But that’s still quicker than any PCIe 4 .0 SSD. Of course, peak
sequential performance isn’t the whole story. Actually, it can be
a distraction if it means random access and latency are ignored.
But the prototype drive looks strong across the board.
Peak IOPS are quoted at no less than 2 .5 million (the best PCIe
4.0 drives hit around one million IOPS), while latencies of 7 0μs
read and 1 0μs write are mooted. In other words, drives based
on the PCIe 5 .0 interface promise to be a big step forward by
most metrics. This brings us back to the other critical question,
namely, platform support.
Intriguingly, it looks as though the tables could be turned for
Gen 5. By that we mean it might well be Intel that delivers support
first, on the desktop at least. The following does not apply to
enterprise platforms. Anyway, at the time of writing in late 202 1,
Intel has only just launched its Alder Lake CPUs, complete with
a new Z 690 chipset and PCIe 5 support. Meanwhile, the latest
rumors concerning AMD’s next-gen Zen 4 based CPUs suggest
that PCIe 5 isn’t quite guaranteed to be part of the feature set.
If that looks like a total turnaround in favor of Intel, there’s
a catch and it concerns the way PCIe support is partitioned on
Intel’s Alder Lake platform. Leaked chipset diagrams indicate
that PCIe Gen 5 support on Alder Lake will be limited to the 16
primary CPU lanes—in other words, those typically populated by
a graphics card on a performance PC. The storage-specific quad-
lane interface that also connects directly to the Alder Lake CPU
remains Gen 4 spec.
It will still be possible to use a Gen 5 SSD with Alder Lake. But
that will require splitting the 1 6-lane graphics interface in two,
thereby limiting the graphics card to eight lanes. In reality, that’s
probably plenty for any conceivable graphics card. Eight lanes
of PCIe 5 .0 is equal to 16 lanes of PCIe 4 .0 and nobody claims
16 PCIe 4 .0 is insufficient for modern graphics. Arguably more
problematic is that you’ll probably need a PCIe- 16 adapter card to
run a Gen 5 SSD. The chipset partitioning means the Z 690 ’s M.2
SSD slots will be limited to Gen 4 operation.
Elsewhere, we’re expecting SSD progress in 2022 to be largely
incremental. When it comes to memory density, a number of
flash memory chip producers have recently introduced 176 -layer
TLC NAND technology with bit densities up to 1 0Gb/mm2, while
Intel’s latest 144 -layer QLC chips weigh in at just under 1 4Gb/
mm2. We’re not expecting any advances on that in 2022. Instead,
you can expect to see prices for SSDs of all types and capacities
come down, thanks to wider adoption of the more dense NAND
chip tech that appeared in 2021 and a broader relaxation of the
global chip shortages we’ve seen in the last 18 months or so.
As for the rest, don’t expect to see any revolutions. PLC or
penta-level NAND flash is still years away. Similarly, Intel’s new
second-gen 3 D Xpoint chips are still miles off the data density
of NAND memory, so its Optane drives won’t come close to the
capacity of NAND-based SSDs for anything like similar money.
DISPLAYS
MINILED GOES MAINSTREAM
HOMING IN ON TRUE HDR
WILL 2022 be the year that HDR becomes an actual thing for PC
monitors? That will probably hinge on the impact of miniLED
backlighting, both in terms of the effectiveness of the technology
itself and the extent to which it is adopted.
Our first taste of miniLED was inauspicious, to say the least.
Samsung’s so-called ‘Neo’ G9 monitor promises much on paper.
Its miniLED backlight packs no fewer than 2, 048 local dimming
zones and Samsung claims a peak brightness of 2 ,000 nits. At
last, we’re getting HDR instead of pseudo-HDR monitors with a
handful of edge-lit zones or at best a few hundred.
Or so we thought. The Neo G9 was plagued with issues, some of
which were the result of sloppy product development. A firmware
update addressed some of the issues, most obviously it allows
the Neo G 9 to get close to that claimed 2,00 0 nit peak where the
original firmware meant you were lucky to see half of that.
NEWCOMERS TO THE ARENA
We’ve also had a few newcomers rear their heads up over
the past 12 years, namely Razer. The company has gone
from strength to strength and has just announced a new
product to its lineup, a selection of AIO liquid-coolers and
fans, ranging in sizes from 24 0mm to 360 mm.
Combine that with a new generation of Tomahawk
cases and we expect Razer will push into this market.
Asus and MSI, both of which have enjoyed significant
success recently, are also likely to hit the ground running
this year with more case launches.
Whether these will be fleeting jaunts into the case and
cooling market or more permanent ventures is anyone’s
guess. The cooling and case market is notoriously difficult
for carving out a niche, however, given the current state
of the chip industry and with manufacturers trying to
widen their revenue lines, we’d be surprised if more didn’t
follow suit.
We’re even hearing rumors that HyperX might be
investing significant assets into building its own case
lineup. But for the time being, it’s just that, rumors.
Cases that support 5.25-inch drives could become
increasingly rare, so grab one while you still can
JAN 2022 MAXIMUMPC 23
©^
BE
QU
IET
!
