INTRODUCTION

   Roughly 3 months ago i mentioned that due to high temperature issues and low component availability PCIe 5.0 Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSDs would probably not be available in large numbers anytime soon and with just hours away from Christmas this seems to have been the case. Needless to say, we should see more models emerge in Q1 2023 but unless you really need the extra speed (demanding professionals are obviously waiting for that) top of the line PCIe 4.0 Gen4 models should be more than plenty for the majority of users (myself included). The EXCERIA PRO 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD by KIOXIA has gathered countless awards from media all over the world and even though lately KIOXIA doesn't focus as much in the development and production of consumer oriented SSDs currently this is their top of the line model.

   KIOXIA Europe GmbH (formerly Toshiba Memory Europe GmbH) is the European based subsidiary of KIOXIA Corporation, a leading worldwide supplier of flash memory and solid state drives (SSDs). From the invention of flash memory to today's breakthrough BiCS FLASH 3D technology, KIOXIA continues to pioneer cutting-edge memory solutions and services that enrich people's lives and expand society's horizons. The company's innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS FLASH, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, SSDs, automotive and data centers.

   The EXCERIA PRO line of PCIe 4.0 Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSDs includes 1/2TB models all of which are based on the PHISON 8-channel tri-core (32-bit ARM Cortex R5 CPUs) PS5018-E18 NVMe v1.4 compatible NAND flash controller together with their very own 112-layer TLC BiCS NAND Flash and DDR4L cache (1GB for the 1TB capacity and 2GB for the 2TB capacity). Once again, the PS5018-E18 NAND flash controller by PHISON features their 4th Gen LDPC engine (low-density parity check) along with end-to-end data path protection, wear levelling, thermal throttling (70 degrees Celsius limit), TRIM, bad block management, dynamic range SLC cache and SmartECC (RAID ECC). As with past models Kioxia covers the entire EXCERIA PRO line with a 5-year limited warranty and as for endurance numbers it reports 400TBW for the 1TB model and 800TBW for the 2TB model (the MTTF of 1.5 million hours applies for both models).