Kioxia Unveils XG8 PCIe 4 SSDs Up To 4TB For High End Workstations And Gaming PCs
Kioxia is expanding its ever-growing storage portfolio with the introduction of the XG8 solid state drive (SSD) series, a lineup of high performance drives intended for multiple segments. Technically the XG8 series falls within the high-end client category for systems like performance laptops, desktops, and gaming rigs. However, Kioxia is also pitching the XG8 as being suitable for workstations and data center applications.
The new drives ship in the standard M.2 type 2280 form factor that many consumers are now familiar with, in four capacity options: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. All four capacities leverage Kioxia's 112-layer BiCS 3D flash triple-level cell (TLC) memory mated to an unspecified controller.
We can only guess at the actual performance and how it might relate to the BG5 series because Kioxia is not yet divulging those details. What we do know is that these are PCIe Express 4.0 models with a theoretical maximum interface speed of 64 GT/s across four lanes (x4), or around 8GB/s.
The fastest PCIe 4.0 SSDs on the market hover around 7,400-7,500 MB/s for sequential reads. There are just a handful that are rated to run that fast, though there are plenty of PCIe 4.0 models that top the 7,000 MB/s. Whether the XG8 falls into either of those categories, we'll have to wait a bit longer to find out.
"With the addition of the XG8 series we are proud to offer a comprehensive client PCIe 4.0
portfolio," said Neville Ichhaporia, vice president, SSD marketing and product management,
Kioxia America, Inc. "Built with our fifth generation BiCS Flash 3D flash memory, the XG8 series delivers a next-generation solution for client and data center boot applications in need of
advanced performance."
Beyond whatever "advanced performance" boils down to, these drives also support optional security features using the latest TCG Pyrite 2.01 and TCG Opal 2.01 standards, as well as end-to-end data path protection.
Kioxia didn't mention pricing for its XG8 series, though these are probably bound for OEM customers.
