While Realtek is greatest recognized within the fanatic area for for its peripheral controllers similar to audio codecs and community controllers, the corporate additionally has a small-but-respectable SSD controller enterprise that tends to fly below the radar on account of its give attention to entry-level and mainstream drives. But Realtek’s stature within the SSD area is on the rise, as the corporate isn’t solely planning new PCIe Gen5 SSD controllers, but additionally their first high-end, DRAM-equipped SSD controller.
For this 12 months’s Computex commerce present, Realtek laid out a brand new SSD controller roadmap that requires the corporate to launch a trio of latest SSD controllers over the subsequent couple of years. First up is a brand new four-channel entry-level PCIe 4.Zero controller, the RTS5776DL, which will likely be joined a bit later by a PCIe 5.Zero variant, the RTS5781DL. But most fascinating on Realtek’s new roadmap is the ultimate chip being deliberate: the eight-channel, DRAM-equipped RTS5782, which might be the corporate’s first high-end SSD controller, able to hitting sequential learn charges as excessive as 14GB/second.
| Realtek NVMe SSD Controller Comparison | |||||||||
| RTS5782 | RTS5781DL | RTS5776DL | RTS5772DL | RTS5766DL | |||||
| Market Segment | High-End | Mainstream | Entry-Level | ||||||
| Error Correction | 4K LDPC | 2K LDPC | |||||||
| DRAM | DDR4, LPDDR4(X) | No | No | No | No | ||||
| Host Interface | PCIe 5.Zero x4 | PCIe 5.Zero x4 | PCIe 4.Zero x4 | PCIe 4.Zero x4 | PCIe 3.Zero x4 | ||||
| NVMe Version | NVMe 2.0 | NVMe 2.0 | NVMe 2.0 | NVMe 1.4 | NVMe 1.4 | ||||
| NAND Channels, Interface Speed | eight ch, 3600 MT/s |
Four ch, 3600 MT/s |
Four ch, 3600 MT/s |
eight ch, 1600 MT/s |
Four ch, 1200 MT/s |
||||
| Sequential Read | 14 GB/s | 10 GB/s | 7.Four GB/s | 6 GB/s | 3.2 GB/s | ||||
| Sequential Write | 12 GB/s | 10 GB/s | 7.Four GB/s | 6 GB/s | 2.2 GB/s | ||||
| 4KB Random Read IOPS | 2500okay | 1400okay | 1200okay | – | – | ||||
| 4KB Random Write IOPS | 2500okay | 1400okay | 1200okay | – | – | ||||
Diving a bit deeper into Realtek’s roadmap, the RTS5776DL is conventional DRAM-less PCIe Gen4 x4 controller with 4 NAND channels, and is aimed toward entry-level drives. The controller’s NAND help is sort of trendy, nevertheless, supporting the newest ONFI/Toggle requirements, which can permit it to hit NAND switch charges as much as 3600 MT/second. Across 4 channels, that is sufficient bandwidth to totally saturate a PCIe 4.Zero x4 reference to sequential learn/writes, whereas random 4K IOPS can burst as excessive as 1.2 million. Engineering samples of the controller are set to emerge in This autumn 2024, so don’t anticipate precise drives based mostly on this chip to emerge on the market till the second half of subsequent 12 months on the earliest.
Realtek can also be making ready the RTS5781DL, which will be considered a PCIe 5.Zero model of their DRAM-less controller platform. The RTS5781DL options the identical four-channel NAND format and 3600 MT/sec max NAND switch charges, which with the extra bandwidth afforded by PCIe 5.0, shifts the efficiency bottleneck again to the NAND. Overall, Realtek expects drives with its first PCIe Gen5 SSD controller to hit sustained switch charges as much as 10GB/second, and as much as 1.Four million random learn/write IOPS. The firm goals to make engineering samples of this controller accessible within the first quarter of 2025, so precise drives will hit the market in late 2025 at greatest.
Finally, the head of Realtek’s roadmap will likely be its RTS5782, which is the corporate’s first high-end SSD controller. Besides together with help for on-drive DRAM (DDR4/LPDDR4X) for larger efficiency, the back-end of the RTS5782 will function an eight NAND channel design that helps switch charges as much as 3600 MT/second. Drives constructed with the controller are anticipated to have the ability to maintain 14GB/second sequential learn charges and 12GB/second sequential…
