Packaging

The Drive

The drive is designed for the M.2 2280 form factor, which makes it 22 mm wide and 80 mm long.


PCI-Express 4.0 x4 is used as the host interface to the rest of the system, which doubles the theoretical bandwidth compared to PCIe 3.0 x4.


On the PCB you'll find the controller and two flash chips, a DRAM cache is not included.


The drive's cooler is held in-place using a clamshell construction with four screws, which ensures it can't easily come off, even after many years of use.

Chip Component Analysis

The Phison PS5027-E27T is Phison's new PCI-Express 4.0 controller optimized for DRAM-less operation, with support for TLC and QLC NAND. It's a four-channel design with support for NVMe 2.0. The controller itself is fabricated using a 12 nanometer process at TSMC Taiwan.


The two flash chips are Toshiba 162-layer 3D TLC NAND. Each chip has a capacity of 1 TB.