Phison E31T Preview: PCIe Gen 5 SSDs Finally Go Mainstream
Phison E31T SSD Preview: More Benchmarks, Trace-Based Tests And Initial Thoughts
HDTune v5.75 Benchmarks
HD Tune Pro had the Phison E31T trailing the pack in terms of read performance, but with much better writes that outpaced Samsung's current flagship SSD 990 Pro. Write latency was also competitive with the Phison E31T, through read latency was somewhat higher than the rest of the drives.
CrystalDiskMark x64 Benchmarks
CrystalDiskMark is a synthetic benchmark that tests both sequential and random small and mid-sized file transfers using incompressible data. It provides a quick look at best and worst case scenarios with regard to SSD performance, best case being larger sequential transfers and worse case being small, random transfers.
CDM's sequentual tests had the Phison E31T perfoming quite well, and exceeding its rated specifications in the Q8T1 test. The drive was once again able to outrun all of the PCIe Gen 4-based offerings, and trailed only the higher-end Phison-based drives.
The Phison E31T's performance in CrystalDiskMark's random transer tests were mixed. At the higher queue depth, the Phison E31T trailed all of the other drives we tested. At QD1, however, which we'd consider the much more important test by far, the Phison E31T offered the second best reads, with highly competitive writes.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker Game Level Load Times
We also tested game level load times using the Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker benchmark. This tool loads an array of different game levels during its graphics benchmark and outputs the average result when complete.
Level load times in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker looked great on the Phison E31T. Here, the Phison E31T clearly outran all of the PCIe Gen 4 drives and finished within striking distance of the higher-end Phison E26-based MSI and Seagate models.
UL's 3DMark Gaming Storage Benchmark
UL recently added a gaming-centric storage benchmark to 3DMark that leverages trace-based tests of actual PC games and gaming-related activities (such as streaming with OBS) to measure real-world gaming performance in a variety of scenarios. The tests include things like loading Battlefield V, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and Overwatch from the initial launch to the main menu, recording a 1080p gameplay video at 60 FPS with OBS while playing Overwatch, installing The Outer Worlds and saving game progress. And finally, copying the Steam folder for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive from one drive to another.
Depending on the particular test, the Phison E31T typically traded blows with the PCIe Gen 4 drives we tested in 3DMark's bandwidth-related game benchmarks.
The Phison E31T's latency performance was also relativley good, trading with the PCIe Gen 4 drives once again.
In terms of its average latency and overall scores, the Phison E31T is right in the mix with some of the fastest PCIe Gen 4 drives on the market, which is pretty impressive considering it's a mainstream, DRAM-less drive targetting low-power applications.
In terms of its average latency and overall scores, the Phison E31T is right in the mix with some of the fastest PCIe Gen 4 drives on the market, which is pretty impressive considering it's a mainstream, DRAM-less drive targetting low-power applications.
UL's PCMark 10 System Drive Storage Test
We like PCMark 10's new quick storage benchmark module for its real-world application measurement approach to testing. PCMark offers a trace-based measurement of system response times and bandwidth under various scripted workloads of traditional client / desktop system use cases.
In PCMark's trace-based tests, we once again see the Phison E31T land about in the middle of the pack. The Samsung SSD 990 Pro is the only Gen 4 drive to pull ahead.
Phison E31T PCIe Gen5 SSD Platform: Initial Thoughts
The Phison E31T is not a replacement for the company’s higher-end E26. The E26 and E31T will coexist in Phison’s line-up, with the former targeting high-performance, enthusiast applications, and the latter more mainstream platforms.
We suspect the Phison E31T is going to be quite popular in future notebooks / laptops and in space-constrained small form factor systems, that can't accomodate enthusiat-class drives. Although we don’t have pricing to share just yet, Phison claims the E31T is “designed for cost-conscious shoppers looking for incredible value”. Considering the reference drive’s single-sided, relatively clean design, and its DRAM-less configuration, Phison E31T-based drives are likely to be fairly low-priced when they hit shelves in the coming weeks. They’ll obviously be much more affordable than high-end Gen 5 drives, and likely be more in-line with mainstream PCIe Gen 4-based drives. Couple what is likely to be a relatively low price point, with its cool, low-power operation, and notebook OEM/ODMs are probably going to gobble the Phison E31T up in droves and we look forward to seeing what Phison's partners come up with based on this reference design.
