Chinese PCIe 5.0 SSD tested with speeds up to 14.5 GB/s — Zhitai TiPro9000 sports 5th Gen YMTC 3D NAND and SMI SM2508 controller

DIY.Zol.com.cn has reviewed a rather mysterious solid-state drive from Zhitai with a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface based on a controller with no markings and on YMTC's 5th Generation 3D NAND with the Xtacking 4.0 architecture. The SSD supports read speeds of up to 14.5 GB/s, enabling it to compete against the best SSDs. While the controller is not marked, this is Silicon Motion's SM2508, and SMI has confirmed this.

Zhitai's TiPro9000 2TB SSD carries a controller without markings, a 2GB LPDDR4X DRAM chip, and two 3D NAND packages. The 3D NAND packages reportedly integrate YMTC's 5th Generation 3D TLC NAND memory featuring the Xtacking 4.0 architecture, which suggests 128-layer or 232-layer devices and a very high interface transfer rate.

The controller on the drive does not have markings. However, its aluminum heatspreader and power supply circuitry are identical to those of Silicon Motion's SM2508, the company's first PCIe 5.0 controller for client PCs, and so is the design of the PCB. Indeed, SMI has confirmed that this is indeed the SM2508.

(Image credit: DIY.Zol.com.cn)

(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

When it comes to performance, Zhitai's TiPro9000 2TB drive hits a 14,527 MB/s sequential read speed, a bit lower than what reference SMI SM2508-based drive can deliver, as well as a 13,869 MB/s sequential write speed, which is significantly higher than what reference SMI SM2508-powered SSDs offer.

Of course, the maximum speeds only last when the SLC cache is used, which is around 24 seconds in the case of the TiPro9000. After 24 seconds, the speed dropped to about 4,000 MB/s and maintained for 325 seconds.

After the SLC cache was exhausted, the speed dropped back to 1,700 MB/s ~ 1,800 MB/s, and then the transfer rate recovered to 4,000 MB/s again after 259 seconds. As for random performance, Zhitai says that the SSD can have a random read speed of up to 2M IOPS and a random write speed of up to 1.6M IOPS.

In general, Zhitai's TiPro9000 performs more or less in line with what the best PCIe 5.0 x4 drives offer, which is what to expect from a drive based on Silicon Motion's SM2508 controller designed for range-topping drives. Also, Yangtze Memory's 5th Gen 3D NAND with Xtacking 4.0 contributes to the TiPro9000's market-leading performance.

Zhitai's TiPro9000 2TB SSD has a five-year warranty and a TBW (terabyte written) rating of up to 1,200. The drive's pricing is unknown.