fanxiang S501

The fanxiang S501 is a budget 256GB NVMe SSD that delivers solid PCIe 3.0 speeds for around $55 to $60. It's a great cheap upgrade for older laptops and desktops, with surprisingly good endurance for the price. Just don't expect high-end performance or much storage space.

Sequential reads hit 2,150 MB/s and writes reach 1,600 MB/s according to the spec sheet. In practice, that means Windows boots in seconds, apps open quickly, and file transfers feel snappy compared to any SATA SSD. It's about five times faster than a SATA III drive, which is the upgrade most people are coming from. But in our database, this speed lands right around the 46th percentile. It's average for PCIe 3.0, and it gets left in the dust by PCIe 4.0 drives that push 5,000 to 7,000 MB/s.

Random performance is also middle of the pack at the 59th percentile. That's fine for booting and general use, but don't expect miracles in heavy multitasking or large file operations. The DRAM-less design means the drive relies on your system's memory for caching, which can cause small hitches under sustained writes. For a budget drive, it's acceptable. Just know that this is a commuter car, not a sports car.

The fanxiang S501 sits at the budget end of the NVMe market, and it shows when you put it next to the competition. The Crucial T500 and Samsung 980 are both significantly faster, with the Samsung 980 especially known for its consistent performance and better random read speeds. The SanDisk Optimus GX 7100 is a PCIe 4.0 drive that absolutely crushes the S501 in sequential throughput, though you'll pay more for it. The Kingston NV3 is another budget option that often comes in 500GB or 1TB capacities for not much more than this 256GB fanxiang.

If you're comparing the S501 to the KingSpec OneBoom X400, it's a closer fight. Both are budget DRAM-less drives with similar speed profiles. The fanxiang has better endurance on paper, but the KingSpec often sells in larger capacities at similar prices. For most people, the real question isn't whether the S501 is fast enough, it's whether 256GB is enough space. And for a lot of users, it isn't.

At $55 to $60 in the US, the fanxiang S501 is one of the cheapest ways to get NVMe speeds into an older machine. You're paying roughly the same as a decent SATA SSD but getting five times the sequential throughput. The endurance rating is a pleasant surprise at this price, and the 3-year warranty is acceptable if not generous. But the 256GB capacity is a real limitation. If you can stretch your budget, a 500GB or 1TB drive from Crucial or Kingston will give you more breathing room for not much more money. For a boot drive on a tight budget, though, this is hard to beat.

The fanxiang S501 is a budget NVMe SSD that slots into the M.2 2280 form factor and runs on PCIe 3.0 x4. It's aimed at people who want to breathe some life into an older laptop or desktop without spending much. The 256GB model we're looking at goes for around $55 to $60 in the US, and about CAD 90 north of the border. That's cheap for an NVMe drive, but you're also getting a DRAM-less design with TLC NAND, so expectations need to be realistic.

People searching for this drive usually want to know if it's good for booting Windows or speeding up an old machine. The short answer is yes, it'll feel dramatically faster than a spinning hard drive. But it's not a performance monster. The read speed tops out around 2,150 MB/s and writes hit 1,600 MB/s, which is fine for everyday tasks but well behind newer PCIe 4.0 drives. It also won't work in a PS5, so don't even try.

For a budget upgrade, the S501 makes sense. It's quiet, shock resistant, and has hardware encryption plus LDPC error correction. The 200 TBW endurance rating is actually pretty solid for a drive this cheap, landing in the 85th percentile in our database. But the 256GB capacity is small by today's standards, and that's the biggest compromise here.

Skip the fanxiang S501 if you need more than 256GB of storage, want to use it in a PS5, or do heavy content creation work. Video editors and people who work with large files will find the capacity and DRAM-less design limiting. Gamers with big libraries should look at 1TB drives from Kingston or Crucial instead. And if you're building a new system with a PCIe 4.0 motherboard, you're better off spending a bit more on a faster drive that actually uses that bandwidth.

Should you buy the fanxiang S501? If you have an older laptop or desktop with a hard drive or SATA SSD, and you want a cheap, easy speed boost, yes. It's a solid budget NVMe drive that does exactly what it promises. Boot times drop, apps load faster, and the whole system feels more responsive. The endurance rating is better than expected, and the price is right.

But if you're building a new system or want a drive for gaming, content creation, or anything storage-heavy, look elsewhere. The 256GB capacity is the dealbreaker for many. A 1TB drive from Kingston or Crucial will cost more but save you the headache of constantly managing space. And if you need PS5 storage, this drive is a non-starter. For a cheap boot drive in an old machine, though, the S501 gets the job done.