1. Foreword: YMTC is a QLC commercial consumer SSD
For high-end PCIe SSDs, high temperatures have always been a headache for manufacturers, but there are problems that are difficult to completely solve.
We've previously tested a brand of notebook with a PCIe 4.0 SSD that easily topped 75 degrees Celsius when running under high loads, resulting in a 20% drop in performance.
This is because laptops have limited space and can't fit heavy thermal guards on SSDs like desktop computers, so it's easy to get out of control when you're running a high-performance PCIe 4.0 SSD.
In the area of temperature control, YMTC can be said to be unique in the world!
For example, the OEM version of the PC411 SSD, even if no heatsink is installed, its full load temperature is only 51 degrees, which beats many PCIe 4.0 SSD products on the market.
Recently, YMTC has added another product to its commercial consumer product line, PC41Q, which is an iteration of PC411 as can be seen from the name.
In fact, it can also be seen from the name that unlike PC411, PC41Q is an SSD product that uses QLC flash memory particles.
NAND based on the Xtacking 3.0 architecture is also the industry's first flash memory chip with an I/O speed of 2400MT/s, which can run full PCIe 4.0x4 bandwidth with only four lanes of main controller.
Compared with most PCIe 4.0 SSD products on the market that use 8-lane master controller, Zehe has better performance in terms of temperature and power consumption.
Combined with YMTC's excellent firmware tuning, PC41Q has a performance-per-watt ratio of up to 1.75MB/s/mW at 5700MB/s, surpassing most high-performance QLC SSDs.
As an OEM product, cost control is crucial. PC41Q adopts DRAM-Less cache-less design and supports HMB buffering technology, which can directly use system memory as a dynamic cache, eliminating the need for a separate DRAM cache.
In terms of reliability, the YMTC PC41Q series is available in three capacities of 500GB/1TB/2TB, and the write life is 150TBW, 300TBW, and 600TBW respectively.
二、性能测试：顺序读取超5800MB/s 4K随机读取87MB/s
1、CrystalDiskMark
在CrystalDiskMark测试中,PC41Q 1TB的顺序读取速度超过了5800MB/s,写入速度也有5440MB/s;4K读写速度分别超过87MB/s和394MB/s。
右边是64GB的测试，顺序读取速度5728MB/s、写入5404MB/s，4K随机读取62MB/s、写入301MB/s。
2、AS SSD Benchmark
On the left is the test of the 1GB capacity. In the AS SSD Benchmark the PC41Q 1TB got a score of 8443 points. The sequential read and write speeds are 4680MB/s and 4533MB/s, respectively, while the 4K read and write speeds are 66MB/s and 353MB/s.
The 10GB test score is not much different from the 1GB.
3、ATTO Disk Benchmark
According to the results of ATTO Disk Benchmarks, the PC41Q 1TB SSD can also reach a speed of more than 70MB/s for reading and writing small files of 0.5KB. This number is not bad, you must know that many TLC SSDs are also between 30~50MB/s.
At 32K, the write speed reached 3.37GB/s and the read speed was 1.38GB/s. Starting from 512KB, the write speed is stable between 4.7~5.1GB/s, and the read speed can reach more than 5.3GB/s.
4. PCMark10
The PCMark 10 Fast System Disk Benchmark is aimed at lightly loaded system disk applications, covering JPG image file read/write/co-disk copying, Microsoft Excel, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop light usage process playback test, can visually demonstrate the daily use performance of SSDs.
The PCMark 10 Fast System Disk benchmark score of 5782 points is a bit surprising and almost twice that of the Positive Ti600.
With a measured bandwidth of 701MB/s and an average access time of 22 microseconds, these data surpass more than 90% of PCIe 4.0 SSDs.
5、3DMark
The PC41Q 1TB SSD has a total score of 3754 points, a bandwidth of 645MB/s, and a latency of 48 microseconds, which also meets the level of high-end consumer SSDs.
3. Temperature and slow external speed test: the maximum temperature of no loose piece is only 62 degrees
1. Temperature test
We tested the PC41Q 1TB SSD under high load read and write temperature performance with CrystalDiskMark 64GB on the i9-13900KS + ROG MAXIMUS Z790 HERO motherboard, using the motherboard's built-in M.2 heatsink for heat dissipation, and the room temperature is 28 degrees.
In standby mode, the temperature of PC41Q 1TB SSD is 43 degrees Celsius, and the maximum temperature is only 53 degrees Celsius during high-load reading and writing.
Next, we removed the M.2 heatsink and let the SSD test under high load in the bare strip state, but the maximum temperature was only 62 degrees.
2. Slow write test
The PC41Q 1TB SSD has an actual capacity of 953GB (binary capacity), and we copied 911GB of files from the Critical T705 2TB SSD to use up the free space of this SSD as much as possible.
Initially, the copy speed was stable at 3.5 GB/s, and 130 GB of data was written at this speed.
After 130GB of data is written, the write speed will jump up and down between 100~300MB/s.
4. Summary: Low temperature and high performance are often suitable for notebooks and mini hosts
In this test, we were impressed by the excellent temperature performance of YMTC PC41Q.
We know that QLC flash memory can store 4 bits of data per CELL unit, with 16 voltage variations, which is far more difficult than MLC and TLC in terms of algorithm difficulty, so for PCIe 4.0 QLC SSD, it is not only high performance, but also low power consumption, and the difficulty is not generally high.
The YMTC PC41Q is equipped with the M.2 heatsink that comes with the motherboard when reading and writing at high load for a long time, and the maximum temperature is only 51 degrees.
In addition, we also simulated the scenario of the notebook without a heatsink, so that the PC41Q can perform a high-load write test with a maximum temperature of only 62 degrees Celsius in a completely exposed situation.
For SSDs, temperatures below 70 degrees are safe to operate, which means that PC41Q is fully capable of working in environments without M.2 heatsinks such as notebooks and minis.
In terms of performance, the YMTC PC41Q 1TB also meets the level that a high-end QLC SSD should have.
Judging from the test results, the PC41Q 1TB can achieve a sequential read speed of 5800MB/s and a sequential write speed of more than 5400MB/s, and the 4K random read speed also exceeds 80MB/s.
In the PCMark Fast System Disk benchmark, the PC41Q 1TB achieved a high score of 5700, which is more than twice that of other QLC SSDs, indicating that it is fully capable of daily use.
The 3DMark storage test score also exceeded 3700, which is on par with most high-end PCIe 4.0 SSDs on the market in terms of loading speeds for games and apps.
Although the slow write speed is only 100~300MB/s, it is already a good number in QLC SSD, and in daily use, most of the scenarios will always read and write in the SLC cache, and there are very few scenarios where the cache is used up, so for most users, this problem can be ignored.
Specifically, if you write no more than 13% of the SSD's available capacity at one time, such as writing 120GB of data at a time when there is 900GB of free space left, it will not easily trigger the slow write, and the vast majority of users are unlikely to write so much data at once in daily use.
As a QLC SSD product, YMTC PC41Q is undoubtedly much cheaper than TLC products of the same capacity, coupled with its super performance consumption ratio, the temperature can be controlled within 62 degrees without a heat sink, which is very suitable for OEM PC products such as laptops or mini PCs that do not have enough space to install SSD heat sinks.