Plextor, a division of Kioxia, has expanded the line-up of its M10P-series SSDs featuring a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface and extreme performance. The family now includes 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB models that are rated for a peak sequential read speed of 7000 MB/s. The drives are powered by InnoGrit's Rainer controller that promises an ultimate power efficiency as its power consumption does not exceed 3W.
Plextor's M10P family of solid-state drives with a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface is based on Innogrit's IG5636 'Rainer' controller (multi-core, NVMe 1.4, eight NAND channels, up to 1200 MT/s NAND interface, 3W, 12nm) as well as Kioxia's 3D TLC NAND memory. The M10P SSDs are available in an M.2-2280 form-factor with a large aluminum radiator (M10PG) or with no radiator at all (M10PGN) as well as in an HHHL card form-factor (M10PY) with a massive heat spreader and some RGB LEDs.
From a performance point of view, Plextor's M10P 1TB and 2TB drives are rated for up to 7000 MB/s sequential read speed, up to 5000 MB/s sequential write speed, 650K random read IOPS, and up to 530K random write IOPS. By contrast, the 512GB model has a maximum sequential write speed of 4000 MB/s as well as a maximum random write speed of 530K IOPS. The SSDs are designed for a 0.35 drive writes per day (which is higher when compared to some cheap competing SSDs for client PCs) and are are covered with a five-year warranty.
Plextor comes to the market with its first PCIe Gen4 drives considerably later than its rivals. To some degree, this situation can be explained with the company's acquisition by Kioxia. Yet, along with the uncertainties caused by the transaction, the company also transited to controllers from InnoGrit, which required some additional work to make sure that Plextor's firmware technologies work properly with the new controllers.
For those who wonder why Plextor, which relied almost exclusively on Marvell's controllers for years, decided to use a controller by InnoGrit after it became a part of Kioxia (which has been supporting Phison for years), there is a simple explanation. Many people from Marvell's SSD business unit have left the company for Innogrit. These people have good relationships with Plextor's engineers along with deep understanding of their requirements. As a result, Plextor uses Innogrit's controllers, at least for now.
Plextor's M10P drives are available now.
