Patriot has unveiled the Viper PV553, a PCIe 5.0 SSD that rivals the best SSDs money can buy. The Viper PV553 is Patriot's first SSD to feature a blower-type cooler.
While PCIe 5.0 SSDs are faster than PCIe 4.0 drives, the former also run hotter. As a result, vendors are forced to put in more robust cooling solutions, PCIe 5.0 SSDs, to preserve their performance and operation during heavy workloads. Some PCIe 5.0 drives have massive passive heatsinks, but Patriot has opted for an old-school blower-type cooler. It's slightly less extreme than PNY's PCIe 5.0 SSD with a dual-fan cooler. Patriot claims its solution helps reduce temperatures by up to 40% on the Viper PV553.
The Viper PV553 is wrapped in a 16.5mm aluminum heat shield to keep the drive as svelte as possible. Patriot had showcased the Viper PV553 at Computex last year, where the SSD needed a Molex or SATA power connector to feed 5V to the cooling fan. However, the renders don't show any external connectors, nor does the product page mention anything of that nature.
Patriot Viper PV553 Specifications
| Model | Capacity | Sequential Read (MB/s) | Sequential Write (MB/s) | Random Read (IOPS) | Random Write (IOPS) | Endurance (TBW) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PV553P4TBM28H | 4TB | 12,400 | 11,800 | 1,400,000 | 1,400,000 | 3,000 |
| PV553P2TBM28H | 2TB | 12,400 | 11,800 | 1,400,000 | 1,400,000 | 1,400 |
| PV553P1TBM28H | 1TB | 11,700 | 9,500 | 1,300,000 | 1,400,000 | 700 |
The Viper PV553 comes in an M.2 2280 form factor that slides into the PCIe 5.0 x4 interface. The SSD leverages Phison's E26 PCIe 5.0 SSD controller and Micron's 232-layer B58R 3D TLC NAND. These are the same ingredients as the Phison Max14um that hits speeds up to 14 GB/s; however, the Viper PV553's performance isn't quite up there. Patriot's drive maxes out at 12,400 MB/s reads and 11,800 MB/s writes, so it's behind rivals like the Sabrent Rocket 5 or the T-Force Z540.
The Viper PV553 lands in three capacities: 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. The 1TB model is the slowest variant, with sequential read and write speeds at 11,700 MB/s and 9,500 MB/s, respectively. On the other hand, the 2TB and 4TB models achieve sequential read and write speeds up to 12,400 MB/s and 11,800 MB/s, respectively.
Random performance differs slightly. The 1TB model has 100,000 lower IOPS reads compared to the other two models that feature 1,400,000 IOPS reads and writes. Besides the performance, the endurance also differs from one drive to the other.
The endurance essentially doubles along with the capacity. Patriot rates the 1TB model for 700 TBW, the 2TB model for 1,400 TBW, and the 4TB model with 3,000 TBW. The Viper PV553's endurance aligns with the T-Force Z540 and is somewhat better than the Crucial T700.
The Viper PV553 comes with a limited five-year warranty. Patriot has yet to specify the drive's pricing and availability.
