Computex 2023: A Great Success for Phison and Partners

Computex was back in full swing in 2023 after a four-year void of in-person interactions. This year, Phison announced two new mainstream DRAMless controllers, E27T and E31T. Our partners focused on retail products ready for the channel market, featuring the world’s first consumer PCIe Gen5 controller from Phison, the PS5026-E26.

Among the new product announcements, we saw E26 models from ADATA, Apacer, Klevv, MSI, Neo Forza, Patriot and TeamGroup. Crucial took full advantage of Computex 2023 to officially begin shipping the T700 SSD that delivers bandwidth up to 12 GB/s. That is fast enough for the international press to declare the Crucial T700 “the fastest consumer SSD available today.”

The Phison E26 contributed to several of our partners winning Best of Computex awards from media outlets. Congratulations to Patriot and MSI for the highly coveted awards that show appreciation for technical and engineering detail.

Let’s take a look at what everyone saw (and reported) at the show.

Phison announces E27T and E31T DRAMless SSD controllers

Guru3D.com wrote:

“The recently announced E31T controller from Phison delivers up to 10 GB/s speed, moderately lower compared to its more potent counterpart, the E26, clocking in at 14 GB/s.

 

The E31T, designed as a toned-down PCIe 5.0 controller for SSDs, might demand less cooling compared to its peers. The E31T SSD controller is underpinned by an ARM Cortex-R5 CPU, marking Phison’s debut in controllers produced via a 7 nm process. The company projects that this controller might exhibit enhanced power efficiency, partly attributed to the non-existence of a DRAM cache. It’s also noteworthy that the controller features four memory channels, a reduction from the previous eight.

 

Phison is concurrently launching the E27T controller, serving as an improvement on the E21T. The new controller, like the former version, lacks DRAM and operates on the older PCIe 4.0 interface. It supports four NAND channels with a maximum capacity of 8 TB while still being produced on the 12 nm process. Despite this, it still outpaces the E12T in read and write speeds, delivering 7,400 MB/s and 6,700 MB/s respectively.”

“Best of Computex” awards

PCMag.com wrote about MSI’s win in the Best New Storage Product category for its MSI Spatium M570 Pro Frozr+:

“When we first saw the MSI Spatium M570 Pro at CES in January, this PCI Express 5.0 SSD was tallying throughput speeds in Crystal DiskMark testing in the neighborhood of 12,000 MBps for both read and write operations, nearly 5,000 MBps faster than the speediest PCIe 4.0 SSDs. But that’s sedate compared with the tweaked version of the M570 Pro (whose commercial release is expected imminently) that MSI showed off at Computex. It tested, in show-floor demos, even faster than the 14,000 MBps theoretical maximum sequential read speed for Gen 5 drives, and topped 12K in write-speed testing. To keep the M570 Pro cool, MSI demoed two massive heat-dissipation solutions: The tall, passively cooled Frozr, and the Frozr+, a beefy RGB-lit fan. MSI also showed off a pair of M570 Pros with Frozr heatsinks arranged in an impromptu RAID 0 array. They could clear, ahem, “only” 22,000 MBps in sequential read and 23,000 MBps in sequential write speeds.”

Here’s what Wccftech.com had to say about the Best PC Hardware and Technology award for the Patriot Viper PV553 Gen5 SSD:

“The Computex show floor was littered with impressive Gen5 NVME SSDs with absolutely ginormous heatsinks. We even saw products that had dual air and liquid cooling. However, one product stood out from the rest: Patriot’s Viper PV553. This Gen5 NVME could not only hit the speeds typical of Gen5 SSDs but actually had an extremely low profile heatsink and a tiny blower fan that could get the job done. It is the only Gen5 NVME SSD that we are aware off that can fit under a GPU without throttling.”

Tomshardware.com added:

“We’re just now seeing the first PCIe Gen 5 SSDs hit the market, and Patriot is joining the party with its Viper PV553. Due out in a month or so, the PV553 has strong specs: a Phison E26 controller and speedy 2,400 MT/s NAND. However, its cooling system is what makes the PV553 stand out.

Patriot’s SSD uses active cooling to keep it from throttling under load. However, despite having a fan, the heatsink is extremely thin, allowing it to keep a low profile while delivering rated speeds of 12,400 MBps reads and 11,800 MBps writes. Considering how chunky other Gen 5 SSD thermal solutions have been, this is a nice innovation.”

Phison partners display new E26 Gen5 SSDs

Industry reports had a lot to say about Phison partners and how they leveraged the Phison E26.

Adata Legend 970 PCIe Gen5 NVMe SSD

“ADATA also showed off the Legend 970 PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSD that uses a Phison E26-series controller, and comes in capacities of 1 TB and 2 TB. This drive belts out up to 10 GB/s reads, with up to 10 GB/s writes.” (TechPowerUp.com)

Neo Forza NFP535 Gen5 SSD

“Neo Forza has showcased its next-generation PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSD. Running at x4 lanes of the new PCIe 5.0 protocol, the 2 TB SSD was spotted running at 10 GB/s speeds in both read and write tasks set by CrystalDiskMark benchmark. Interestingly, the SSD also boasted a massive heatsink, as shown below.” (TechPowerUp.com)

KLEVV offers slimmer Gen5 SSDs in its CRAS C950 Series

“The KLEVV CRAS C950 is an upcoming SSD design that will feature the Gen5 x4 NVMe 2.0 standard. This SSD will adopt the Phison E26 controller with what KLEVV is claiming to be strictly selected TLC NAND Flash which is designed to offer up to 12 GB/s Read and 11 GB/s Write speeds. Even the base model comes with 11.5 GB/s Read and 8.5 GB/s Write speeds.” (Wccftech.com)

Apacer Memory AS2280F4 Gen5 SSD

“The company also showed off its AS2280F4 Gen 5 NVMe SSD. The drive uses an active fan-heatsink, and offers capacities of up to 4 TB (1 TB and 2 TB being the others). The sequential performance numbers being put out are 12.4 GB/s reads, with 11.5 GB/s writes, as measured by CDM.” (TechPowerUp.com)

Patriot Viper PV553 Gen5 NVMe SSD

“Following the success of the previous generation Viper VP4300, the new Viper PV553 Gen 5 SSD is sure to continue the legacy. The drive is a Phison E26 Controller SSD like many of its competitors, but Patriot claimed its performance numbers were slightly higher, although the company didn’t specify how this was achieved.” (NASCompares.com)

MSI M570 Pro surpasses 14.2 GB/s

“MSI’s latest performance benchmarks from CrystalDiskMark show the Spatium M570 Pro surpassing 14,200 MBps in sequential reads, while sequential writes come in at well over 12,000 MBps. That puts the read performance slightly behind the T-Force Z54A but ahead in write performance. However, we must caution that there’s more to SSD performance than the raw sequential read/write speeds, but MSI is still looking very strong with this new entry into the PCIe 5.0 SSD field.” (Tom’s Hardware)

Teamgroup Cardea Z5 Gen5 NVMe SSD

“Teamgroup’s unveiling of the T-Force Cardea Z5 Gen 5 SSD and its array of heatsink options, including the innovative water-cooling kit, mark a significant step forward in the Gen 5 SSD space. This wide range of options sets Teamgroup apart, and offers users the ability to tailor their SSD cooling solutions to their specific needs.” (NASCompares.com)

Crucial T700 available now – Computex 2023 release

Another exciting development was the Crucial T700 SSD. HotHardware.com reported:

Crucial T700 review: The Fastest PCIe 5 SSD for enthusiasts

“After showing them off over the last few months, Micron is officially launching its Crucial T700 series of PCIe Gen 5.0 NVMe solid state drives today, and we’ve got a couple of retail-ready samples to show you in all their glory. As most of you probably know, the first wave of high-performance PCIe 5.0 SSDs begun to hit the market over the last few months, with virtually all of them leveraging Phison’s E26 controller and 1600MT/s flash memory. As such, due to their underlying similarity, most of the drives perform comparably and are in-line with Phison’s own reference platform, which we previewed here.

 

The Crucial T700 is a bit different, though. Micron has outfitted this drive with its own, bleeding-edge 2000MT/s 232-layer 3D TLC NAND, which gives the T700 a potential edge over everything else currently available. The Phison E26 is actually capable of using up to 2400MT/s NAND, but that’s not quite ready for prime time and is a discussion for another day. Today we’re going to check out the Crucial T700 and see if its superior specs make it the current enthusiast-class SSD to beat…”

Another great show for Phison and partners

Overall, Computex 2023 was a big success for Phison and its partners. The companies received a lot of positive reviews and attendee buzz about their latest products that form part of the vanguard of next-generation solutions. With continuing commitment to investment in R&D, Phison is dedicated to providing innovative drives and storage solutions for the most advanced emerging needs of today and tomorrow.

Visit: Phison Computex 2023 Webpage