Tag Archives: PCIe 4.0

There is a long standing belief that buying a DRAM-less SSD is just wrong.  As much as this might hold water prior to and for those users not using Windows 10, it doesn’t for those looking for value and performance in storage today.  Without getting too complicated, NVMe and Windows 10 allow the SSD to create a Host Memory Buffer …

KIOXIA has introduces two key products in the flash world in the past few weeks, the EM6 NVMe-oF SSD for enterprise and the BG5 update for PCIe 4.0 which will be available to typical PC users as a client addition to pre-built PC systems. EM6 NVMe-oF ENTERPRISE SSD To start things along, the EM6 is an enterprise NVMe-oF SSD available …

One of the oldest names in SSDs is Kingston.  One might not expect such as Kingston, by all sense of the term, is a third party manufacturer…or distributor.  Unlike Samsung, WD/SanDisk, Intel, Kioxia, Micron, SKHynix and a few others, they do not actually own a fab that ‘grows’ the silicon ingots to manufacture NAND wafers.  Unbelievably, the original Kingston SSDNow …

So I was in a conversation this week where many were speaking of the success of the Phison E18 controller and I stepped away from the crowd for a bit and had to ask, “Yes but will this last?”  Historically, we have watched different SSD companies, and more specifically, third party SSD controller companies step into the limelight with a …

If there is anything we have learned about Micron/Crucial over the years, it is that they like to sit in the weeds.  Never really being the first to jump out with a new product, the Crucial norm is to slip a product into the market once the market has become comfortable at that level.  When considering the success Crucial/Micron has …

Perhaps one of the odd ducks in the SSD space has always been Plextor.  Their SSDs have always been amongst the best, but for some reason, they never gained the recognition they deserved.  That’s not just my thought I am sure as reviewers historically have had nothing but good to say about Plextor SSDs.  They are one of the very …

We have been testing a new SSD that is about to be introduced by XPG and something about this SSD caught our eye.  It is in the XPG marketing pitch actually. A highlight of this marketing states that the XPG GAMMIX S70 Blade NVMe Gen 4 SSD is ‘Perfect for Compact and Thin Devices’ and that this SSD is ‘Cool …

Something has occurred in the laptop industry that should make the consumer angry.  We are being sold PCIe 4.0 laptops and ultrabooks that aren’t truly PCIe 4.0.  Don’t get me wrong.  You may be considering a purchase, or have purchased a brand new Ryzen 5 or Intel Tiger Lake that is just that but you have to ask… Have I …

It was only a matter of time until SSDs really got hooked into the gaming scene and today, there isn’t a gamer around without flash media overseeing the storage of their gaming system.  Seagate released their FireCuda 520 back in  December of 2019 with the ‘FireCuda Gaming’ label and today we are reporting on their latest release, the FireCuda 530 …

Much has changed in PC sales through the years, yet much is the same.  Things can be unpredictable.  Looking back, there have been instances of manufacturers selling their own brand laptops and ultra books equipped with competitors SSDs as storage, simply to maximize sales of their own higher cost…and higher performing SSDs. In fact, if you think you are getting …