Patriot Memory's Actively-Cooled Viper PV553 PCIe 5.0 SSD Hits A Blistering 12.4GB/s
Here's a fun fact: Dodge's last Viper SRT packed up to 645 horsepower with a top speed of a exceeding 200 miles per hour. We're not sure if Patriot Memory's Viper PV553 solid state drive (SSD) is an homage to the muscle car that Dodge retired in 2017, but it is ready to race with breakneck speeds, so long as you have the proper track to run it on—it's a PCI Express 5.0 model.
According to Patriot Memory, the Viper PV553 has a top speed of 12,400MB/s (12.4GB/s) for sequential reads and 11,800MB/s (11.8GB/s) for sequential writes. It's a high-octane drive for sure, with speeds that are rated to run faster than what we saw in our recent Seagate FireCuda 540 SSD review, which is also a newfangled PCIe 5.0 model.
To achieve those speeds, Patriot Memory fitted the Viper PV553 with 232-layer triple-level cell (TLC) NAND flash memory and a PCIe 5.0 controller that we presume is Phison's E26 hardware. That wasn't made obvious when Patriot Memory first showed off this drive almost a year ago, and now that it's launched, that tidbit still remains missing from the specifications sheet—Patriot Memory only says it's using the "latest PCIe Gen 5 x4 controller" on this drive.
In any event, the Viper PV553 is now ready for prime time in 4TB, 2TB, and 1TB capacities. The rated speeds are the same on the 4TB and 2TB models, including 4K random read and write speeds of up to 1,400,00 IOPS. Meanwhile, the 1TB model is rated to deliver up to 11,700MB/s (11.7GB/s) of sequential read performance, 9,500MB/s (9.5GB/s) for sequential writes, 1,300,000 IOPS for 4K random reads, and 1,400,000 IOPS for 4K random writes.
Beyond the raw horsepower that's underneath the hood, Patriot Memory is talking up the SSD's "revolutionary" cooling solution. It's an actively cooled drive and also Patriot's first SSD to feature a blower fan design.
"Patriot Memory's cutting-edge advancements ensure active thermal dissipation, providing consistent cooling even during extended usage for intense gaming sessions. Crafted with premium materials and a slim 16.5mm aluminum heat shield, the PV553 incorporates an embedded thermal sensor, guaranteeing unwavering high performance," Patriot Memory says.
The tiny fan pulls in surrounding air and directs it towards the aluminum fans. According to Patriot Memory, this reduces heat by 40%, which insinuates the drive should be able to maintain peak performance for longer periods of time before throttling.
Hopefully we'll get one of these SSDs in to test drive ourselves. We're also curious to see how Patriot Memory prices the Viper PV553 SSD, as that tidbit was left out of the company's announcement. We anticipate it will show up at retail soon, though, backed by a five-year warranty.
