PCIe SSDs significantly exceed SATAIII capability

Since the PCIe SSD was adopted by Apple as a standard accessory in MacBook Air in 2013, its exceptional flash storage performance featuring high-speed transmission has led the competition to follow, including the fully PCIe SSD-supported Microsoft Windows 8.1 operating system and the new generation Intel CPU chip. According to a survey conducted by the global market research firm TrendForce, the transmission speed of PCIe G2 (PCIe Generation 2.0) surpassed that of SATA III SSD in 2014. Moreover, several high-end notebooks are expected to replace SATA III SSD with PCIe SSD since Apple and Microsoft are boosting the market demand. With the price gap between them shrinking, PCIe G2 will potentially become the mainstream specification in the PC SSD market in 2015. As a quick response to market demand, Apacer has launched two PCIe-interface products, including an mPDM+ and an M.2 PCIe SSD. The mPDM+ is a mini PCIe SSD with the dimensions in line with that of mSATA products. The 50.8mm x 29.8mm size can be an ideal substitute for the storage device of mSATA attached to the motherboard. M.2 PCIe SSD, on the other hand, is about 40% smaller than the mSATA SSD module in dimensions of only 22x42mm. As M.2 SSD module has been included in standard interface, and supports both the transmission signals from SATA and PCIe. PCIe boasts transmission bandwidth and speed far beyond that of SATA, achieving higher transmission efficiency than that of SATA 6Gbps. With high compatibility, both these two PCIe SSDs match AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) and have up to 128GB capacity, which ensure their competitive edge, says the company. Jeff Lin, director, Embedded Application Business Unit, Apacer, said: "Our mPDM+ SSD adopts Mini PCIe module, boasting a read speed of 385 MB/sec through the transmission of Gen2x1. As its dimension goes in line with that of mSATA products, it is currently a pain-free upgrade solution directly replacing the storage device of the original mSATA SSD on the motherboard." But the M.2 PCIe SSD is undoubtedly the first choice in terms of both high-speed transmission and compactness. The newly launched M.2, i.e. the NGFF (Next Generation Form Factor), adopts PCIe 2.0 interface which has a broadband speed up to 10Gb/s compared to PCIe 1.0. High-end applications such as network storage or enterprise servers are thus capable of faster transmission."