• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

ASUS is Getting Ready to Launch its First Internal SSD

Joined
Jun 23, 2014
Messages
1,374 (0.38/day)
Processor 3900X 4.425
Motherboard X570 Tomahawk
Cooling Galahad 360 push-pull
Memory 2x16gb Crucial Ballistix MAX 4400
Video Card(s) Asus Dual 3060 Ti OC
Storage Optane 280gb PCI-E
Display(s) PG348Q
Case Core X71
Audio Device(s) ATOLL DAC 100SE, Sony DN1070 - Dali Ikon 1 MK2, Presonus Studio 192, Line 6 POD HD rack, Audix VX10
Power Supply AX1500i
Mouse Pulsar Xlite wireless white
Keyboard Leopold FC980C 30g white
Software Win 10 Pro
Optane was obviously a dead end for the end consumer when prices increased. They shut down the factory and it's only being done for enterprise. The 3D X-Point was very snappy at 4k, but ultimately the price and low per GB knocked it down.

I get your point, though. It's slowly moving in terms of 4k speeds. Consumer SSDs, that are.
 

TheLostSwede

News Editor
Joined
Nov 11, 2004
Messages
16,063 (2.26/day)
Location
Sweden
System Name Overlord Mk MLI
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 SE with offsets
Memory 32GB Team T-Create Expert DDR5 6000 MHz @ CL30-34-34-68
Video Card(s) Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom GS
Storage 1TB Solidigm P44 Pro, 2 TB Corsair MP600 Pro, 2TB Kingston KC3000
Display(s) Acer XV272K LVbmiipruzx 4K@160Hz
Case Fractal Design Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s) Corsair Virtuoso SE
Power Supply be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W
Mouse Logitech G502 Lightspeed
Keyboard Corsair K70 Max
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores https://valid.x86.fr/5za05v
feel like every brand is coming up with their own ssd line
The new Ultra Soft SSD...
charmin.jpg
 
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
9,795 (1.90/day)
Location
Jakarta, Indonesia
System Name micropage7
Processor Intel Xeon X3470
Motherboard Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. P55A-UD3R (Socket 1156)
Cooling Enermax ETS-T40F
Memory Samsung 8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3
Video Card(s) NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800
Storage V-GEN03AS18EU120GB, Seagate 2 x 1TB and Seagate 4TB
Display(s) Samsung 21 inch LCD Wide Screen
Case Icute Super 18
Audio Device(s) Auzentech X-Fi Forte
Power Supply Silverstone 600 Watt
Mouse Logitech G502
Keyboard Sades Excalibur + Taihao keycaps
Software Win 7 64-bit
Benchmark Scores Classified
they gonna sell it with gaming tag and add rgb effect
 
Joined
May 17, 2021
Messages
3,005 (2.80/day)
Processor Ryzen 5 5700x
Motherboard B550 Elite
Cooling Thermalright Perless Assassin 120 SE
Memory 32GB Fury Beast DDR4 3200Mhz
Video Card(s) Gigabyte 3060 ti gaming oc pro
Storage Samsung 970 Evo 1TB, WD SN850x 1TB, plus some random HDDs
Display(s) LG 27gp850 1440p 165Hz 27''
Case Lian Li Lancool II performance
Power Supply MSI 750w
Mouse G502
they gonna sell it with gaming tag and add rgb effect

you can probably get the off brand version from whoever made them, but those don't come with the same bragging rights
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2019
Messages
1,855 (1.05/day)
Location
Hungary
System Name I don't name my systems.
Processor i3-12100F 'power limit removed/-130mV undervolt'
Motherboard Asus Prime B660-PLUS D4
Cooling ID-Cooling SE 224 XT ARGB V3 'CPU', 4x Be Quiet! Light Wings + 2x Arctic P12 black case fans.
Memory 4x8GB G.SKILL Ripjaws V DDR4 3200MHz
Video Card(s) Asus TuF V2 RTX 3060 Ti @1920 MHz Core/950mV Undervolt
Storage 4 TB WD Red, 1 TB Silicon Power A55 Sata, 1 TB Kingston A2000 NVMe, 256 GB Adata Spectrix s40g NVMe
Display(s) 29" 2560x1080 75 Hz / LG 29WK600-W
Case Be Quiet! Pure Base 500 FX Black
Audio Device(s) Onboard + Hama uRage SoundZ 900+USB DAC
Power Supply Seasonic CORE GM 500W 80+ Gold
Mouse Canyon Puncher GM-20
Keyboard SPC Gear GK630K Tournament 'Kailh Brown'
Software Windows 10 Pro
Eh, another gaming branded product that doesn't really make much sense performance and most likely price wise.

I mean there is already not a big difference between a 2.5" SSD and a decent NVMe SSD when it comes to game loading times.
I only have a Kingston A2000 NVMe 'updated firmware' 1TB as my main game drive and I can't see how 1 maybe 2 seconds lower loading times would make me spend more on a SSD when its already damn fast.

Some of my rarely played/not that important games are still on my 7200 rpm HDDs and tbh it doesn't even bother me that much.:oops:

Strictly talking about games here cause RoG is focused on that or what.

Also since some ppl mentioned the possible RGB functions being a problem cause of heat, yeah I guess it was a problem with the early RGB SSDs and if you do heavy productivity/synthetic stuff on it but for gaming purposes nope.
I have an Adata Spectrix RGB NVMe as a system drive but I tried games on it and the temps are fine/no throttling even tho its sandwiched between my GPU and CPU cooler.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 18, 2021
Messages
2,284 (2.20/day)
Do we need yet another manufacturer rebadging whatever nand with whatever controller as their own solution? If they at least commit to no bait and switch like most other similar products are always doing, otherwise it's just another one that brings nothing to an already jam-packed market

I'll continue to always prefer OEM solutions (Samsung, Crucial, WD, Kioxia, SkHynix) that do their own stuff, even if they sometimes also bait and switch, they're a lot more consistent.
 

Keullo-e

S.T.A.R.S.
Joined
Dec 16, 2012
Messages
11,030 (2.66/day)
Location
Finland
System Name 4K-gaming
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 5800X up to 5.05GHz
Motherboard Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite
Cooling Custom loop (CPU+GPU, 240 & 120 rads)
Memory 32GB Kingston HyperX Fury @ DDR4-3466
Video Card(s) PowerColor RX 6700 XT Fighter OC/UV
Storage ~4TB SSD + 6TB HDD
Display(s) Acer 27" 4K120 IPS + Lenovo 32" 4K60 IPS
Case Corsair 4000D Airflow White
Audio Device(s) Asus TUF H3 Wireless
Power Supply EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse Logitech MX518
Keyboard Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO
VR HMD Oculus Rift CV1
Software Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores It runs Crysis remastered at 4K
Which in turn increases thermals, yes LEDs get Hot, I know this from Crucial Ballistix Tracers.
It's not a true ROG product without some bling. ;)
 
Joined
Mar 13, 2018
Messages
68 (0.03/day)
Since we are doing this here is the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus (1gen). The second gen with better NAND is even faster than this one.

5900X on a Strix Gaming E X570.


1652038466801.png
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
3,525 (0.56/day)
Location
Northern Ontario Canada
Processor Ryzen 5700x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aero G R1.1 BiosF5g
Cooling Noctua NH-C12P SE14 w/ NF-A15 HS-PWM Fan 1500rpm
Memory Micron DDR4-3200 2x32GB D.S. D.R. (CT2K32G4DFD832A)
Video Card(s) AMD RX 6800 - Asus Tuf
Storage Kingston KC3000 1TB & 2TB & 4TB Corsair LPX
Display(s) LG 27UL550-W (27" 4k)
Case Be Quiet Pure Base 600 (no window)
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1220-VB
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex V Gold Pro 850W ATX Ver2.52
Mouse Mionix Naos Pro
Keyboard Corsair Strafe with browns
Software W10 22H2 Pro x64

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman
Joined
Jul 2, 2007
Messages
40,435 (6.58/day)
Location
Republic of Texas (True Patriot)
System Name PCGOD
Processor AMD FX 8350@ 5.0GHz
Motherboard Asus TUF 990FX Sabertooth R2 2901 Bios
Cooling Scythe Ashura, 2Ă—BitFenix 230mm Spectre Pro LED (Blue,Green), 2x BitFenix 140mm Spectre Pro LED
Memory 16 GB Gskill Ripjaws X 2133 (2400 OC, 10-10-12-20-20, 1T, 1.65V)
Video Card(s) AMD Radeon 290 Sapphire Vapor-X
Storage Samsung 840 Pro 256GB, WD Velociraptor 1TB
Display(s) NEC Multisync LCD 1700V (Display Port Adapter)
Case AeroCool Xpredator Evil Blue Edition
Audio Device(s) Creative Labs Sound Blaster ZxR
Power Supply Seasonic 1250 XM2 Series (XP3)
Mouse Roccat Kone XTD
Keyboard Roccat Ryos MK Pro
Software Windows 7 Pro 64
We need more reasonable SSDs, we have this stupid situation where buying 2 1tb SSDs is cheaper than one 2tb ssd.
Technology wise we are still stuck, why don't we see more optane like SSDs.
Optane is dead
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
7,302 (3.86/day)
System Name Bragging Rights
Processor Atom Z3735F 1.33GHz
Motherboard It has no markings but it's green
Cooling No, it's a 2.2W processor
Memory 2GB DDR3L-1333
Video Card(s) Gen7 Intel HD (4EU @ 311MHz)
Storage 32GB eMMC and 128GB Sandisk Extreme U3
Display(s) 10" IPS 1280x800 60Hz
Case Veddha T2
Audio Device(s) Apparently, yes
Power Supply Samsung 18W 5V fast-charger
Mouse MX Anywhere 2
Keyboard Logitech MX Keys (not Cherry MX at all)
VR HMD Samsung Oddyssey, not that I'd plug it into this though....
Software W10 21H1, barely
Benchmark Scores I once clocked a Celeron-300A to 564MHz on an Abit BE6 and it scored over 9000.
We need more reasonable SSDs, we have this stupid situation where buying 2 1tb SSDs is cheaper than one 2tb ssd.
Technology wise we are still stuck, why don't we see more optane like SSDs.
Because the sweet spot for NAND manufacturing right now is 4-channel 8Tbit modules - that's where the economies of scale have kicked in for the leading NAND manufacturers, and the cheapest controllers are DRAMless 4-channel designs. Every other NAND product is priced to compete against the MVP - which is a DRAMless controller and 1 NAND package, resulting in the popular 1TB SSD.

If you want lower capacity, you still have similar manufacturing, component, packaging, distribution costs, so 500GB isn't much cheaper to make.
If you want higher capacity, you need to buy 16Tbit modules which are high-end, lower volume parts that have inferior yield, and don't get the economy of scale benefits that the 8Tbit packages get. Alternatively you can go down the multi-package option and use more 8Tbit modules but then you require a more expensive controller and PCB.

The TL;DR is that the sweet spot for the phone/tablet/laptop/desktop NAND markets is a 1TB module; It costs extra to use other density modules, and costs extra to add multiple modules.
 
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
3,525 (0.56/day)
Location
Northern Ontario Canada
Processor Ryzen 5700x
Motherboard Gigabyte X570S Aero G R1.1 BiosF5g
Cooling Noctua NH-C12P SE14 w/ NF-A15 HS-PWM Fan 1500rpm
Memory Micron DDR4-3200 2x32GB D.S. D.R. (CT2K32G4DFD832A)
Video Card(s) AMD RX 6800 - Asus Tuf
Storage Kingston KC3000 1TB & 2TB & 4TB Corsair LPX
Display(s) LG 27UL550-W (27" 4k)
Case Be Quiet Pure Base 600 (no window)
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC1220-VB
Power Supply SuperFlower Leadex V Gold Pro 850W ATX Ver2.52
Mouse Mionix Naos Pro
Keyboard Corsair Strafe with browns
Software W10 22H2 Pro x64
Because the sweet spot for NAND manufacturing right now is 4-channel 8Tbit modules - that's where the economies of scale have kicked in for the leading NAND manufacturers, and the cheapest controllers are DRAMless 4-channel designs. Every other NAND product is priced to compete against the MVP - which is a DRAMless controller and 1 NAND package, resulting in the popular 1TB SSD.

If you want lower capacity, you still have similar manufacturing, component, packaging, distribution costs, so 500GB isn't much cheaper to make.
If you want higher capacity, you need to buy 16Tbit modules which are high-end, lower volume parts that have inferior yield, and don't get the economy of scale benefits that the 8Tbit packages get. Alternatively you can go down the multi-package option and use more 8Tbit modules but then you require a more expensive controller and PCB.

The TL;DR is that the sweet spot for the phone/tablet/laptop/desktop NAND markets is a 1TB module; It costs extra to use other density modules, and costs extra to add multiple modules.
1TB…..not if you have an iPhone. That cost an extra $1000 ;)
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2020
Messages
9,340 (6.12/day)
Location
Louisiana
System Name Ghetto Rigs z490|x99|Acer 17 Nitro 7840hs/ 5600c40-2x16/ 4060/ 1tb acer stock m.2/ 4tb sn850x
Processor 10900k w/Optimus Foundation | 5930k w/Black Noctua D15
Motherboard z490 Maximus XII Apex | x99 Sabertooth
Cooling oCool D5 res-combo/280 GTX/ Optimus Foundation/ gpu water block | Blk D15
Memory Trident-Z Royal 4000c16 2x16gb | Trident-Z 3200c14 4x8gb
Video Card(s) Titan Xp-water | evga 980ti gaming-w/ air
Storage 970evo+500gb & sn850x 4tb | 860 pro 256gb | Acer m.2 1tb/ sn850x 4tb| Many2.5" sata's ssd 3.5hdd's
Display(s) 1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24"/ 3rd LG 43" series
Case D450 | Cherry Entertainment center on Test bench
Audio Device(s) Built in Realtek x2 with 2-Insignia 2.0 sound bars & 1-LG sound bar
Power Supply EVGA 1000P2 with APC AX1500 | 850P2 with CyberPower-GX1325U
Mouse Redragon 901 Perdition x3
Keyboard G710+x3
Software Win-7 pro x3 and win-10 & 11pro x3
Benchmark Scores Are in the benchmark section
Hi,
ROG tax, it's already really bad on boards so why not a m.2 push.
 
D

Deleted member 185088

Guest
Because the sweet spot for NAND manufacturing right now is 4-channel 8Tbit modules - that's where the economies of scale have kicked in for the leading NAND manufacturers, and the cheapest controllers are DRAMless 4-channel designs. Every other NAND product is priced to compete against the MVP - which is a DRAMless controller and 1 NAND package, resulting in the popular 1TB SSD.

If you want lower capacity, you still have similar manufacturing, component, packaging, distribution costs, so 500GB isn't much cheaper to make.
If you want higher capacity, you need to buy 16Tbit modules which are high-end, lower volume parts that have inferior yield, and don't get the economy of scale benefits that the 8Tbit packages get. Alternatively you can go down the multi-package option and use more 8Tbit modules but then you require a more expensive controller and PCB.

The TL;DR is that the sweet spot for the phone/tablet/laptop/desktop NAND markets is a 1TB module; It costs extra to use other density modules, and costs extra to add multiple modules.
Thank you for your detailed post.
Optane is dead
I blame Intel, they couldn't/didn't want to make cheaper, given how they price their products it wasn't a surprise.
 
Joined
Feb 1, 2019
Messages
2,582 (1.35/day)
Location
UK, Leicester
System Name Main PC
Processor 13700k
Motherboard Asrock Z690 Steel Legend D4 - Bios 13.02
Cooling Noctua NH-D15S
Memory 32 Gig 3200CL14
Video Card(s) 3080 RTX FE 10G
Storage 1TB 980 PRO (OS, games), 2TB SN850X (games), 2TB DC P4600 (work), 2x 3TB WD Red, 2x 4TB WD Red
Display(s) LG 27GL850
Case Fractal Define R4
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar D2X
Power Supply Antec HCG 750 Gold
Software Windows 10 21H2 LTSC
Are people really chasing m.2s that slightly out perform another? sn850 980 pro are same performance class. the difference not relevant.

I do think ssd market getting saturated though and hope drives sold today still work properly in five years.
 

TheLostSwede

News Editor
Joined
Nov 11, 2004
Messages
16,063 (2.26/day)
Location
Sweden
System Name Overlord Mk MLI
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master
Cooling Noctua NH-D15 SE with offsets
Memory 32GB Team T-Create Expert DDR5 6000 MHz @ CL30-34-34-68
Video Card(s) Gainward GeForce RTX 4080 Phantom GS
Storage 1TB Solidigm P44 Pro, 2 TB Corsair MP600 Pro, 2TB Kingston KC3000
Display(s) Acer XV272K LVbmiipruzx 4K@160Hz
Case Fractal Design Torrent Compact
Audio Device(s) Corsair Virtuoso SE
Power Supply be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 850 W
Mouse Logitech G502 Lightspeed
Keyboard Corsair K70 Max
Software Windows 10 Pro
Benchmark Scores https://valid.x86.fr/5za05v
Are people really chasing m.2s that slightly out perform another? sn850 980 pro are same performance class. the difference not relevant.

I do think ssd market getting saturated though and hope drives sold today still work properly in five years.
Actually, the 980 Pro is the worst premium tier PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive in the market when it comes to performance.
Samsung messed up somehow and produced a fairly mediocre product.
 
Joined
Jun 18, 2021
Messages
2,284 (2.20/day)
Actually, the 980 Pro is the worst premium tier PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive in the market when it comes to performance.
Samsung messed up somehow and produced a fairly mediocre product.

I don't know what you mean, looking at one of the last reviews here (Kioxia Exceria Pro) it still either tops most charts or is on par with the rest of the pack. It has slightly less IOPS and a bit less seq. R/W speed but it's still able to be at the top of the chart on mixed R/W and whole drive fill.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2019
Messages
7,302 (3.86/day)
System Name Bragging Rights
Processor Atom Z3735F 1.33GHz
Motherboard It has no markings but it's green
Cooling No, it's a 2.2W processor
Memory 2GB DDR3L-1333
Video Card(s) Gen7 Intel HD (4EU @ 311MHz)
Storage 32GB eMMC and 128GB Sandisk Extreme U3
Display(s) 10" IPS 1280x800 60Hz
Case Veddha T2
Audio Device(s) Apparently, yes
Power Supply Samsung 18W 5V fast-charger
Mouse MX Anywhere 2
Keyboard Logitech MX Keys (not Cherry MX at all)
VR HMD Samsung Oddyssey, not that I'd plug it into this though....
Software W10 21H1, barely
Benchmark Scores I once clocked a Celeron-300A to 564MHz on an Abit BE6 and it scored over 9000.
Hi,
ROG tax, it's already really bad on boards so why not a m.2 push.
The ROG tax is permeating to other flavours of ASUS. Just recently noticed how cheap and basoc a bunch of TUF boards were. Went to have a look at some older TUF boards and the Intel variants and yep - they're all overpriced lacking features and quality compared to MSI/Gigabyte at that price, and MSI/Gigabyte's offerings that are closest in spec to the TUF are a good 30% cheaper.

The TUF boards aren't bad at all, but they're priced well above their place in the model range which is basically just above Prime with a different paintjob and maybe slightly better VRM heatsinks. If you assess a board on IO, heatsinks, VRM design, and features, TUF really is at the low and and they're good low-end boards ruined by upper-midrange price tags.
 
Joined
Feb 1, 2019
Messages
2,582 (1.35/day)
Location
UK, Leicester
System Name Main PC
Processor 13700k
Motherboard Asrock Z690 Steel Legend D4 - Bios 13.02
Cooling Noctua NH-D15S
Memory 32 Gig 3200CL14
Video Card(s) 3080 RTX FE 10G
Storage 1TB 980 PRO (OS, games), 2TB SN850X (games), 2TB DC P4600 (work), 2x 3TB WD Red, 2x 4TB WD Red
Display(s) LG 27GL850
Case Fractal Define R4
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar D2X
Power Supply Antec HCG 750 Gold
Software Windows 10 21H2 LTSC
I don't know what you mean, looking at one of the last reviews here (Kioxia Exceria Pro) it still either tops most charts or is on par with the rest of the pack. It has slightly less IOPS and a bit less seq. R/W speed but it's still able to be at the top of the chart on mixed R/W and whole drive fill.
Pretty much yeah, and similar on TPU's own review so not sure where swede was coming from. Its worst metric now is that there is competing drives either the same or slightly better for lower cost.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2020
Messages
9,340 (6.12/day)
Location
Louisiana
System Name Ghetto Rigs z490|x99|Acer 17 Nitro 7840hs/ 5600c40-2x16/ 4060/ 1tb acer stock m.2/ 4tb sn850x
Processor 10900k w/Optimus Foundation | 5930k w/Black Noctua D15
Motherboard z490 Maximus XII Apex | x99 Sabertooth
Cooling oCool D5 res-combo/280 GTX/ Optimus Foundation/ gpu water block | Blk D15
Memory Trident-Z Royal 4000c16 2x16gb | Trident-Z 3200c14 4x8gb
Video Card(s) Titan Xp-water | evga 980ti gaming-w/ air
Storage 970evo+500gb & sn850x 4tb | 860 pro 256gb | Acer m.2 1tb/ sn850x 4tb| Many2.5" sata's ssd 3.5hdd's
Display(s) 1-AOC G2460PG 24"G-Sync 144Hz/ 2nd 1-ASUS VG248QE 24"/ 3rd LG 43" series
Case D450 | Cherry Entertainment center on Test bench
Audio Device(s) Built in Realtek x2 with 2-Insignia 2.0 sound bars & 1-LG sound bar
Power Supply EVGA 1000P2 with APC AX1500 | 850P2 with CyberPower-GX1325U
Mouse Redragon 901 Perdition x3
Keyboard G710+x3
Software Win-7 pro x3 and win-10 & 11pro x3
Benchmark Scores Are in the benchmark section
The ROG tax is permeating to other flavours of ASUS. Just recently noticed how cheap and basoc a bunch of TUF boards were. Went to have a look at some older TUF boards and the Intel variants and yep - they're all overpriced lacking features and quality compared to MSI/Gigabyte at that price, and MSI/Gigabyte's offerings that are closest in spec to the TUF are a good 30% cheaper.

The TUF boards aren't bad at all, but they're priced well above their place in the model range which is basically just above Prime with a different paintjob and maybe slightly better VRM heatsinks. If you assess a board on IO, heatsinks, VRM design, and features, TUF really is at the low and and they're good low-end boards ruined by upper-midrange price tags.
Hi,
Tuf boards or at least x99 sabertooth had a 5 year warranty, not looked at the tuf to see if that continued but might make the cost understandable a tad
Prime and prime deluxe are just cheap bloated boards no doubt I killed several micro center wasn't to happy but that is what instore warranty is for plus avoiding asus rma :laugh:

I've probably bought my last asus board might give asrock a try if I ever build another rig.
 
Top