Over the past few months, we’ve seen some wild coolers for today’s fastest SSDs. So naturally, performance throttling is a big concern for high-end SSDs, which is why we’ve seen active cooling solutions from ElecGear, Icy Box and RaidSonic. However, a new challenger has entered the ring from Qiao Sibo (ITHome), which is launching a new M.2 SSD cooler with a blower fan design.
According to Qiao Sibo’s specifications, its SSD cooler measures 76mm x 24.5mm x 70.5mm and features an integrated aluminum heatsink. That heatsink attaches directly to the SSD, and hot air is expelled using the fan that spins at 3000 RPM. The fan extracts air at 4.81 CFM with a maximum noise level of 27.3 dBA. For comparison, the aforementioned ElecGear M11, which looks like something from out of a Star Wars flick, has a smaller fan that spins at a frantic 9,300 RPM. However, it can only muster maximum airflow of 3.16 CFM.
Unfortunately, pricing and availability have not been announced for Qiao Sibo’s cooler. We also don’t have any information regarding its cooling performance (including its air pressure rating), although similar coolers promise a 40 to 50 percent drop in temperatures under load. However, we’d imagine that it will soon show up on Amazon along with the other exotic SSD cooling solutions currently available.
Although these M.2 coolers are most immediately beneficial to PCIe 4.0 SSDs, they could become necessary for next-generation PCI 5.0 SSDs. These SSDs, most of which will probably feature the Phison E26 controller, will double theoretical maximum read/write speeds, exceeding 14 GBps. That significant performance uplift will result in increased power requirements along with an uptick in heat production from the onboard SSD controller/DRAM and accompanying NAND.
FADU says that its first PCIe 5.0 SSDs will use its FC5161 controller offering sequential reads/writes of 14.6 GBps and 10.4 GBps, respectively. Last week, Adata announced its Project Nighthawk and Project Blackbird PCIe 5.0 SSDs that it will showcase next week at CES 2022 (most likely virtually, rather than in-person). The former is rated for 14 / 12 GBps (sequential read/write), while the latter is pegged at 14 / 10 GBps.
We expect manufacturers to unleash the floodgates – at least concerning announcements – for PCIe 5.0 SSDs at CES 2022, with products shipping in the latter half of the year.
