Introduction

Neo Forza is a relatively young manufacturer of DRAM memory modules and flash memory products. The Taiwanese company was founded in 2018 as enthusiast-focused brand of Goldkey, a well-established producer of computer hardware which has focused on OEM manufacturing until recently.



Today's review covers the Neo Forza eSports M.2 NVMe SSD, which is also known as NFP075. "eSports" is not a range of products, but the name of this specific drive. A future Gen 4 drive would be called "Esports4x4", according to Neo Forza. Under the hood, the NFP075 is powered by a Phison PS5012-E12S controller paired with 3D TLC NAND from Chinese state-backed flash memory maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC)—the first YMTC flash I've ever reviewed! A DRAM chip from Kingston is included, too. PCI-Express 3.0 x4 is used as the host interface.

The Neo Forza eSports is available in capacities of 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB. Endurance for these models is set at 420 TBW, 890 TBW, 1350 TBW, and 1550 TBW respectively. Neo Forza provides a three-year warranty for the eSports SSD.

Packaging

The Drive

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


Like most M.2 NVMe SSDs, the Neo Forza eSports connects to the host system over a PCI-Express 3.0 x4 interface.


On the PCB, you'll find the controller, four flash chips, and one DRAM chip.

Chip Component Analysis

The flash controller is made by Phison and supports 3D TLC, QLC, and PCI-Express 3.0 x4. It uses eight flash channels and is produced on a 28 nm process at TSMC Taiwan.


The four 64-layer 3D TLC flash chips are made by YMTC, a Chinese NAND maker that is government-backed. YMTC has an exclusive 3D die-stacking technology called Xtacking, which enables them to claim the "3D TLC" title, more about the tech here. Basically, the NAND storage array is manufactured on a die separate to the CMOS control logic die. In manufacturing, both dies are stacked with vertical interconnections. Obviously this requires an extremely high degree of precision, but yields great density.


A single Kingston DDR3 chip provides 256 MB of DRAM storage for the controller to store the mapping tables. This is a surprisingly small amount of DRAM for a 1 TB SSD; normally, you'd expect 1 GB per 1 TB.

Test Setup