Sabrent is about to unleash a high-speed PCIe 5.0 SSD — Rocket 5 delivers over 14 GB/s read and 12 GB/s write speeds

Sabrent has unveiled a new PCIe 5.0 SSD, the Rocket 5, worthy of competing with the best SSDs of today. The drive is rated at read speeds of over 14 GB/s and will come in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities. Sabrent says the new Rocket 5 will be available in its 1TB and 2TB variants shortly, while the more significant 4TB model will come later.

According to Sabrent, the Rocket 5 can speed over 14 GB/s in read speeds and over 12 GB/s in write performance. The SSD manufacturer showed off a screenshot of Rocket 5 2TB that was benchmarked in CrystalDiskMark. The drive achieved read speeds of 14,169.83 MB/s and write speeds of 12,756.03 MB/s, the fastest of the four benchmarks that were run with CystalDiskMark on the SSD. Regarding IOPS, the drive achieved 26,126.95 MB/s in read performance and 116,946.78 MB/s in write performance. In the Random 4K Q1T1 test, the drive achieved 107.02 MB/s in reads and 479.01 MB/s in writes.

According to Sabrent, the Rocket 5 can speed over 14 GB/s in read speeds and over 12GB/s in write performance. The SSD manufacturer showed off a screenshot of Rocket 5 2TB that was benchmarked in CrystalDiskMark. The drive achieved read speeds of 14,169.83 MB/s and write speeds of 12,756.03 MB/s, the fastest of the four benchmarks that were run with CystalDiskMark on the SSD. Regarding IOPS, the drive achieved 26,126.95 MB/s in read performance and 116,946.78 MB/s in write performance. In the Random 4K Q1T1 test, the drive achieved 107.02 MB/s in reads and 479.01 MB/s in writes.

Sabrent Rocket 5 Specifications

The Rocket 5 is one of the first PCIe 5.0 capable drives to finally break the 12 "ish" GB/s barrier that has been all mainstream PCIe 5.0 drives since their inception. While an extra 2 GB/s might not sound like a lot, given that PCIe 5.0 SSDs can already achieve speeds well over 10 GB/s, we're finally seeing an SSD that can fully exploit Phison's E26 controller limits.

One of the biggest delays preventing 14 GB/s+ drives from arriving sooner was production delays related to Micron's high-speed 2400 MT/s NAND flash. Due to slow demand for DRAM and 3D NAND in 2023, Micron slowed the ramp-up time of its 2400 MT/s 232 layer 3D NAND, further delaying these new 14 GB/s+ capable drives.

Thankfully, this problem appears to be over, enabling manufacturers like Sabrent to create new high-speed SSDs like the Sabrent 5. We expect the Rocket 5 and another 14 GB/s+ capable drive to be announced at CES 2024 and released shortly afterward.