Specification
Below is a specifications table that suggests the expected performance for each capacity.
| Interface | PCIe Gen 4.0 x 4, NVMe 2.0 |
| Form Factor | M.2 2280 |
| Capacity | 512 GB / 1 TB / 2 TB |
| DRAM Cache | HMB |
| Max. Reading Speed | 7200 MB/s |
| Max. Writing Speed | 6300 MB/s |
| Storage Temperature | -40 ℃ – 85 ℃ |
| Working Temperature | 0 ℃ – 70 ℃ |
| Limited Warranty | 5-Year |
The SSD supports all the latest technologies to improve stability, data protection, and performance. Our results confirm that the SSD is well-designed, and there shouldn’t be any issues during longer work.
The SSD supports thermal throttling, which is mentioned as one of the main features. However, during tests, we haven’t seen higher temperatures than 48°C. This is amazing, considering the GM7’s performance and the fact it comes without any heatsink. Once we installed the motherboard’s heatsink, temperatures went down by the next 5°C. Without the heatsink, the long performance tests gave us 48°C, 48°C, and 45°C on three different sensors. With the heatsink, we could see 45°C, 43°C, and 40°C. Software like HWinfo64 can read all the sensors on the GM7 SSD.
Such low temperatures make this SSD perfect for ultrabooks and SFF PC. We don’t have to worry that two SSD in RAID0/1 on an ITX motherboard will overheat and throttle. The throttling point of the GM7 was supposed to be above 85°C, but we couldn’t check the exact temperature as the SSD never passed 50°C during real-life tests.
A 5-year warranty covers the SSD. We don’t have details about the TBW as the product isn’t even officially in stores yet, and its specifications have slightly changed since the CES 2023 presentation. The review sample we received came in a retail package, so the specifications we published are from the package. You may find different values around the web that may not be entirely true.
Below is a screenshot from the CrystalDiskInfo diagnostic software, which confirms that the SSD is in perfect condition.
What’s in the box?
Now let’s take a look at the package and the SSD.
The package of the GM7 SSD is similar to the one of the previously tested GM7000 SSD. Besides the SSD, inside the box is a quick start guide and a single screw that can be handy if we miss it in our motherboard or laptop.
The box’s exterior is well described and provides quite detailed info about the SSD inside. As I mentioned, the specifications can be slightly different than what you can see in early news around the web. In short, the maximum bandwidth is 7200MB/s read and 6300MB/s write instead of 7400MB/s read and 6700MB/s write. In reality, the maximum performance in big part depends on the device on which the GM7 SSD is installed. The 2TB version is supposed to be slightly faster, so as long we had no chance to test it, I assume that the 6700MB/s write bandwidth will be possible on the higher capacity version.
The GM7 comes with a digital version of Acronis software, which helps us move the old data and operating system to a new SSD.
The SSD itself looks pretty standard and shares the most popular M.2 2280 standard. There are no fancy graphene pads or anything else, but it’s not required and causes the SSD to be easily installed in every device that supports M.2 PCIe SSD.
On the PCB, we will find quite an exotic combo – Maxio MAP1602A, an 12nm ARM-architecture controller, and YMTC 128-layer TLC NAND. I haven’t seen it yet on any other SSD. There is also a pSLC cache that speeds up the operations.
The first revision of the GM7 comes with a 128-layer version of the YMTC flash, while we expect to see a 232-layer version in the not-far future. It promises even better performance in the upcoming months.
Below are two test platforms on which we compared the performance. Let’s move to the next page to see our test results.
