mm compared to other manufacturers indicates that these 96-layer memories are highly optimized in space thanks to being stacked vertically.

It has used an M.2 M-type connector under the NVMe interface and without any type of encapsulation or heatsink. Being a unit with a performance far from the maximum of the interface, we will have excellent temperatures of its controller. This also comes in handy for use on motherboards with built-in heatsinks, the vast majority currently, and on laptops where space is conspicuous by its absence.

In addition to this 500 GB model , we only have another 250 GB version at a price not too far away, so we would highly recommend this version with double the storage. An interesting detail that we see is that the controller has not been covered with the upper sticker, so the little heat it generates will be transferred to possible heatsinks without major problems. In addition, it facilitates the work of discovering which model has been assembled.

Features and characteristics

Thus we go on to see in more detail the technical characteristics of the Toshiba RC500, which will be extensible to both models in their majority.

In this new family of SSD we have installed a memory made by Toshiba BiCS4 NAND 3D 96-layer and TLC type. Here we have the first advantage for the price, not being QLC and therefore giving us better durability. They are very thin chips thanks to their vertical stacking and have an individual capacity of 128 GB, so we found 4 chips in the 500 GB unit and 2 in the 250 GB unit.

The manufacturer has provided these units with no less than 5 years of warranty, something typical of the high-end range and which comes in handy to rise above the competition. Although it is also true that the TBW limit has not been high, having 200 TBW (or 183 GB / day) for the 500 GB drive and 100 TBW (91 GB / day) for the 250 GB drive.

For its part, the controller has already been used in other units, being a Toshiba TC58NC version 12026ST-00-BB. A controller that works together with a 512 MB DDR4 cache at 2400 MHz and under the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface and NVMe 1.3c protocol . The manufacturer's specified performance is 1700 MB / s for sequential read and 1600 MB / s for sequential write for the 500GB version and 1700/1200 MB / s for the 250GB version. Similarly, the 4KBQ8T8 random read and write rates are 290K and 390K IOPS respectively for the 500 GB version and 190K / 290K IOPS for the 250 GB version.

Other important features are its MTTF of 1.5 million hours, its consumption of 3.8W with typical operation and the possibility of management with Toshiba's SSD Utility v3.4 software.

Test equipment and benchmarks

We now turn to the battery of tests corresponding to this Toshiba RC500 500 GB. To do this, we have used the following test bench:

TESTING BENCH
Processor:	Intel i9-9900K
Base plate:	Asus Maximus Formula XI
Memory:	16GB DDR4 T-Force
Heatsink	Corsair H100i Platinum SE
HDD	Toshiba RC500 500GB
Graphic card	Gigabyte RTX 2080 Super
Power supply	Cooler Master V850 Gold

The tests to which we have submitted this SSD are as follows:

Crystal Disk MarkAS SSD BenchmarkATTO Disk BenchmarkAnvil´s Storage

All of these programs are in current versions. Remember not to abuse these tests in your units, since the life time is reduced.

In the records provided by CristalDiskmark we see that the SSD is indeed reaching the promised values and even exceeding them in both sequential read and write, almost 1800 and 1700 respectively. Similarly, the rest of the values are very good.

Anvil´s also gives us some close records, although always inferior to Cristal. What doesn't matter most about this software are the latencies, which in all cases are below 0.05 milliseconds except in 4MB blocks, and the IOPS, which in this case we have reached a maximum of 398K in writing and 159K in reading, On the SSSD side, the maximum IOPS record has been taken by the 4K-64T test with more than 400K IOPS in both reading and writing. Curiously, in ATTO Disk we see abnormally high values in reading, since we are exceeding 3200 MB / s and it is not at all what is stipulated by the manufacturer for this unit. Perhaps it is due to the use of the DDR4 cache, but we do not consider the values of the latter program to be real values .

Final words and conclusion about Toshiba RC500

We put an end to a new analysis of an ideal SSD in terms of quality, performance and price, and there have been few that we have analyzed in this beginning of 2020. In this case it is a new generation SSD that bets on discreet performance for the interface, but prices close to SATA SSDs.

At least the manufacturer's specifications are being met and even exceeded, with rates of almost 1800/1700 MB / s in sequential read and write and very good IOPS records in certain cases.

It is ideal for installing operating systems and programs, and not so much for mass storage or installing a large number of games, since we have 250 and 500 GB versions. Perhaps a 1TB version would have been a great decision.

We recommend reading the best SSDs on the market

Toshiba bets for no less than 5 years of warranty, although the amount of TBW remains a little below competitors such as Western Digital, being 100 and 200 TBW for each model. One positive thing is that we have new generation BiCS4 96-layer TLC memories. To this we add a high-speed 512MB DDR4 cache.

To finish we have this Toshiba RC500 available for 75 euros in its 500 GB version and 50 euros in its 250 GB version on Amazon. A highly recommended unit for all kinds of scenarios, both desktop and laptop.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ QUALITY / PRICE	- TBW LIMIT COULD BE A LITTLE BIT
+ TLC MEMORIES OF 96 LAYERS AND 512 MB OF CACHE	- WE DO NOT HAVE A 1 TB VERSION
+ 5 YEARS WARRANTY
+ COMPATIBLE WITH ALL KINDS OF EQUIPMENT