INTRODUCTION

   Even though the first PCIe 5.0 motherboards to also feature M.2 Gen 5 slots just made their global debut (X670E by AMD and Z790 by Intel) we still haven't really seen the unveiling of many Gen 5 M.2 NVMe SSDs. Now i can't really point my finger on the reason for that but if i had to guess that would be the high temperatures these drives tend to build-up rather quickly (and so both motherboard and storage media manufacturers are probably developing more effective cooling solutions). Still even if we do see various Gen 5 models make their debut soon it will be a while before the market actually has a serious target audience for them especially since today Gen 3 models are still leading in sales. Late last year ACER (BIWIN) introduced their Predator GM3500 line of PCIe 3.0 Gen 3 M.2 NVMe SSDs and today with me i have the top of the line 1TB variant.

   Predator branded storage products are designed and manufactured by BIWIN Storage Technology company, a leading maker of quality flash memory, DRAM memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). Delivering premium products for serious gamers and overclocking enthusiasts looking for the ultimate experience, our mission is to provide best-in-class memory modules and solid-state drives that enhance overall system performance and gameplay. Defined by faster speeds and gaming-inspired design, these Predator storage products are built to be the Number One choice for gamers worldwide. Founded in 2010, BIWIN focuses on providing global customers with high-quality storage products and specializes in the research, development, manufacturing and sales of memory chip application products.

   Surprisingly enough the Predator GM3500 line of PCIe 3.0 Gen 3x4 M.2 NVMe v1.3 SSDs is currently only available in 512GB/1TB capacities both of which use the popular SM2262EN 8-channel NAND flash controller by Silicon Motion (was one of the top in its class when released roughly 5 years ago - still is among the best) together with 2666MHz LPPDR4 SDRAM by Nanya (512MB for the 512GB model and 1GB for the 1TB model) and 96-layer 3D TLC NAND by Micron. As for features the SN2262EN NAND flash controller sports Silicon Motion’s proprietary NANDXtend error-correcting code (ECC), datapath protection, end to end data protection with SRAM ECC, S.M.A.R.T, TRIM, NCQ, thermal-throttling, active garbage collection, DevSleep (device sleep), LDPC (Low Density Parity Check), SLC write acceleration (algorithms for optimal sustained performance), AES-XTS 256bit hardware encryption, TCG Opal 2.0 and IEEE-1667 (compatible with Microsoft's eDrive and EU's GDPR). As with past products ACER (BIWIN) covers the entire Predator GM3500 line with a rather generous 5-year limited warranty and as for endurance numbers the reported ones are an MTBF of 2 million hours and a TBW of 300TBW for the 512GB variant and 600TBW for the 1TB variant.