INTRODUCTION

     Roughly 2 years ago when I first started testing PCIe Gen5 SSDs I made sure to point out that high operating temperatures would be the sole reason as to why such drives wouldn't be out in large numbers. Well, it's been a while but with flash controller manufacturers having all but resolved this issue Gen5 drives are finally here in large quantities and by most well established storage manufacturers. One of the latest PCIe Gen5 SSDs to hit the market is the GM9000 model by Acer Predator (BIWIN) and for the past week or so I've been testing the 2TB capacity model.

    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.

    The Acer Predator GM9000 line is based on the quite popular SM2508 NVMe 2.0 controller by Silicon Motion (6nm lithography) which BIWIN has paired with 232-layer Micron B58R 3D TLC NAND flash and 2GB LPDDR4-3200 DRAM (for the 2TB capacity model). The Silicon Motion SM2508 NVMe 2.0 controller features an quad-core ARM Cortex R8 CPU with support for 4 PCIe lanes of 32Gb/s data transfer speed (Gen5 x4), 8 NAND channels with a speed of up to 3600MT/s per channel and packs various technologies including end to end data path protection, programmable firmware interface, SRAM ECC & CRC parity, Innovative LDPC ECC engine, embedded programmable RAID, real-time full-drive AES 128/256bit encryption, hardware SHA 256/384 and TRNG, secure boot for FW authentication, built-in smart clock-gating mechanism (highly efficient power consumption), ONFI 5.0 and Toggle 5.0 support and TCG Opal 2.0 compliance. Regarding endurance numbers BIWIN reports an MTBF (meantime between failures) of 1.5 million hours and TBW of 800/1600/3200 for the currently available capacities (1/2/4TB).

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

A partial product picture is placed at the front of the package right next to the company name, model and capacity.

The product specifications are printed at the rear right beneath a disclaimer, opening from where you can see the rear of the drive and a sticker with the serial numbers and barcodes.

Along with the drive inside the box you'll also find a mounting screw and the quick start guide.

THE GM9000 2TB

The GM9000 2TB is a single SSD that follows the typical 2280 form factor.

BIWIN has placed a copper foil graphene sticker on top of the drive which works well, at least as long as you don't add a heatsink over it (if you do then you should first remove it).

Under the sticker we find the Silicon Motion SM2508 controller, 2GB LPDDR4-3200 DRAM module and two Micron B58R 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash modules.

The other side of the drive just has a sticker on it with its serial number and barcode.

TEST BED

TESTING METHODOLOGY

   I've been using pretty much the same testing methodology for PCIe 3.0 Gen3 and PCIe 4.0 Gen4 SSDs for far too many years now, so I decided to "tweak" it for PCIe 5.0 Gen5 models. Needless to say, Gen5 M.2 NVMe SSDs will be tested using one of my latest test rigs (Intel Core Ultra 285K / ASRock Z890 Taichi Lite) and unlike with both Gen3 and Gen4 SSDs I will not be using the SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) 12 hour IOMeter benchmark since it proved to be rather heavy for early Gen5 SSDs (temperature issues). Instead, I decided to use the latest versions of 3D Mark, AIDA64, AS SSD, ATTO, Crystal Disk Mark, HD Tune Pro, HD Tach RW, Performance Test, IOMeter (4k Random Writes / 4k Random Reads – since September 2024 / SNIA Mixed) and Sandra Titanium for performance measuring and ForSpoken for all of you who might be wondering just how well Gen5 SSDs do in regard to Microsoft's DirectStorage API/Technology. Each test will be run a total of 5 times after which the average number will be recorded in each chart.

TEST RESULTS - AIDA64 / ATTO

TEST RESULTS - HD TUNE PRO / HD TACH RW

TEST RESULTS - AS SSD / CRYSTAL DISK MARK

TEST RESULTS - SANDRA TITANIUM / IOMETER

TEST RESULTS - PERFORMANCE TEST / 3D MARK / FORSPOKEN

CONCLUSION

    The Predator GM9000 M.2 PCIe Gen5 SSD makes use of the same NAND controller (SM2508) as the Kingston G5 model so a direct comparison is unavoidable and well, even though they do exchange blows in some tests the latter is slightly faster and also features higher endurance numbers. This is obviously due to the different NAND flash used (Micron B58R 2400MT/s - Kioxia BiCS8 3200MT/s) and possibly some firmware differences as well. That being said even though the end user will never spot these differences during daily use cost is usually what determines which path potential buyers should take.

    Currently the Predator GM9000 2TB PCIe Gen5 SSD by Acer retails for £219.99 inside the UK (Amazon.co.uk - PRIME Day offer will be set at £186.99) and for €260.50 inside the EU (Amazon.de) so it’s priced well (unfortunately, I couldn’t locate it anywhere inside the USA). Yes, it may not be the fastest Gen5 SSD out there but it does feature a very good price/performance ratio and endurance numbers and that’s why it gets the Golden Award.

PROS

- Quality
- Very Good Performance (Up To 14000MB/s)
- 1600TBW / 1.500.000 Hours MTFB Endurance
- No Thermal Throttling
- 5 Year Limited Warranty
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Available Capacities (Only Up To 4TB)
- USA Availability (Current)