- Upcoming Phison E37T SSD Controller Manages to Maximize PCI-E 5.0 Read Speed at 14,900 MB/s
- It consumes less than a third of the power of Phison’s older SSD controllers with DRAM.
- The move is crucial, aligned with Phison’s anticipation of high DRAM prices for the foreseeable future, aiming to provide relief to mainstream and enthusiast consumers.
As SSD prices have risen sharply in recent months, thanks to relentless demand for AI across the board, consumers are increasingly looking towards the lower end of the spectrum to close the gap between their budgets and the cost of modern SSDs.
The upcoming Phison E37T SSD controller could help improve things. It turns out to be the first Gen 5 DRAM-less SSD controller that maximizes bandwidth across all 4 lanes available for an M2 SSD in modern PCs, laptops, and consoles.
The consumer-focused offering at least partially solves the RAM crisis by offering performance comparable to SSDs with next-generation DRAM, while remaining energy efficient.
An economical but effective offer for regular consumers.
According to a recent interview with Tweaktown, which also received a review sample of Phison’s E37T, Phison was already monitoring the situation as it saw DRAM prices being supported by insatiable demand for AI and came prepared with a solution that caters to both high-performance users and gamers.
Phison technical marketing director Chris Ramseyer said: “We knew it was going to be a problem later in the future for our flagship SSDs. And we needed a way, so we started working on it.”
The E37T not only removes DRAM from the equation, just like the older E31T, which maxes out at 10.3GB/s, but it also takes PCI-E 5.0 SSD read speeds to the roof at 14.9GB/s and offers equally powerful write speeds (13GB/s).
With a maximum power consumption of 3.4W and an IOPS increase of less than 50% compared to the E31T, it caters to consumers looking for enthusiast-level performance without the cost of its DRAM-equipped big brother, the E26.
Comparing the E37T with the E26 gives an even starker image. With less than a third the maximum power requirement of its predecessor, it also offers higher IOPS, maximum read and write speeds, and avoids the need for active cooling even while supporting much faster NAND flash (+33%).
While Phison is still testing the E37T and rolling out firmware updates across the board, some reviews report mixed results, including a Tweaktown review that couldn’t beat the mandatory 5,500MB/s score on the PS5.
However, these issues are expected to be fixed when E37T-based SSDs finally hit the market later this year, in a future that looks like less and less DRAM for SSDs, at least until the current memory crisis subsides.
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