ADATA Announces The XPG SX7000 Series SSDs: Up to 1 TB, M.2, PCIe 3.0 x4

ADATA has announced its new lineup of SSDs designed to combine high-performance with 3D TLC flash memory. The new XPG SX7000 is positioned below ADATA’s flagship XPG SX8000 series, but for those looking for something more powerful than a typical SATA drive, but not ready to invest in a super high-end SSD, this is the market ADATA is aiming for.

The ADATA XPG SX7000 series lineup comes in an M.2-2280 form-factor, uses PCIe 3.0 x4 and features 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB as well as 1 TB capacities. Worth noting, however, that traditionally for ADATA the highest-capacity drives will be available at a later date. Just like the higher-end XPG SX8000, the new SSDs are powered by Silicon Motion’s SM2260 controller but has 3D TLC NAND (presumably from Micron). 

The SM2260 is a controller we’re starting to see a lot more of – as a controller it has two ARM Cortex cores, features eight NAND flash channels, LDPC ECC technology, 256-bit AES support and so on, although different drives may have different features enabled/disabled.

From a performance point of view, the ADATA XPG SX7000 drives are very different from each other due to the level of parallelism afforded by the controller/NAND combinations. For the 512 GB version, it is rated for sequential read speed up to 1750 MB/s as well as for sequential write speed up to 860 MB/s when pseudo-SLC caching is used. As for random performance, the 512 GB drive can offer up to 130K/140K 4 KB read/write IOPS. When it comes to the XPG SX7000 128 GB, the lowest capacity of the set, we are dealing with a drive capable of up to 660/450 MB/s sequential read/write performance as well as 35K/95K read/write IOPS. The drive is slightly faster than SATA SSDs based on TLC NAND, but it should offer higher endurance because 3D TLC NAND is made using larger process technologies and can account for voltage drift better.

Speaking of endurance, the XPG SX7000 come with a five-year limited warranty and are rated for 2 million hours MTBF. As for the TBW rating, the 128 GB SSD is rated for 80 TB, whereas the 512 GB version is capable of 320 TBW, which equals to around 0.3 DWPD (drive writes per day) across the warranty lifetime.

The ADATA XPG SX7000 SSDs are expected to hit the shelves in the coming weeks. Micron’s 3D TLC memory has been in mass production for several quarters now and ADATA has offered SATA drives featuring this memory for several months. As a result, the supply of 3D TLC NAND is not going to be a problem. As for pricing, expect the XPG SX7000-series to be cheaper compared to the higher-end XPG SX8000.

Related Reading:

• ADATA Launches XPG SX8000: High-End M.2 NVMe SSD Featuring 3D MLC NAND
• ADATA Launches the SU700 SSD Range: Maxiotek MK8115, 3D TLC, Up to 960 GB
• Previewing Silicon Motion SM2260 NVMe Controller With 3D MLC NAND (512GB)
• ADATA Introduces Ultimate SU800 SSD: SMI Controller, 3D NAND, SATA Interface
• ADATA Ultimate SU800 SSDs in M.2 Announced: Entry-Level 3D NAND SSDs for Laptops
• ADATA Announces Ultimate SU900: 3D MLC NAND, SMI Controller, SATA

Transcend Launches New PCIe M.2 SSDs: The MTE850 Series

Transcend has announced its first SSDs based on 3D MLC NAND flash memory. The MTE850-series drives are aimed at the higher-end of the market and promise up to 2.5 GB/s sequential read speed along with endurance-related advantages of 3D NAND.

Transcend does not disclose exact specifications of all its new MTE850 series SSDs, but only shows their pictures as well as performance numbers for the flagship 512 GB model. The images reveal a controller covered with an aluminum heat spreader, and the only contemporary controller that supports 3D NAND and comes with such a heat spreader is Silicon Motion’s SM2260 (which uses two ARM Cortex cores and has eight NAND flash channels) Technically the SM2260 can support LDPC ECC technology and 256-bit AES although this has to be enabled in firmware. At present, only Micron sells SSD-graded 3D MLC NAND to some of its partners, so it is logical to assume that the MTE850 drives use Micron. Transcend is the third company to offer an SSD family featuring 3D MLC and SM2260 after ADATA and Mushkin, so the drives are going to have rivals that offer similar performance and functionality.

Transcend’s MTE850 family consists of three models with 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB capacities that come in M.2-2280 form-factor and use a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. The manufacturer rates MTE850’s sequential read performance at up to 2.5 GB/s and its write performance at up to 1.1 GB/s when pseudo-SLC caching is used. When it comes to random performance, Transcend does not publish any numbers at all, but we know that the SM2260 controller is officially capable of up to 120K/140K 4KB read/write IOPS, although the final value for these drives will be firmware dependent.

The MTE850 SSDs are expected to follow performance trends (the drives are somewhat comparable to Samsung’s 950 Pro released in 2H2015), and it is noteworthy that Transcend became the fourth independent SSD supplier after ADATA, Mushkin and Palit to introduce 3D NAND-based SSDs. We are still a few months away from a wide availability of 3D NAND-powered drives from independent vendors, but such products are getting announced today – we expect to hear more at Computex in June.

Transcend did not disclose MSRPs for its MTE850 drives, but since the SSDs have direct competitors based on the same memory and controller (ADATA’s XPG SX8000-series at $90-$242), it is highly likely that Transcend’s SSDs will be offered at similar price points. The MTE850 drives will be covered by the manufacturer’s three-year warranty.

Related Reading:

• Previewing Silicon Motion SM2260 NVMe Controller With 3D MLC NAND (512GB)
• Mushkin Announces Helix SSDs: 2.5 GB/s, 3D MLC NAND, SM2260, 2 TB Capacity
• ADATA Launches XPG SX8000: High-End M.2 NVMe SSD Featuring 3D MLC NAND
• Micron Cancels Ballistix TX3 NVMe SSD

A New Challenger Appears: Palit’s Own-Brand UVS and GFS SSDs Announced

Palit has announced two families of SSDs that it plans to sell under its own brand. The new drives are aimed at entry-level and mainstream gaming PCs, and will be based on controllers from Phison using 3D MLC or 3D TLC NAND flash memory from Micron depending on which drive you pick up. The Palit SSDs will be among the first drives on the market that will use a combination of a Phison controller and 3D NAND memory ICs from Micron, but we expect this combination to spread across several SSD vendors in due course.

Palit Microsystems is one of the world’s largest producers of graphics cards, but it is not entirely new to SSDs too. Palit’s GALAX and KFA2 brands have offered Phison-based SSDs for quite a while, but their lineups have never been large and the whole effort looked more like a brand development rather than an attempt to compete against much of the market. This time, Palit has announced two families of SSDs under its own trademark and with seven drives in total, it plans to address entry-level and mainstream gaming PCs. We do not know Palit’s plans in regards of higher-end drives in M.2 or add-in-card form-factors, but such products are available from other brands that Palit owns and it should not be a problem for the company to expand its own lineup if it needs to.

Palit will initially offer two families of SSDs: First is the Palit UVS family, featuring the Phison S3111-S11 controller and 3D TLC memory for entry-level gaming systems. Then second is the Palit GFS family, based on the same Phison S3111-S11 controller but with 3D MLC NAND flash.

Before we start discussing the drives, let’s talk a little bit about the controller itself. Formally, the PS3111-S11 is positioned below the S10 because it has only two NAND channels with 16 CE targets and physically cannot deliver breakthrough performance. As it is a SATA controller, the PS3111-S11 does not have to deliver anything sequentially higher than 550 MB/s and this is something it can do with both MLC and TLC chips (sustained performance is a different comparison). The most important advancement of the controller versus its predecessors is that the PS3111-S11 supports LDPC ECC, and thus can be enabled on SSDs with sufficient endurance. Additionally, the PS3111-S11 supports 3D and 1z MLC/TLC NAND flash and memory with large (8 KB and 16 KB) blocks.

As for the drives, the Palit UVS family will include 120 GB, 256 GB, 480 GB and 512 GB models using 3D TLC NAND (except the 120GB, which is planar TLC). Depending on the model, the drives are rated to deliver up to 560 MB/s sequential read speed and up to 470 MB/s (370 MB/s for the 120 GB version) sequential write speed. As for random performance, the numbers on the box give 72,500 read IOPS and up to 85,000 write IOPS.

The Palit GFS lineup consists of three drives with 120 GB, 128 GB and 240 GB capacities all based on 3D MLC and offering all the endurance-related benefits of such memory. From a performance point of view, the GFS SSDs are slightly faster than the UVS drives: they are rated for up to 560 MB/s sequential read speed and up to 480 MB/s sequential write speed. Palit also states they can also perform up to 75,000 read IOPS and up to 87,500 write IOPS (240 GB version only). Palit may decide to expand the GFS lineup with higher-capacity offerings over time, but right now, its premium drives only offer entry-level capacities.

There are two intrigues about Palit’s SSDs: the memory supplier and actual manufacturer. Typically, Phison ships its controllers with memory and firmware and in many cases even provides assembly and test services (essentially, shipping already made drives). Despite this, Palit has enough SMT lines and can produce virtually everything itself. At present, we do not know whether Palit-branded SSDs are made by Palit, or are manufactured by a third party, but the latter is clearly a possibility here.

The supplier of the NAND is also not obvious and could come from different sources. Palit does not disclose who is their supplier, but it is worth noting that Phison usually ships its controllers primarily with memory from Toshiba. We do know that there are Phison PS3111-S11-based reference designs featuring Toshiba’s BICS2 memory (which is not exactly positioned for SSDs by Toshiba) as well as S11 drives with Micron’s 3D NAND memory. 

The Palit SSDs are expected to hit the market in the coming months. We do not have any information about their MSRP of the new drives, but it is logical to assume that Palit will try to make them competitive in terms of pricing.

Related Reading

• CES 2016: Phison previews upcoming SSD controllers
• GALAX Shows Off Phison PS5008-E8 SSD with 3D NAND
• The Patriot Hellfire M.2 480GB Review: Phison NVMe Tested
• Corsair Gives Phison PS3110 S10 Another Try: Neutron XTi SSDs Launched