The SSTC Tiger Shark Elite is the third M.2 NVMe PCIe 5.0 SSD that we've reviewed. Just like the Corsair MP700 and ADATA Legend 970 it is based on the Phison E26 controller, paired with Micron 232-layer TLC NAND. Actually, these three drives all use the exact same PCB design and components. What makes the Tiger Shark Elite stand out is that it's rated for transfer rates of up to 12 GB/s, whereas the ADATA and Corsair drives top out at 10 GB/s. While the controller is identical, this requires faster NAND chips that are rated for 2000 MT/s instead of 1600 MT/s like on the 10 GB/s drives. Just like the Corsair MP700, there's no heatsink included with the Tiger Shark Elite—you're supposed to use the motherboard's cooling, or an aftermarket heatsink. As expected, a DRAM cache chip is included, 4 GB DRAM on a 2 TB-class drive is surprising, usually, especially on Phison, we're used to seeing 1 GB DRAM per 1 TB of NAND. More is better of course, so no complaints here.

Synthetic performance results of the Tiger Shark Elite are very impressive, especially when it comes to sequential transfers. We can confirm that SSTC's "up to 12 GB/s" claim is accurate (for sequential writes at QD2 and higher). Compared to the Corsair MP700 with slightly older firmware, the Shark does a bit better in mixed IO at high queue depths, all the other results are within margin of error. Marketing materials for Gen 5 all focus on blazing fast sequential transfers. The reason is that random IO performance is virtually identical to the results of PCIe Gen 4 drives, like the Phison E18-based Kingston KC3000.

Phison has a long history of optimizing their controllers for typical synthetic reviewer workloads on an empty drive. That's why it's important to also include real-life testing. We're even running those tests with the drives filled to 80% capacity, not empty. This approach puts additional pressure on the various algorithms and the SLC cache, just like in real-life. In this testing the Tiger Shark Elite does very well, too, and comes out as the fastest SSD we've ever tested. Compared to the MP700 it has a 1% lead on average, with the biggest gains seen in tests that move lots of data around in a fairly linear fashion. Compared to Gen 4 SSDs, the performance uplift is around 5-10%, which is a repeat of what we've seen from the first Gen 4 drives, when compared to Gen 3 SSDs.

SSTC's drive comes with an SLC cache size of 33% or 200 GB, which is enough to soak up all bursts of write activity, and it has the benefit that sustained rates are much better. The Corsair MP700 has a bigger SLC cache of 600 GB, but fills its whole 2 TB capacity at an average of 1.5 GB/s only, whereas the Tiger Shark Elite almost doubles that to 2.8 GB/s—very impressive.

Our power consumption testing shows that the Tiger Shark Elite really uses a lot of power. We've measured up to 10 W, which is basically 50% more than what we've seen on Phison's E18 Gen 4 controller. Hitting 10 W is quite rare though, you should rather plan with 5-6 W during typical loads, which is still a lot. Of course you're getting higher performance at the same time, but our numbers show that even when running at only 1 or 2 GB/s, the power consumption is still high. It seems that once the controller goes out of idle, it will always use 4 W at least, no matter how little actual work it does. This suggests that there's still lots of untapped potential in its power optimization. Compared to the MP700 (which has older firmware), we're definitely seeing some optimizations here. Desktop idle power draw is a bit lower, and the drive can now reach its lowest ASPM idle power state in the mobile scenario.

On an SSD, all power is converted into heat—which means that the SSTC Tiger Shark Elite needs serious cooling if you make it work hard. Other vendors include a little fan-powered solution with their drives, which is a terrible solution, because it has no temperature fan speed control and runs at high speed all the time, emitting a high-pitched sound. It's also powered by a separate cable, instead of taking power from the drive. SSTC "fixed" this by simply not including a heatsink, just like Corsair with the MP700. While I like that the sticker can be removed without breaking the warranty, I'd still expect a proper thermal solution on a $300 product. What's good news is that Phison has improved their thermal protection algorithms. While the Corsair MP700 crashed within a few minutes when uncooled, due to overheating, the SSTC drive will run fine, even while sitting at its thermal throttle point. Performance is greatly reduced, but there's no risk of data loss.

The SSTC Tiger Shark Elite 2 TB is currently listed online on Amazon US for $300, the 1 TB version goes for $200. That's A LOT of money for a 2 TB SSD. Even though it is the fastest SSD we've ever tested I'm not sure if I'd be willing to spend that much for a little bit of extra performance. Compared to other Gen 5 SSDs, the Tiger Shark Elite is actually a bit on the expensive side. The Corsair MP700 is available for $250, the MSI M570 goes for $270 and includes a heatsink. Crucial's T500 reaches 12 GB/s, too, for $270, $285 if you want a heatsink. In order to make a splash, SSTC really has to price their drive much closer to $250. Strong competition comes from the various Gen 4 drives, which are extremely affordable right now. For example, the Samsung 990 Pro, the fastest Gen 4 drive we've ever tested sells for just $135—around half the price of Gen 5 drives. WD Black SN770 is only $120, and the various Phison E18 drives even start sub-$100. I'm also surprised that SSTC doesn't offer a 4 TB version, which could be interesting to the ultra-high-end premium audience. Right now only Crucial has such a drive in their lineup. If you absolutely must have the fastest M.2 Gen 5 SSD, then the Tiger Shark Elite can be a good choice, but do consider the cooling requirements and price first.