Silicon Motion: PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD Controller in Development, Coming Q2 2020
by Anton Shilov on June 4, 2019 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- SSDs
- Storage
- Trade Shows
- Silicon Motion
- 3D NAND
- SMI
- Computex 2019
Being the next step in PCIe, SSD controller makers are looking to release their PCIe 4.0 designs into the market. Silicon Motion is not an exception, with its upcoming design scheduled to come to retail over the coming quarters.
Having captured a noteworthy share of turn-key SSD market in the recent years, Silicon Motion has a modern lineup of controllers that includes its top-of-the-range SM2262EN, the mainstream SM2263XT/SM2263G, and the SM2263EN for entry-level 3D QLC NAND-based SSDs. SMI’s PCIe 4.0 SSD controller, the SM2267G, is in its final stages of development, it will be made available in the near future - ADATA showcased a prototype at Computex. The plan is to make SSDs featuring a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface available sometime in the second quarter of 2020 and aligning it with a launch of a next-generation mainstream PC platform.
What is noteworthy is that Silicon Motion’s PCIe 4.0 x4 controller is, as the company says, it belongs to a new design generation of its controllers, so we expect a variety of new features. Areas to expect are obvious: performance optimizations, compatibility with new types of 3D NAND flash memory, and improvements of endurance.
Actually, neither the features nor the specs of the SMI's PCIe 4x4 controller are confirmed by Silicon Motion at this point, but there is a clear plan to make Silicon Motion-powered PCIe 4.0-enabled drives available sometime in Q2 in 2020.
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27 Comments
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rocky12345 - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link
It's kinda funny with everyone rushing in with PCI-e 4.0 stuff fully knowing PCI-e 4.0 will have a fairly short shelf life with PCI-e 5.0 right around the corner.DigitalFreak - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link
Not really. PCIe 4.0 exists now, at least in the AMD world. Any PCIe 4 device will work in a PCIe 5 slot, so there's no downside.HStewart - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link
The real interesting part of this is that PCI-e 4.0 has extremely limited market and PCI-e 5.0 should be bigger - it would be extremely likely that PCI-e 4.0 products will be compatible with PCI-e 5.0shabby - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link
You are extremely likely right...Korguz - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link
yea right... not likely...PeachNCream - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link
You're only bashing PCI-e 4.0 because AMD has the lead on support for it. Pretty much anyone that's read any of your other posts can figure that one out.Korguz - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link
heh.. trying to put a positive pro intel spin on this, like always ??Someguyperson - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link
Before you can get to 14 GB/s you need to get to 7 GB/s. If anything, the controller manufacturers need to come out with these controllers even quicker so they can come out with a PCIe 5.0 controller by the time motherboards start supporting them.ksec - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link
Judging from the Heat Sink in other PCI-E 4.0 SSD demo, it seems they are having a hard time getting 5 / 6 GB/s while keeping it within 5 / 6W. And if we had to move to 7nm for even the SSD Controller, the questions becomes will there be enough market for an PCI-E 5.0 10+GB/s SSD that gets a ROI with its 7nm controller.genzai - Tuesday, June 4, 2019 - link
is there any info, or even speculation, on when intel will offer PCIe support on their CPUs and chipsets?