Storage News - Page 4

KIOXIA announces that production availability of its EM6 Series Enterprise NVMe-oF SSDs for Ethernet Bunch of Flash (EBOF) systems.

The company is tapping Marvell's 88SN2400 NVMe-oF SSD converter controller, which converts an NVMe SSD into a dual-ported 25Gb NVMe-oF SSD, which in the words of KIOXIA "expose the entire SSD bandwidth to the network" from its EM6 Series Enterprise NVMe-oF SSDs.

KIOKIA explains: "Due to their ability to scale performance of NVMe SSDs, native NVMe-oF architectures are well-suited for applications such as artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML), high performance computing (HPC) and storage expansion".

UL Benchmarks released their new 3DMark Storage Benchmark DLC which if you didn't already know it, is a benchmark for your SSD and storage devices in your PC.

Well, our resident Storage God, Jon Coulter, has run a series of the fastest NVMe SSDs in his lab and we have some glorious results in the new 3DMark Storage Benchmark DLC. As it stands, Jon has run the Plextor M10P, Kingston KC3000, WD Black SN850, Samsung 980 PRO, and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus SSDs.

Plextor leads the pack coming in first with M10P SSD while the second-fastest SSD that Jon has tested so far is the Kingston KC3000, while in third position is the WD Black SN850. After that, the Samsung 980 PRO comes in fourth, the Corsair MP600 Pro in fifth place, and in last place: Sabrent with the otherwise super-fast Rocket 4 Plus. These are early results, so expect some updates from UL that should fix these issues (Sabrent's performance for example, and Alder Lake having issues).

OWC has just announced their new Accelsior 8M2 SSD, which is the world's fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD with up to 64TB capacities and record-breaking 26GB/sec (26,000MB/sec) reads which is crazy.

It all fits into a single-slot PCIe 4.0 x16 slot, with the new OWC Accelsior 8M2 offering a blistering 12,000MB/sec (12GB/sec) on the PCIe 3.0 x16 standard and up to an eye-watering (and PCIe 4.0 bandwidth watering) 26,000MB/sec (26GB/sec) reads on PCIe 4.0 x16.

OWC is offering its new OWC Accelsior 8M2 SSD in 2TB, 4TB, 8TB, 16TB, 32TB, and 64TV capacities with different sized SSDs along the way. The 2TB version ($1299) features 8 x 240GB NVMe M.2 SSDs while the 8TB version ($2479) features 8 x 1TB NVMe M.2 SSDs, but the big daddy 64TB version ($12,999) packs 8 x 8TB NVMe M.2 SSDs and those monster 26,000MB/sec speeds.

KIOXIA has just unveiled the industry's first EDSFF E3.S SSD that was designed with next-gen PCIe 5.0 technology in mind, so we're looking at the new drives being optimized for 32GT/s x2 performance which saves valuable PCIe lanes.

The new KIOXIA CD7 series EDSFF (Enterprise & Data Center SSD Form Factor) E3.S Data Center NVMe SSDs are available in 1.92TB, 3.84TB, and 7.68TB capacities and are NVMe 1.4 specification compliant. The new drives are in the flash-optimized EDSFF E3.S 7.5mm form factor, and sport KIOXIA's proprietary controller, firmware, and BiCS FLASH 96-layer 3D TLC memory.

KIOKIA is using its 7th generation flash die failure protection on the new KIOXIA CD7 series EDSFF E3.2 SSDs, with the company promising "consistent performance and reliability in 24x7 enterprise and hyperscale environments", while the drives have been "designed for high-density storage deployments".

TeamGroup has just announced its new T-Force Cardea A440 Pro SSD, which is a bit faster than the current T-Force Cardea A440 SSD.

The new T-Force Cardea A440 Pro SSD packs read speeds of up to 7.4GB/sec (7400MB/sec) and write speeds of up to 7GB/sec (7000MB/sec) over its PCIe 4.0 x4 connection. TeamGroup has used an upgraded patented aluminum fin type heat sink, with improved airflow and ventilation.

TeamGroup says this improved heat sink is good for up to 48% cooler operation over other SSDs, and thanks to the improved thermals the speed drops you experience when the NAND flash on your SSD gets too hot shouldn't happen as much -- or much longer into the trashing of your TeamGroup T-Force Cardea A440 Pro SSD.

MSI has teased its ultra-high-speed PCIe Gen5 M.2 Expander-Z card, oozing bandwidth from the next-gen PCIe 5.0 x16 socket on future PCIe 5.0-capable motherboards.

The new MSI PCIe Gen5 M.2 Expander-Z card arrives on a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot and could be one of the first PCIe 5.0-capable devices outside of NVIDIA's purported GeForce RTX 3090 Ti which should arrive in January 2022 on PCIe 5.0 x16 if we're lucky.

MSI is promising a huge 128GB/sec of speed here which is the maximum that the PCIe 5.0 x16 connector can handle, while Phison has recently been teasing next-gen SSDs pushing a huge 14GB/sec. Right now we're maxed out at 7GB/sec or so for PCIe 4.0-based SSDs but we should see the world of 14GB/sec+ with PCIe 5.0 SSDs.

Phison has revealed some juicy new details on the future of SSD controller technology, with future PCIe 5.0, PCIe 6.0, and PCIe 7.0 connectivity on the way.

The next-gen PCIe 5.0, PCIe 6.0, and PCIe 7.0 SSD technology was talked about during MSI's recent Insider Livestream, where Phison CTO Sebastien Jean talked about all things next-gen SSDs and PCIe tech. He said that it takes around 16-18 months to develop a brand new SSD design, while the technology and enabling for a new silicon process node starts 2-3 years earlier.

Phison says that it has begun work on low-level components for PCIe 6.0 SSDs and expects them to be here in 2025-2026, a few years from now. As for what to expect from PCIe 6.0 SSDs we can expect up to 32GB/sec from a PCIe 6.0-based SSD, up from the 14-16GB/sec we're going to see from PCIe 5.0-based SSDs with Intel's new Alder Lake and Z690 platform launching in a few days, and up from the 7-8GB/sec you get from PCIe 4.0-based SSDs.

Samsung has announced its custom 980 PRO SSD built specifically to fit into the PlayStation 5's M.2 expansion port.

The new custom 980 PRO M.2 NVMe 1.3c SSD is designed to meet the PlayStation 5's size and speed requirements, featuring a built-in heat sink for proper heat dissipation and cooling under load. The 980 PRO's high-end V-NAND flash memory ensures enthusiast-level performance alongside Samsung's proprietary Elpis memory controller to deliver up to 7GB/sec read speeds and 5.1GB/sec write speeds over PCIe Gen4 x4.

The Samsung 980 PRO is a high-end drive that will ensure ultra-fast loading in PlayStation 5 optimized titles (as well as increased speeds in PS4 games) and speedy data transfers. The 980 PRO received a 98% rating at TweakTown, and was the hailed as best-performing flash-based consumer product as of September 2020.

Western Digital has just launched its new WD Blue SN570 NVMe SSD, which won't break the bank but it will break through some speed barriers.

The new WD Blue SN570 NVMe SSD arrives in an M.2 2280 form factor on the PCIe 3.0 x4 interface and will come in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB capacities. Western Digital has up to 3.5GB/sec (3500MB/sec) sequential reads, and up to 3GB/sec (3000MB/sec) on the 1TB model, while the 250GB model still has an ultra-fast 3.3GB/sec (3300MB/sec) reads and 1.2GB/sec (1200MB/sec) writes.

I don't know why you'd buy the 250GB model for $54 when the 500GB model costs $60... and includes the faster reads and writes with up to 3.5GB/sec (3500MB/sec) reads and 2.3GB/sec (2300MB/sec) writes for $6 more. For $110 you can have the 1TB model, with up to 3.5GB/sec and 3GB/sec reads and writes, respectively.

As we lead up into the Battlefield 2042 open beta that takes place October 5-9, 2021 -- just days from now, the WD_BLACK SN750 SE NVMe SSD Battlefield 2042 PC Game Code Bundle is discounted.

You can get the 500GB version of the WD_BLACK SN750 SE NVMe SSD Battlefield 2042 PC Game Code Bundle for just $89.99, down from its regular price of $114.99. Meanwhile, the larger 1TB variant is down to $159.99 from its regular price of $179.99.

Both the 500GB and 1TB SSDs offer 3.6GB/sec (3600MB/sec) of read speeds, so you'll be boosting into Battlefield 2042 in record time. You'll get a Battlefield 2042 PC code, which gives you access to the full game when it launches.