Corsair & PNY Just Dropped 14.9GB/s SSDs That Peg Gen 5 Speed Limits
A new wave of flagship solid state drives (SSDs) that nearly saturate the available PCI Express 5.0 bandwidth available to x4 NVMe storage drives is starting to be appear. In back-to-back announcements, both PNY and Corsair unveiled new lightning-fast Gen 5 models—CS3250 and MP700 Pro XT, respectively—that are rated to deliver sequential read speeds of up to 14,900MB/s (14.9GB/s).
To put that into perspective, NVMe drives tap into four lanes of PCIe bandwidth, affording a theoretical maximum throughput of around 15,750MB/s (15.75GB/s) on the PCIe 5.0 bus. That is double of the previous generation, which topped out with a theoretical maximum of around 7,880MB/s (7.88GB/s).
When accounting for overhead and other factors, it's safe to assume we will never see a drive fully saturate the PCIe bus. But with each new generation of drives, storage makers are able to get increasingly close to the upper limit, as we've seen in the past.
PNY CS3250 SSD
Starting with PNY, the company is light on technical details surrounding its new CS3250. Our best guess is that it's using Phison's E28 controller. A telltale sign is that the rated specs are identical to Teamgroup's recently-announced T-Force Z54E, with maximum sequential reads rated at 14,900MB/s and sequential writes rated at 14,000MB/s.
In its press release, PNY also touts a thermal coating on the unspecified controller, which it says "keeps temperatures low, maintains peak speeds during heavy multitasking or transfers, and extends drive lifespan for long-term durability."
Amazon has PNY's CS3250 listed for sale, priced at $219.99 for 2TB and $125.99 for 1TB.
Corsair MP700 Pro XT And MP700 Micro SSDs
Following the roll out of flagship models by both TeamGroup and PNY, Corsair effectively said, 'Hold my beer' and announced a pair turbocharged models of its own, one of which is the full-size (M.2 2280 form factor) MP700 Pro XT.
"Utilizing a next-generation controller with cutting-edge internals, the Corsair MP700 PRO XT pushes PCIe Gen5 storage to its limits. Featuring sequential read speeds up to 14,900MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 14,500MB/s, it offers incredible boot, load, and transfer times. Its power-efficient design ensures top-tier performance with lower power draw and less heat," Corsair says.
In other words, the MP700 Pro XT is rated to deliver the same blazing-fast sequential read performance while one-upping the competition with up to 500MB/s faster sequential writes. That applies to the 2TB model. The 1TB model maintains the same rated 14,900MB/s read speed, with slightly lower writes at up to 14,200MB/s, which is still faster than the competition. The drive is built around 3D TLC NAND flash memory and Phison's E28 controller.
Corsair's MP700 Pro XT is also available now on Amazon, priced at $249.99 for 2TB and $155.99 for 1TB.
Corsair also announced a shorter M.2 2242 form factor MP700 Micro SSD for handhelds and other devices that can't accommodate a full-size SSD (including some laptops). Speeds are not quite as fast as the MP700 Pro XT, but still impressive overall—Corsair says the MP700 Micro can deliver sequential reads of up to 10,000MB/s and sequential writes of up to 8,500MB/s.
You can find Corsair's MP700 Micro on Amazon as well, at least in the bigger capacity. Pricing currently sits at $484.99 for 4TB. We're not yet seeing listings for the 2TB and 1TB capacities, but you can order them directly from Corsair, priced at $264.99 for 2TB and $164.99 for 1TB.
