Samsung PM1743 PCIe Gen5 SSD Announced

Samsung has announced the PM1743 SSD for enterprise servers, featuring the new PCIe 5.0 (Gen5) interface combined with the company’s advanced sixth-generation V-NAND and a proprietary controller. Samsung has been collaborating with Intel to test Samsung’s new PM1743 and has indicated they were able to resolve “complicated technical issues” with the next-gen interface. The new PCIe Gen5 offers a bandwidth of 32 gigatransfers per second (GT/s), which is double that of PCIe Gen4.

Samsung has announced the PM1743 SSD for enterprise servers, featuring the new PCIe 5.0 (Gen5) interface combined with the company’s advanced sixth-generation V-NAND and a proprietary controller. Samsung has been collaborating with Intel to test Samsung’s new PM1743 and has indicated they were able to resolve “complicated technical issues” with the next-gen interface. The new PCIe Gen5 offers a bandwidth of 32 gigatransfers per second (GT/s), which is double that of PCIe Gen4.

Update 1/13/21 – We got hands-on and posted a mini-review of the U.2 Samsung PM1743

Samsung PM1743 Performance

Samsung’s new Gen5 SSD is quoted to deliver sequential reads speeds of up to 13GB/s while random read speeds are specced at 2.5 million IOPS. Write speeds are also expected to get a significant boost, with sequential numbers reaching 6.6GB/s and random numbers hitting 250,000 IOPS. This equates to roughly 1.9x and 1.7x faster speeds over the company’s previous PCIe 4.0-based products.

Samsung also indicates that the new PM1743 SSD has improved power efficiency of up to 608MB/s per watt—roughly 30 % less power than Gen4. This has the potential to noticeably lower server and data center operating costs and to reduce carbon footprint.

Samsung PM1743 Capacities and Form Factors

The PM1743 SSD will be available in a range of capacities (from 1.92TB to 15.36TB) and in two different form factors: 2.5-inch, and a 3-inch EDSFF (E3.S). The latter form factor is growing in popularity in next-generation enterprise servers and data centers, and we will certainly see this adoption increase now that Gen5 releases are just around the corner. In addition, enterprises deploying 7.5mm EDSFF SSDs can double their system’s storage density when compared to when conventional 2.5-inch form configurations.

Samsung indicates that the PM1743 will likely be the industry’s first PCIe Gen5 SSD with dual-port support as well, which helps promote operational stability and high availability as sometimes the connection to one port can fail.

Samsung PM1743 Security Features

The PM1743 will also ship with advanced security features that we usually only see at the server level. This is highlighted by an embedded security processor and Root of Trust (RoT), which will protect against security threats and data forgery. It will also enable Secure Boot in server systems through attestation.

Samsung PM1743 SSD Availability

Samsung indicates that it is now delivering samples of the PM1743 to global chipset and server manufacturers. Plans to begin mass-producing the new Gen5 drive in the first quarter of 2022.

Samsung also hinted that PCIe Gen6-based product developments are currently underway. Samsung recently held a tech day to show off their NAND and SSD engineering.

Update 1/13/21 – We got hands-on and posted a mini-review of the U.2 Samsung PM1743

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