Funny to see how quickly the wind can turn. Unknown or almost two years ago, the SSD 2230 are on the rise today.
Next to names like Crucial, Kingston, or Western Digital, Kioxia isn’t the best-known SSD brand. Nevertheless, the company has a lot of arguments to put forward, and in particular a good tendency to innovation.
Two formats, 2230 or 2280
Remember, in the wake of our Steam Deck test, we were doing an article on the Kioxia BG5. It was then the only solution to update the SSD integrated into the Valve machine.
The BG5 is a 2230 format SSD that existed in 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB versions. Of course, we tested the latter to boost the internal space of our console a little. For many gamers, however, that still wasn’t enough, so today Kioxia announces the BG6 series. Available in two versions depending on whether you opt for the M.2 2230 format or the more classic M.2 2280 (single-sided), the BG6 is in PCIe 4.0 and displays 1.7x higher performance than that of the BG5 according to Kioxia.
Up to 2 TB and 6 GB/s
The new SSD still exists in capacities of 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB, but Kioxia is therefore adding a 2 TB version, which mechanically allows higher speeds to be achieved. It is a question here of going up to 6 GB/s in sequential reading and another 5.3 GB/s in sequential writing.
Kioxia specifies using Host Memory Buffer (HMB) technology to do without the DRAM cache memory integrated into the SSD. The idea is to use the host’s DRAM as a cache. Kioxia also specifies that in random read, the BG6 is capable of 850,000 IOPS, and 900,000 IOPS in random write.
Finally, the brand explains that its SSD will be presented at the Dell Technologies World show, but that its effective release will only take place during the second half of 2023. We will then know more about its pricing.
Source: Kioxia press release
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