Asgard Announces AN4 PCIe 4.0 SSD - 128 Layer 3D TLC NAND, 7,500 MB/s Read

[Raevenlord]

Chinese manufacturer Asgard has announced the company's (and the Chinese market's) first PCIe 4.0 SSD. The AN4 pairs 128 Layer 3D TLC NAND manufactured by YMTC (Yangtze Memory Technologies Co., Ltd) Xtacking 2.0 technology, which uses a two-step manufacturing process wherein both NAND cells and interconnects are manufactured in two separate wafers and then optically fused. The NAND memory is then paired with Innogrit's IG5236 Rainier controller. The AN4 is rated for 7,500 MB/s and 5,500 MB/s sequential read and write speeds and features a "high" TBW endurance rating, though Asgard didn't clarify the exact random performance figures, nor the TBW rating for the SSD. Pricing is similarly up in the air - Asgard has only announced market availability for the 1 TB SSD solution come August, with additional 2 TB and 512 GB capacities being readied to market for a later timeframe.

The manufacturing technology of YMTC results in NAND that's as fast as Micron's latest 192-layer NAND tech, and beats well-established Kioxia's 96-layer technology performance-wise. One Bilibili forum user put the drive through its paces, and discovered that to unlock its full potential, one has to have a system capable of 512 bit maximum payload size (MPS), which is currently only supported by AMD motherboards - maximum Intel MPS currently stands at 256 bit, which "only" enables sequential performance of up to 7,150 MB/s. The user put the AN4 through a variety of tests, including PCMark 10's Drive Performance Consistency Test - a 10 to 20 hours workload marathon that puts more than 23 TB of drives on the SSD. It seems that Chinese manufacturers have achieved parity with the top western manufacturers, meaning there is one more option in the global, high-performance NAND market.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[TheLostSwede]

Xinese appropriation of Nordic culture

 

[john_]

Waiting for posts about how the Chinese had stolen all the tech behind this product.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

Waiting for posts about how the Chinese had stolen all the tech behind this product.

No Chinese is better.

 

[Tomorrow]

Nah the real Asgard have PCIe 10.0 1280 layer XLC NAND at 10TB/s

 

[bonehead123]

Just wondering if their spyware will be stealing your data at the advertised speeds or if that will be a "background feature" that has little to no effect on performance....hahahahaha

 

[MentalAcetylide]

The problem with Chinese products is they are cheaply made and have piss-poor QA. A good part of their economy is based on stolen/copied tech & being able to mass produce it quickly with cheaper parts. This allows them to sell it dirt cheap abroad in comparison to other products that use better material & have higher QA standards.
Most of the tools, kitchen utensils, pots & pans, cleaning equipment, etc., that you would find in a general/grocery store are made in China and both look and feel like they would fall apart or break after a couple of weeks use simply because of the low-grade material that is used in the products.

 

[Minus Infinity]

The problem with Chinese products is they are cheaply made and have piss-poor QA. A good part of their economy is based on stolen/copied tech & being able to mass produce it quickly with cheaper parts. This allows them to sell it dirt cheap abroad in comparison to other products that use better material & have higher QA standards.
Most of the tools, kitchen utensils, pots & pans, cleaning equipment, etc., that you would find in a general/grocery store are made in China and both look and feel like they would fall apart or break after a couple of weeks use simply because of the low-grade material that is used in the products.

Well a lot for sure, but not all. There are Chinese manufacturers that do have some high quality stuff, but even these guys find their stuff quickly cloned by other scumbags in their own country.

The problem with this new SSD, the company has no history, would you trust them to honor warranty. For my data I'll stick to well established brands.

 

[Raven Rampkin]

Well a lot for sure, but not all. There are Chinese manufacturers that do have some high quality stuff, but even these guys find their stuff quickly cloned by other scumbags in their own country.

The problem with this new SSD, the company has no history, would you trust them to honor warranty. For my data I'll stick to well established brands.

Isn't Asgard a brand of Powev? (Also holding monikers such as Gloway and Sinker... gee if only I'd memorize important stuff just as well and not all this fluff.)
Powev isn't outrageously old a company (2012) but I swear I ran into a slide with leading RAM sales figures some time last year and Powev was at the top of the food chain together with Kingston, Ramaxel, Team and some others (no particular order).

EDIT: yea here we go https://www.kingston.com/spain/cn/c...DRAM Module Supplier in 2019 - (22 September)

 

[TumbleGeorge]

The problem with Chinese products is they are cheaply made and have piss-poor QA. A good part of their economy is based on stolen/copied tech & being able to mass produce it quickly with cheaper parts. This allows them to sell it dirt cheap abroad in comparison to other products that use better material & have higher QA standards.
Most of the tools, kitchen utensils, pots & pans, cleaning equipment, etc., that you would find in a general/grocery store are made in China and both look and feel like they would fall apart or break after a couple of weeks use simply because of the low-grade material that is used in the products.

This is not clear. In many other countries has producing and sailing of goods imitation of western trademarks and with copying of some technologies. Just USA choose China for enemy Number One, and make big propaganda against it.

 

[MentalAcetylide]

This is not clear. In many other countries has producing and sailing of goods imitation of western trademarks and with copying of some technologies. Just USA choose China for enemy Number One, and make big propaganda against it.

Its because a big portion of it is happening in China and there's not much they're doing about it on their side.
On the one hand, you have US companies that want to move in there & make big money selling their products in China. Where does that money go? Out of China and into the hands of big US businesses/corporations. This is why I think global trade as it is does more harm to countries than it helps.
On the other hand, China doesn't want to be getting economically looted and controlled by other countries by allowing them to set up shop in their country with little or no strings attached.

 

[TumbleGeorge]

Its because a big portion of it is happening in China and there's not much they're doing about it on their side.
On the one hand, you have US companies that want to move in there & make big money selling their products in China. Where does that money go? Out of China and into the hands of big US businesses/corporations. This is why I think global trade as it is does more harm to countries than it helps.
On the other hand, China doesn't want to be getting economically looted and controlled by other countries by allowing them to set up shop in their country with little or no strings attached.

Yes private business has not problem with China, treasure also because of money. Problem is political.