Team Group is a well-known Taiwanese hardware manufacturer with a long history of catering to the needs of enthusiasts and gamers from all over the globe. Their lineup includes DRAM memory and solid-state drives, and they also offer various memory cards and USB thumb drives.
Today, we are reviewing the Team Group T-Force Treasure Touch portable SSD, which includes and adjustable RGB element that can be controller via a “touch” interface—as the product name suggests. A colored RGB lighting strip runs along one edge of the drive and lights up in various colors and combos, you can control. Under the hood, we found a fully-fledged SATA SSD, using a Silicon Motion SM2258H controller, paired with Samsung 64-layer TLC flash, and a DRAM cache chip from Hynix. In terms of connectivity, the T-Force Treasure Touch uses a USB-C interface, supporting the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interface, aka USB 3.1 Gen 2 which supports speeds up to 10 Gbps.
We review the Team Group T-Force Treasure Touch in the 1 TB variant, which retails for $150, no other capacity is available, warranty is set to three years.
As one of the world leaders in digital technology, Samsung pretty much makes any type of electronic device you can think of. Their products are used by millions of people around the world.
Being a leader in DRAM and flash memory production, it comes as no surprise that they are also a huge player in the SSD business. Their EVO and PRO Series SSDs are highly popular among upgraders, system builders, and enthusiasts.
The Samsung 980 non-Pro was announced end of March 2021 and made waves because it is a DRAM-less SSD, a design choice usually reserved for value drives without maximum performance, yet Samsung picked the “980” name, which is used on their flagship “980 Pro.” Under the hood, the Samsung 980 in today’s review uses a relatively new controller called “Pablo,” or S4LR033—a 4-channel PCIe Gen 3 controller design we’ve seen on some external Samsung SSDs before. The flash chips are 128-layer 3D TLC, same as on the Samsung 980 Pro. As mentioned before, a DRAM chip is not present, which is a cost-optimization measure, but has the drawback that random write performance is reduced.
The Samsung 980 comes in capacities of 250 GB ($55), 512 GB ($60), and 1 TB ($140). Endurance for these models is set to 150 TBW, 300 TBW, and 600 TBW respectively. Samsung includes a five-year warranty with the 980 non-Pro SSD.
The Inland Performance Plus offers up very fast Gen 4 performance at a lower price than its competition, making it a compelling value for those on the hunt for a new high-performance M.2 NVMe SSD.
For
+ Appealing aesthetics
+ Competitive performance
+ 5-year warranty
+ Keeps cool under most workloads
+ Heatsink is easily removed
Against
– Lacks AES 256-bit encryption
– Lacks supporting software
Features and Specifications
Inland’s Performance Plus is a high-performance PCIe 4.0 x4 M.2 NVMe SSD that rivals the best SSDs you can buy, but at a cheaper price point. Plus, it comes with a huge heat sink to keep this SSD cool under intensive workloads. You might not recognize the Inland brand, but it’s been a staple at Micro Center for years, and is available via Amazon as well.
Inland’s Performance Plus is one of a few of the company’s recent speedy SSDs we have slated for review. Many (if not all) of Inland’s SSDs look to be powered by Phison-branded SSD controllers, which gives us an idea of what to expect when it comes to performance and reliability. While the brand isn’t as large as say Samsung or Crucial, with the help of Phison, the company is able to remaining surprisingly competitive in the storage arena, against many much-larger rivals.
Available at Micro Center
(Image credit: Micro Center)
Direct Pricing $399.99
Hardware-wise, Inland’s performance Plus is similar in design to that of the Gigabyte Aorus Gen4 7000s, Corsair MP600 Pro, and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus. It leverages the same E18 NVMe SSD controller and Micron’s 96L TLC flash as these alternatives, along with a sleek heatsink, but it undercuts them in price in most cases. The Inland Performance Plus makes for a solid value for those on the hunt for fast Gen4 SSD.
Specifications
Product
1TB
2TB
Pricing
$189.99
$399.99
Capacity (User / Raw)
1000GB / 1024GB
2000GB / 2048GB
Form Factor
M.2 2280
M.2 2280
Interface / Protocol
PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4
PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4
Controller
Phison PS5018-E18
Phison PS5018-E18
DRAM
DDR4
DDR4
Memory
Micron 96L TLC
Micron 96L TLC
Sequential Read
7,000 MBps
7,000 MBps
Sequential Write
5,500 MBps
6,850 MBps
Random Read
350,000 IOPS
650,000 IOPS
Random Write
700,000 IOPS
700,000 IOPS
Security
N/A
N/A
Endurance (TBW)
700 TB
1,400 TB
Part Number
1TB NVME PERF
2TB NVME PERF
Warranty
5-Years
5-Years
Inland offers the Performance Plus in 1TB and 2TB capacities, priced at $190 and $400, respectively. In terms of warranty coverage, Inland backs the Performance Plus with a five-year warranty or up to 700TB of writes per 1TB in capacity, whichever comes first.
Each capacity can dish out up to 7 GBps in read performance, but both differ in write potential. The 1TB model can write at up to 5.5 GBps, while the roomier 2TB model can sustain writes at up to 6.85 GBps thanks to having double the number of the NAND dies. Additionally, random read performance scales much higher on the 2TB than the 1TB model. The 1TB Performance Plus is rated to deliver up to 350,000/700,000 random read/write IOPS while the 2TB model can manage up to 650,000/700,000 random read/write IOPS.
A Closer Look
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Inland includes a well-designed heatsink, similar to that of the Corsair MP600 Pro, but with a few more cuts to add surface area for taming the heat under sustained workloads. However, measuring 14.5 x 23 x 70mm, Inland’s Performance Plus is very thick and can interfere with GPU placement, depending on the M.2 slot you attempt to install it in. If it gets in the way or you just want to use your motherboard’s heat sink, it is easy to remove, though.
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At the heart of the Performance Plus is a Phison PS5018-E18 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe 1.4 SSD controller. Along with features such as S.M.A.R.T. data reporting, secure erase capability, and TRIM, it also features ASPM and APST support for low power consumption at idle.
Unlike Phison’s previous-generation E16, the E18 is built from the ground up tp offer greater performance capability for PCIe 4.0 drives. It leverages a tri-core primary Arm Cortex R5 architecture, along with a dual-core co-processor, which results in very fast sustained write speeds. Furthermore, there are two 8Gb SK hynix DDR4 DRAM ICs on our 2TB sample, in order to accelerate access to the logical to physical mapping tables, ensuring responsive reads.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
As for the bulk storage, we find eight packages of Micron’s 96L TLC. There are 32 dies in total on our 2TB sample, each 512Gb in density. This flash is not quite as fast as Micron’s recently tested 176L TLC, but with it operating at 1200 MTps over the controller’s eight NAND channels, it’s fast enough to keep up with the likes of the best in many cases.
Both Intel and Toshiba have become increasingly confident in their projections for the debut of PLC flash, which packs in five bits per cell to reduce SSD pricing, but Western Digitial recently downplayed the feasibility of PLC SSDs before 2025.
WD says this type of memory will only become viable sometime in the second half of this decade when SSD controllers become more advanced. The claim contradicts other 3D NAND suppliers that believe 3D PLC SSDs could rival hard drives in the next few years.
Each new type of flash brings reduced SSD pricing, but as we’ve seen with QLC NAND, that can lead to big reductions in endurance and performance. That takes some of the shine off of a future transition to PLC (Penta Level Cell) flash that packs in five bits per cell to reduce pricing but results in even lower endurance and performance.
“I expect that transition [from QLC to PLC] will be slower,” said Siva Sivaram, Western Digital’s technology and strategy chief, at Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2021 Global Technology Conference (via SeekingAlpha). “So maybe in the second half of this decade we are going to see some segments starting to get 5 bits per cell.”
TLC flash is the most widely used variant today, and while there are 3D QLC NAND chips available, they aren’t as widely used. Western Digital expects this to change only with its BiCS6 NAND memory and new controllers/firmware.
“We think that QLC across the broad segment will happen in the next [BiCS 6 generation, when] the majority of bits will switch over to QLC in the marketplace,” said Sivaram. “[…]In the next two years plus we are going to see the rapid acceleration of QLC adoption.”
Modern SSD controllers powered by Arm’s Cortex-R8 cores can handle advanced error correction (4KB LDPC) algorithms while ensuring decent performance, but 3D PLC flash will require even more complex error correction, and hence more compute horsepower from the controller. The controller will also have to support more redundant capacity and robust wear-leveling.
“The incremental gain is not quite as much when we are going from 4 to 5 bits on the same cell, so you are getting [25%],” said Sivaram. “To get that gain you are sacrificing a lot, you need additional redundancy, additional ECC, so the net gain supposed to the performance loss may not be quite as desirable.”
Arm introduced its 64-bit Cortex-R82 core for next-generation SSD controllers in September 2020. Arm says the design is 1.74x ~ 2.25x faster than the Cortex-R8 in real-world applications and 21% and 23% faster than the Cortex-A55 in SPECint2006 and SPECfp2006, respectively. The Cortex-R82 is designed to run in clusters with up to eight cores, so controller makers could build rather formidable processors based on the new core, which will be quite handy for PLC SSDs.
There is a catch, though. The first controllers with the Cortex-R82 (probably due sometime in 2023 or 2024) will likely be aimed primarily at high-end drives with in-storage compute capabilities, and not on high-density SSDs featuring cheap 3D PLC flash. As a result, 3D PLC flash is unlikely to become mainstream any time soon.
There are certainly plenty of challenges involved with moving to PLC flash. For example, 3D PLC NAND can store five bits per cell (5 bpc), a 25% increase over quad-level cell (QLC) flash, and a 66% increase over the triple-level cell (TLC) flash memory used today.
To do so, NAND cells have to store 32 distinct voltage levels, and SSD controllers have to read them properly and record them fast. In contrast, TLC uses eight voltage levels, and QLC uses 16 voltage levels. In addition to the complexity of PLC 3D NAND cells, challenges like cell-to-cell interference and temperatures make it harder to read data.
To offer decent performance and endurance characteristics, 3D TLC-based SSDs use 120 bit/1KB or even 340 bit/2KB LDPC ECC algorithms that are already quite complex. In addition, manufacturers also implement static and dynamic wear-leveling, RAID ECC, and overprovisioning to further maximize endurance.
With 3D QLC-powered SSDs, we’ll need support for 2KB and 4KB LDPC codewords, more complex wear-leveling, and more overprovisioned capacities. Furthermore, memory makers also have to change the design of their cells (e.g., use slightly different materials, etc.) to reliably store 16 voltage levels.
All of this means that we’ll see PLC SSDs later rather than sooner, largely due to needed advances that aren’t directly associated with manufacturing the flash itself.
Hynix has been one of the “big three” memory manufacturers for decades. Together with Samsung and Micron they have been dominating the memory market and are producing a substantial percentage of the world’s DRAM and NAND memory. A few years ago the company “Hynix”, which was originally founded as “Hyundai Electronics Industrial Co” in 1983, was sold to “SK Group”—a large Korean conglomerate, hence the name “SK Hynix”. Just last year, Hynix decided to purchase Intel’s NAND business for $9 billion.
The SK Hynix Gold P31 SSD was announced in October last year and has since been receiving attention from enthusiasts. Today we finally bring you our review of the Hynix Gold P31, which is built with only Hynix components—an ability that only Samsung had in the past. The controller is an in-house design by Hynix, called ACNT038 or “Cepheus”. The flash chips are modern 128-layer 3D TLC. A LPDDR4-3733 DRAM chip provides 1 GB of memory for the mapping tables of the SSD.
The Hynix Gold P31 comes in capacities of 512 GB ($75) and 1 TB ($135). Endurance for these models is set to 500 TBW and 750 TBW respectively. Hynix includes a five-year warranty with the Gold P31.
Not to be confused with Korben’s Taxi from The Fifth Element, Seagate has launched the new FireCuda 520 Cyberpunk 2077 Limited Edition SSD. Seagate only produced 2,077 of these drives so they’ll ultimately turn into collectible for Cyberpunk 2077fanatics.
The FireCuda 520 Cyberpunk 2077 LE is still very much a FireCuda 520 SSD, but with the addition of custom, neon yellow heatsink inspired by the CD Projekt RED game. Also on the heatsink is a Cyberpunk logo equipped with customizable RGB illumination, which requires a 5V addressable RGB header for control.
Although it adheres to the standard M.2 2280 form factor, the FireCuda 520 Cyberpunk 2077 LE is aimed at desktops, due to its bulky heatsink. Seagate claims it helps reduce the drive’s temperature by up to 22 degress Celsius. In fact, the manufacturer doesn’t recommend taking the heatsink off because this can damage the device. Therefore, the FireCuda 520 Cyberpunk 2077 LE can get in the way of your other hardware, especially with motherboards that have M.2 slots that are very close to the PCIe expansion slots.
Seagate uses the same recipe for the FireCuda 520 Cyberpunk 2077 LE as with its vanilla FireCuda 520 offerings. The Cyberpunk 2077 version looks to compete with the best SSDs with a Phison PS5016-E16 SSD controller with Toshiba 96L TLC (triple-level cell) NAND. The drive has a 1,800 TBW endurance rating, and Seagate backs it with a limited 5-year warranty.
Being a PCIe 4.0 x4 drive, the FireCuda 520 Cyberpunk 2077 LE offers read and write speeds up to 5,000 MBps and 4,400 MBps, respectively. The SSD’s random performance is rated for 760,000 IOPS reads and 700,000 IOPS writes.
The FireCuda 520 Cyberpunk 2077 LE (ZP1000GM30012) is only available in a 1TB capacity. Seagate didn’t reveal the pricing for the drive, but the regular FireCuda 520 1TB retails for $189.99,so we expect the Cyberpunk 2077 variant to carry a small premium for the extra eye candy.
PNY recently stepped into the spotlight when the company reduced the endurance of its XLR8 CS3030 SSDs, but apparently without fully informing its customers of the changes or the implications. The decrease in the warrantied write endurance, which was close to 80%, raised many questions – questions that PNY has answered in an official statement given to Tom’s Hardware.
PNY doesn’t deny having slashed the endurance on the XLR8 CS3030 lineup. The company attributed its decision to two factors: the rampant increase in demand for consumer SSDs for Chia coin farming, and the NAND shortage.
Although not one of the best SSDs on the market, the XLR8 CS3030 was one of the most durable. By giving the drive an endurance downgrade, PNY probably wants to dissuade Chia farmers from purchasing the drive.
PNY confirmed that it had evaluated other NAND options for the XLR8 CS3030 due to the global components shortage. While the performance remains intact on paper, the vendor updated the TBW (terabytes written) rating for the drives. The original XLR8 CS3030 used 3D TLC (triple-cell level) NAND. PNY didn’t reveal any details on the substitute NAND. Given the lower TBW values, we suspect that PNY has switched over to QLC (quad-level cell) NAND, possibly explaining how the company now sells the XLR8 CS3030 with a 4TB model, a flavor that PNY didn’t previously offer.
In fairness, the XLR8 CS3030’s updated specification sheet doesn’t commit to a certain SSD controller or NAND, leaving wiggle room for swapping components. PNY appears to have updated the document on May 17, 2021, so we assume that only units shipping after that date use different NAND. It’s plausible that we have another SX8200 Pro situation where multiple variants of the same drive are floating around the market.
It would be almost impossible to differentiate one drive from another, at least by casual observation, since PNY uses the same part number. At any rate, the vendor believes that the warranty period will, in all likelihood, expire before an average consumer hits the TBW threshold. Therefore, the product’s lower endurance shouldn’t affect consumers that “use the SSD as intended.”
Lastly, PNY addressed how the company will handle the warranty on the XLR8 CS3030. The limited five-year warranty is still valid. However, drives sold before May 17, 2021, abide by the previous TBW ratings, while SSDs sold after that date are covered under the new specifications.
You can find PNY’s complete statement below:
PNY’s Official statement:
The changes PNY made to its XLR8 CS3030 SSD’s warranty policy were driven by two factors, the uptick in demand for using high-speed, consumer-grade SSDs for Chia farming, and the industry-wide shortage of NAND. These changes were published and made public on the company’s website in both the warranty section as well as the CS3030 product spec sheet on May 17, 2021.
Why TBW was added to PNY’s CS3030 SSD warranty:
The onset of Chia farming has many PC component brands rethinking their warranties, as consumer-grade hardware is not typically under the type of intense write use that is synonymous with Chia farming. The write activity required to farm Chia coin can wear out typical consumer-grade SSDs in a matter of weeks. Because of this, PNY, like others, introduced a Terabytes Written (TBW) policy to its SSD warranty. For consumers using these SSDs as intended, the warranty time (years) period will likely run out before they hit the TBW thresholds.
Due to an industry-wide shortage of NAND, PNY qualified additional NAND options for the XLR8 CS3030 SSD. While the read/write performances met or exceeded published specs, some of the TBW endurance was lower thus PNY set its warranty threshold and updated the sell sheet based on the lowest TBW rating of those qualified options. For consumers using these SSDs as intended, the warranty time (years) period will likely run out before they hit the TBW thresholds.
PNY’s SSD warranty coverage:
Drives sold prior to May 17, 2021, correspond to the previously posted warranty, whereas drives sold on May 17, 2021, and later correspond to the latest warranty and TBW thresholds. Again, most consumers that use these drives as intended will likely exceed the warranty time (years) period before crossing the TBW threshold.
Addlink is a fairly young Taiwanese hardware manufacturer founded in 2014. They specialize in all products related to flash storage, like USB sticks, SD memory cards, and SSDs.
Today, we are taking a look at the Addlink S95, which is the company’s new high-performance PCIe Gen 4 TLC-based SSD. The S95 is based on a combination of a Phison E18 controller paired with TLC flash from Micron. Two Hynix DRAM chips provide 2 GB of storage for the mapping tables of the SSD. This is basically the same design as the Corsair MP600 Pro, which we reviewed in February.
The Addlink S95 comes in capacities of 1 TB ($260) and 2 TB ($470). Endurance for these models is set to 700 TBW and 1400 TBW respectively. Addlink includes a five-year warranty with the S95.
Micron has introduced two new families of SSDs based on its latest 176-layer 3D TLC NAND. The new 2450- and 3400-series SSDs feature a PCIe 4.0 interface and are aimed at different classes of PCs and price points. Micron says the drives are in production and will be available at retail soon.
Micron’s 2450-series SSDs are designed to be affordable drives for mainstream PCs and are set to be available in M.2-2280, M.2-2242, and M.2-2230 form-factors. The family will offer 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB usable capacities.
In contrast, Micron’s 3400-series SSDs are aimed at high-performance applications and will be available in 512GB to 2TB configurations as well as an M.2-2280 form factor. Both SSD families are equipped with a thin (presumably graphene-based) heat-spreader, so they are compatible with both desktops and notebooks.
(Image credit: Micron)
Micron says that it uses in-house-developed NVMe 1.4-compliant SSD controllers for its 2450-series and 3400-series SSDs, but says that it wants to be flexible and could use third-party controllers if it needs to. Given that demand for storage devices is very high and ongoing shortages, Micron’s possible use of third-party SSD controllers isn’t surprising.
For unknown reasons, Micron isn’t disclosing the full specifications of its 2450-series and 3400-series SSDs at this time. Instead, the company says its 3400 drives “provides twice the read throughput and up to 85% higher write throughput” compared to its predecessors.
In addition to 2450-series and 3400-series SSDs, Micron uses its 96-layer 3D NAND memory for its first UFS 3.1 automotive-grade storage devices. The unit offers 50% higher sustained write performance versus Micron’s UFS 2.1 drive and will hit production sometime in the third quarter.
Micron has introduced two new families of SSDs based on its latest 176-layer 3D TLC NAND. The new 2405- and 3400-series SSDs feature a PCIe 4.0 interface and are aimed at different classes of PCs and price points. Micron says the drives are in production and will be available at retail soon.
Micron’s 2450-series SSDs are designed to be affordable drives for mainstream PCs and are set to be available in M.2-2280, M.2-2242, and M.2-2230 form-factors. The family will offer 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB usable capacities.
In contrast, Micron’s 3400-series SSDs are aimed at high-performance applications and will be available in 512GB to 2TB configurations as well as an M.2-2280 form factor. Both SSD families are equipped with a thin (presumably graphene-based) heat-spreader, so they are compatible with both desktops and notebooks.
(Image credit: Micron)
Micron says that it uses in-house-developed NVMe 1.4-compliant SSD controllers for its 2450-series and 3400-series SSDs, but says that it wants to be flexible and could use third-party controllers if it needs to. Given that demand for storage devices is very high and ongoing shortages, Micron’s possible use of third-party SSD controllers isn’t surprising.
For unknown reasons, Micron isn’t disclosing the full specifications of its 2450-series and 3400-series SSDs at this time. Instead, the company says its 3400 drives “provides twice the read throughput and up to 85% higher write throughput” compared to its predecessors.
In addition to 2450-series and 3400-series SSDs, Micron uses its 176-layer 3D NAND memory for its first UFS 3.1 automotive-grade storage devices. The unit offers 50% higher sustained write performance versus Micron’s UFS 2.1 drive and will hit production sometime in the third quarter.
Sabrent has prepared a new line of SSDs that’s designed for hardcore Chia coin (XCH) plotting. The details are still pretty slim, but the Plotripper SSDs should make any Chia farmer very happy.
Plotting Chia can kill even the best SSDs in a matter of weeks, depending on how serious you take your Chia farming business. That’s where the Plotripper and Plotripper Pro SSDs come in. Sabrent is keeping a tight lip on the recipe that the company is utilizing for the SSDs. We suspect that the vendor may be using the Phison E18 controller. One thing’s for sure, though. Plotripper and Plotripper drives boast phenomenal endurance.
Sabrent rates the Plotripper and Plotripper Pro 2TB SSDs for 10,000 TBW and 54,000 TBW, respectively. Those figures would put the drives in the same ballpark as enterprise and Intel Optane SSDs. For comparison, a typical 2TB consumer TLC drive is good for around 3,000 TBW. That’s 233% higher endurance on the Plotripper and 1,700% on the Plotripper Pro.
Sabrent Plotripper, Plotripper Pro Specifications
SSD
Capacity
TBW
Plotripper Pro 2TB
2TB
54,000
Plotripper Pro 1TB
1TB
27,000
Plotripper 2TB
2TB
10,000
Write performance is just as important as the drive’s endurance when it comes to plotting Chia. However, the manufacturer hasn’t exposed the complete specification sheet for the Plotripper or Plotripper Pro SSDs yet.
If the drives do end up using the Phison E18 controller, we could expect PCIe 4.0-grade speeds out of Sabrent’s new offerings. Sadly, that means you’ll need a Rocket Lake or Ryzen 3000 platform to fully exploit the Plotripper and Plotripper Pro SSDs without crossing into the enterprise side.
With enterprise-level endurance, we don’t expect the Plotripper or Plotripper Pro to cost anything less than an arm and a leg. Sabrent, however, claims that its latest product line offers the “best unit cost for plotting.” While we wait for further details about the SSD’s pricing and availability, we’ll take Sabrent’s word for now.
Marvell has introduced the industry’s first SSD controllers for NVMe 1.4b-compliant drives that will feature a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface. The Bravera SC5 controllers are designed primarily for bandwidth and performance-hungry servers used in cloud data centers. They will provide up to 14 TB/s throughput as well as up to 2 million random read IOPS, with the former being two times faster than today’s fastest PCIe 4.0 SSDs. Marvell’s new controllers have already gained support from various industrial partners, including AMD, Intel, Facebook, Microsoft, and Renesas.
Marvell’s Bravera SC5 family includes two controllers: the eight-channel MV-SS1331 and the 16-channel MV-SS1333. The controllers have absolutely the same functionality and performance specifications: up to 14 GB/s sequential write speed, up to 9 GB/s sequential write speed, up to 2M random read IOPS, and up to 1M write IOPS.
The MV-SS1333 with its eight 1600 MT/s NAND channels will power SSDs with higher capacity. It is noteworthy that the MV-SS1333 is the industry’s first 16-channel controller that comes in a 20x20mm form factor and can be used for EDSFF E1.S (“Ruler”) SSDs.
(Image credit: Marvell)
Like other modern high-end SSD controllers, Marvell’s Bravera SC5 are fully-fledged system-on-chips (SoCs) packing serious compute performance and special-purpose accelerators. The Bravera SC5 family uses Arm’s Cortex-R8, Cortex-M7, and Cortex-M7 cores, yet Marvell hasn’t disclosed the exact core count. A hardware-based SLA enforcer accompanies the CPU cores to minimize server CPU utilization. The silicon also has DMA controllers, firmware accelerators, a dedicated security engine (FIPS root-of-trust with AES-256 and TCG Opal compliant), and a NAND flash controller featuring the company’s 5th Generation NANDEdge LDPC engine.
(Image credit: Marvell)
Marvell’s new controllers featuring the NANDEdge v5 LDPC engine can work with any type of 3D NAND, including SLC, MLC, TLC, and QLC from any vendor, including Kioxia, Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix, Western Digital, and YMTC.
(Image credit: Marvell)
The main selling points of Marvell’s Braver SC5 controllers are dual-port PCIe 5.0 x4, NVMe 1.4b, and extreme performance. Meanwhile, the SoCs allow manufacturers to build one SSD model for different usage models, including NVMe, SEF, ZNS, and Open Channel. Customers can also use the controller to build drives in various form factors, including E1.S, E1.L, E3, and U.2. Marvell is also especially proud of its new controllers’ relatively moderate power consumption: the MV-SS1331 consumes up to 8.7W, whereas the MV-SS1331 consumes up to 9.8W.
“There are many data center technology challenges. These include the need for PCIe 5.0 for performance scaling, E1.S for density and serviceability, and OCP data center NVMe SSD support for product features. Marvell’s Bravera SC5 SSD controller family supports technology that enables next-generation hyperscale SSD use cases,” said Ross Stenfort, Hardware System Engineer, Storage, Facebook.
Marvell is currently sampling the new controller with select customers. It is noteworthy that Marvell has already gained support from leading server platform developers and cloud datacenter operators, so it is logical to expect the adoption of PCIe 5.0 SSDS powered by Marvell’s Bravera SC5 controllers sooner rather than later.
Keeping in mind that Intel plans to release its PCIe 5.0-supporting Xeon Scalable ‘Sapphire Rapids’ in late 2021 or early 2022, we can expect the first PCIe 5.0 SSDs to be available around the same time.
Phison’s PS5018-E18 is a high-performance PCIe 4.0×4 NVMe SSD controller that has flooded the market in many of the newest and fastest-performing SSDs. It offers up very fast sequential performance but has been outshined in random responsiveness by top picks like Samsung’s 980 Pro and WD_Black SN850 due in part to Micron’s B27B 96-Layer TLC flash holding it back. Today, we’re taking a deep look at the company’s next iteration that gets a little help from Micron’s fastest flash yet.
While the first generation of E18-based NVMe SSDs used flash that interfaced with the controller flash at somewhat restricted speeds of 1,200 MTps, our second-gen sample is no longer shackled by this bottleneck. Now, featuring Micron’s latest B47R 176-layer TLC flash operating at speeds of up to 1,600 MTps, our new sample offers much more competitive performance. Still, this is only a preview, and while SSDs based on this flash due to hit the market soon, they will only hit the market after a few more firmware revisions.
Specifications
Product
500GB
1TB
2TB
Pricing
$99.99
$159.99
$319.99
Capacity (User / Raw)
500GB / 512GB
1000GB / 1024GB
2000GB / 2048GB
Form Factor
M.2 2280
M.2 2280
M.2 2280
Interface / Protocol
PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4
PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4
PCIe 4.0 x4 / NVMe 1.4
Controller
Phison PS5018-E18
Phison PS5018-E18
Phison PS5018-E18
DRAM
DDR4
DDR4
DDR4
Memory
Micron 176L TLC
Micron 176L TLC
Micron 176L TLC
Sequential Read
6,500 MBps
7,000 MBps
7,000 MBps
Sequential Write
2,850 MBps
5,500 MBps
6,850 MBps
Random Read
170,000 IOPS
350,000 IOPS
650,000 IOPS
Random Write
600,000 IOPS
700,000 IOPS
700,000 IOPS
Security
AES 256-bit encryption
AES 256-bit encryption
AES 256-bit encryption
Phison’s PS5018-E18 supports both TLC and QLC flash and can address capacities of up to 8TB, but most retail products will ship in the popular 1TB and 2TB capacities. In terms of performance specifications, Phison’s E18 hasn’t changed much besides the faster 1,600 MTps flash transfer rate. Sequential speeds are rated for up to 7.4/7.0 GBps read/write and in terms of random performance, and the company claims the SSD controller is capable of 1 million random read/write IOPS, given the proper flash and tuning.
Phison seems to be moving away from full dynamic SLC caching in the traditional sense. Instead, its SLC caching algorithms are adapting to better suit not only consumer workloads but heavy prosumer workloads, too. We will cover this more in-depth later in the article.
Phison didn’t reveal anything about end-product endurance ratings with this new flash, but it may help improve endurance ratings over current-gen devices. The Phison E18 still features the company’s fourth-generation LDPC ECC and RAID ECC along with a DDR ECC engine and end-to-end data path protection to ensure your data is programmed and read reliably over the product’s useful lifespan. It also supports various security options such as Pyrite, AES 256, SHA 512, RSA 4096, and TCG Opal. Additionally, it comes with S.M.A.R.T. data reporting and Trim support and secure erase and crypto erase capability.
A Closer Look
The E18 interfaces with the host over a PCIe 4.0 x4 link and is NVM 1.4 compliant. Our 2TB sample comes in an M.2 2280 double-sided form factor, but smaller capacities come in single-sided form factors for broad compatibility with the latest ultra-thin mobile devices. This is in contrast to Samsung and WD M.2 SSDs, all of which come only in single-sided form factors.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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The PS5018-E18 controller is an eight-channel, DRAM-based design. Our 2TB sample features two 1GB SK hynix DDR4 ICs, one on each side of the PCB. It leverages a Penta-core design with three single-core Cortex R5 CPUs handling the host/read/write tasks while an additional R5 CPU, in a lower-clocked dual-core configuration, acts as a co-processor. The E18’s primary cores are clocked much higher than the older E16’s cores, at 1 GHz versus 733 MHz.
The E18 comes with CoXPorcessor 2.0 technology, which offloads some of the firmware code from the primary cores to the dual-core R5 to ensure responsive QoS when hammered with heavy sustained workloads and aid power efficiency. One of the co-processor cores optimizes NAND die-queues to the flash while the other is for managing the DRAM/NAND tables.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
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The controller is manufactured on TSMC’s 12nm process technology and comes with multiple features to keep thermals under control while operating at high speeds. It features ASPM and ASPT support, can transition into the L1.2 low power state to sip just 3mW at idle, and can thermal throttle to preserve data integrity over performance.
Phison sent over our sample with a sleek-looking heat sink, but this heat sink does not necessarily indicate that retail models will require heat sinks to keep them cool under most consumer workloads. Although, when this controller is paired with 2TB of flash, it can gulp down over 8 watts of power under sustained load, which can create quite a bit of heat.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Speaking of the flash, our 2TB sample comes with thirty-two 512 Gb dies of Micron’s new B47R 176L TLC, aligning with the controller’s native chip enable capability to optimize interleaving, and thus, performance. Micron’s 176L TLC offers a significant improvement over previous generations, and not just due to its high layer count.
This flash features the company’s new replacement-gate architecture that combines charge traps with CMOS-under array (CuA) technology, allowing for roughly a 30% smaller die size than its competitors. Enabled through multiple advancements in the new architecture and firmware support, operating interface speeds clock in at 1,600 MTps, which improves read and write speed by roughly 35% compared to the company’s previous-generation floating-gate 96L TLC.
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Architecturally, Micron replaced the polysilicon control gates with metal, and it uses a different etching method compared to traditional NAND. This reduces resistance, thus allowing the program pulse to ramp up quickly, reducing programming complexities and overhead. The design reduces the electric field duration on the circuits since they can be programmed much more quickly. Micron also increased the etch diameter, allowing for more structural stability as the company ramps layer counts in future generations of the flash.
Additionally, in traditional NAND, cell-to-cell capacitive coupling issues limit performance, but by utilizing a nonconductive layer of silicon nitride (SiN) acting as a NAND storage cell, the replacement-gate design demonstrates almost no capacitance between cells.
These changes, along with other cell geometry adjustments, directly improve performance, endurance, conserve energy, and allow for increased storage capacity, especially as Micron continues to develop newer iterations of its flash.
If you’ve been following the SSD space at least a little bit, you definitely know Phison. An SSD controller vendor that started with low-performance budget chips, Phison has improved tremendously since and is now offering solutions that rival the fastest controllers available. Phison was founded in 2000 in Taiwan and is shipping hundreds of millions of controllers each year.
The Phison E18 controller is the company’s first PCI-Express Gen 4 controller. It has been used on drives like the Corsair MP600 Pro, Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, and Addlink S95. In our MP600 Pro review, we found that Corsair’s fastest SSD delivers performance comparable to the Samsung 980 Pro and WD Black SN850.
All these Phison E18-based drives have one thing in common: They use 96-layer 3D TLC NAND flash from Micron, also known as B27B. These flash chips were released in 2018, so they aren’t exactly based on the latest technology. Especially compared to Samsung, this aging flash tech puts the Phison E18+Micron B27B combination at a small performance disadvantage. That’s why Phison has now qualified Micron’s 176-layer B47R TLC flash chips for the E18 controller. Technically, the controller is the same physical silicon as all changes are done in firmware, which helps keep manufacturing cost down.
Today, we are previewing the performance of this Phison E18+Micron 176-layer B47R flash by using a pre-production sample SSD provided directly by Phison. The drive uses not only B47R, but B47R Fortis Flash, which is the enterprise version of regular B47R. While rated for much higher endurance, it should be very similar otherwise.
Phison hasn’t indicated any pricing because it’s ultimately the SSD vendor’s decision. I have no knowledge of how expensive B47R is compared to B27B, but I doubt it’ll be cheaper. The controller itself shouldn’t be significantly different in pricing because it is the same silicon with firmware changes.
Gigabyte’s latest Aorus SSD promises to eliminate thermal throttling and deliver extremely fast read speeds of up to 7GBps. The drive is called the Aorus 7000s Prem., and it comes with a gigantic black heatsink measuring up to 1.76 inches (44.7mm) in height, to ensure the drive stays cool under long-duration reads and writes.
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The 7000s Prem. is basically identical in most ways to the standard Aorus 7000s solid-state drive that we found competitive with the best SSDs when we reviewed it. Both feature a second-generation Phison E18 8 channel controller, AES-256 encryption support, 3D TLC NAND, and a DDR4 DRAM cache. But with the 7000s Prem., you’re getting that big beefy heatsink to improve performance.
The heatsink itself is called the M.2 Thermal Guard Xtreme and features a dual-heatpipe design, a nanocarbon coating, and an aluminum M.2 baseplate to help cool the bottom part of the drive. All in all, this heatsink is just as large as some aftermarket M.2 heatsinks you can add onto your current M.2 SSDs, so performance should be excellent.
(Image credit: Gigabyte)
With Gigabyte’s internal testing, the Aorus 7000s Prem. performed at its max read speed of up to 7GBps (7000MBps) consistently for over 8 hours of time, with no signs of slowing down. But just remember that this is Gigabyte’s internal testing and results could change if your chassis can’t supply enough airflow to the heatsink or you live in a hot ambient environment.
The biggest consideration when purchasing this SSD will be its size; many motherboards these days won’t have the necessary headroom for the SSD and its associated heatsink–at least not on all the M.2 slots. Many M.2 slots are located either behind the motherboard or right underneath your graphics card, so make sure you check the location of your PCIe 4.0 M.2 slot to see if you have enough clearance for the heatsink.
The 7000s Prem. will come in 1TB and 2TB flavors. Both capacities feature the same 7GB/s read speeds, however, the write speeds change from 5500MB/s on the 1TB to 6850MB/s on the 2TB model. Pricing and availability for the 7000 Prem. is unknown at this time. But given that the standard model sells for about $380, sans that honking heatsink, it’s a safe bet you’ll be looking at spending close to $500 for those precious sustained speeds.
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