Phison reveals its fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD controller yet, details the E29T at FMS 2024 (2024)

Phison reveals its fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD controller yet, details the E29T at FMS 2024 (1)

During the Future of Memory and Storage 2024 (FMS 2024) conference (previously Flash Memory Summit), Phison debuted its latest Gen4 SSD controller, the Phison PS5023-E29T. This SSD controller is targeted at upcoming NVMe Gen4 drives in the M.2-2280 and M.2-2230 form factors and is now nearly the fastest SSD controller in Phison's lineup, beating all of them in sequential read performance and only beaten by the enterprise-grade PS5020-X1 controller for U.2 and U.3 SSDs, which has a slight advantage in sequential write performance and (of course) exponentially higher maximum capacity.

Phison PS5029-E29T SSD Controller Specifications vs Other Phison PCIe Gen 4 Controllers

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Row 0 - Cell 0 InterfaceForm FactorCapacityMaximum Sequential Read/WriteMaximum Random Read/Write (in IOPS)
PS5029-E29TPCIe Gen 4M.2 2280 and M.2 2230Up to 8 TB7400 MB/s Read; 6800 MB/s Write1200K IOPS Both
PS5018-E18PCIe Gen 4M.2 2280-S2Up to 8 TB7200 MB/s Read; 6850 MB/s Write1000K IOPS Both
PS5025-E25PCIe Gen 4M.2 2280Up to 4 TB7200 MB/s Read; 7000 MB/s Write1200K IOPS Both
PS5019-E19TPCIe Gen 4M.2 2280-S2 and M.2 2280-D2Up to 2 TB3600 MB/s Read; 3000 MB/s Write500K IOPS Read; 600K IOPS Write
PS5021-E21TPCIe Gen 4M.2 2280, 2242, 2230 and BGA and CFXUp to 4 TB5000 MB/s Read; 4800 MB/s Write800K IOPS Read; 950K IOPS Write
PS5021-E21TIPCIe Gen 4M.2 2280, 2230, and BGA Type 1620 or BGA-to-M.2 2230Up to 2 TB4700 MB/s Read; 3900 MB/s Write600K IOPS Both
PS5018-E18DIPCIe Gen 4M.2 22110 and M.2 2280Up to 3840 GB7200 MB/s Read; 6400 MB/s Write750K IOPS Read; 1000K IOPS Write
PS5018-E18DCPCIe Gen 4M.2 22110, 2280, and E1.SUp to 3480 GB6600 MB/s Read; 1400 MB/s Write640K IOPS Read; 50K IOPS Write
PS5020-X1PCIe Gen 4U.3 and U.2Up to 30.72 TB7400 MB/s Read; 6900 MB/s Write1000K IOPS Both
PS5027-E27TPCIe Gen 4M.2 2280 and M.2 2230Up to 8 TB7400 MB/s Read; 6500 MB/s Write1200K IOPS Both

In the overall lineup, it seems clear that the Phison PS5029-E29T SSD controller is meant to occupy the new high-end for M.2 NVMe SSDs, particularly those in "standard" size (M.2-2280) and the low-profile M.2 drives (M.2-2230) that have become more commonplace in laptops, mini PCs, and handheld PCs like Steam Deck.

Phison reveals its fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD controller yet, details the E29T at FMS 2024 (2)

We previously covered the very similar Phison PS5027-E27T in January, which also used the TSMC 12nm process to target similar devices but is slightly slower than the newer controller, managing only 6,700 MB/s write compared to the E29T's faster 6,800 MB/s write speeds, though read speeds are identical at 7,400 MB/s. Of note for Steam Deck and its class of handheld PCs is that these faster Gen4 M.2-2230 NVMe drives will only be helpful in devices that actually support NVMe Gen4 — as the Steam Deck and many others are still on Gen3.

Finally, the Phison PS5029-E29T also utilizes a DRAM-less design like its E27T predecessor and is driven by an ARM Cortex R5 CPU. The E29T supports both 3D TLC and 3D QLC NAND, with TLC (Triple-Level Cells vs Quad-Level Cells), of course, being faster and offering greater durability. NAND flash speeds on the E29T will top out at 3,600 MT/s either way, though, just like the E27T.

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Phison reveals its fastest PCIe 4.0 SSD controller yet, details the E29T at FMS 2024 (3)

Christopher Harper

Contributing Writer

Christopher Harper has been a successful freelance tech writer specializing in PC hardware and gaming since 2015, and ghostwrotefor various B2B clients in High School before that. Outside of work, Christopher is best known to friends and rivals as an active competitive player in various eSports (particularly fighting games and arena shooters) and a purveyor of music ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Killer Mike to theSonic Adventure 2soundtrack.

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