HP SSD FX700 NVMe M.2 SSD review – Far Eastern QLC data grab with a new approach

1 - Introduction, unboxing, technology and data 2 - Temperatures, consumption, controller and NAND 3 - The pSLC cache and its limits with this SSD 4 - Synthetic benchmarks 5 - Application benchmarks and summary

The HP FX700 tested today is no longer brand new, but there was a reason for that, because I tend to be skeptical about QLC. Hewlett Packard, or HP for short, is one of the leading names in the technology industry worldwide. However, when developing the SSDs, HP entered into a partnership with BIWIN Storage, a renowned Chinese manufacturer of SSD solutions with four centuries of experience in the field of storage solutions and microelectronics. BIWIN has received a license from HP to manufacture SSDs under the HP brand name, which should underline the quality and reliability of these products. Today you can read how well this works even after six months of use.

Because with QLC I always feel strongly triggered, also due to two complete failures during daily and long-term use. Do you have to put up with it and to what extent can you trust the whole thing? The HP FX700 is available in different storage capacities – 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB, whereby the prices are unfortunately following the normal trend and are rising sharply again and the 2 TB model is only available for around 145 euros. We were already far, far below that. The durability (TBW – Terabytes Written) of these models is specified as 200 TBW, 400 TBW, 800 TBW and 1600 TBW respectively. HP also grants a limited warranty of five years on the FX700 (the TBW must not be exceeded), which is intended to underline the company’s commitment to the quality assurance of its products. That’s why I’ve also used the SSD as a data grab and always installed the latest games on it.

The HP FX700 comes in an 8 cm long M.2 form factor with a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface and transfers data at up to 7,200 MB/s read and 6,400 MB/s write. But will this be achieved and really needed in practice? We already had a larger test on this recently, which clearly negates this for real applications. So let us be surprised! Like almost all other manufacturers, HBM and a “dynamic pSLC cache” are used for this DRAM-less SSD, which I would like to and must say a few words about in the course of the article for a better understanding.

Unboxing and features

The manufacturer packs the bare SSD without a real cooling block, but with a kind of cooling strip (more on this in the material test), which is definitely a sustainable idea in times of motherboards with integrated M.2 coolers and significantly increased efficiency. In the end, you don’t even need an extra cooler, but we’ll see that in a moment. So it’s more a question of taste and technical necessity whether you cool the SSD at all. Both are feasible, but extra cooling is not absolutely necessary.

The SSD has a blank back on the PCB, which corresponds to the reference PCB from Maxio and bears the manufacturer’s sticker. The rest is as unspectacular as possible on the back, because there is nothing there. However, this also improves cooling from the rear, if you need it at all.

For a better overview, I now have the data sheet of the tested variant for you before I unpack the SSD on the following page and analyze the technology including the dynamic pSLC:

HP SSD FX700 M.2 2TB, M.2 2280/M-Key/PCIe 4.0 x4, Kühlkörper (8U2N5AA)

	Ab Zentrallager sofort lieferbar	146,99 €*Stand: 29.04.24 23:20
	Versandlager: Lieferzeit 1-2 TageSuperstore Siegburg: nicht lagerndStand: 29.04.24 21:20	147,00 €*Stand: 29.04.24 21:24
bauguru	Lieferzeit innerhalb von 7-10 Werktagen	148,30 €*Stand: 29.04.24 23:17

*Alle Preise inkl. gesetzl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten und ggf. Nachnahmegebühren, wenn nicht anders beschriebenmit freundlicher Unterstützung von geizhals.de

HP SSD FX700 M.2 1TB, M.2 2280/M-Key/PCIe 4.0 x4, Kühlkörper (8U2N3AA)

	4-6 Werktage	95,57 €*Stand: 29.04.24 23:00
bauguru	Lieferzeit innerhalb von 7-10 Werktagen	100,00 €*Stand: 29.04.24 23:17
	Ab Zentrallager sofort lieferbar	105,98 €*Stand: 29.04.24 23:20

*Alle Preise inkl. gesetzl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten und ggf. Nachnahmegebühren, wenn nicht anders beschriebenmit freundlicher Unterstützung von geizhals.de

HP SSD FX700 M.2 512GB, M.2 2280/M-Key/PCIe 4.0 x4, Kühlkörper (8U2N1AA)

	Ab Zentrallager sofort lieferbar	61,88 €*Stand: 29.04.24 23:20
	Versandlager: Lieferzeit 1-2 TageSuperstore Siegburg: nicht lagerndStand: 29.04.24 21:20	61,90 €*Stand: 29.04.24 21:24
	Lager Lieferant: Sofort lieferbar, 1-3 Werktage	66,83 €*Stand: 29.04.24 23:00

*Alle Preise inkl. gesetzl. MwSt zzgl. Versandkosten und ggf. Nachnahmegebühren, wenn nicht anders beschriebenmit freundlicher Unterstützung von geizhals.de