Know About NVMe SSD Technology

NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express) is a communication interface and driver that defines a set of commands and functions for PCIe SSD-based drives with the aim of improving performance and more efficient interoperability across multiple enterprise and client systems.

NVMe is designed for SSDs. Communication between the memory interface and the system processor takes place via the high-speed PCIe socket, regardless of the memory form factor. 

Designed specifically for SSDs, NVMe SSD is setting the new industry standard for data center servers and client devices such as laptops, desktops, and even next-generation game consoles.

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NVMe technology is available in various form factors, such as PCIe, M.2 and U.2 card slots. While there are SSDs that use SATA, PCIe slots, and M.2 that are more AHCI than NVMe, U.2 is a form factor that uses the NVMe protocol exclusively.

The following infographic will help you understand how the different form and protocol factors reside in different types of SSDs and what their performance differences are.

When NAND-based SSDs first hit the market, it was clear to the industry that new buses and protocols were needed.

• The first SSDs were relatively slow, so the existing SATA storage infrastructure could be used comfortably. Although the SATA bus has grown to 16 Gbps, most commercial implementations of the SATA bus are still 6 Gbps.

• The total bandwidth of PCIe 3.0 is 16 Gbps, while PCIe 4.0 has twice the performance of PCIe 3.0. It offers up to 16 bands and can transfer data at up to 32,000 MB/s, while SATA III only transfers up to 600 MB/s.