PCIe Gen5 SSDs have become the next big evolution in the world of high-performance storage. Its availability is still very limited, but we have already begun to see some listings in foreign markets, and these have allowed us to get an idea of what we can expect from this first batch, both in terms of features and prices.
The Japanese manufacturer CFD Gaming has launched three units that have already been listed in their native country, and that will be available in three different sizes: 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. They all have the same design and come with a bulky cooling system that includes a fan in the center. Said fan represents a drastic change compared to current solutions, since it introduces active dissipation.
All these storage units use Micron 3D TLC NAND Flash memory (three bits per cell), integrate the Phison PS5026-E26 controller, are compatible with the PCIe Gen5 x4 interface, are based on the NVMe 2.0 protocol, and have a three-year warranty. At the performance level, the 2 TB and 4 TB models achieve a sequential read and write speed of 10 GB/s and 9.5 GB/s, respectively, while the 1TB model remains in 9.5 GB/s and 8.5 GB/s.
In random reading and writing, the 2 TB and 4 TB models offer values of 1500K IOPS and 1250K IOPSand the 1TB model gets 1300K IOPS and 1100K IOPS. The 4TB model has 8GB of DDR4 cache, the 2TB model has 4GB of DDR4 cache, and the 1TB model has 2GB of DDR4 cache.
Its benefits are very interesting, although they are far from the theoretical maximum of 16 GB/s that could be achieved by PCIe Gen5 storage units consuming four PCIe lanes. As you may have imagined, the sale prices are very high, it is normal since it is a new generation of storage units, and as it happened at the time with the PCIe Gen4 units, it will take a while until the prices begin to decrease. lower and more affordable.
The 1TB drive is priced at the exchange of €379.60the 2 TB one costs €769.20 and the 4 TB has a cost of €1,518.40. To better contextualize these prices, it is enough to remember that with what the 2 TB model costs we could already assemble a complete PC with a PCIe Gen4 drive.
