SanDisk Ultra II 240GB SSD Review

[section_title title=”Conclusion”]Conclusion

The SanDisk Ultra II has been on our storage test bench and had a barrage of storage benchmarks and even real world applications loaded through it to test its metal.  It is worth noting that unlike the Extreme PRO that we previously reviewed, the Ultra II has a slightly different target market in terms of pricing.  The Ultra II offers much more affordability than that Extreme PRO which should surely appeal to many; especially those on a budget.  Question is, is it a bargain buy and does it have enough performance to warrant a name like Ultra?  Let’s find out…

Performance wise, the advertised speeds aren’t far off at all with the Ultra II scoring pretty well in ATTO (500MB/s read and 497MB/s write) and even better in terms of read speeds in AS SSD.  This drive also sits above the Samsung EVO 240GB SSD in some areas which at one point was one of the most popular drives on the market; this is a fantastic showing for SanDisk and clearly shows the clout of the brand.  With equally impressive scores in PCMark 7’s storage suite, the only thing letting this drive down was in the 4.75GB transfer test; where it was easily beaten by both the Samsung 840 EVO and demolished by SanDisk’s own Extreme PRO.  This isn’t too much of a worry as the price difference between the 3 drives is reflected in the performance; overall the Ultra II performs very well indeed.

In terms of design, there isn’t really much more that can be said other than the Ultra II looks very stylish but I don’t think I have seen many SSDs which don’t fall under that moniker.  The red and black is a nice contrast and even with the gold text, looks relatively good.  This drive does however feel very plasticky and that is clearly down to the fact that the shell is 100% plastic; this also makes the 7mm drive light too which when used in a netbook, won’t add anything in terms of weight; these are actually lighter than mechanical HDDs.

At £0.35 per GB, the SanDisk Ultra II offers great value for money; especially for a 240GB drive.  The Ultra II even beats the Samsung 840 EVO 250GB with a current £/GB of £0.36 and Kingston’s HyperX 3K which comes in at a staggering £0.40 per GB.  With a lower price than the Samsung 840 EVO, having marginally better performance and of course looking just as good, it would be hard not to recommend the Ultra II over the 840 EVO.  Aside from RAPID mode which is pretty gimmicky, the Ultra II offers more performance across the board and with the recent episode that Samsung had with the 840 drive, the Ultra II wins out.

Overall the SanDisk Ultra II offers great value for money, very nice performance and delivers in the price making this particular SSD a gold award drive.  When you combine value with the performance that the Ultra II delivers, for the gamer on a budget without the need for “top of the range” performance, then the SanDisk Ultra II is the drive for you.

Huge thanks to SanDisk for sending the Ultra II in for review and I look forward to seeing more in the future.