First End-User SM226x base PCIe NVMe M2 SSD Spotted

It has been a while since we heard from this Silicon Motion NVMe SSD controller series, but the first SM226x PCIe NVMe SSD have been spotted. A company called Taipower just announced the new Mirage NP900 NVMe SSD.

Some photos and a benchmark run have been posted at Toms and reveal that the unit indeed is fitted with a more affordable yet fast SM226x controller, competing with Marvell's excellent 88SS1093 "Eldora" controller series. The Mirage NP900 as stated is fitted with the SM2262 controller. It is noted that this particular SSD will not make its way to the U.S. or Europe but the Silicon Motion controller certainly will be used by other partners like Adata, Intel, SanDisk/WD, and sure .. Micron/Crucial. All of them are poised to release new performance NVMe SSDs in H1 2018 merged in a symbiosis with 64-layer NAND flash. Below some photos and a benchmark run of what is supposed to be a mainstream to high-end class SSD series.

With the new SM2262 and SM2263 series, Silicon Motion provides PCIe G3 x 4 Lanes NVMe 1.3 controllers while supporting the latest 3D NAND from the main flash manufacturers. The SM2262EN, an ultra-high performance SSD controller solution, delivers peak sequential read and write transfer speeds of up to 3,500 MB/s and 3,000 MB/s, respectively, and random read and write IOPS of up to 370,000 and 300,000. The SM2263 is targeted at mainstream client applications and features sequential read and write speeds of up to 2,400 MB/s and 1,700 MB/s respectively. The SM2263XT, a DRAM-less controller solution, reduces BOM cost and form factor without compromising performance while enabling 11.5mmx13mm BGA SSDs ideally suited for 2-in-1 systems, Chromebooks and mobile devices.

M2 NVMe SSDs are advancing onward, into the mainstream arena. Perhaps that is the new trend for 2018.