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SSDs

Kioxia BiCS FLASH
Gaming Gear

New Kioxia 332-layer NAND tops out at 2Tb, bigger SSDs planned without the need for PLC

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  • Kioxia’s 332-layer NAND delivers 2Tb without using PLC tech
  • Japanese flash giant is focusing on performance and capacity through dual-axis development approach
  • Hints are that it can deliver even larger capacity SSDs, as part of “Gen X”

Kioxia has revealed via updated roadmap materials that its upcoming 332-layer NAND chip – part of its 10th generation BiCS FLASH – will offer 2Tb of capacity per die.

While this may seem small compared to expectations, the Japanese flash memory specialist has hinted that it can deliver even larger capacity SSDs, as part of Gen X, without resorting to Penta-Level Cell (PLC) technology.

The roadmap slides, published by TechPowerUp, were shared as part of Kioxia’s long-term corporate strategy.


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Dual-axis strategy

The 332-layer chip, which is currently under development, is part of what Kioxia calls its “dual-axis strategy” for NAND. This strategy splits development into two paths: the first focusing on increasing layer count for higher capacity and the second improving performance via Charge-Based Architecture (CBA).

CBA connects the CMOS circuitry directly to the memory array, helping to increase bandwidth, reduce latency, and lower power consumption.

Kioxia says this approach allows it to boost density without sacrificing the endurance and reliability associated with having fewer bits per cell.

Kioxia’s roadmap doesn’t discuss the company’s plans for PLC, even though other competitors are beginning to explore that direction. Kioxia instead appears to be doubling down on process improvements and new controller designs to meet market demands.

The company’s recent focus has been on two SSD families: the CM9 series, which emphasizes high-performance for AI applications, and the LC9 series, which targets large capacity and currently offers up to 122TB capacity.

Both products are based on Kioxia’s 8th generation BiCS FLASH, which introduced CBA and supports energy-efficient, high-throughput workloads.

Kioxia also revealed a high-IOPS SSD that it has developed using its XL-Flash SLC technology. This SSD is expected to exceed 10 million IOPS and sample in the second half of 2026.

(Image credit: Kioxia)

(Image credit: Kioxia)

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4TB SSDs
Product Reviews

4TB SSDs now as low as $0.05 per GB, Samsung at $0.06 per GB

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In honor of Memorial Day, Amazon, Newegg, B&H and their competitors are having a slew of sales on PC components. While most SSDs are not at all-time lows, this is still a good time to buy a 4TB SSD, with prices hovering as low as 5 cents per GB for respectable brands such as TeamGroup, Silicon Power and Crucial.

If you want a Samsung drive, the 990 Evo Polus, which offers 7,250 MB/s reads and 6,300 MB/s writes is just 6 cents per GB. Here’s a complete list of 4TB drives you can get today and how much they cost.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Drive

Price

Cost Per GB

Read Speed

Write Speed

Silicon Power UD90

$204

0.05

5,000 MB/s

4,800 MB/s

PNY CS2241

$213

0.05

5,000 MB/s

4,200 MB/s

Crucial P3 Plus

$219

0.05

5,000 MB/s

5,000 MB/s

Silicon Power US75

$224

0.05

7,500 MB/s

6,500 MB/s

TeamGroup MP44

$242

0.06

7,400 MB/s

6,900 MB/s

Samsung 990 Evo Plus

$245

0.06

7,250 MB/s

6,300 MB/s

Addlink A93 PS5 SSD

$247

0.06

7,400 MB/s

6,500 MB/s

WD Blue SN5000

$249

0.06

5,500 MB/s

5,500 MB/s

Crucial P31

$259

0.06

7,100 MB/s

71,00 MB/s

WD Black SN7100

$269

0.07

7,250 MB/s

6,900 MB/s

WD Black SN850X

$284

0.07

7,300 MB/s

6,600 MB/s

Kingston Fury Renegade

$306

0.07

7,300 MB/s

7,000 MB/s

Samsung 990 Pro

$309

0.08

7,450 MB/s

6,900 MB/s

Crucial T705

$389

0.09

14100 MB/s

12,600 MB/s

Samsung 9100 Pro

$477

0.12

14,800 MB/s

13,400 MB/s

Not all of these are currently sale prices, just the lowest price you can get them for right now. Prices may have been lower in the recent past, but again, we don’t know if they will go down anytime soon.

4TB is the ideal capacity for most people. While you can get by with 2TB or 1TB in a pinch, 4TB gives you plenty of room for games, video files and photos.

Most of these SSDs use the PCIe 4.0 interface and are good for both PS5 and laptop upgrades. If you’re willing to spend more money for performance, the Crucial T705 is a solid price at $389 for 4TB. Probably the best balance between performance and price is the Samsung 990 Evo for $245.



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Computex 2025
Product Reviews

Computex 2025 Day Three Wrap-Up: Optical SSDs and $50,000 Immersion-Cooled Systems

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We’re wrapping up our third day of Computex 2025 coverage, and it seems there’s no end to the fascinating hardware announced so far. There’s a lot of ground to cover for today, but also, be sure to see what’s previously been covered in our Day Zero, Day One, and Day Two stories and look at the Tom’s Hardware Computex 2025 hub.

Optical SSDs, Immersion-Cooled Workstations, Manjaro Linux Gaming Handhelds, 512GB G-Skill DDR5

Kioxia is determined to make optical SSDs more mainstream, and it was on hand at Computex to demonstrate the technology. Kioxia uses one of Kyocera’s Optinity PCIe cards, which delivers optical connectivity via PCIe 5.0. One of Kioxia’s CM7 Enterprise SSDs was attached to the Optinity PCIe card and was shown delivering identical performance to the same SSD using a traditional electrical connection.

While delivering the same performance as an existing solution isn’t by itself an impressive feat, what is remarkable is that Kioxia can offer this performance with optical cabling 30 meters in length (or greater). Kioxia also claims superior signal integrity that is more reliable in “challenging environments.”


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(Image credit: Future)

Heat is a boss-level enemy of high-performance PCs, and enthusiasts always look for new ways to improve cooling output. Enermax is no stranger to developing high-end components to deliver power and cool PC hardware, and its latest demo takes those efforts to the extreme. Witness the Cirrus Mk1, which uses two-phase liquid immersion cooling to efficiently transfer heat away from hardware components to an external heat exchanger.

The cooling system can handle up to 3,300 watts of power, and to demonstrate this capability, Enermax’s test system used an AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7960X processor and four GeForce RTX 5090 GPUs attached to a Gigabyte TRX50 AI-TOP motherboard. Powering everything (including the cooling system) were two Enermax Platimax II 2400 watt PSUs. The cooling Cirrus Mk1 alone costs $50,000 before you even think of adding hardware, so it’s definitely not for the average gaming enthusiast.

The market for handheld gaming PCs continues to explode, and the introduction of the Nintendo Switch 2 will likely further drive interest in the category. Zotac’s Zone 2 is the follow-up to last year’s Zone and features an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (rather than the handheld gaming PC-centric Ryzen Z2 Extreme). The system features a 7-inch 1080p display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, up to 32GB of LPDDR5x, and a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD. The system runs Manjaro Linux with KDE Plasma 6 and, most certainly, Proton to provide the broadest compatibility with games.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

If you are looking for extreme performance or capacity regarding DDR5 memory, G.Skill has you covered. On the former front, the company showcased 2x 24GB DDR5 memory using SK hynix ICs, hitting a speed of 10,934 MT/s on an ASUS ROG Maximus Z890 APEX motherboard. Also on display was a 4x 64GB DDR5-7000 setup running on an ASUS ROG Crosshair X870E Hero motherboard.

(Image credit: Future)

If you’d rather lean more into capacity than outright performance, it also loaded up eight 64GB R-DIMM DDR5-6600 CL42 modules for a total of 512GB with an ASUS Pro WS WRX90E-SAGE SE motherboard.

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