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Phison Embraces 7 Nanometer: Cooler PCIe Gen 5 SSDs Incoming With New Controller

btarunr

btarunr

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The current crop of PCIe Gen 5 based M.2 NVMe SSDs run scorching hot to deliver sequential transfer speeds of 10 GB/s, requiring some massive cooling solutions with tiny fans. All this might change, as Phison, a leading SSD controller manufacturer, unveiled three new controllers at the 2024 International CES. One of these that stands out, is the PS5031-E31T, which is built on the 7 nm node, and could power the first Gen 5 SSDs delivering 10 GB/s without elaborate cooling solutions. This is a big upgrade from the 12 nm node used by their first Gen 5 controllers. The PS5031-E31T is a DRAMless controller meant for mainstream Gen 5 SSDs. This controller has a 4-channel flash interface (16 CE), a PCI-Express 5.0 x4 host interface, supports capacities of up to 8 TB, and is claimed by Phison to offer sequential transfer rates of up to 10.8 GB/s, and up to 1500K IOPS random access; exceeding the fastest Gen 4 SSDs.

Phison also updated its high-end controller lineup with the new PS5026-E26 Max14um. This is a variant of the E26 that's designed for the upcoming Micron B58R NAND flash chip that offers 2400 MT/s per channel transfers. Over the 8-channel interface of the E26, this finally unlocks sequential transfer speeds exceeding 14 GB/s reads, and 12.7 GB/s sequential writes. This is merely a revision of the existing E26 with updated power-optimized firmware, the underlying silicon is identical. The E26 Max14um is the first controller to surpass 1000 MB/s in all three PCMark 10 storage tests. We have a sample of an SSD powered by the E26 Max14um in our labs, and will post our review soon.



Next up, we have the PS5027-E27T. The E27T is a highly power-optimized 4-channel DRAMless controller with a PCI-Express 4.0 x4 interface, purpose built for small M.2-2230 SSDs powering handheld gaming consoles. Lastly, there's the PS2251-21 (U21). This is a brand new single-chip solution designed for the 40 Gbps USB4 interface, wiring out 4-channel NAND flash, with sequential transfers on offer that nearly max out the interface, measured at up to 4 GB/s. This controller allows portable SSD designers to do away with USB4 bridge chips that convert a USB4 uplink to a PCIe Gen 3 x4 downlink—no more clunky M.2 drives under the hood. Now you just have one of these chips directly wired to the NAND flash.

The CES 2024 presentation slide-deck from Phison follows.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 
Who doesn’t want a dedicated heatsink and fans for the ssd :confused:
MSI-SPATIM-SSD-HERO.jpg
 
btarunr said:
Lastly, there's the PS2251-21 (U21). This is a brand new single-chip solution designed for the 40 Gbps USB4 interface, wiring out 4-channel NAND flash, with sequential transfers on offer that nearly max out the interface, measured at up to 4 GB/s. This controller allows portable SSD designers to do away with USB4 bridge chips that convert a USB4 uplink to a PCIe Gen 3 x4 downlink, and to have a clunky M.2 drive under the hood. Now you just have one of these chips directly wired to the NAND flash.
Click to expand...
As unexciting as it may seem on the surface, I'd say this part is landmark towards "Pen Drives" as a whole (finally) catch up.
How affordable can they make these? Cheap enough to eat up the glut of NAND?
 
The last screenshot in the article looks like a 16TB drive? Is that M.2 2280?
 
So their flagship controller is still on 12nm? Great.
 
1704993290606.png


Want this. Finally SSDs are reaching the speeds of RAMDRIVEs (abet slower DDR3-1866, but still fast enough).
 
Bwaze said:
I'd exchange 3/4 of that speed for a larger capacity. Where are consumer 8TB NVMe SSD's?
Click to expand...

Nowhere to be seen unfortunately. Only a few models on the market and they start at $880 USD. I'd advise anyone looking for large capacity who doesn't need a very small form factor drive to look at enterprise u.2 offerings, way better pricing, endurance, and they come with encryption and data loss prevention.
 
ir_cow said:
Right around the corner actually. 4TB nands incoming
Click to expand...

Well at the very least that means they should be able to do 8TB single sided drives now. Hopefully that translates into much more competition in regard to 8TB drives. Would love to see a 16TB double sided M.2 although I imagine the price would be over $1,500.
 
ir_cow said:
Nand prices are set to double this year to :/
Click to expand...

8TB+ capacity drives never saw a discount to begin with so I'm not sure if it'll impact them as much. I think they'd completely crush their sales numbers if they tried to charge $1,700 - $2,200 for 8TB M.2s. That would be nuts.
 
Chaitanya said:
There are many controllers that are built on older larger process nodes. Not everything needs to be on bleeding edge of manufacturing.
Click to expand...
They do when the controller contributes to the need to have active cooling for the SSD.

The fact that their new mid-range controller is built on 7 nanometer so as not to require active cooling is telling.
 
ir_cow said:
Right around the corner actually. 4TB nands incoming
Click to expand...
Single nand 2230 4TB M.2 SSDs incoming, for higher price than old ones. 8TB and 16TB remaining in Enterprise, since there is still lots of users saying nobody needs that kind of capacity now, it's all in the clouds, streaming...
 
I don't get it. Sure, a smaller manufacturing process can result in more efficiency and less power draw, but doesn't that just pack everything (including heat) closer and closer together, making it harder to cool at some point? Isn't that why we have GPUs and CPUs running at 90c with huge coolers today?
 
hat said:
I don't get it. Sure, a smaller manufacturing process can result in more efficiency and less power draw, but doesn't that just pack everything (including heat) closer and closer together, making it harder to cool at some point? Isn't that why we have GPUs and CPUs running at 90c with huge coolers today?
Click to expand...
Shrinking the node means there's less heat emitted. You're not compressing the same amount of heat into a smaller space, you're creating less heat. So it's easier to cool, not harder.

Today's high-end CPUs and GPUs are built on a smaller node, but they are still physically large, and fed a lot of power. So they need large coolers.
 
What are you guys talking about? Phison has shipped 8TB M.2 SSDs for close to 4 years now. Sabrent has a few different models and the last time I looked they were less than a grand each for Gen4 TLC.
 
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