SK hynix has unveiled its first generation consumer-tier Gen5 NVMe SSDs at GTC known as the Platinum P51 series.
SK hynix To Enter The PCIe Gen5 SSD Segment With Platinum P51 Series: Up To 2 TB Capacities & 13.5 GB/s Speeds
The fastest consumer-tier SSD, the Platinum P41, from SK hynix is currently based on the PCIe Gen4 protocol and features a 176-layer NAND with speeds of up to 7000 MB/s. But that is about to change as the manufacturer has unveiled its next-gen PCIe Gen5 SSDs at GTC, reports Anandtech.
The new series will be branded under the Platinum P51 SSD family and is the first generation of their Gen5 products. Starting with the specifications, we are looking at the standard M.2 2280 (PCIe Gen5 x4) form factor which houses several 238 layer TLC NAND Flash dies. The SSDs will come in 500 GB, 1 TB, and up to 2 TB capacities. The drive is based on the PCB01 controller which is an in-house design.
. Currently, we have seen Gen5 SSDs mostly with Phison’s E26 controller but new ones from Silicon Motion and InnoGrit are also expected to launch soon.
In terms of performance, the SK hynix Platinum P51 Gen5 SSDs will feature read speeds of up to 13,500 MB/s (13.5 GB/s) and write speeds of up to 11,500 MB/s (11.5 GB/s). That’s well above what the first Gen5 SSDs had to offer which started at 10 GB/s and have since seen speeds exceeding 14 GB/s.
- Form Factor: M.2 2280 (PCie Gen5 x4)
- Capacity: 2TB, 1 TB, 500GB
- NAND Technology: SK hynix 238L 3D TLC NAND Flash
- Interface: PCIe Gen5 NVMe, Up To 4 lanes
- Sequential Read Performance: Up To 13,500 MB/s
- Sequential Write Performance: Up To 11,500 MB/s
- Random Performance: Coming Soon
It’s a good start for now and from the looks of it, SK hynix showcased the drives with a sticker on top of the PCB. They might potentially end up with a heatsink variant due to the excessive heat that Gen5 controllers produce but we have to wait and see. There are also no details on the pricing or availability but we can expect to hear more around Computex 2024 which is just a few months away.