KIOXIA unveils XG7 NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD

Solid state drives continue to get faster, with PCIe 4.0 variants leading the pack nowadays. Of course, most PCs don't have PCIe 4.0 support, so these ultra-fast drives are reserved for enthusiasts and those with brand new computers.

If you have such a cutting-edge PC, you will probably want to get a PCIe 4.0 SSD to maximize your performance. True, it is largely for bragging rights and benchmarks -- you probably won't notice a difference in actual use -- but still, you might as well go for the best if the difference in price isn't totally obscene.

In 2021, you will have a new NVMe PCIe 4.0 solid state drive to consider. Called "XG7," this upcoming M.2 2280 SSD from KIOXIA should be blazing fast, but the company has not yet shared exact performance numbers.

"Built for demanding PC environments, the XG7/XG7-P Series offers 2x the sequential read speed and approximately 1.6x the sequential write speed of the PCIe Gen3 based XG6 Series, delivering a high performance, feature-rich storage experience for content creators, gamers and professionals. With leading capacity support up to 4096 gigabytes (GBs), the XG7-P Series SSDs enable power users to take advantage of PCIe Gen4 x4 lane bandwidth and ample storage space," says KIOXIA.

The company also says, "Furthermore, this series deploys an all-new in-house controller vertically integrated with KIOXIA’s BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory, ensuring next generation feature support such as the NVMe 1.4 specification and System Management Bus (SMBus) for improved system thermal management through a sideband channel."

While we don't know pricing at all, and availability is only stated as 2021, we do know the capacities definitively. The XG7 will be offered in 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. There will also be 2TB and 4TB variants, but those two will carry the XG7-P moniker. It isn't clear if the drives will be available for purchase by consumers or strictly offered to PC manufacturers for upcoming laptops and desktops.