At Computex 2022, Apacer announced its Gen 5 NVMe SSDs that promise up-to-date performance of up to 13,000 MB / s read and up to 12,000 MB / s write. This is almost double what is currently available through the latest Gen 4 NVMe SSD series and a clear indication that the extra PCIe 5.0 bandwidth currently supported by the 12th Intel Core processor are some of the best CPUs for gaming, offers Speed.
The event featured the Apacer AS2280F5 and Zadak TWSG5, both Gen 5 NVMe SSDs that support speeds of up to 13,000 / 12,000 MB / s each. As expected, both models were presented with significantly bulky coolers to keep indoor temperatures low. However, little is known at this point about the motherboard space that will be needed to accommodate heat distributors of this size.
Both Generation 5 units have been confirmed to use the latest NVMe 2.0 standard, which was first released in June last year, and boasts significant changes at all levels compared to what we have seen since NVMe 1.4 the last three years.
What makes the Gen 5 NVMe SSD so much faster?
In simpler terms, PCIe 5 doubles the available bandwidth than is currently possible with PCIe 4, with additional CPU strips going to components such as the graphics card and SSD. If we take the percentages that Intel is claiming (opens in new tab) Considering that it is the only chipset manufacturer offering PCIe 5.0 compatible processors at the moment, we can see that the theoretical maximum speed actually doubles (speed per strip).
The Gen 4 surpassed a maximum of 16 GT / s, while the Gen 5 is said to be capable of delivering up to 32 GT / s. In fact, with double the yield available, your data has a lot more data available to take advantage of. With games still requiring much larger file sizes and VRAM volume textures in the wake of developments like the DirectStorage API, you’ll need all the available bandwidth you can get to keep load times and frame rates constant.
Especially for SSD Gen 5, it depends on the controllers used to make the most of the available sequential performance. Going back to Gen 4, the hardware is generally capable of reaching 8,000 MB / s, with many of the most popular NVMe drives on the market right now, such as the Kingston Fury Renegade, exceeding around 7,300. MB / s mark. This is due to the Phison E18 controller, which you will find on many disks operating in the read range of 7,000 MB / s or higher at this time.
We know Phison is working on its new PCIe Gen 5 controller, the PS5026-E26. The company claimed that this would offer consecutive performance of up to 12,000 MB / s read and 11,000 MB / s write, at random rates of 4K 1,500K and 2,000K IOPS respectively, according to material received by TechPowerUp earlier this year. It is unknown at this time what new drives will support the Phison E26, but we do know that these claims are a good benchmark to keep in mind with Gen 5 SSDs on the horizon.
When can we expect the release of Gen 5 NVMe SSDs?
If the main talk of the AMD Computex 2022 is something that will follow, then we can generally expect that the first major NVMe 5 generation SSDs will be released between September and December 2022. The “Autumn” date was given in connection with the release of the newer Ryzen 7000 Socket AM5 Processors, which have been confirmed to be PCIe 5.0 compatible.
At the conference, the names of Crucial and Micron were rejected as partners who would have Gen 5 NVMe discs ready for release along with Zen 4. In addition, the Phison logo was present among many other notable partner logos, including the Gigabyte, Corsair , Sabrent and Apacer.
It is worth remembering that we already had a brief look at what is possible on the platform earlier in the year. In January, TeamGroup announced the SSD T-Force Cardea Gen 5, which also promised read and write speeds of up to 13,000 / 12,000 MB / s.
Whether you are running an Intel Alder Lake system or waiting for the Ryzen 7000 line to be released before upgrading to PCIe 5.0, one thing is for sure: with games being more demanding than ever on the platform, added bandwidth will allow performance capabilities never conceived before as we head towards 2023.
Get ready for the latest Gen 5 compatibility with best computer cases, better RAM for gamingand best game screens.