Phison's E37T controller could make PCIe 5.0 SSDs faster, cooler and *get this* slightly less pricey
With memory pricing ballooning to apocalyptic amounts due to demand from the AI industry, it doesn't feel like we've had much good news in the realm of SSDs in recent weeks. Well, Phison Electronics is looking to change that with the PCIe Gen5 controller it just unveiled at CES 2026.
The E37T PCIe Gen5 controller may not sound like the sexiest hardware update, but I promise there's plenty about it that's at least eyebrow-raising. Basically, you can think of it as a great big step up from the Phison E31T, which features in our current budget favourite for the best PCIe 5.0 SSD for gaming, the Crucial P510 NVMe SSD.
To make that short story a little longer, I'll borrow some of Phison's own words; the company touts the new E37T memory controller's ability "to deliver competitive price-to-performance value for modern consumer workloads across notebooks and mobile devices." To cut through the marketing-speak, this memory controller should make PCIe 5.0 drives not only faster but just a little more affordable, too.
Let's get into the numbers: according to Phison, "E37T achieves up to 14.7 GB/s sequential reads and 13.0 GB/s sequential writes, with up to 2,000K 4 KB random IOPS." Being about 3,000 MB/s faster than the Crucial P510 SSD, that's obviously quick, but that's arguably not even the best part.
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For one thing, this SSD controller is geared towards an "active power efficiency measurement of under 2.3 W." Phison then goes on to share, "Its DRAM-less, 4-channel design keeps power consumption and thermals low, making it an ideal choice for next-generation laptops and mobile gaming using compact form factors."
In other words, the days of bulky heat sinks being a necessity for your cutting-edge PCIe 5.0 SSD may be numbered, as this memory controller affords far better temperature regulation and power management.
The E37T PCIe Gen5 SSD memory controller will feature in the Phison E28, the company's flagship PCIe Gen5 x4 NVMe drive. As far as we PC gamers go, we'll see more of it in SSDs from the likes of Corsair or Silicon Power. For those strangely desperate for the AI industry to at least get a look in, the E37T will likely play a part in Phison’s Pascari X201 and D201 enterprise SSDs geared towards data centres, too.
Release and pricing information for all of the above is still thin on the ground, but my fingers are crossed that I'll be entertaining the thought of a PCIe 5.0 SSD upgrade for my gaming rig a long time before 2028…