The brand new technology of PCIe 5.0 SSDs are completely unimaginable items of expertise, delivering learn and write speeds that have been inconceivable just some years in the past. They’re additionally actually, actually onerous to search out. Whereas we have been anticipating a reasonably wholesome market at this level in 2023, up to now we’ve solely seen two fashions arrive, one from Gigabyte and one which’s unique to Micro Middle. Because of Galax, you possibly can add a 3rd choice to the record…however solely in China, for the second. And it’s an imposing one.
As reported by Tom’s {Hardware}, the Galax HOF (for “Hall of Fame”) Excessive 50 is now on sale in China for 2500 yuan, which is a little more than $350 in US {dollars}. That’s the 2TB 2280 drive, which the producer claims can learn at 10,000 megabytes per second, with write speeds only a tad decrease at 9500 MB/s. The 1TB mannequin has barely slower efficiency, at 9500/8500 MB/s, respectively.
Galax
Each variations of the drive come outfitted with a completely huge heatsink. It’s an energetic cooling mannequin with a built-in fan, even larger than the passive cooler noticed on the Gigabyte PCIe 5.0 drive. With a design that wraps across the whole PCB of the drive, a la a contemporary graphics card, you gained’t be capable to match any elements above it on the motherboard, and it gained’t match into rear-facing slots, both. The energetic cooling fan additionally requires a regular 4-pin energy connection. Such is the sacrifice one should make for screaming pace, I suppose.
We don’t know precisely when the Galax HOF drive can be obtainable internationally, however throughout the subsequent month or two looks like a secure guess. The shortage of those next-gen drives is especially irritating for PC builders, as the remainder of the storage and reminiscence market is in an enormous hunch, creating incredible costs on RAM and 4th-gen SSDs.