FADU Technology Announces Speedy 14 GBps PCIe 5.0 SSD, up to 3.5 Million IOPS

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By Aaron Klotz
last updated

New SSD offers nearly twice the bandwidth of Gen 4 NVMe drives

Stock image of an SSD
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Just as mainstream computers begin adopting PCIe Gen 5 support, FADU Technology has announced its first-ever PCIe Gen 5 SSD and SSD controller designs. According to GlobeNewswire, these SSDs will target 14.6 GB/s of performance, consume less power, and will be designed specifically for the cloud and data center market. 

FADU's preliminary specification for its Gen 5 SSD includes sequential write speeds of up to 10.4 GB/s, and sequential read speeds of up to 14.6GB/s, all while consuming less than 5.2W of power. It also delivers up to 3.5 million random read IOPS and 734,000 random write IOPS.

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FADU Echo SSDs Preliminary Specification
SSD Form FactorsE1.S / E1.L / E3 / U.2
SSD Controller FADU FC5161
Host Interface PCIe 5.0 x 4 / NVMe 1.4+ / OCP Cloud Spec 2.0
NAND Interface 16 Channel / ONFi 5 (2400MT/s)
Sequential Read 14.6 GB/s
Sequential Write 10.4 GB/s
Random Read 3400 KIOPs
Random Write 735 KIOPs
Average Power <5.2 W

The new SSDs will operate on a PCIe Gen 5 interface with four lanes of connectivity and feature the NVMe 1.4+ protocol along with OCP Cloud Spec 2.0. SSD form factors.

While we don't have signs of a consumer variant just yet, it's good to know that Gen 5 SSDs are being built right now. So we can expect that technology to trickle down to the consumer market. This is especially important, considering we already have our first consumer-based platform that supports Gen 5 SSDs, in the form of Intel's 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs and Z690 motherboards. For now, there are no Gen 5 products on the market making PCIe Gen 5 support largely useless for everybody until Gen 5 products start coming online.

These SSDs are poised to launch in late 2022.

Aaron Klotz
Aaron Klotz
Freelance News Writer

Aaron Klotz is a freelance writer for Tom’s Hardware US, covering news topics related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

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18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • InvalidError
    If nobody adopts new standards because no products exist to plug next-gen products into, adoption will take a long time.

    At some point, someone has to hatch the chicken to get the pecking started.
    Reply
  • VforV
    Yeah, games and game engines and software definitely need to catch up to this, because besides PS5, we don't even have PC (or XSX) games that fully take advantage of the Gen 3 nvme SSDs.... and now we're talking about Gen 5.

    I did not even buy a Gen 3 one because I see no use for it in gaming. When the 1st PC games will start using them and be built on RTX IO and MS Direct Storage, then I'll need one. I suspect the Gen 3 one will be the minimum spec, so no need for Gen 4 or 5. Baby steps...
    Reply
  • 2Be_or_Not2Be
    Just like DDR5, I'll wait until the price goes down. But I love that the tech is setting the bar higher! The 2,400 MT/s is a pretty sizeable jump over the previous high of 1,600.

    What I can't tell from the article is if FADU is using MLC/TLC to get those high numbers.
    Reply
  • UnCertainty08
    VforV said:
    Yeah, games and game engines and software definitely need to catch up to this, because besides PS5, we don't even have PC (or XSX) games that fully take advantage of the Gen 3 nvme SSDs.... and now we're talking about Gen 5.

    I did not even buy a Gen 3 one because I see no use for it in gaming. When the 1st PC games will start using them and be built on RTX IO and MS Direct Storage, then I'll need one. I suspect the Gen 3 one will be the minimum spec, so no need for Gen 4 or 5. Baby steps...
    Games may not take full advantage yet but, installing and moving/copying games and other large files/folders definitely benefit from Gen 3. I still have a 10900KF on an ASUS Maximus XII Apex so no gen 4 yet. Having gen 5, especially ASUS including gen 5 PCIE add-on card is pointless for now.

    Gen 5.0 PCIE for GPU is pretty pointless as well. 3090's fully function on gen 3.0 x8.
    I seriously doubt even next gen GPU will take full advantage of PCIE 4.0 x16. Let alone gen 5.0 that rumors are suggesting Lovelace will support.
    Most Z690 motherboards will probably end up being replaced before the owner is using a GPU that requires PCIE gen 5.0.

    But it's nice they are upgrading so that devs and manufacturer's can start working on future tech.
    For now these upgrades all use the same connectors and are backwards compatible so it's not like they are trying to force people to upgrade like with CPU socket changes.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    UnCertainty08 said:
    Gen 5.0 PCIE for GPU is pretty pointless as well. 3090's fully function on gen 3.0 x8.
    Meanwhile, 4GB GPUs are heavily crippled by slow access to system RAM on 3.0x8, probably still crippled at 4.0x8 but can't know by how much since the only 4GB PCIe4 GPU currently in existence is the RX5500 which only does x8.

    4.0x16 on 4GB GPUs, especially ones more powerful than an RX5500 or GTX1650S, would be a big deal since those are the only ones people may be able to get under $400 new for the foreseeable future.
    Reply
  • VforV
    UnCertainty08 said:
    Games may not take full advantage yet but, installing and moving/copying games and other large files/folders definitely benefit from Gen 3.
    Sure, I agree, but I don't do that often enough to warrant an upgrade now.

    I suspect by the time I will need it, the prices of Gen 3 will be lower, but you never know with this "world situation"... so who know...

    All I know is if I buy a Gen 3 now, I will just use it's life span for nothing and by the time I will actually use it every day in gaming it will be old and used, without me benefiting from it until then.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    VforV said:
    I suspect by the time I will need it, the prices of Gen 3 will be lower, but you never know with this "world situation"... so who know...
    That argument doesn't make much sense when 3.0x4 NVMe SSDs are almost the same price as SATA ones. It is 4.0 drives that carry a significant premium.
    Reply
  • VforV
    InvalidError said:
    That argument doesn't make much sense when 3.0x4 NVMe SSDs are almost the same price as SATA ones. It is 4.0 drives that carry a significant premium.
    There was a point this year when they were as cheap as SATA, but now even Gen 3 is more expensive. So I'm in no rush to buy them and they should drop in price again...

    Depending on when we will actually need nvme for games, I could possibly have a new PC by then and have Gen4, depends on how many years will it take.
    Reply
  • korekan
    is this mean we can have desktop, games without loading?
    Reply
  • UnCertainty08
    VforV said:
    There was a point this year when they were as cheap as SATA, but now even Gen 3 is more expensive. So I'm in no rush to buy them and they should drop in price again...

    Depending on when we will actually need nvme for games, I could possibly have a new PC by then and have Gen4, depends on how many years will it take.

    In Canada SATA SSD & M.2 Gen 3.0 SSD are pretty much the same price. With different sale prices, there are times when M.2 are a cheaper than SATA. Comparing the same models, such as WD Blue SATA vs M.2 and other's that are directly comparable. For example as of writing WD Blue 1TB M.2 is cheaper than SATA at memexp.com here in canada.
    Reply