It could also be a bit later than initially deliberate, however Samsung’s first client SSD to help PCIe 4.Zero is right here. The Samsung 980 PRO was first previewed at CES in January, however we did not hear something additional till leaks began showing in direction of the tip of summer time. Now the 980 PRO is ready to kick off a brand new wave of PCIe 4.Zero SSD releases. These new adjustments are probably the most vital adjustments to Samsung’s PRO SSD line for the reason that debut of its first NVMe drive.
The Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.Zero SSD
As we march onto a world the place PCIe 4.Zero goes to begin being provided to the overwhelming majority of customers in all segments of computing, the transfer is on with a purpose to allow help for these new requirements. Benefits equivalent to elevated peak velocity, or decreased energy consumption, are apparent important specs that PCIe 4.Zero brings to the desk, and thus having optimized merchandise to go together with it has all the time been the case as new generations trump the advised. Samsung’s first PCIe 4.Zero x4 providing for customers is the 980 PRO, a sequence of M.2 drives with capacities as much as 2.Zero TB.
These new drives function the most recent in Samsung’s controller design, but additionally mark the change from 2-bit cells to 3-bit cells for the Pro line of drives. This creates adjustments for elevated capability and decreased value, and because of Samsung’s controller expertise the decrease theoretical endurace we’d count on with TLC continues to be coated by the guarantee. Samsung’s Pro line of storage drives have all the time been designed to impress, all the time being within the higher echelons for efficiency for the market. This is what we’re right here to check on this overview.
| Samsung 980 PRO SSD Specifications | ||||||
| Capacity | 250 GB | 500 GB | 1 TB | 2 TB | ||
| Interface | PCIe Four x4, NVMe 1.3c | |||||
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 Single-sided | |||||
| Controller | Samsung Elpis | |||||
| NAND | Samsung 128L 3D TLC | |||||
| LPDDR4 DRAM | 512MB | 1GB | 2GB | |||
| SLC Write Cache Size |
Min | Four GB | Four GB | 6 GB | TBD | |
| Max | 49 GB | 94 GB | 114 GB | |||
| Sequential Read | 6400 MB/s | 6900 MB/s | 7000 MB/s | |||
| Sequential Write | SLC | 2700 MB/s | 5000 MB/s | 5000 MB/s | ||
| TLC | 500 MB/s | 1000 MB/s | 2000 MB/s | |||
| Random Read IOPS (4kB) |
QD1 | 22okay | 22okay | 22okay | ||
| Max | 500okay | 800okay | 1000okay | |||
| Random Write IOPS (4kB) |
QD1 | 60okay | 60okay | 60okay | ||
| Max | 600okay | 1000okay | 1000okay | |||
| Active Power | Read | 5.Zero W | 5.9 W | 6.2 W | ||
| Write | 3.9 W | 5.Four W | 5.7 W | |||
| Idle Power | APST | 35 mW | ||||
| L1.2 | 5 mW | |||||
| Write Endurance | 150 TB 0.Three DWPD |
300 TB 0.Three DWPD |
600 TB 0.Three DWPD |
1200 TB 0.Three DWPD |
||
| Warranty | 5 years | |||||
| Launch MSRP | $89.99 (36¢/GB) |
$149.99 (30¢/GB) |
$229.99 (23¢/GB) |
TBD | ||
Today we’re testing the 250 GB and 1 TB fashions, representing the present minimal and most of what’s on provide. The 2 TB mannequin is ready to return to retail at a later date, together with its respective specs.
Two Waves of PCIe 4.0 Storage: Wave One
AMD kicked off the transition to PCIe 4.Zero final 12 months with the discharge of their Zen 2 household of CPUs. This began the primary part of PCIe 4.Zero SSDs, beginning with Phison.
Phison was the one SSD controller vendor prepared with a PCIe 4.Zero answer on the time; its E16 controller has loved over a 12 months in the marketplace as the one possibility for client PCIe 4.Zero SSDs. We’re reported lots about it as properly. But the Phison E16 was a little bit of a rushed design, with a minimal of adjustments to their extremely profitable E12 controller to allow PCIe 4.Zero help. That left the E16 with some notable shortcomings: it solely affords barely extra peak bandwidth supplied by the improve to PCIe 4.0, and the additional efficiency comes with a whole lot of further energy consumption. The remainder of the SSD business determined to take the PCIe 4.Zero transition a bit extra slowly, getting ready extra mature controller designs to be manufactured on smaller…
