SSD controllers: Phison confirms E25 and E20 for PCIe 4.0 along with E26 for 5.0

With over 13GB/s via PCIe 5.0, the upcoming Phison E26 is the new flagship of SSD controllers. Among them will also be a PCIe 4.0 newcomer, the E25, which is said to be slightly faster than the current E18. The E20, in turn, is intended for server SSDs.

Phison E25 as a new top with PCIe 4.0

However, information about the new Phison E25 or PS5025-E25 in the full product name is still very scarce. In the Twitter user @KOMACHI_ENSAKA discovered Phison Annual Report (PDF) the chip is described in one sentence as follows:

The PS5025-E25 controller is a PCIe Gen4 SSD with an external DRAM design and a maximum performance of 7200 MB/s, which is the best choice for extremely fast gamers.

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Just like the still-reigning flagship E18 overclocks the fastest consumer SSDs like the Corsair MP600 Pro XT (test) and the Seagate FireCuda 530 (test), the E25 also uses PCIe 4.0 x4. Above that, you should hit a maximum of 7,200MB/s, which is slightly higher than the 7,000MB/s Phison specs for the E18. SSD manufacturers have already exceeded these values ​​with the E18.

We are talking about an external DRAM, that is, a dedicated DRAM cache. For conventional NVMe SSDs, on the other hand, a cost- and power-saving DRAM-free design is becoming increasingly popular. Daily performance is generally not affected by the exemption, as long as part of the working memory is used as SSD cache via Host Buffer Memory (HBM). For enthusiasts and gamers, however, Phison believes ditching DRAM is apparently not an option.

The flagship will be the E26 for PCIe 5.0

The absolute spearhead will be the Phison E26 with PCIe 5.0 and up to 13.5 GB/s and 2 million IOPS. Not only in terms of performance, but also in terms of waste heat and cost, these SSDs could set new standards. Only the latest platforms from AMD and Intel will offer PCIe 5.0 for maximum performance. So it’s no surprise that Phison is also planning a new PCIe 4.0 flagship with the E25.