When PCI Express 4.0 first appeared in desktops in 2019, SSDs started to use it virtually right away. On the other hand, PCI Express 5.0, available from autumn 2021 on the LGA 1700 platform and from autumn 2022 on AM5 boards, has suffered a disappointing lack of any SSDs till now. But they are finally here now. Corsair has shown its first PCIe 5.0 module, which however raises some concerns by including a cooling a fan. Read more “PCIe 5.0 SSDs have started selling. The first models use a fan”
Curiously, even though Intel Raptor Lake CPUs are only three months away, there’s virtually no word on the 700-series chipsets and motherboards that should come with the new CPUs. Last week, however, a leaked document was posted on the Internet, in which Intel introduces the Raptor Lake platform, the CPU and the new chipsets. The most surprising bit is that the new boards won’t bring the one feature that was most expected of them. Read more “Intel Raptor Lake and Z790 platform will lack PCIe 5.0 for SSDs”
We are starting to see introductions of first PCI Express 5.0 SSDs, which will enable up to double the read and write speeds on AMD AM5 and Intel LGA 1700 platforms. Many or majority of these SSDs will be based on the Phison E26 controller (and often on Phison reference design and firmware). Its manufacturer has now unveiled its specs at Computex 2022, showing us what the new cutting-edge SSD for PCs will look like. Read more “Phison E26: PCIe 5.0 controller to deliver 2× faster NVMe SSDs”
Several SSDs using PCIe Express 5.0 have already been unveiled. So far though, these have been only announcements of products with no store availability information given whatsoever. Teamgroup has also announced their PCIe 5.0 SSDs now, but in this case, the company has shared when are they supposed to come to market. Thanks to this, it’s finally becoming clear when will you have a chance to make Alder Lake’s PCIe 5.0 useful. Read more “The era of PCI Express 5.0 SSDs will begin in Q3 2022”
Patriot P200 SSD was a notable SATA drive a few years ago, with 1 TB capacity for cheap and decent performance despite being DRAMless. After the NVMe switch with P300, this lineage has produced another interesting SSD: Patriot P400, with the 4 in the name indicating a move to the PCI Express 4.0 interface. For users with suitable motherboards, P400 could prove to be very intersting SSD, and one of the most power efficient yet. Read more “Patriot P400 with Innogrit controller: just 2.5W PCIe 4.0 SSD”
This November, Intel Alder Lake CPUs have brought PCI Express 5.0 support to desktop computers (but not notebooks). Its high bandwidth is now of most use for SSDs, but unfortunately the Alder Lake platform does not offer PCI Express for M.2 slots. However we will still get SDDs for PCI Express 5.0. MSI and Phison have now revealed their Spatium disks designed as a card for PCIe 5.0 slots, circumnavigating the absent M.2 support. Read more “PCIe 5.0 SSD for Alder Lake: MSI Spatium in card form-factor”
In May, we had reported on a study by Backblaze, which publishes statistics on the failure rate of hard drives operated by its service. Backblaze also started reporting failure statistics for the SSDs it uses as system drives and the results at first seemed to be orders of magnitude better. But their new data now shows a picture much less promising, it looks like SSD fatality rates might not eventually be so different from HDDs. Read more “SSDs more reliable than HDDs? Study shows similar failure rate”
PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs have been on the market for more than 2 years, and the newer ones are even able utilize most of its potential. But PCI Express 5.0 will soon be introduced by Intel Alder Lake processors, though only for GPUs for now (×16 slot). But SSD manufacturers are already preparing PCIe 5.0 storage. Kioxia (formerly Toshiba) has shown a prototype NVMe SSD that uses PCI Express 5.0 and can already get speeds up to 14 GB/s. Read more “Kioxia PCI Express SSD will have speeds up to 14 000 MB/s”
It looks like PCI Express 5.0 SSDs will roll out at slower pace than PCI Express 4.0 ones, but the first controller to use this technology is already coming. Marvell has now unveiled the Bravera SC5 chips, which are to power NVMe modules with read speeds of up to 14 GB/s and 2 million IOPS. To handle this, the chips have ten different ARM cores inside. These SSDs will likely only target servers for now though, not desktops or laptops yet. Read more “The first PCIe 5.0 ×4 SSD controller, speed up to 14 GB/s”
The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD was one of the first external SSDs we’ve tested. After the test, it became my sidekick and I’ve been using it to this day. However, some time has passed since its introduction in 2018 and the manufacturer now brings a revised version with the same name. The novelty has double the speed in specifications, hardware encryption and several improvements of the insides. Read more “SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD V2: higher performance, new body”
External SSDs are one of the newest types of computer accessories, and I’ve got to like them in recent years. Compared to USB memory sticks, they offer higher speeds and, above all, higher capacity. Yet at the same time, they are still small enough for comfortable carrying in a pocket. We’ve expanded our results database of tested storages with the low-budget PC60 model from Silicon Power. Read more “Silicon Power PC60: slower, but stable and mainly cheap”
Patriot is releasing the 2nd generation of their NVMe SSD with PCIe 4.0 interface. The Viper VP4300 boasts a speed of up to 7,400 MB/s and is powered by a so far little-used controller by a new brand – InnoGrit. But it also comes with a interesting cooling solution: it’s fitted with a thick aluminum heatsink for normal desktop use, but a thin copper heat spreader is also included for laptops or SFF PCs, so you’ll get the equipment for both scenarios. Read more “PCIe 4.0 SSD Patriot Viper VP4300: new controller and two coolers”
G-Technology may be a lesser-known brand at first glance, but when I say names like WD and SanDisk, you’re sure to know what I mean. Of the three interconnected brands, G-Drive is profiled as the premium one, aimed mainly at creators and MacOS users. Mobile Pro SSD is a new addition to the family, which will impress with its Thunderbolt 3 connection and extreme speeds well above 1 GB/s. Read more “G-Drive Mobile Pro SSD – 3 GB/s near at hand”
I first saw this novelty called P50 Game Drive last September during our visit to Berlin at IFA 2019. In addition to its non-traditional design, this external SSD is particularly interesting for its unique connection. This is one of the first storage disks to use the fastest form of the USB protocol labelled as 3.2 gen 2×2 , which offers speeds of up to 20 Gbps. Until the arrival of the 4.0 standard, this is the fastest universally available USB. Read more “WD Black P50: 20-gigabit USB 3.2 gen 2×2 in action”
WD with the My Passport line is one of the largest manufacturers of external storage. I myself have three pieces with a capacity of 2–4 TB. In 2017, they launched the My Passport SSD, which belonged to the first generation of external SSDs. It impressed us mainly with its unique design and compact dimensions, but unfortunately it never got into my hands. However, this is now changing, as we have received an upgraded version with the same name for 2020. Read more “WD My Passport SSD 2020 – 2nd generation of the pocket SSD”
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