goodram IRDM M.2 SSD in test – a new star on the SSD market?

The goodram brand from Wilk Elektronik S.A. is probably not yet familiar to most people in this country. Nevertheless – or just because of that – we wanted to take a closer look at the products. The IRDM series represents goodram’s high-quality series – with this series, goodram wants to assert itself on the market alongside the big names and establish its brand.

The goodram IRDM M.2 promises a high data throughput – with 3200 MB/s read and 2000 MB/s write, high-end performance is promised – with a Phison E12 as controller. The SSD is available in 256 GB, 512 GB, 1024 GB and 2048 GB sizes.

Specifications

Connection	M.2 PCIe NVMe gen 3 x4 (M key)
Form factor	M.2 2280
Controller	Phison E12
NVMe generation	1.3
Max. Reading speed	3200 MB/s
Max. Write speed	2000 MB/s
MTBF	1.8 million hours
TBW	300 TB (512 GB SSD)
Flash type	3D-TLC NAND
Operating temperature	0-70°C
Guarantee	5 years
Price	€ 92.90 *

The goodram IRDM M.2 is an SSD in compact M.2 format, which is connected via PCIe Gen3 x4. Like other high-end SSDs, it relies on the NVMe protocol 1.3 – so a high data throughput can be promised. Goodram clearly states here that the SSD is aimed at enthusiasts and professional users. Can the SSD live up to the claims?

Packaging and scope of delivery

The packaging is quite plain – a black cardboard box, printed with the IRDM logo, the SSD and some technical specifications.

Inside the box is the SSD – nothing more, nothing less. On most M.2 SSDs, there is either a heat sink or a sticker – here, one has taken a kind of intermediate route – on the SSD, there is a metal plate as a “heatspreader” – visually, this definitely makes a difference. On this the IRDM logo incl. lettering is visible again.

Test system

We installed the following components as our test system:

• Ryzen 5 3600
• MSI B550 Tomahawk
• Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 3000 MHz
• NVIDIA Geforce RTX 3080 Founders Edition
• Seasonic FOCUS GX-750

Performance

To compare the SSD’s performance with other SSDs we’ve already tested, we use a number of different benchmarks – specifically AS SSD, CrystalDiskMark, ATTO Disk, and HD Tune Pro.

The goodram IRDM makes a good impression in the AS SSD benchmark. Although it, like most other SSDs, does not reach the maximum values in terms of specifications in this benchmark, it still manages to keep up in all categories and partly set new records. Both in the synthetic benchmark and in the more practical “copy benchmarks”, the IRDM delivers a well-rounded picture and shows its quality.

The CrystalDiskMark confirms the picture, although not quite as convincingly. The IRDM keeps up with the other M.2 SSDs, but has to admit defeat in some categories. Nevertheless, the maximum read rates are surpassed here – in the 32 queues test, it is almost 200 MB/s more with 3400 MB/s than advertised.

The IRDM is also constant in the ATTO Disk Mark. The read results are almost comparable with the Samsung 980 in many areas. Although the SSD does not show any new best performances here, the result is still decent.

In HD Tune, it shows very high average rates – with a small blip at the beginning that makes the minimum throughput look a bit weak. However, this is only a single “negative peak” – and can be neglected in most scenarios. The SSD also shows its performance in the access times – they are consistently very good.

In summary, the SSD is convincing. Although it can’t call up its full benchmark in every test, it still shows what it’s made of and delivers convincing rates.

Conclusion

Basically, the SSD meets the requirements and convinces with its benchmark values, workmanship and overall impression.  The performance is on a very good level – the access times are super, the advertised values can be maintained in most scenarios.

Goodram definitely has chances to establish itself in the market – but the price has to be right, of course. In our opinion, this is definitely appropriate. In terms of performance, the SSD can keep up or surpass – and is still “only” on the price level of a Samsung 970 Evo! (Price at time of review: ~65€, current: € 92.90 *)

We give, for the still quite unknown manufacturer, the deserved Gold Award and look forward to more products – we would be happy to see a new name establishing itself in the SSD market!