Gaming PC

Kioxia BG6 Series M.2 2230 PCIe 4.0 SSD Lineup Adds BiCS6 to the Mix

Kioxia’s BG series M.2 2230 client NVMe SSDs have proven popular among OEMs and commercial system builders due to their low cost and small physical footprint. Today, the company introduces a new generation of products to its postage stamp-sized lineup. The BG6 series builds on the Gen 4 support added in BG5 by updating his NAND generation from BiCS5 (112L) to BiCS6 (162L) for select densities. The increased capacity per die allows Kioxia to bring his 2TB M.2 2230 SSD to market. The BG5 series had a maximum capacity of 1 TB, while the BG6 series added a 2 TB SKU. However, the NAND generation update is reserved for his 1TB and 2TB models only.

Kioxia’s BG series SSDs originally started as single-chip solutions for OEMs in BGA packages or M.2 2230 modules. With the advent of PCIe 4.0 and the demand for increased thermal headroom, Kioxia has ditched the single-chip BGA solution starting with BG5, which will be introduced in late 2021. The BG6 series continues its DRAM-less strategy and dual-chip design (separate controller and flash). package) BG5.

BG5’s performance numbers are strictly in the entry-level category of PCIe 4.0 SSDs, but the NAND update has pushed the performance up to acceptable mainstream levels in this segment. The DRAM-less nature and the use of the system DRAM (Host Memory Buffer – HMB) to store the Flash Translation Layer (FTL) results in a slight performance penalty that prevents it from reaching high-end specifications. However, this reduces initial costs, improves thermal performance, and reduces cooling costs. This is a key constraint for OEMs and pre-built system integrators.














Kioxia BG6 SSD Specifications
capacity 256GB 512GB 1TB 2TB
form factor M.2 2230 or M.2 2280
interface PCIe Gen4 x4, NVMe 1.4c
NAND flash 112L BiCS5 3D TLC 162L BiCS6 3D TLC
sequential read ? MB/s ? MB/s 6000MB/s 6000MB/s
sequential light ? MB/s ? MB/s 5000MB/s 5300MB/s
random read ?IOPS ?IOPS 650K IOPS 850K IOPS
random write ?IOPS ?IOPS 900K IOPS 900K IOPS
Power Active ?W ?W ?W ?W
idle state ? mW ? mW ? mW ? mW

The company is focusing on 1TB and 2TB SKUs with BG6 due to the growing demand for these capacities in the end market. 256GB and 512GB versions are in development. The M.2 2230 form factor is expected to be the mainstay, but Kioxia will also be selling a single-sided M.2 2280 version for systems that don’t support his M.2 2230 SSD.

In addition to client systems, Kioxia also expects BG6 SSDs to be used as boot drives in servers and storage arrays. Towards this, some features not considered essential for consumer SSDs (support for the NVMe 1.4c specification, including an interface over SMBus for tighter thermal management, Includes encryption, power loss notification to protect against forced shutdowns, and platform firmware recovery).

With the performance numbers available for the 1TB SKU, we can see that BG6 has over 1.7x sequential performance numbers, 1.3x better random reads, and 2x better random write performance than BG5. These are obviously new numbers out of the box (as typical consumer/client SSD specs). Power consumption figures were not disclosed at the time of the announcement.

Kioxia plans to sample the drive to OEMs and system integrators in the second half of this year. Systems with these drives are expected to be in consumer hands during the holiday season or early next year. No pricing information was provided as part of the announcement, but Kioxia is demonstrating these at Dell Technologies World 2023 in Las Vegas from May 22-25.

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