The speed at which SSDs have progressed in recent years is truly amazing. If until recently we were talking about units compatible with the fourth generation PCIe, it is in the blink of an eye that they are presented the first NVMe PCIe Gen 5 SSDs. And the first to open the ban were the AS2280F5 from Apacer and the Zadak TWSG5. How about the first next-gen M.2 drives?
We are not going to repeat the advantages of high-speed SSDs, especially since they are progressing faster than expected. Until just a few days ago, we thought it would take some time to see NVMe PCIe Gen 5 SSDs hit the market. Since Intel’s commitment to the fifth generation hasn’t been in the Intel Core 12 because its processors don’t have enough lines. However, that changed with the introduction of the Ryzen 7000, as AMD confirmed full support for these devices. This has accelerated the launch of this type of storage units. It is therefore not surprising that the first units in the form of the TWSG5 from Zadak and the AS2280F5 from Apacer are already presented in the middle of Computex.
AS2280F5 and TWSG5 Gen5, these are the first PCIe 5.0 SSDs
Well, yes, from the hand of two unknown brands they come to us the first NVMe SSDs to take advantage of the high transfer speed of PCI Express 5.0. This allows them to reach transfer speeds between 12 and 13 GB/s in sequential read and write. This is almost double the speed of drives of the same type available on the market today.
We don’t know what flash controller they use. Although a general performance increase of more than 60% is expected in this type of unit compared to the previous generation. However, it is not necessary to have a PCIe Gen 5 interface on our PC, because they can be used in the fourth. Although in this case they will see their performance limited by reducing the bandwidth.
However, there are differences between the two models. Due to the fact that the two units use different heat sinks. This attracts a lot of attention, as it is the demonstration that high transfer speeds recommend the use of passive cooling systems. It is therefore very likely that we will stop seeing units of this type without any type of mechanism to keep their temperatures stable while they are operating.
Since there is no motherboard on the market yet that can take advantage of it. We won’t see its official launch until the AMD Ryzen 7000 hits the market. In any case, like all new technologies and about to see the light of day, it will not be cheap from the start. Please note that we are waiting for apps and games to catch up. And it is that this type of units must be standardized as happened with sound cards first and graphics cards later.
