Phison Showcases 12 GB/s Speeds for PCIe 5.0 SSDs Through Its New E26 Controller

[Tomorrow]

Me reading the first post. I will quote the relevant part.

The PCB is wider (25mm instead on 22mm). The connector itself is the same.
So on a bare PCB there should be no restrictions mounting 25mm to a 22mm slot.
However on boards where 22mm wide spacing is assumed by motherboard covers there may be compatibility problems going forward.

 

[chrcoluk]

Ok, I didnt see your reply.

 

[evernessince]

Well hopefully when DirectStorage starts getting implemented and improved we will see the difference in games.

DirectStorage is mostly geared towards reducing latency I'm not sure what kind of performance improvement aside from that some people are expecting. Games currently don't even fully utilize SATA SSD's full sequential read speeds, let alone PCIe 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 drives. I don't think it's a good idea to go out and ask devs to be more inefficient with the way their games are loading assets from the drive simply because they can. Ultimately games still need to work on HDDs as SSDs are still much more expensive, especially at higher capacities.

 

[ZetZet]

DirectStorage is mostly geared towards reducing latency I'm not sure what kind of performance improvement aside from that some people are expecting. Games currently don't even fully utilize SATA SSD's full sequential read speeds, let alone PCIe 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 drives. I don't think it's a good idea to go out and ask devs to be more inefficient with the way their games are loading assets from the drive simply because they can. Ultimately games still need to work on HDDs as SSDs are still much more expensive, especially at higher capacities.

Latency is part of it, but when you're talking 4K textures and other things speed becomes relevant too. Microsoft said DirectStorage will work with PCIe 3.0 and above, but recently AMD said their upcoming SmartAccess Storage will need more and not to even assume that all PCIe 4.0 drives will be capable of it.

 

[b1k3rdude]

Like many other have said in this thread, the 4k QD1 r/w are shite, and in this case no better than my Samsung 960 pro

 

[Wirko]

DirectStorage is mostly geared towards reducing latency I'm not sure what kind of performance improvement aside from that some people are expecting. Games currently don't even fully utilize SATA SSD's full sequential read speeds, let alone PCIe 3.0, 4.0, and 5.0 drives. I don't think it's a good idea to go out and ask devs to be more inefficient with the way their games are loading assets from the drive simply because they can. Ultimately games still need to work on HDDs as SSDs are still much more expensive, especially at higher capacities.

DirectStorage could be able to reduce latency elsewhere along the data movement & decompression chain. But it can't affect SSD's own latency, which is dictated by the hardware and firmware in the SSD itself.

 

[Mussels]

If RND4k is so important over SEQ speed, then these Gen 5 drives are irrelevant till the RND4k speeds are increased.

Why are they even so low? is it something to do with the interface or OS or what?

It's the hardest thing they can do, its random access. You cant cache or prepare for random scattered access - lower latency helps reduce it, but nothing short of having the entire drive and every memory module actively powered and ready to read every bit at any given moment will make that any faster. We call that technology RAM.

 

[Wirko]

We call that technology RAM.

Yes, except that "random access" memory, at least DRAM, is another example of a component that handles random scattered access really badly.

 

[Chris_Ramseyer]

No need to tag the Phison Facebook page. The meme is funny but stop it! LOL I'm already here.

Random performance tuning comes after sequential tuning and we are not even finished with that. Expect to see 2x the random read performance when we bring E26 to market. I don't know why we released the full CMD screenshot this early but it is out there now without tuning.

Now, the sarcastic reply is, "The drive isn't running with active cooling and that is why the numbers are so low." - Again, that is not true, but it is funny!

Also, the form factor is 2280, not 2580. The new NAND is more square than rectangle like before so it gives the appearance of being wider overall. E26 will be 2280 and not 2580. Just a side note, 2580 and 2280 use the same connector so the only real difference is the guaranteed space around the drive and a slightly wider heatsink that is also backwards compatible.

 

[Wirko]

Just a side note, 2580 and 2280 use the same connector so the only real difference is the guaranteed space around the drive and a slightly wider heatsink that is also backwards compatible.

That's an important bit of info. Thanks for clarifying!

 

[evernessince]

Latency is part of it, but when you're talking 4K textures and other things speed becomes relevant too. Microsoft said DirectStorage will work with PCIe 3.0 and above, but recently AMD said their upcoming SmartAccess Storage will need more and not to even assume that all PCIe 4.0 drives will be capable of it.

You can already find games with 4K and 6K textures that work just fine without DirectStorage on even a HDD. Maybe at some point the technology will become important but as of right now you don't need DirectStorage in even the most demanding open world games.