The New M.2 NVMe Price/Performance Champ

Nearly two years ago, Samsung launched their Samsung 960 PRO and 960 EVO to major fanfare. These two juggernaut introductions in addition to their enterprise cousins further established Samsung’s position as the undisputed leader in M.2 form-factor NVMe SSDs. At the time, the industry had been facing a massive shortage of NAND which slowed down product introductions across the board, but as NAND supply has finally begun stabilizing, companies are now finally introducing some new products to once again reignite demand.

Recently, Samsung launched the Samsung 970 EVO and the Samsung 970 PRO which will replace the aging Samsung [...]

Toshiba just can’t seem to catch a break. In a recent report from Digitimes, its sources within the channel reveal that Toshiba has suffered a massive ransomware attack on its network, forcing the company to shut down its NAND memory production for 3-6 weeks.

According to the article, Toshiba has already resumed NAND production however, the damage has already been done. Toshiba’s NAND production has already been cut by nearly 100,000 wafers. NAND prices were previously expected to drop in the 4Q2017 as supply and demand reach equilibrium however, the latest revelation may delay this until next year.

While much of this is fairly bad news for [...]

The drawn out, drama filled sale of Toshiba’s prized memory business may finally be coming to a close as Reuters reports Toshiba has selected an $18 Billion (2 Trillion Yen) bid from a Bain Capital led group which includes a number of major corporations including Toshiba, Hoya, SK Hynix, Apple, Dell, Kingston, and Seagate.

The infusion of the cash is expected to provide Toshiba 740 Billion Yen after taxes, which will help prevent it from being de-listed from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Toshiba had been in a massive amount of debt after major losses by their nuclear power business prompted a multi-billion USD write-off.

Despite Toshiba’s agreement [...]

Crucial has recently announced the BX300 SSD, the latest update to the BX family of value oriented SSDs.

Available in capacities of 120GB, 240GB, and 480GB, the Crucial BX300 now packs the latest Micron 3D MLC NAND. Paired with the Silicon Motion SM2258 controller, the Crucial BX300 sports performance up to 555/530 MB/s sequential reads/writes and up to 95K/90K 4K random reads/writes for the top capacity. Write endurance is rated between 55 to 160TBW depending on capacity.

The Crucial BX300 is now available for $59.99 for the 120GB capacity, $89.99 for the 240GB capacity and $149.99 for the 480GB capacity. All drives come with a 3 year warranty.

DRAM and NAND prices have soared over the past year due to shortages and it looks like VRAM prices are following a similar trajectory as well. According to a recent article by Digitimes, VRAM price quotes have soared by 30.8% in August, leaping from $6.50 per package in July to $8.50 per package.

The price increase is due to RAM leading RAM manufacturers shifting production focus to memory for servers and smartphones. Samsung, which accounts for 55% of the worldwide VRAM supply, has more than doubled its server DRAM production from 12% to 27%. SK Hynix and Micron which account for the rest of the world’s VRAM production has significantly increased production [...]

64-Layer 3D NAND, USB 3.1 Gen 2

Last year I was fortunate enough to be among the first to review the Samsung T3 Portable SSD. The drive was small, durable, fast, available in capacities up to 2TB, and relatively good looking making it not only my favorite portable SSD, but also my most highly recommended as well.

Of course, with Samsung’s annual release cycles, Samsung recently launched the new Samsung T5 Portable SSD which we’ll be reviewing today.

Samsung Portable SSD T5 Specifications Manufacturer Samsung Model T5 Capacity 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB Interface Type-C USB 3.1 (Gen 2), USB 3.0, USB 2.0 Transfer Speed Up to [...]

After the successful release of the Force MP500 PCIe SSD earlier this year, Corsair is adding another PCIe SSD to the mix with the new Corsair Neutron NX500.

The new SSD will be available in capacities of 400GB, 800GB, and 1600GB will come in an HHHL form factor and feature support for NVMe over a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface. Performance of the Neutron NX500 is rated at up to 3,000/2,400 MB/s sequential reads/writes and 300K/270K IOPS 4K random reads/writes. The NX500 will also feature MLC NAND for greater performance and reliability compared to TLC NAND.

The Corsair NX500 400GB and 800GB capacity drives are now available with the 1,600GB capacity drive available [...]

For FMS 2017, Samsung shared several new releases along with its SSD/NAND flash roadmap for the coming years. Among the new releases include Samsung’s 96-Layer QLC (Quad Level Cell) NAND and a few new enterprise SSDs.

 

64-Layer 3D V-NAND Transition

Samsung is already transitioning its entire line of products to utilize 4th Generation 64-layer 3D V-NAND. Their 64-Layer 3D V-NAND has been in mass production since June of this year and promises to be 30% faster, 30% more power efficient, and 20% more reliable than previous generation 48-layer 3D V-NAND.

This could potentially mean that Samsung’s successor to the 960 Pro and 960 [...]

Kingston and Marvell are celebrating a great two years as a recent press release revealed that Kingston has shipped over 6 million Marvell powered SSDs.

Kingston and Marvell’s relationship didn’t begin until February of 2015 when Kingston shipped the first HyperX Predator PCIe SSDs featuring Marvell’s 88SS9293 controllers. Since then, Kingston has utilized Marvell’s 88SS1074 controller in the UV400 series SSD and will soon launch the UV500 series SSD carrying Marvell’s 88SS1074 paired with 3D NAND.

Kingston will show off their latest Marvell powered SSDs at FMS 2017.

Phison today launched their new Phison PS8313 UFS 2.1 controller at FMS 2017.

Designed for top tier mobile chipsets and smartphones, the Phison PS8313 integrates their CoXProcessor 2.0 architecture currently used on Phison’s PCIe controllers for improved performance and reliability in the UFS standard. The PS8313 controller also features use of an advanced 28nm manufacturing process, a 2-lane UFS interface, an ultra compact and low power LDPC ECC engine and support for the latest 3D TLC NAND.

According to Phison’s internal testing, the PS8313 is capable of up to 920/550 MB/s sequential reads/writes and 67K/62K IOPS 4K random read performance [...]