Efficiency Master SM2504XT: SSD controller generates 11.5 GB/s at less than 5 watts 15 comments
Image: Silicon Movement
For years, it was only Phison, but this year, the Silicon Movement is expanding to SSD controllers. The already introduced SM2508 shines with maximum performance and the highest efficiency. But things are even more efficient with the subsequent SM2504xt, which Silicon Movement introduced at Computex 2025.
Phison has long dominated the high-end SSD market with its controllers. This began with the Phison E16 with PCIe 4.0 and until recently, it also implemented PCIe 5.0 with the Phison E26. But now, the silicon movement is back in the game, leaving the Phison E26 behind with its highly efficient SM2508. One example is the WD_BLACK SN8100 SSD (test), which forms the new benchmark in Techastuce’s test field.
SM2504xt vs. Phison E31T
Another slightly higher power with significantly lower power consumption gives the SM2508 a significant efficiency advantage. But the silicon movement shows with the SM2504xt that performance per watt is even better.
The SM2504XT doesn’t compete in the top league and only has half the storage channels of the SM2508, and it also has to do without its own DRAM cache. The promised performance is 11.5 GB/s and 1.7 million IOPS for reading and 11 GB/s and 2 million IOPS for writing, also well below the SM2508 and Phison E26.
Phison PS5026-E26 Silicon Motion SM2508 Silicon Motion SM2504X × 6.8 mm 228-ball FCCSP, 8.0 × 12.5 mm CPU CORES 2 × ARM CORTEX R5
3 × Cox processor 4 × ARM Cortex R8
1 × Cortex M0 3 × ARM CORTEX R8 1 × ARM CORTEX R5
2 × Cox Processor NAND-Channel (CE) 8 (32) 4 (16) SSD capacity (max.) 32 TB? ? 8 TB Throughput/Channel 2400 MT/S 3600 MT/S DRAM DDR4/LPDDR4 (3200 MT/S) DDR4/LPDDR4 (3200 MT/S) Non-dedicated (HMB) ECC 5th Gen LDPC + LDPC 7th GEN AES LDPC 256 ECC 5th Gen
Sha 512
RSA 4096
TCG OPAL 2.0 AES 256
Sha 384
TCG OPAL 2.0 AES 256
Sha 512
TCG OPAL 2.0 AES 256
Sha 512
RSA 4096
TCG OPAL 2.01
Pyrite 2.01 seq. Read 14,000 MB/s 14,500 MB/s 11,500 MB/s 10,600 MB/s SEQ. Write * 12,000 MB/s 14,000 MB/s 11,000 MB/s 9,500 MB/s 4K READ ALAMBRE 1,500,000 IOPS 2,500,000 IOPS 1,700,000 IOPS 1,500,000 IOPS 4K Random Write * 2,000,000 IOPS 2,500,000 IOPS 2,000,000,000 IOPS 2,200,000 IOPS * IM SLC-CACHE
All information according to Phison (in January 2024 / May 2025) and SMI (in August 2024 / May 2025)
Silicon movement underpins performance values with its own benchmarks.
Benchmarks SM2504XT (Bild: Silicon Motion)
Even more economical and more efficient
However, according to the manufacturer, the SM2504XT does not need 5 watts. So that’s a lot less than the around 7 watts on the SM2508 and of course considerably less than the 11 watts on the E26.
In terms of power efficiency in read throughput (sequential read) per WATT, the SM2504XT is 2,465 MB/s per watt, which is still 12% better than the SM2508. Additionally, a “competitor” not mentioned by name is compared. This is probably the Phison E31T (test), the real opponent of the SM2504XT. This doesn’t break the 2,000 MB/s per Watt mark. The silicon movement also has its nose clearly forward in standby mode (PS4).
The keyword “AI”, i.e. artificial intelligence, should of course not be missing with a new semiconductor product. With the new SSD controller this should help with error correction.
SM2504XT AI Features (Image: Silicon Motion) Image 1 of 3
No information on market launch
When SSDs will appear with the SM2504XT remains unknown at this time. Silicon Motion has not yet provided information on availability.
Topics: Flash Memory NVME PCIE 5.0 Silicon Motion SSD Controller SSD Controller Source: Silicon Motion
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