Over the years, SSD controllers have improved and matured, and faster NAND flash memory has entered the scene. As a result, we've seen the best PCIe 4.0 SSDs surpass the 7.000 MBps sequential read threshold and reach the theoretical limits of the interface. Now it's time to move on to SSDs with the PCIe 5.0 interface , and Apacer was present at Computex 2022 to unveil two products capable of doubling the performance of their PCIe 4.0 counterparts.
The Apacer AS2280F5 PCIe 5.0 SSD boasts sequential read speeds of up to 13.000 MBps and sequential write speeds of up to 12.000 MBps. It also features a heatsink and comes with a five-year warranty.
PCie 5.0 SSDs are starting to arrive
The Zadak TWSG5 from Apacer's gaming brand also features the same performance specifications as the AS2280F5. However, the TWSG5 will offer two different heatsink options . The first is a traditional aluminum design, similar to that seen on Apacer's SSD, while the second is an ultra-thin graphene heatsink to suit low-profile systems.
Apacer has not released any information regarding read/write IOPS or endurance figures. They also haven't disclosed the available capacities or pricing for the SSDs. Furthermore, it's unknown which controller Apacer will use, although many upcoming PCIe 5.0 SSDs are expected to utilize the new Phison E26 controller.
It is known that these new Apacer SSDs will be fully compatible with motherboards using Intel's Z690 chipset for 12th generation Alder Lake processors. They will also be natively compatible with motherboards using AMD's X670 and X670E chipsets for Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 processors. This is because these motherboards will have PCIe slots with the 5.0 protocol, which will not create any bottlenecks in data transfers.
AMD Ryzen 7000 processors are just around the corner and Intel gearing up for the 13th Gen Intel Core with Raptor Lake. Logically, we will see a lot of announcements of SSDs and other devices using PCIe 5.0 in the coming months. Although the most normal thing is that the products have high prices, low availability and do not compensate the initial expense as has been happening with the transition from DDR4 memory to DDR5 memory.
