Micron launches first Gen5 SSD with 14.5 GB/s read speed

The memory manufacturer Micron has now presented its first SSD with a PCIe interface of the 5th generation for end consumers. The new connection to the system should ensure significantly higher speeds in data transmission.

Four capacity classes

The Micron 4600 comes in the M.2-2280 format and is available in four memory configurations: 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB. According to Micron, the new SSD doubles the bandwidth compared to the previous gene4 SSDs. According to the manufacturer, the sequential reading and writing speeds reach up to 14.5 gigabytes per second or 12 gigabytes per second, which represents a significant progress compared to the predecessor micron 3500. The random reading and writing speeds have also been improved and reach up to 2.1 million IOPs. Especially data-intensive applications such as various AI applications and the training of large voice models (LLMS) benefit from these increases in performance.

In addition to the improvements compared to previous SSD generations, the Micron 4600 offers up to 11 percent more power than other current PCIE gen5 models, according to the PCMark10 benchmark, the company explained. And the SpecWPC5 benchmarks also achieved much better results. Here, independent tests of the SSD will have to show whether this is actually achieved in everyday practice.

Soon in finished PCs

In addition to the improved speeds, the new SSD also scores with optimized energy consumption. Thanks to the G9 TTC-NAND technology, the Micron 4600 works more efficiently and consumes up to 8.5 watts with maximum performance. In addition, the average operating time is given as two million hours. The Micron 4600 PCIe Gen5 SSD is now available for OEM partners worldwide. So it should be found in high-end computers from different manufacturers that rely on the latest AMD Ryzen 9000 and Intel Core Ultra Series 2-processors. When the memory will also be available in retail and what it costs was not yet communicated.