Silicon Motion SM2508 SSD Controller Review - Worth the Wait

TweakTown's Rating: 99%

The Bottom Line

We find it to be the most desirable SSD controller of its kind we've ever encountered. We look forward to seeing retail SSDs released based on the new Silicon Motion SM2508 controller.

Pros

• + User experience performance
• + Single-sided design
• + Throughput performance
• + Operating temperature

Cons

• - None

Should you buy it?

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Introduction & Drive Details

It's been quite some time since we've heard from one of our favorite controller companies - Silicon Motion. Our last encounter with one of its SSD controllers came back in March of this year via the SMI SM2268XT controlled PCIe Gen4 controlled aigo SMI70 2TB. That excellent performing SSD served as a reminder of Silicon Motion's position as one of the world's leading SSD controller manufacturers.

Now, as good as the SMI 2268XT has proven to be, it's not something that incites a ton of excitement among us storage enthusiasts. What really gets our juices flowing are cutting-edge PCIe Gen5 SSDs. To date, we've encountered only two full on 8-channel options in the consumer space - Phison and InnoGrit. So far Phison with its E26 controller has led the way, both by being first on the scene and offering what has been to this point, unrivaled real-world performance.

For almost 2 years now, we've been waiting for perineal rival and competitor Silicon Motion to join the fray and introduce some much-needed competition into the PCIe Gen5 consumer SSD arena. A year ago, at FMS 2023, we caught a glimpse of SMI's proposed SM2508 consumer PCIe Gen5 controller along with its promising performance specifications, but no timeline was known as to when we would see SM2508-controlled SSDs come to fruition in retail channels.

However, at this year's FMS 2024, Silicon Motion was on the scene with a live demo of its now ready for primetime SM2508 2TB SSD, along with some updated specifications:

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Naturally, the first thing that caught our attention is the 2TB model's 14GB sequential write throughput because that's never been seen before, and this is while running on an Intel platform, which indicates to us that it may even be capable of more sequential throughput on an AMD platform. Impressive. However, what we find most impressive of all is the SM2508 2TB SSD pictured above is cranking out those numbers without a heatsink and only a small fan blowing in its direction roughly 18" away from the drive. The current competition can't even reliably run without a heatsink let alone be benched without one. Amazing.

So how is this possible? Here is a quote from SMI about this very question "Our latest PCIe Gen5 Client SSD Controller employs TSMC's 6nm EUV process, offering a 50% reduction in power consumption compared to competitive offerings in the 12nm process. With less than 7W power consumption for the entire SSD, it delivers 1.7x better power efficiency than PCIe Gen4 SSDs and up to 70% better than current competitive PCIe Gen5 offerings on the market. It is specifically designed for AI-capable PC notebooks, delivering exceptional performance that surpasses competitors by up to 70% in efficiency."

Cooling a SM2508 controlled SSD will be no more difficult than cooling the average PCIe Gen4 SSD. A reliable 14,000 MB/s storage throughput in a notebook? No one has ever achieved that before. This is why we believe it's been well worth the wait for SMI's flagship PCIe Gen5 client controller. It's PCIe Gen5 storage done right.

Well, now that we know a bit more about the SM2508 controller and what it promises to bring to the table, let's get into this exclusive review. What we have in hand for today's bench session is a 1TB version of Silicon Motion's first PCIe Gen5 SSD. The 1TB SM2508 is not quite as fast or as powerful as the 2TB model pictured above. This is no different than the current crop of Gen5 SSDs in circulation. 2TB is more powerful than 1TB. So, the question is, in addition to being the new efficiency champion, will we have a new performance champion at 1TB? Let's take a close look.

Drive Details

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Jon's Test System Specifications

Intel Test System

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE AORUS Z790 Xtreme X
• CPU: Intel Core i9-14900KS - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: Patriot Viper Xtreme 5 8000 48GB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: MSI SUPRIM X RTX 3080 12GB - Buy from Amazon
• Case: PrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit - Buy from Amazon

AMD Test System

• Motherboard: GIGABYTE X670E AORUS Master
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X - Buy from Amazon
• Cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Hurricane Copper 45 - Buy from Amazon
• RAM: Sabrent Rocket DDR5 32GB - Buy from Amazon
• Graphics Card: MSI SUPRIM X RTX 3080 12GB - Buy from Amazon
• Case: PrimoChill's Praxis Wetbench - Buy from Amazon
• Power Supply: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 12 1200W - Buy from Amazon
• OS: Microsoft Windows 11 Pro 64-bit - Buy from Amazon

Because we at TweakTown like to be first at everything whenever we can, we will present our storage performance results for the test subject on both 14th Gen Intel and 7000 Series AMD platforms going forward for the foreseeable future. Because Intel still delivers the best real-world storage performance, (Look Here), our running chart will continue to be Intel-based until AMD can deliver better real-world storage performance than its rival.

Crucial T500 1TB Gen4 NVMe M.2 Gaming SSD

	Today	Yesterday	7 days ago	30 days ago
	$76.69	$76.69	$96.71	$96.49	Buy
	$92.99	$58.11	$93.99	-	Buy
* Prices last scanned on 9/10/2024 at 8:57 am CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.

Sony PlayStation 5 - M.2 Storage Expansion

PS5 Read Performance

With Sony's wildly popular PlayStation 5 console now enabled for M.2 NVMe SSDs to be used as fast storage expansion, we are including results for PS5 compatible SSDs we test as a part of our reviews going forward.

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For SSDs that don't have an adequately sized PS5 compatible heatsink or other SSDs where the heatsink provided doesn't fit right and can be removed, we both use and recommend Sabrent's unparalleled PS5 heatsink available HERE.

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We only chart SSDs that can deliver a minimum of 5,500 MB/s read, which is Sony's original recommendation.

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This is as good as it gets for PS5 storage expansion, and it runs nice and cool making it ideal for this use.

Synthetic Benchmarks: CDM, Anvil, ATTO

CrystalDiskMark

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We employ CDM as our standard measurement for both sequential throughput and Q1T1 random read. In terms of sequential throughput, we find our test subject delivering by far the most for a 1TB SSD. In fact, running on our AMD system, the 1TB SM2508 delivers a new lab record of 13,021 MB/s sequential write. Outstanding. And we are running the drive bare (without a heatsink) with only a fan blowing at the drive for cooling. This is something totally new for a PCIe Gen5 SSD. Additionally, 105 MB/s QD1 random read alludes to exceptional real-world performance potential.

Anvil's Storage Utilities

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Here, we find our Gen5 contender demolishing our previous lab records. Wow.

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We employ Anvil's random read test as our standard for measuring max random read IOPS. This test is very accurate as it at its core is Iometer skinned over. We test at QD128. At well over 1.5 million IOPS, our unassuming 1TB contender delivers the second-best result we've ever attained from any flash-based SSD. By far the best-ever for its capacity point.

ATTO

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ATTO gives us a clear picture of what transfer sizes a particular SSD favors in terms of QD4 sequential throughput. We chart 128K transfers. At a queue depth of four, the SM2508 1TB SSD favors sequential transfers of 2MB or larger when serving data to the host (reading) and 128KB or larger when programming (writing) data. Running on our AMD platform, the 1TB 2508 again sets a new lab record for 128K write throughput.

Real-World Testing: Transfers, 3DMark SSD Gaming Test, PCM10 Storage

Transfer Rates

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Our 100GB data transfer test is not your ordinary 100GB of data. Ours is a crushing mix composed of more than 62K files. Write performance, random or sequential, is an infrequent operation, and as such, we do not consider it to be an important performance metric in the consumer space. An example is how many times a game is installed vs. how many times it's played. We were expecting to see a higher transfer rate here, but this is certainly acceptable as far as we're concerned.

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Unlike programming (writing) data, serving data to the host (reading) is typically an important performance metric as it relates to the consumer space. Again, we were expecting a bit more, but still more than acceptable as we see it.

3DMark SSD Gaming Test

UL's newest 3DMark SSD Gaming Test is the most comprehensive SSD gaming test ever devised. We consider it superior to testing against games themselves because, as a trace, it is much more consistent than variations that will occur between runs on the actual game itself. This test is the same as running the actual game, just without the inconsistencies inherent to application testing. In short, we believe that this is the world's best way to test an SSDs gaming prowess and accurately compare it against competing SSDs. The 3DMark SSD Gaming Test measures and scores the following:

• Loading Battlefield V from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Call of Duty Black Ops 4 from launch to the main menu.
• Loading Overwatch from launch to the main menu.
• Recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS (Open Broadcaster Software) while playing Overwatch.
• Installing The Outer Worlds from the Epic Games Launcher.
• Saving game progress in The Outer Worlds.
• Copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike Global Offensive from an external SSD to the system drive.

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Gaming is a performance metric that matters to most DIY consumers, especially for the enthusiast crowd that TweakTown caters to. Now we've reached the point where results start to matter as they are a direct reflection of user experience.

Here we find our contender delivering the most ever for a 1TB flash-based SSD. You want the most performance where it matters most? This drive can deliver just that.

PCM10 Storage Tests

PCMark 10 Storage Test is the most advanced and most accurate real-world consumer storage test ever made. There are four different tests you can choose from; we run two of them. The Full System Drive Benchmark and the Quick System Drive Benchmark. The Full System Drive Benchmark writes 204 GB of data over the duration of the test. These tests directly correlate with mainstream user experience.

PCMark 10 Full System Drive Benchmark

This test writes 204GB of data and covers a broad range of common consumer tasks, including booting Windows 10, file transfers, Adobe and Office applications, and startup times for games such as Battlefield V, COD Black Ops 4, and Overwatch. Unlike synthetic numbers, this is comprehensive real-world data, which is why we use it to rank SSDs in terms of user experience.

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This time Sabrent's 1TB Rocket 5 gets the better of the 1TB SMI SM2508, but it's by a mere 53 points, so it's not a noticeable difference.

PCMark 10 Quick System Drive Benchmark

The Quick System Drive Benchmark writes 23 GB of data over the duration of the test.

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Of all the benchmarks we run, it can be argued that this one offers the best reflection of a typical consumer use case scenario. More than any other benchmark, here is where we want to see excellent numbers and that's exactly what we are getting from our 1TB contender. Again, Sabrent's 1TB Rocket 5 gets the better of the SM2508 1TB, but again it's by a slim margin.

Final Thoughts

As we see it, Silicon Motion's 1TB SM2508 SSD is an absolute masterful SSD. It's overall the second-most powerful 1TB flash-based SSD we've ever encountered. The real-world performance difference between it and our current 1TB performance champion is negligible at less than 1% - a margin that couldn't be discerned by an end-user. However, what can be easily discerned by the end user, is how much more power efficient the SM2508 is than anything else in its class.

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Because of its efficiency, it's as easy to cool as a typical Gen4 SSD, even easier than some. Its efficiency is so good that it can even be slotted into notebook computers without issue. Amazing.

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We rank SSDs in terms of overall user experience (performance where it matters most) as expressed by PCMark 10 storage and 3DMark gaming storage tests. Currently, we consider a user experience score of 15K or more to verify an SSD as a TweakTown Elite performer. All this performance with only 7 watts of peak power consumption? Yes, please.

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At TweakTown, we are enthusiasts first. Meaning, above all, we value the highest performance. However, for the first time - even though our test subject didn't prove itself to be the most powerful of its kind we've encountered, it's so close that we cannot help but defer to its overwhelmingly better efficiency as the reason we find the 1TB SMI SM2508 to be the most desirable of its kind ever made. Editor's Choice.