Best Gen5 SSD Coming? Samsung will finally release its own high-end SSD using PCIe 5.0

Since the release of the first SSDs using PCI Express 5.0, they have been accompanied by one problem – high consumption, which in the case of modules with a Phison E26 controller leads to overheating or even freezing of the system, or the need for active cooling. “Gen5” SSDs are not gaining much traction yet because of this. But the new models should improve it, and it looks like Samsung could save the situation, whose high-end PCIe 5.0 ×4 SSD should finally be heading to the market.

Samsung is one of the most popular and long-time award-winning SSD manufacturers, but unfortunately, it is once again late in introducing the new generation of PCI Express. Version 5.0, which brings twice the bandwidth per line compared to PCIe 4.0, has not yet been used by its SSDs, although the possibility to operate SSDs with PCIe 5.0 ×4 is here from 2021 (with limitations on the LGA 1151 platform) to 2022 (fully on AM5). So far, the company has only released a slower, cheaper model, the Samsung SSD 990 Evo, where the use of PCIe 5.0 with only two lines plays a secondary role.

PM9E1

But now Samsung has announced a high-end SSD, which should finally be its real candidate in the competition for the throne of the most powerful Gen5 SSD. It is called PM9E1, according to this designation it is not an SSD for retail (independent) sale, but a model for the OEM market, i.e. intended for manufacturers of finished computers and notebooks.

The company has yet to directly reveal or market the SSD in the usual sense, but it has announced that it has started mass production, so it should start appearing in various PCs and laptops within a few to several months.

Samsung always releases separate models with similar indecipherable names for the OEM market, and variants with different designations are released for the retail market. It is hard to say what the name of such a version from PM9E1 will be, because the last high-end model of the generation with PCIe 4.0 is called SSD 990 Pro. The novelty could be the SSD 1000 Pro, but the labeling will most likely change completely. In any case, the announcement of an OEM variant of the module should mean that such an over-the-counter module for standard sales channels is also on the way. Work on both versions is definitely running at the same time.

Technical parameters

The PM9E1 will be an NVMe module with a PCIe 5.0 ×4 interface and eighth (V8) generation V-NAND with 236 layers (probably with TLC writing). The controller will be Samsung’s own development and probably also the most interesting thing about this SSD. It is supposed to be a chip produced by a 5nm process, which would make it a controller with the most advanced technology (Phison E26 is a 12nm chip), which will be key for low consumption. According to Samsung, the SSD will have peak performance and the best energy efficiency on the market. Ideally, we would like to see the consumption reach the level of the previous PCIe 4.0 generation (SSD 980 Pro, SSD 990 Pro) and for this SSD to be used in notebooks without any problems. But we don’t have the numbers yet.

In terms of performance, the Samsung PM9E1 is supposed to attack today’s fastest SSD. Its sequential read speed is supposed to be up to 14.5 GB/s and sequential write speed up to 13.0 GB/s (this will be the data to write to the pseudoSLC cache, as usual). However, we do not yet have random access performance (IOPS) data.

The PM9E1 SSDs will be produced in 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB capacities and should be standard NVMe M.2 modules with a length of 2280. For the OEM market, they will not be equipped with a cooler, but the eventual retail version may differ. An interesting new feature will be protection against attacks modifying the SSD firmware (Firmware Tampering Attestation), probably using cryptographic signature verification and reporting any discrepancies to the host PC via Security Protocol and Data Model (SPDM) 1.2.

According to the manufacturer, these SSDs are supposed to be ideal for AI devices, which, for example, will allow them to load extremely large AI models into memory very quickly (thanks to the sequential speed of up to 14.5 GB/s). It is of course an indulgence to the current mania around artificial intelligence, this SSD will of course also be suitable for the usual non-AI applications. When these modules should actually appear on the market (in computers), however, Samsung has not yet said.

However, Samsung is not the only hope for a PCIe 5.0 SSD with reasonable consumption (and heating). The SiliconMotion SM2508 controller should also achieve higher efficiency. Although it will not be based on such advanced technology, it should also perhaps enable the construction of reasonably coolable modules that will not need a fan and will perhaps be compatible with laptops. Unfortunately, this SiliconMotion controller won’t be on the market until years after the Phison E26, but according to current reports, SSDs with it should finally be close to release. Hopefully, the new Samsung will have competition from a larger number of manufacturers (SiliconMotion is an independent supplier of controllers on which all sorts of other manufacturers build SSDs, similar to Phison).

Source: Samsung, via: techPowerUp