A new contender has arrived to rival the best SSDs: Galax has ventured into the foray of PCIe 5.0 SSDs with the HOF Extreme 50, the company's first PCIe 5.0 SSD with sequential read speeds of up to 10 GB/s.
The HOF Extreme 50's size may look deceptive, but the drive conforms to the M.2 2280 form factor. Furthermore, due to how hot PCIe 5.0 SSDs can get, Galax developed a unique cooler for the HOF Extreme 50, which consists of a hulking copper heatsink in the company of a tiny cooling fan. This means that the SSD will need external power to feed the cooling fan, which the drive obtains through a standard 4-pin PWM fan connector. The fan speed automatically adjusts depending on the operating temperature. Galax claims that the cooling solution on the HOF Extreme 50 keeps the drive operating at between 40 to 45 degrees Celsius when it's under a heavy load.
The blueprint for the HOF Extreme 50 is similar to other competing PCIe 5.0 SSDs. Galax bakes the HOF Extreme 50 using the Phison PS5026-E26 SSD controller and Micron 232-layer 3D TLC NAND chips as the primary ingredients. Storage experts such as Silicon Motion and InnoGrit have developed their respective SM2508 and the IG5666 PCIe 5.0 SSD controllers. Manufacturers have taken a liking to Phison's 12nm E26 controller, and have turned it into the predominant PCIe 5.0 SSD controller on the market today.
The HOF Extreme 50 offers sequential read speeds of up to 10 GB/s, so it should perform similarly to the MSI Spatium M570 and Corsair MP700. However, Galax's drive is slower than the Gigabyte Aorus Gen5 1000 and the MSI Spatium M570 Pro, which hits 12 GB/s. Crucial's T700 is the fastest E26-based drive out there thus far, with sequential read performance hitting 12.4 GB/s. Only the Adata Project Nighthawk and Project Blackbird SSDs (14 GB/s) are higher performers — but they use the InnoGrit IG5666 PCIe 5.0 controller. Phison's E26 controller can have the same speeds but requires Micron's 2,400 MT/s NAND flash, which isn't easily sourced right now due to poor yields.
Galax HOF Extreme 50 Specifications
| Capacity | Sequential Read (MB/s) | Sequential Write (MB/s) | Random Read (IOPS) | Random Write (IOPS) | Endurance (TBW) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2TB | 10,000 | 9,500 | 1,500,000 | 1,250,000 | 1,400 |
| 1TB | 9,500 | 8,500 | 1,300,000 | 1,100,000 | 700 |
The HOF Extreme 50 only comes in two capacities: 1TB and 2TB. The 2TB model is the top dog with 10 GB/s sequential read and 9.5 GB/s sequential write speeds. The 1TB model's sequential read and write performance is 5% and 11% lower, respectively. It also has lower random performance, exhibiting up to 13% lower random reads and 12% lower random writes. The 2TB drive has 4GB of LPDDR4 of DRAM cache, which is twice as much as the 1TB drive.
Galax rates the HOF Extreme 50 2TB drive with a 1,400 TBW endurance rating. Early PCIe 5.0 SSDs use the same Micron 232-layer 3D NAND flash; as a result, the endurance levels are identical among the competition. The endurance on Micron's 232-layer NAND is comparable to the company's previous 176-layer offerings, which are good for between 1,200 TBW and 1,600 TBW. Galax didn't specify the endurance rating for the HOF Extreme 50 1TB, but it's likely 700 TBW, like other 1TB PCIe 5.0 offerings.
The HOF Extreme 50 2TB comes with a limited five-year warranty. Galax has already launched the SSD in China for 2,499 yuan ($362.85), but the SSD will eventually come to the U.S. market for $349.99.
