Silicon Motion Shows Off New Neptune PCIe 6.0 SSD Tech
Silicon Motion has just shared news of building their first-ever control unit for consumer Solid State Drives (SSDs) with a PCIe 6.0 link. They call it Neptune, and it's made to push data reads up to 25 GB/s for user PCs.
Main Features of the Neptune Control Unit
They talked about Neptune at the Future Memory & Storage meet. Here’s what it brings:
- Link: PCIe 6.0 x4.
- Speed: Up to 25 GB/s read speeds and 3.5 million random moves per second.
- NAND Help: An eight-lane design that works with new 3D NAND tech (400+ layers) that talks at 4800 MT/s.
- Who It's For: Built just for consumer and user PC SSDs.
Cool New Tech Split Command Build (SCA)
A key part of Neptune is its Split Command Build (SCA) tech. This setup splits the paths for orders and spots within the NAND link. It lets the control unit work on them at the same time, not one after the other, which cuts down delays and ups the drive speed.
Plan and When to Expect It
While the speed stats are high, it's a few years out. Silicon Motion says they'll start making lots of Neptune units in 2028. So, the first SSDs with this tech won't hit shops until maybe 2029 or 2030.
This plan fits what the market thinks. Wallace Kou, the big boss at Silicon Motion, said that big PC makers aren't that into PCIe 6.0 yet. This shows that the market isn't ready for such fast tech in user stuff.
It's also key to know that while Neptune’s speed is great for a user SSD, it won’t match up to Silicon Motion's top-line PCIe 6.0 units like the SM8466, which has 16 NAND lanes and more tweaks for speed.
Source: tomshardware
